Botswana (mostly) (1 Viewer)

Late September/early October we went on a trip to the Okavango delta. This was originally organised by a group of ladies from the local Tennis Club, including my better half. When I asked if I could join them, they all said "no!" However a few months later I was invited to join them, and jumped at the chance!
Let me make it clear from the start: this was not a birding trip, so don't expect too much!
We flew overnight (on an A380 with LOTS of people on it!) to Johannesburg, where we had to check out, collect our bags and then check back in again - BA doesn't have a reciprocal arrangement with Air Botswana. Anyway we had plenty of time before our lunchtime flight to Maun. The bird list however started right away: A few Grey-headed Gulls drifted over, and a Common Myna went the other way. A Wagtail flew up and onto a roof where I couldn't see it, but I put it down as a Cape Wagtail, looked too small for African Pied.... Also around the Terminal buildings were a few Rock Martins.
Finally we had a bus ride to our plane and saw a juvenile Blacksmith's Lapwing miles from any suitable habitat! So, not even in Botswana yet and 3 new species!
The flight to Maun took 2 hours, and pretty much all we saw was a severely dry, scorched landscape of scrub/ half desert! As we walked to the small terminal building, (we were left out -under shade - for a while, and I saw another Blacksmith's Lapwing fly out onto the airfield) we started to experience why everything was so scorched - the temperature was in the high 30's and has been so for several months!
As we cleared immigration we met our guide - the amazing Solomon, and the rest of the group - 12 of us, and I'm the only birder! The first Lilac-breasted Roller is on a nearby gantry, and some Buffalo-weavers nests are in an acacia tree - no birds attending. We mount our transport for the next two weeks - an open-sided twelve-seater wildlife viewing Land Cruiser. On the way to the hotel - Solomon tells us it's ok - it's only three hours!! 10 mins later, and Fork-tailed Drongo and Laughing Dove in the bag, we are at the Sedia riverside hotel. Slightly disappointingly, there is a huge local wedding in the garden, banishing any birds, and filling the pool with the local children!

I'll add the walk to the river in my next update.

There were Lots of Babblers around the Hotel, mostly Arrow-marked, but also a few Black-faced Babblers. Red-eyed Doves and Laughing Doves were also present. After a quick dip in the pool to cool down, I headed down to the river, finding the gate locked - they have it fenced off to keep the Hippos out at night. So I wandered through the large campsite and added Southern Red-billed Hornbill, more Drongos, another cracking Lilac-breasted Roller, a Senegal Coucal, some Weavers (pics directly) and in or close to the river, the first African Fish Eagle, a Buzzard Sp (Steppe seems the only candidate) several African jacanas, a few Little Grebes, an African Darter, and a Little Egret. One of the campers turned out to be a German birder who asked me what I had seen and he generally agreed that was about what he had seen. I asked about Carmine Bee-eater and he promptly showed me pics of thousands at a colony up at the east end of the Caprivi Strip, which we were to pass through soon.... He also showed me some (poor) shots of Pel's Fishing Owl in a similar location. He wasn't sure if I would see either when I told him where I was going! On my way back to the Hotel, I met one of the Tennis team, and we went back to the gate to find it was only hooked back, not locked! So in we went!
Good move! Almost the first birds in the slightly swampy river were several pairs of African Pygmy Geese. Very pretty! A few White-faced Whistling Duck sat looking back at us. A Western Cattle Egret flew downstream. The Starling appeared to be Greater Blue Eared Glossy, but looking back I think many of the early ones I saw had very long tails and were Meve's Starlings. Suddenly Thrushes appeared and no birdbook! Did get some acceptable shots though and later confirmed them as Kurrichane and Groundscraper Thrushes. Also seen in the river habitat: Black Crake, Pied Kingfisher, Lesser Jacana, Squacco Heron, Striated Heron, Hammerkop, African Openbill Stork, Wood Sandpiper, and several handsome adult Blacksmith's Lapwings, some alarming and giving away the presence of their small chicks. A small flock of Southern Pied Babblers flew away from us in the riverside trees. Also there was a Red-faced Mousebird.
On our way back to the Hotel we also came across several Red-billed Spurfowl, A few Holub's Golden Weavers
and a surprise Orange-breasted Bush-shrike, identified from a picture I took thinking it was a Weaver sp!
The first mammal of the trip was Tree Squirrel - a couple crossed the track in font of us.
A very colourful bird flew across in front of us - clearly a Barbet, and then mated while I was getting the camera ready, then both flew off, before the camera was ready.... grrr... Black-collared Barbet.
Back around the hotel gardens (now clear of wedding guests!) an African Hoopoe, Emerald Spotted Wood-dove, Black-backed Puffback, African red-eyed Bulbul, (and Dark-headed Bulbul). Yellow-billed Kite and African Palm Swift were above the tree tops. So list up to about 46 on day one of a non-birding holiday!

