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I apologise in advance for the length of this blog… but I'm rather proud of this one.
Following Neil Baker's alert to keep an eye out for Madagascar Squacco Herons, last Sunday I decided to visit a small wetland on the fringes of Akagera that had been recommended to me by Eric Rusini, one of the Akagera guides. The wetland, which is next to a village called Kageyo, just 5km north of the south entrance to Akagera Park (at grid reference 1°50'55.83"S+30°40'1.45"E), provided me with possibly the best day's birding I've ever had in my life. 100 species within only 3 square kilometres, including 8 new ones for me in Rwanda, 5 of which proved to be lifers. Given how much birding I've done in this part of the country, this was an unbelievable tally. Around the village there is good acacia and miombo mixed woodland, and there are several dams, reedbeds, flooded grasslands, drier grasslands and small areas of agriculture. This variety of habitat proved to be the key to the diversity of species.
The day started with me being dropped off by a moto taxi just before 7am. A light mist was clearing from the valley, and the mozzies were still peckish. Perfect birding time. The first dam proved to be typical of E. Rwanda: Black Crake, Black-headed, Village and Lesser Masked Weavers breeding. Little more. Brief calls from what was probably a Lesser Swamp Warbler went unconfirmed. All around were the ubiquitous Common Bulbuls, Red-eyed and Ring-necked Doves. Other species here included Lesser Striped Swallow, Common Waxbill and Ruppell's Starling; all very common. A Woodland Kingfisher was the first notable. As I moved away from the dam into open woodland I came across a massive feeding party. Birds were almost falling over each other: Apart from the above mentioned starlings and weavers, Slate-coloured Boubou, Red-cheeked Cordon Bleu and Green-winged Pytilia were most evident. Then came the first treat of the day, one of my all-time personal favourites, a pair of Crested Barbets, splendid in the early morning light, showing well for photos – strange for a species that in my previous experience is normally very wary of people. Pic at http://kilnsey.tripod.com/crested_barbet.jpg This was followed quickly by Black-backed Puffback, Green-backed Woodpecker, Brown-throated Wattle-eye (including the strangely coloured juvenile), Sharpe's Pied Babbler (Black-lored if you prefer), Arrow-marked Babbler, Golden-breasted Bunting, Sulphur-breasted Bush-Shrike and Chinspot Batis. Tons of birds. I didn't know where to point my bins. Wonderful activity. As I paused to get photos of some of these gems, I heard several birds put out a `predator call' and saw a Little Sparrowhawk fly over closely followed by a Lilac-breasted Roller sounding the alarm.
Other species quickly followed (was this a feeding party, or just sh*t-loads of birds – not sure?) including Cardinal Woodpecker, Meyer's Parrot, Marico Sunbird, Yellow-fronted Canary, African Grey Hornbill and Southern Black Flycatcher.
A local boy stopped to watch what I was doing. Kids have been a very lucky omen to me here in Rwanda, and today's spectator didn't let me down. A small LBJ that flew over towards this boy turned out on closer scrutiny to be my first Pale Wren-warbler (Miombo Wren-warbler by some taxonomies). Smashing views as I chatted to the lad and tried in vain to explain that the bird was far more interesting than the muzungu. Soon after, in an area where intense grazing had reduced the tree cover to dense clumps I found E. Black-headed Oriole, Violet-backed Starling, Red-headed Weaver, White-browed Robin-chat and Red-capped Robin-chat; my first ever record for this species, which is not common in Rwanda. Given the time of year, this bird may be migrating somewhere; the habitat was hardly typical for the species. I climbed up to a local ridge top where the birds were having another party. As well as many of the above I added Tropical Boubou, Yellow-breasted Apalis, Green-backed Camaroptera and a fleeting glimpse of what might have been only my 2nd record of Splendid Starling for Rwanda, but not confirmed. From the ridge top I spotted the shallow lake that Eric had mentioned. Several trees among the reeds, heavy with Sacred Ibis and egrets told me that this was going to be a good-un. I descended towards the lake, passing an alarming number of villagers deforesting the acacia on the way, and a pair of Long-crested Eagles that seemed very tame.
When I came to the lake, I was flabbergasted. So far in Rwanda I've been very disappointed by the lack of volume and diversity of waterbirds on and around bodies of water, but here it was the opposite. Within a few minutes I counted 80 Sacred Ibis, 20 Cattle Egret, 30 Hadada Ibis and lots of Openbill Storks, Great White and Intermediate Egrets. Closer scans revealed Grey and Black-headed Herons. Pic at http://kilnsey.tripod.com/kageyo.jpg Behind me Laughing Doves and Bare-faced Go-away Birds were perched on the acacia scraps. I moved slowly closer towards the trees, my ankles already immersed in the mud, and flushed African Wattled Lapwings and then the `star' of the day: Madagascar Squacco/Pond Heron. One bird took off 10m in front of me with a tasteful `squark' to settle in the first Sacred Ibis tree. I nearly wet myself, then I did wet myself. I managed to get poor, but ID-able photos and settled down to enjoyed this precious rarity through my bins. Pic at http://kilnsey.tripod.com/madagascar_squacco_heron.jpg I lost myself in this bird for a few minutes, until I was distracted by something spooking all the birds; I think it was just an African Fish Eagle flying over, but it sent up a good 200 birds, including large flocks of White-faced Whistling Ducks, Red-billed Teals and smaller numbers of Knob-billed Ducks, Spur-winged Geese and Egyptian Geese as well as many egret and heron species. By now I had 65 species and it wasn't even 9am!
