Zakouma 2015: Returning to Wildest Africa in Style

[inyathi]

Egyptian Plover

 

There were a few birds that I particularly wanted to see this time and one that I wanted to see more than most, was the beautiful Egyptian plover (Pluvianus aegyptius), having only caught the briefest glimpse of one last year, that flew past while we were watching a pride of lions on the Salamat.

 

This is what I wrote in last year's report

 

Quote

Soon after we’d arrived with the lions an unmistakable bird, with black and white wings shot passed and disappeared down the river, damn it I thought that was an Egyptian plover, one of the birds I most wanted to see, having never seen one before. This strikingly beautiful riverine species is found right across the Sahel region from Senegal to western Ethiopia and Eritrea, apart from one location in the very far north of Uganda, it doesn’t come down into East Africa. According to a legend dating back to Herodotus, they are said to pick scraps of meat from between the teeth of basking crocodiles, but there’s is no actual evidence of this. Much as I might have liked to chase after this avian beauty, I could hardly ask my companions to abandon the lions, besides our chances of finding it again were very slim. If I’d known and had some bird recordings with me, I could have tried to call it back in, though whether it would have been keen to land amidst a pride of lions, I’m not sure. Although slightly frustrating that the bird had disappeared, I was more than happy to watch the lions, content that I had at least seen the ‘crocodile bird’, if only briefly.

 

 

 

That very brief view, made me all the keener to see one this time, having heard that some of the guides on the recce trips, had been very excited to get excellent views of their first ever Egyptian plovers, right in front of their camp on the Salamat I knew I had a good chance this time. On the day that we transferred from Camp Nomade at Rigueik to our fly camp on the Salamat, we stopped at a spot on the river that we had visited last year and crept up to some trees on the river bank and there over the other side in perfect view, was the crocodile bird.

 

 

 

This is as close as this one got to proving the crocodile bird legend true

 

 

 

 

It’s no wonder the African Bird Club chose this strikingly beautiful bird as their logo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I said back near the start, that my photos were taken with an EOS 70D and a 100-400 MKII lens, however, to take a couple of shots of which this last one is one of them, I added a 1.4 x extender, normally this disables the autofocus, but not if you put a little bit of tape over the pins on the extender. I didn’t bother to use the extender at other times, because while the autofocus works, it hunts a lot, so on balance I prefer not to use it, in this case though I thought it might be worth it, as this is such a special bird. I have also cropped photos as the plover is not the biggest of birds.

Edited March 9, 2021 by inyathi

[pault]

How did I miss the quelas? Outstanding! You got a bit obsessed there but it's really easy to see why from the results. Being inside the colony with you is a treat! Enjoying the rest of the birds with your reportage too. Seriously impressive.

[wilddog]

This report has gone from strength to strength.

 

The detail you have provided on all the species is very valuable, particularly to those who know a bit less than you ( i.e.me) about them all. All the photos you have provided to show these are excellent.

 

Many of species I have not and may never see personally, so your efforts are greatly appreciated @@inyathi .

 

I have learnt so much form this and enjoyed the ride.

 

Thank you

[inyathi]

Clapperton’s Francolin

 

Another bird I’d really hoped to see on last year's trip, was Clapperton’s francolin (Francolinus clappertoni), a pedominantly Sahelo-Sudanian savanna species distributed from the Mali/Niger border east to Eritrea and Ethiopia, in East Africa it only occurs in the northeast of Uganda from Kidepo NP south towards Mt. Elgon. My experience in other parts of Africa, is that francolins are usually quite common and not that difficult to see and as this is the only species on the Zakouma list, I felt we would be sure to see at least a few. However, the most I saw last year was really just the movement as a bird disappeared behind a bush, Michael Lorentz said it was a clapperton’s francolin, but I really didn’t see enough of it to add it to my list. This time I had more luck and we came across a small covey on the road at Rigueik, on our first afternoon, I then assumed that we would be bound to see plenty more, but we didn’t, these were the only ones, but at least this time they made it on to my list.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 23, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

Stone partridge

 

Last year, we had a brief view of a covey of stone partridges (Ptilopachus petrosus), in some very thick tsetse infested bush along the Salamat, while we were lost on our drive down south, the vegetation was too thick, the tsetses were just awful and the birds were moving too quickly to allow for photos. So I was very pleased to see some more of these birds in the open on the road, as we were trying to find our way from our camp at Am Kalam across to Maniam. Stone partridges are distributed right across the Sahel region, from Senegambia to northern Uganda and Kenya and also parts of Eritrea and Ethiopia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

Helmeted Guineafowl

 

Helmeted guineafowl are an extremely common bird of grassland, woodland, savanna and farmland allover Sub-Saharan Africa, formerly they also occurred north of the Sahara in Morocco, but this North African race may be extinct, the last birds were seen in 1975. There are 7 subspecies south of the Sahara and those in Zakouma, belong to the western race (Numida meleagris galeata) their head markings, are quite different to the more familiar races, found in Eastern or Southern Africa.