ah, John, I have been waiting for and looking forward to, the commencement of your Botswana thread :t:

I shall not tell Rob that I am reading it.... his wallet is already lined up for enough of a bashing :t::t:

A few early shots:
1 Our trusty plane to Maun
2 Where we waited - look at that sky - 35+ degrees!
3 Blacksmith's Lapwing
4 Holub's Golden Weaver (I think!)
5 Orange-breasted Bush-shrike

Around the hotel and along the river:
1 Fork-tailed Drongo
2 Tree Squirrel - our first mammal of the trip
3 Kurrichane Thrush enjoying a sprinkler
4 Groundscraper Thrush
5 African Pygmy Goose - poor quality shot - apols!

Lovely John.
These set the scene nicely.
Did you self identify the birds ?

With the aid of the SASOL guide to the birds of South Africa. Most of the birds I've seen before.

After a long day travelling not many of us were up late - especially as Solomon warned us of a very long day on the road in the morning.
Woken by a dawn chorus including Babblers (not particularly lovely unless you like screeching!) and the delightful sound of Heuglin's Robin or White-browed Robin Chat as it is now known. This is one of the world's best songsters. Didn't see it, but am including a shot of one I did see when we returned:

1 White-browed Robin Chat
2 Ostrich - along the road, not sure if these were wild or farmed...
3 Southern Carmine Bee-eater - so much for the German birder!
4 Crimson-breasted Shrike - this and the Bee-eaters were at a petrol stop!
5 Puncture! Solomon had it fixed in 15 mins

The drive was indeed long (360kms) and hot and the main stops were to avoid Cows, Goats and Donkeys on or crossing the road! During the puncture stop I had a few minutes to look in the surrounding trees and found Grey-backed Cameroptera and a delightful male White-bellied Sunbird - too fast for photos sadly! Drongos and Hornbills were common over and around the road on the drive, as were Starlings - with long tails - Meve's Starlings I guess! Saw quite a few Larks too, but at 80kph they remained unidentified. The only other stop was at a small river crossing where Little Egret and Pied Kingfisher showed. In addition to the Bee-eaters and Shrike (pics above) at the diesel stop, there were Yellow-billed Hornbill, Southern Grey-headed Sparrows and White-browed Sparrow Weavers in a tree creating a lot of noise! We went clockwise around the delta and at lake Ngami (dry) turned right towards Namibia. All the way to Shakawe near the border. Here we met the lovely Kaiser who runs the Houseboat where we stayed for the next 3 nights.

1 Houseboat with excursion craft..
2 Giant Kingfisher - right next to us
3 White-fronted Bee-eater - feeding young in a small colony next to us.
4 Chin-spot Batis - hiding as usual
5 Wire-tailed Swallow - a pair was breeding under the back of the boat and followed us up and down the river.

We idled away much of the afternoon after settling and lunch aboard. The trees next to the houseboat were quite productive: Chinspot Batis (see pic above) a large flock of African Yellow White-eye, Pin-tailed Whydah, Swamp Boubou, a single Brown Firefinch, several Little Bee-eaters along with both Carmine and the White-fronted. Over the river and extensive red-beds were Pied, Giant, Malachite and African Dwarf Kingfishers, Reed (Long-tailed) Cormorant, Hammerkop, our first of many African Fish Eagle (gotta love that call!), then in the later afternoon we slipped our mooring and headed upstream to moor next to the river and right amongst the wildlife! Moving along there were a few African Marsh Harriers, Water Thick-knee, Long-toed Lapwing, Tawny-flanked Prinia, Black-shouldered Kite, African Mourning Dove, Purple Heron and Black-crowned Night Heron.

1 African Mourning Dove
2 Water Thick-knee
3 Tough Assignment this!
4 Sunset over the western Okavango River.

Love the striking plumages, John.
What kind of camera are you using please ?

