Pugu Hills: May 22, 2011

A short Sunday morning trip to Pugu Hills yielded a few new birds, including the Mouse-Colored Sunbird, my four-hundredth bird seen in Tanzania. The highlight of the morning came early on as Tony and I sifted through a mixed species flock that included both Grey-Headed and Sulphur-Breasted Bush-Shrikes. Although I wasn’t able to linger long on either bird, I first glimpsed the Grey-Headed Bush-Shrikes unmistakable profile as it flew up into a tall tree and then watched a pair of Sulphur-Breasted Bush-Shrikes surface occasionally from a dense tangle of vines as they scrambled for prey. The Mouse-Coloured Sunbird was seen and heard well, although the pectoral patches weren’t visible, as it called distinctly in the open from an unobstructed perch. Also new for me was an Ashy Flycatcher, another nice find in this modest forest patch located just outside of Dar es Salaam.

Notable birds seen: African Cuckoo-Hawk, Tambourine Dove, Brown-Hooded Kingfisher, Crowned Hornbill, Trumpeter Hornbill, Yellow-Rumped Tinkerbird, Yellow-Bellied Greenbul, Terrestrial Brownbul, Grey-Backed Camaroptera, Ashy Flycatcher, African Paradise-Flycatcher, Little Yellow Flycatcher, Olive Sunbird, Mouse-Coloured Sunbird, Black-Backed Puffback, Brown-Crowned Tchagra, Sulphur-Breasted Bush-Shrike, Grey-Headed Bush-Shrike, Fork-Tailed Drongo, Black-Bellied Starling, Dark-Backed Weaver, Peter’s Twinspot, Red-Billed Fire-Finch, Black-and-White Mannikin.