24 September 2019: Tarangire National Park

On our way to the Tarangire National Park we stopped at Nanja village where a Rose-coloured Starling, a vagrant from Asia, had been hanging out at a dumpsite for the last week. We searched the area intensively, as this would have been a great find on any twitcher’s Africa list, but it seemed to have disappeared elsewhere for the day. Other birders reported that they again found it at Nanja a few days later, and then it disappeared into the African bush – such is the ambiguity of birding! While searching for the Rosy I managed to tick Rufous-tailed Weaver, Chestnut Sparrow and Hildebrandt’s Starling.

Tarangire turned out to be an East African birding hotspot. Named after the Tarangire River that crosses the park, the 2 850km² of wilderness is home to incredible herds of buffalo and elephant. The plains are dotted with magnificent baobabs as well as staggering numbers of zebra, wildebeest, gemsbok, waterbuck, Masai giraffe and relatively few safari tourists. Tarangire is also home to more than 550 bird species, in particular around the swamp areas and river banks.

Yellow-throated Sandgrouse, Tarangire

A birdbath at the entrance gate to the park delivered Ashy Starling, numerous Yellow-collared Lovebirds, Red-bellied Parrot, Swahili Sparrow and Spotted Palm Thrush. Later, while driving through the park, we saw Northern White-crowned Shrike, Northern Red-billed Hornbill, Blue-capped Cordon-bleu, White-headed Buffalo Weaver, African Bare-eyed Thrush and D'Arnaud's Barbet.

D'Arnaud's Barbet, Tarangire

The Acacia woodland and seasonally flooded grassland were havens for bustards, spurfowls, francolins, sandgrouse and coursers. In quick succession we found Grant’s Spurfowl (recently split from Crested Francolin), Plain-bellied Francolin (recently split from Coqui Francolin), Yellow-necked Spurfowl, Red-necked Spurfowl, Black-faced Sandgrouse, Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse, Double-banded Courser, Buff-crested Bustard and Northern White-bellied Bustard. Other exciting birds that we found were the Rosy-patched Bush-shrike and Von der Decken’s Hornbill – both endemic to north-east Africa. We also found the first of numerous Northern Wheatears, a sure indication that the Palearctic migrants were arriving from the north.

Plain-bellied Francolin, Tarangire

The last two target birds for the day were both found at the exit gate. A group of Northern Pied Babblers and an Eastern Grey Woodpecker responded well to their calls, bringing the total to 24 new African Big Year birds for the day. Awesome!!

Black-faced Sandgrouse, Tarangire