15 September 2008 A week at Mamaje ("place of plenty") field camp in the DRC found the camp living up to its name on the birding front. I managed to get in 45 minutes or so each day just after sunrise and just before sunset. No DRC endemics, but a few not found in Southern Africa - Black-collared Bulbul, White-winged Black Tit, Splendid Glossy Starling, and several Miombo woodland specials – Pale-billed Hornbill, Scaly-throated Honeyguide, Miombo Tit, Miombo Scrub-Robin, Miombo Rock-Thrush, Miombo Double-collared Sunbird, Racket-tailed and Broad-billed Roller, plus a few other "goodies" – Cabanis’s Bunting, Short-winged Cisticola, Grey-hooded Kingfisher, White-breasted Cuckooshrike, Copper Sunbird, African Golden Oriole, Schalow's Turaco, Fiery-necked, Freckled and Pennant-winged Nightjars, and Meyer's Parrot.
The week's total was 79 either seen or heard within a few kilometres radius of the camp. The summer migrants are streaming in (or through). I picked up 4 cuckoo species (call only), with the Diederik Cuckoo putting in a first appearance only on Day 5, as well as Yellow-billed Kite, Wahlberg's Eagle, European Bee-eater and Violet-backed Starling - although the latter is possibly a resident species here.
The "photo that got away" was just pre-sunset one evening when the noise of a bird party attracted my attention to a spot just 150m from the camp, where Fork-tailed Drongo, African Golden Oriole and White Helmetshrike were swooping and shrieking, and Cinnamon-breasted Bunting, Miombo Tit, Chinspot Batis and White-winged Black Tit were distinctly agitated hopping from branch to branch. Just as I realised that this was not a feeding party, but an assault on an intruder, I was too late to photograph the African Wood-Owl as it took flight.
The most difficult to photograph, and still remaining elusive, is the Meyer's Parrot. There are several dozen in the area and they are heard squawking throughout the daylight hours, but they are active high in the canopy of the Miombo and are spotted only when they move from tree to tree. My full 79 species list (heard and/or seen) for the week in the field camp is:
Barbet, Black-collared Barbet, Crested Bateleur Batis, Chinspot Bee-Eater, Little Bee-Eater, European Boubou, Tropical Bulbul, Black-collared
Bulbul, Dark-capped Bunting, Cinnamon-breasted Bunting, Cabanis’s Bush-Shrike, Grey-headed Buzzard, Lizard Cisticola, Short-winged Cisticola, Red-faced Cormorant, Reed Coucal, Senegal Coucal , White-browed Crombec, Long-billed Cuckoo, Black Cuckoo, Diederik Cuckoo, Klaas's Cuckoo, Red-chested Cuckooshrike, Grey Darter Dove, Cape Turtle Drongo, Fork-tailed Duck, White-faced Duck, Yellow-billed Eagle, Wahlberg's Egret, Little Goshawk, Dark Chanting Helmetshrike, White Heron, Black-headed Honeyguide, Scaly-throated Hornbill, Pale-billed Kingfisher, Grey-hooded Kingfisher, Malachite Kingfisher, Pied Kite, Yellow-billed Mousebird, Speckled Nightjar, Fiery-necked Nightjar, Freckled Nightjar, Pennant-winged Oriole, African Golden Oriole, Black-headed Paradise-Flycatcher, African Parrot, Meyer's Pigeon, African Green Pipit, African Prinia, Tawny-flanked Puffback, Black-backed Rock-Thrush, Miombo Roller, Broad-billed Roller, Racket-tailed Scrub-Robin, Miombo Snake-Eagle, Brown Sparrow, House Sparrow, Northern Grey-headed Starling, Splendid Glossy Starling, Violet-backed Sunbird, Copper Sunbird, Miombo Double-collared Swallow, White-throated Swift, African Palm Swift, Little Tchagra, Black-crowned Thrush, Groundscraper Thrush, Kurrichane Tinkerbird, Yellow-fronted Tit, Miombo Tit, White-winged Black Turaco, Schalow's Wagtail, African Pied Weaver, Red-headed Wood-Dove, Emerald-spotted Wood-Owl, African Woodpecker, Bearded Woodpecker, Cardinal |