While my knowledge of the country remains limited, please feel free to contact me with any questions as you plan your trip. Although I'm excited to be moving on to birding in Brazil, I'm disappointed to leave this compelling and complicated country so soon.
Introduction: Birding Tanzania
While my knowledge of the country remains limited, please feel free to contact me with any questions as you plan your trip. Although I'm excited to be moving on to birding in Brazil, I'm disappointed to leave this compelling and complicated country so soon.
Wami Mbiki Wildlife Management Area: June 4-5, 2011
Notable birds seen: Black-Headed Heron, Hamerkop, Hadada Ibis, Bateleur, Allen’s Gallinule, African Jacana, Buff-Crested Bustard, Emerald-Spotted Wood-Dove, Ring-Necked Dove, Brown-Headed Parrot, White-Browed Coucal, Striped Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, Swallow-Tailed Bee-Eater, Racket-Tailed Roller, Green Wood-Hoopoe, African Hoopoe, Pale-Billed Hornbill, Southern Ground-Hornbill, Black-Collared Barbet, Brown-Breasted Barbet, Cardinal Woodpecker, African Pied Wagtail, White-Headed Black Chat, Rattling Cisticola, Miombo Wren-Warbler, Pale Flycatcher, Pale Batis, Arrow-Marked Babbler, Rufous-Bellied Tit, African Penduline-Tit, Scarlet-Chested Sunbird, Black-Backed Puffback, Brown-Crowned Tchagra, Grey-Headed Bush-Shrike, White-Crested Helmet-Shrike, Retz’s Helmet-Shrike, Fork-Tailed Drongo, African Black-Headed Oriole, Yellow-Throated Petronia.
Crowned Eagle Gallery
Although somewhat smaller in size and wingspan than the Martial Eagle, the continent's largest eagle, the Crowned Eagle is certainly Africa's most powerful bird of prey. With massive talons and strong hindlegs, this forest-dwelling eagle is capable of killing a wide range of mammals, including smaller ungulates like Bushbuck. Recalling the Harpy Eagle, the apex avian predator of South America, the Crowned Eagle is mostly sedentary, taking a stealthy still-hunt approach from its perch on a tree branch. Unlike the Harpy Eagle, it makes a noisy display flight to mark its territory, making it much more likely to be seen on a birding trip. Aimee and I encountered this spectacular mating pair on our first day at Arusha National Park, not far from the Ngurdoto gate. We watched them from the car for an hour as they stalked a troop of monkeys, perhaps the highlight of my time birding Tanzania.
Udzungwa Mountains National Park: May 28-29, 2011
Notable birds seen: Palm-Nut Vulture, Yellowbill, Trumpeter Hornbill, Livingstone’s Turaco, Green-Backed Woodpecker, Livingstone’s Flycatcher, Black-and-White Shrike Flycatcher, Grey Cuckoo-Shrike, Uluguru Violet-Backed Sunbird, Olive Sunbird, Retz’s Helmet-Shrike, Fork-Tailed Drongo, Dark-Backed Weaver.
Book Review: Birds and Animals of the Serengeti, Princeton University Press


Kilombero Floodplains: May 28, 2011

Update: I was discussing my observations with some other birders who know the region quite well, and they said that the cisticola I saw from the canoe on several occasions was almost certainly the White-Tailed and not the Winding Cisticola. In fact, no one has recorded the Winding Cisticola in the area. You'll have to look carefully at the tail, then, for the white U-shape around the sides and base.
Notable birds seen: Common Squacco Heron, Striated Heron, Black-Headed Heron, African Open-Billed Stork, African Fish Eagle, Lizard Buzzard, Water Thick-Knee, White-Crowned Lapwing, White-Browed Coucal, Speckled Mousebird, Striped Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, Malachite Kingfisher, Little Bee-Eater, White-Fronted Bee-Eater, Lilac-Breasted Roller, Crowned Hornbill, Lesser Swamp Warbler, Winding Cisticola, Grey-Headed Sparrow, Kilombero Weaver, African Golden Weaver, Red-Collared Widowbird, Fan-Tailed Widowbird, Yellow Bishop, White-Winged Widowbird, Black-Winged Bishop, Zanzibar Red Bishop, Zebra Waxbill.
Pugu Hills: May 22, 2011
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.
Mikumi National Park: May 13-15, 2011
Notable birds seen: Hamerkop, Saddle-Billed Stork, Open-Billed Stork, Woolly-Necked Stork, Bateleur, Brown Snake-Eagle, Black-Headed Heron, Grey Heron, Black-Bellied Bustard, Red-Necked Spurfowl, Long-Tailed Fiscal, Southern Cordon-Bleu, Egyptian Goose, White-Faced Whistling Duck, African Grey Hornbill, Southern Ground Hornbill, Grey Kestrel, Grey-Headed Kingfisher, Striped Kingfisher, Crowned Lapwing, Blacksmith Lapwing, Flappet Lark, Yellow-Throated Longclaw, Red-Billed Oxpecker, Yellow-Billed Oxpecker, Brown-Headed Parrot, Three-Banded Plover, Green-Winged Pytilia, Lilac-Breasted Roller, Fischer's Sparrow-Lark, White-Browed Sparrow-Weaver, Greater Blue-Eared Starling, Superb Starling, Marabou Stork, Beautiful Sunbird, Scarlet-Chested Sunbird, Water Thick-Knee, Crimson-Rumped Waxbill, African White-Backed Vulture, Broad-Tailed Paradise-Whydah, Pin-Tailed Whydah, Fan-Tailed Widowbird, Green Wood-Hoopoe, White-Winged Widowbird, Zanzibar Red-Bishop.
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