2 January 2019: Attacked by Tsetses

This morning the target birds were the Arnot’s Chat and the Racket-tailed Roller. While looking for them we were attacked by squadrons of Tsetse flies, and I now look like a pincushion with warts. The itch to twitch has now become a diabolical itch over every exposed part of my body. Found the Arnot’s, but dipped on the Racket-tailed.

Arnot's Chat, Masoka

The strategy was to target the hard to find species and endemics, as the more common birds will most likely be seen along the way. A nearby riverbed delivered an African Broadbill, and we had to work hard to find the Zambezi Indigobird and Böhm’s Spinetail amongst the Mopani trees.

A nearly 30km trek over atrocious roads bagged the Lilian’s Lovebird near Angwa Bridge. At dusk, on the way back to Pitta Camp, a Pennant-winged Nightjar did a fly-pass. Another good day in Africa!