Zimbabwe Gweru 2004_02_07 (1 Viewer)

[Zimbernard]

Total no records 72
BIRD Roberts No
Cattle Egret 71
Squacco Heron 72
Hammerkop 81
Saddlebilled Stork 88
Whitefaced Duck 99
Whitebacked Duck 101
Egyptian Goose 102
African Black Duck 105
Whitebacked Vulture 123
Steppe Eagle 133
Wahlberg's Eagle 135
African Hawk Eagle 137
Steppe Buzzard 149
Montagu's Harrier 166
Eastern Redfooted Kestrel 180
Southern Crowned Crane 209
Redknobbed Coot 228
African Jacana 240
Crowned Plover 255
Blacksmith Plover 258
Wattled Plover 260
Rock Pigeon 349
Redeyed Dove 352
Cape Turtle Dove 354
Laughing Dove 355
Namaqua Dove 356
Meyers Parrot 364
Striped Cuckoo 381
Redfaced Mousebird 426
Brownhooded Kingfisher 435
European Bee-eater 438
Whitefronted Bee-eater 443
Lilacbreasted Roller 447
Scimitarbilled Woodhoopoe 454
Blackcollared Barbet 464
Yellowfronted Tinker Barbet 470
Crested Barbet 473
Rufousnaped Lark 494
Flappet Lark 496
Black Crow 547
Pied Crow 548
Arrowmarked Babbler 560
Blackeyed Bulbul 568
Terrestrial Bulbul 569
Kurrichane Thrush 576
Familiar Chat 589
Heughlin's Robin 599
Whitethroat 620
Barthroated Apalis 645
Yellowbellied Eremomela 653
Fantailed Cisticola 664
Rattling Cisticola 672
Tawnyflanked Prinia 683
Black Flycatcher 694
Marico Flycatchatcher 695
Mousecoloured Flycatcher 696
Cape Wagtail 713
Grassveld Pipit 716
Fiscal Shrike 732
Redbacked Shrike 733
Longtailed Shrike 735
Tropical Boubou 737
Threestreaked Tchagra 743
Plumcoloured Starling 761
Greyheaded Sparrow 804
Spottedbacked Weaver 811
Lesser Masked Weaver 815
Red Bishop 824
Yellowbacked Widow 830
Blue Waxbill 844
Blackthroated Canary 870
Rock Bunting 886


Gwer/Somabhula
Clear Water Farm
Sat, Feb 7, 2004



Observers
Bernard Beekes
Nome Beekes
Kevin Barry
Jon Barry
Carol Williams
Charles Forder
Mary Forder
Brian Lawry
Betty Lawry

 

[mcdowella]

There seem to have been some political and agricultural changes in Zimbabwe. Has this affected the bird life, or the practicalities of going birdwatching?

 

[david kelly]

I've passed through Gweru one or twice but always on my way to Harare. Do you have Boulder Chats on your farm?

 

[Zimbernard]

Hi David, AG Mc D (sorry dont know your first name) thanks for the comments. There does not seem much traffic down here in this part of the web site. Or in Zimbabwe for that matter. What is it like birding here? Like everything here, it is Alice in Wonderland... Schizophrenic..... potentially lethal or GBH at any time.... yet the birding is sublime.

The turmoil in the country has had some strange effects. Commercial farmlands have largely been emptied of people & animals, and replaced by small patches of slash & burn type habitation. Large areas of the country are now fallow where before there was intensive grazing. There has been a major increase in small seed eaters. Dying cattle have led to a spread & increase in the vulture population. Birds are being hunted much more widely. Anything that can be killed & eaten is being killed, especially Francolin & similar sized birds. The last colony of hiveld Carmine Bee-eaters in the high country is being eaten. Populations of Wattled Cranes are under threat due to interference in their breeding habitats. Pied crows have lots more rubbish to eat.

We live in interesting times here, & I dont want to live anywhere else. Nature has an answer for everything. Despite the grief & stress, it is marvelous to see this saga unfolding in front of me. As time and bad communications permit I will keep posting here

 

[Zimbernard]

I've passed through Gweru one or twice but always on my way to Harare. Do you have Boulder Chats on your farm?

I dont live on the farm any more, My wife & I live in Gweru Town. Yes we did have Boulder Chats on the farm. This reclusive and sedom seen bird is widepread in the rocky hillsides aroun Gweru

 

[pete woodall]

Hi Bernard

Is that the Carmine Bee-eaters on the Umfuli R, near
Beatrice (sorry old names!)?? If so, I visited it many
years ago and took some of my first bird photos there,
published in a mag "Rhodesia Calls".

Go well, shamwari

Pete Woodall (an ex-Zimbo)

 

[Zimbernard]

Hi Bernard

Is that the Carmine Bee-eaters on the Umfuli R, near
Beatrice (sorry old names!)?? If so, I visited it many
years ago and took some of my first bird photos there,
published in a mag "Rhodesia Calls".

Go well, shamwari

Pete Woodall (an ex-Zimbo)

Sorry Pete


The colony on the Mfuli river at Beatrice has been gone for about 10 to 15 years.......People presure. The colony I am talking about ± 400 breeding pairs is about 20 km north of Mvuma. At the moment it is a no go area, so I dont know what is goin on there

 

[david kelly]

I dont live on the farm any more, My wife & I live in Gweru Town. Yes we did have Boulder Chats on the farm. This reclusive and sedom seen bird is widepread in the rocky hillsides aroun Gweru

Sorry to hear that.

I loved Zimbabwe, what a beautiful country. My wife's sister and her family lived in Mount Pleasant in Harare then Christon Bank. In CB she had Boulder Chats in her garden. They have now moved to Amsterdam and miss Zimbabwe a lot.

All the best

David

 

[pete woodall]

Ahh Christon Bank. A dear old friend, Ronnie Rankin,
built a house there. He lost a leg, arm and finger to
a croc on the Zambesi.

He was also a grat bird man, in the old Checklist of SR
by Smithers, Irwin & Pattrerson he is mentioned for quite a few new records.

I went on a couple of school expeditions with him.

Cheers

Pete