Jon Turner said:

After a long day travelling not many of us were up late - especially as Solomon warned us of a very long day on the road in the morning.
Woken by a dawn chorus including Babblers (not particularly lovely unless you like screeching!) and the delightful sound of Heuglin's Robin or White-browed Robin Chat as it is now known. This is one of the world's best songsters. Didn't see it, but am including a shot of one I did see when we returned:

1 White-browed Robin Chat
2 Ostrich - along the road, not sure if these were wild or farmed...
3 Southern Carmine Bee-eater - so much for the German birder!
4 Crimson-breasted Shrike - this and the Bee-eaters were at a petrol stop!
5 Puncture! Solomon had it fixed in 15 mins

Click to expand...

It's a Nikon P520 Carol, I needed a lightweight camera to take round the world last year, and I've always liked Nikon so it won out over the Canon at the time. It has some frustrating quirks but I'm not a real photographer so I just point and hope really!

Next day we headed back south and off to the west to visit Tsodilo Hills. This is a World Heritage Site for it's amazing Rock Art, which has been there for 4,000 years! It is very well looked after by the locals, to the extent that people are no longer allowed to live within about a kilometre of the hills to ensure that there is no human disturbance around the hills. There are many legends about how the hills came to be: they are the only high ground for many many miles. The Paintings are frankly astonishing, depicting mostly animals which are still recognisable today. We were guided around the site by the delightful Gunther - a true Kalahari native whose soft spoken speech belied a deep love of the long history that exists here.

1 The amazing Gunther
2 Various antelopes
3 More on a high slab - Eland and Giraffe
4 Whale and Penguin!! They clearly had communication with the coast!
5 There's an interpretive centre too.
Well worth a visit.

There were a few birds around Tsodilo too:

1 Grey Go-away Bird or Lourie
A small water tank attracted a few species:
2 Cape Glossy Starling and Blue Waxbill
3 More Starlings, Louries, and Red-eyed African Bulbuls.
4 White Crested Helmet-shrike - 3 of these joined us for lunch, which we ate in a cave-mouth used by the locals 4000 years ago!

Back to the river, we cruised gently back upstream to the houseboat, and this beast appeared out of the reeds not far from the boat!; the birds were in a tree very close by! That's a Little Bee-eater on the left. They're not hungry - they're panting in the heat!

In addition to the birds seen at Tsodilo, I added African Paradise Flycatcher, Meyer's Parrot, Wahlberg's Eagle, Broad-billed Roller, Crowned Lapwing, Little Sparrowhawk, Marabou Stork, Red-billed Oxpecker. Fish Eagles were regular along the river, and another quality sunset spoilt completely by my photo:

Next day we were on the houseboat and had two outings along the river in the small boat. During the hot part of the day we cruised upstream in the houseboat and moored where it seemed there was no-one anywhere!

1 These two Hippos got quite inquisitive!
2 Some of the Fish Eagles allowed close approach
3 Western Banded Snake Eagle
4 White-faced Whistling Duck and Spur-winged Goose
5 Lots of African Skimmers - but not actually skimming!

Other things seen from the boats were:
Cape Clawless Otter
Several Nile Crocodiles - mostly quite small!
Water Monitor - some huge!

Birds included: Black-winged Pratincole, Black-winged Stilt, Coppery-tailed Coucal, Brown-throated Sand Martin, Black-headed Heron, African Sacred Ibis, Great Egret, Goliath Heron, Greater Swamp Warbler, Banded Martin, Ruff, Red-knobbed Coot, Red-billed Teal, Spur-winged Goose, Egyptian Goose, African Spoonbill, Yellow-billed Stork, Burchell's Sandgrouse, Greenshank, Turnstone (!), Whiskered Tern, Common Sandpiper, Intermediate Egret, Knob-billed Duck, South African Cliff Swallow.
A useful haul!

Next day we had a morning ride up almost to the Namibian border, and then the houseboat was taken back to base, and we had a final cruise in the small boat downstream. Neither Solomon or Sam (our captain for the evening) told us what we might see!

So we set off downstream and I soon had Greater Striped Swallow over the river, a good start. A little further on we found this riverside embankment full of holes:

This was quite a wow moment for everyone - even the non-birders!
Here are the residents: There are more than 100 Carmine Bee-eaters in this pic!

A little further downstream were a number of huge riverside trees. I thought these looked good for a roosting Eagle Owl perhaps and was busy scanning the inside of the high parts of the trees when another boat approached from downstream, with just the pilot/guide and one occupant complete with large lens. They nudged into the riverbank and got out. Not before Sam had had a conversation in Bantu with the other captain. I saw the bird they were after high in one of the trees but Sam saw another, lower, and accessible to us all! Here it is; no prizes for guessing how excited I was! It's a PEL'S FISHING OWL!