By Chris Lotz, Birding Ecotours
I had the privilege of leading a 36-day Zambia birding tour in August and September this year (please e-mail chris@birdingecotours.com if you want me to e-mail you a full trip report including the tour map showing what kept us busy for so long, a detailed daily diary, and full bird, mammal, and reptile lists). Tour participant Tim Williams got far better photos than me and has kindly agreed for me to use them here.
1) Vermiculated Fishing Owl!
2) Pel’s Fishing Owl – any trip with not one but two fishing owl species is a good one!
3) Grimwood’s Longclaw is a very localized bird with an orange-pink throat
4) I better not forget Shoebill, otherwise people might be cross with me (joke!)
5) Chaplin’s (Zambian) Barbet – endemic to Zambia
6) Bohm’s Bee-eater, one of the many species endemic to south-central Africa (more here).
7) The Perrin’s form of Gorgeous Bush-shrike (which shares the same impenetrable Mavunda habitat as the very localized Margaret’s Batis, but I chose the more brightly-colored species)
8) Bar-winged Weaver is one of many Miombo woodland birds best found in Zambia
9) Miombo Pied Barbet is one of several barbets that is tough to find outside of Zambia
10) Black-cheeked Lovebird is one of Zambia’s endemic birds
Wonderful birds! Whenever I read such a post, I always need to look at the map, and this post made me run immediately to Dr. Google. (Yes, I know, pathetic). Previously, until 30 seconds ago, I thought that Shoebill was only found in Uganda. Was I ever wrong! But then I was disheartened to see that it also exists in some of Africa’s most unstable countries. Not that Uganda was reliably all that stable, but it has enjoyed some peacetime. I wonder if Shoebill is on everyone’s top ten list for most desired birds to see? For me it is in the category of birds I am unlikely to ever see. So to Chris Lotz, I would say, yes, people will be cross with you if you fail to show your Shoebill photo. And a wonderful photo it is!
Thanks so much for these great comments, Cathy! The Shoebills actually look slightly different between Uganda and Zambia. I prefer the experience of seeing them in Zambia, in the vast Bangweulu Wetlands. But they are so reliable in Uganda, just on a day trip from Entebbe..
Shoebills are striking birds to see, and you have to go to interesting places to see them, but they aren’t the most exciting birds as they don’t do an awful lot. There’s no identification challenge either. However, I’ve only seen single birds on three occasions, all in Uganda, so perhaps they are more interesting than I am giving them credit for. I’d happily see another!