1 January 2019: Pitta New Year!

My African Birding Big Year commenced with a beautiful duet by a pair of African Wood Owls - at 02:45 in the morning – directly above my camper. The obliging opera stars then allowed a quick photo session before flying off to their next engagement.

African Wood Owl, Pitta Camp, Masoka

I find it quite appropriate that the first birds I ticked were these African Wood Owls. asking: “Who who, who who who-are-you?” I actually answered them: “I am just a man from the white tribe of Africa. Happy new year!”

The target bird for the morning was the African Pitta. After about three hours of searching, at two different locations, Mackenzie, the guide, and his helper Teach found a new Pitta nest. So we made ourselves comfortable and waited. About twenty minutes later a pair of Pittas pitched, to the absolute delight of yours truly! The Pittas were very shy and skittish, and I had to work hard to get a photo. What a privilege to find the African Pitta on the first day of the Big Year!

Angola Pitta, Murara Camp, Masoka.

The rest of the day delivered some more excellent birds: Thrush Nightingale, Mottled Spinetail, Narina Trogon, Livingstone's Flycatcher, Red-throated Twinspot.