4 January 2019: Birding Harare

Some people are a true blessing to others. I was blessed to meet up with birding guide Tony Wood and his delightful wife Janet at their home late yesterday afternoon. Over a superb supper we sorted out African politics, Zimbabwean road conditions, the current shortage of fuel, and some very strange decisions the gurus of the bird-naming committee have made.

Birding commenced early in the morning at Christon Bank outside Harare. After a brisk climb up a hill strewn with large granite boulders, we entered some Miombo forest and very soon ticked Southern Hyliaotas, had a great view of a Collared Flycatcher, and enjoyed a quick visit by a Green-backed Honeybird. Tony then found the target birds of the morning – a pair of Boulder Chats. To me they looked like Ant-eating Chats on steroids.

With the pressure now off Tony we birded further and soon ticked quite a few other Miombo birds, including a Miombo Starling which was a Southern African lifer for me. A Black-eared Seedeater seemed a bit out of place and is quite a find for this area.

Back in Harare Tony found a Lesser Moorhen in one of the parks, and then showed me a pair of White-faced Owls roosting in a tree. While trampling through some marchland at Monavale Vlei we saw a Dwarf Bittern and heard two Streaky-breasted Flufftails, the first to arrive for the season.

Later, at Haka Park outside Harare, Tony found the next target bird, a Fan-tailed Grassbird. In the process we flushed a Corn Crake and a Rosy-throated Longclaw. That evening, just after sunset, Tony’s wife Janet showed me two Bat Hawks at a nest about 500m from their home – again a wow moment! Number 799 on my Southern African list. The stuff of African dreams!