Seeing nice ungrazed grasslands upstream of this wetland, I began to squidge my way along the edge of the reeds. Black Kite loped over, as he does, and Malachite Kingfishers squabbled among the reeds. Then, bloody hell, Rufous-bellied Heron… up and off; followed by Dwarf Bittern… up and off; different direction. Then another 2 Madagascar Squaccos… up and off. Couldn't they space themselves out a bit more? My eyes were hurting by now… No let up: My first 3-banded Plover for Rwanda (surprisingly not at all common here), Zitting Cisticola up above, another Madagascar Squacco and then a Long-tailed Cormorant overhead and I needed a rest to get a grip. I think my fingers were trembling (I don't get out enough). I crossed over the valley – luckily the marsh was fairly shallow - and sat down under a tree to enjoy a litre of water and a pair of Tawny-flanked Prinias who helped to calm me down. I checked what I'd seen. I'd already had 3 good days' birding in 1 day.
I stood up, ready for a pterodactyl, which I didn't get, but the birds kept coming on, almost in display: African Marsh Harrier, African Jacana, Fan-tailed Widowbird, Squacco Heron, Bateleur overhead. By now I'd reached the edge of the village where I had a quick chat with some of the locals about the birds. They also seemed to be quite fond of them. I showed pics in Stevenson & Fanshawe and they pointed at everything between pages 18 and 46 and nodded. Yes, that's all here. All of them? Yep! Names for a lot of them too. Didn't have a pic of a pterodactyl to show, unfortunately, however, I'd guess they'd probably confirm that one too. After the village the birds began to slow down a bit as the warmth began to take hold. Just below the dam I got my first Striated Heron for Rwanda. A little further along Blue-naped Mousebirds in the acacias and Grey Crowned Cranes in the valley. I stumbled upon a mid-day luncheon party including Red-face Crombec, Buff-bellied Warbler, juvenile E. Black-headed Oriole and several of the species mentioned above. Quick harsh cries alerted me to the presence of a Grey-headed Kingfisher, which turned out to be a juvenile before it disappeared: another first for me in Rwanda. As I moved downstream of the dam, I noticed more sedge and less grass in the valley, so I popped back to renew the squelch in my boots. Little Rush Warbler, Bronze Mannikin and Red-billed Firefinch were all added to the list down here. Feet cooled, I headed back into the acacia to stumble upon a Pearl-spotted Owlet with a massive rat-thing (that's not an official species) that seemed to be almost as big as the owl. Not wanting to spook it from its hard-earned prey, I took a couple of quick photos and left it alone with the 30 or so birds that were giving it aggro. Who'd want to be a Pearl-spotted Owlet? It must feel like it's David Beckham sometimes. Pic at http://kilnsey.tripod.com/owlet.jpg
Better start a new paragraph. Anyway I was completely knackered by now. It was after 1pm and I was at over 80 species. I found a thick tree to sit under to have lunch. I fell asleep for a nap afterwards and was woken by alarm cries above. A dark morph Gabar Goshawk was in a nearby tree and gave good views when I finally found my bins just in time to enjoy the mad dash of its hunting flight; back and forth through the trees, first on the trail of a Sulphur-breasted Bush Shrike, then a Green-winged Pytilia. However, it didn't manage to get either of these and it eventually stopped in a high tree for a rest.
It was past 2 and I had to start back to make my rendezvous with the moto driver at 4. The way back, as always, seemed less eventful. A lot of birds for the heat of the afternoon but little new, except a lone Village Indigobird looking for firefinches. An hour later I was approaching the rendezvous site in fairly open, well-grazed savannah when I saw it…
OK. For many people Magagascar Squacco would be the highlight of this trip, but at this point my weird little world stood still. A bird I'd only ever seen in books, incredulous, never really expected to see, took off in front of me. It was one of my dream species. And the sighting was more than I could ever hope for. A male Pennant-winged Nightjar in full breeding plumage took flight from the ground 10 metres in front of me. Like a gigantic moth; not graceful, but as ungainly in flight as I was on my feet at this moment. I could even hear the wind through its swollen primaries as it tried to fly off in its remarkable baroque garb and find another place to settle. I don't mind admitting my eyes watered at this point. Only a few seconds, but utterly unmistakable, impossible to ever forget. Pennant-winged Nightjar. I was in the club. Wonderful. How can nature or Darwin or God do that? How could it exist? It really does exist. Really. I doubled back round the bush where it had disappeared and flushed it again. This time I got it in my bins in flight. It even flew like a moth; flap, flap, glide, so buoyant on the wing it appeared to flap up as much as down. To the right, then back to the left and it was gone. Down the hill another child was watching me… lucky charms for sure.
My moto driver was a good 90 minutes late, allowing me to add a few species I had somehow missed to my list; Emerald-spotted Wood Dove, Rock Martin, Spot-flanked Barbet, Grey-headed Sparrow and Yellow-billed Stork coming in to roost over the dam where I'd started my day 10 hours earlier. Exactly 100 species, and all within a few square kilometres. My moto arrived just as the mozzies were starting to attack, and off we went. I can't think of a better day's birding in my life. Smashing.
If anyone's still reading, you know what I mean.
Jason Anderson
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