 

 

 

Guineafowls at Dikere

 

 

 

Edited June 2, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

Black-bellied Bustard

 

There are four species of bustards on the Zakouma list, the Denham’s bustard 9Neotis denhami), Arabian bustard (Ardeotis arabs), northern white-bellied bustard (Eupodotis senegalensis), and the black-bellied (Eupodotis melanogaster), this latter species would appear to be much the most common, as it’s the only one we saw both last year and this year. It is a bird of woodland savannah and grassland right around Sub-Saharan Africa, although we actually spotted one most days, the only photograph I managed to get, was of a female on a night drive at Am Kalam.

 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

Four-banded Sandgrouse

 

The beautiful four-banded sandgrouse (Pterocles quadricinctus). is another Sahel species that occurs from Senegambia to Kenya and Ethiopia and is one of two species in Zakouma, the other is the chestnut-bellied (Pterocles exustus). All of the sandgrouse that we saw were four-banded and we saw them most days though like the bustard, the only photo I got was at night at Am Kalam.

 

 

Female Four-banded Sandgrouse

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by inyathi

[Pennyanne]

@@inyathi Thanks so much for writing this report. I especially appreciate the details on the travel and the camps and the information on the different animals and birds. Zakouma is beautful as well as having an amazing diversity of wildlife in large numbers. It seems to be a perfect safari adventure destination. I'd love to get there some day but as that's not likely I can enjoy it vicariously through your excellent report. Again many thanks for posting this.

[inyathi]

Abyssinian Ground Hornbill

 

There are two species of ground hornbill, the Abyssinian or northern (Bucorvus abyssinicus) which occurs entirely north of the Equator across the Sahel Region from Ethiopia, Northeastern Kenya and Uganda across to Senegambia and then the southern (Bucorvus leadbeateri), from Southern Kenya south to Southeastern South Africa. Male Abyssinians have a raised casque on the bill, blue skin around the eye and red wattles, the females have blue around the eye and blue wattles. Southerns lack the raised casque and have red skin around the eye and red wattles, their calls are also slightly different, though as the two species don’t quite overlap in range, it’s not necessary to be able to distinguish them in the field. They are reasonably common in Zakouma, though we did see rather more of them down in the south of the park

 

 

Female in the Am Douloulou area

 

 

Male and Female

 

 

Family Group

 

 

 

Male at Biherat

 

 

 

 

 

Female at Dikere

Edited June 2, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

Brown-backed Woodpecker

 

This small woodpecker (Picoides obseletus) (or perhaps Dendropicos obseletus), is found right across the Sahel Region from Senegambia to Eritrea and also in Uganda, Kenya and a small part of Northern Tanzania. Sometimes you don’t have to go out to find the birds, sometimes they come to you this bird came into one of the trees around Camp Nomade at Rigueik.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 29, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

Black scimitarbill

 

This small all glossy black scimitarbill (Rhinopomastus aterrimus), is found across the Sahel region from Senegambia to Ethiopia and Northern Uganda, it also occurs in Gabon, Congo Rep. Southwestern DRC and throughout Angola. I saw several of these birds last year, but this time just the one, that very kindly flew into camp at Rigueik.

 

 

 

Edited May 29, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

Rufous-tailed Scrub-robin

 

Also known as the rufous bush chat or rufous bush robin (Cerchotricas galactotes minor), is a common resident right across the Sahel region to Kenya, other races also occur as migrants from the Palearctic, where this species occurs in North Africa, parts of Southern Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. This one was hopping around camp at Rigueik.

 

 

 

Edited May 22, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

Green-backed Eremomela

 

Formerly considered conspecific with the West African Senegal eremomela (Eremomela pusilla), the green-backed (Eremomela canescens), is primarily a Central African savanna species, that ranges from Chad and C.A.R. across to Eritrea and Ethiopia and also Uganda and Western Kenya.

 

 

Edited May 22, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

Woodchat Shrike

 

The woodchat shrike (Lanius senator) is a Palearctic migrant. that breeds in Morocco and from Southern Europe, east to Iran it winters across West and Central Africa to Eritrea and Ethiopia and Northwestern Uganda, it does occur, but is uncommon elsewhere in Uganda and in Kenya. They usually set off on their northward migration in March, but in the Sahel Region, they stay until mid April and even early May, so this bird seen at Dikere, would soon be flying back north over the Sahara to breed.

 

 

 

Edited May 29, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

Searching for barbets

 

In general apart from the white pelicans, the black-crowned cranes and of course the queleas we hadn’t gone out actively searching for specific bird species it was more a question of stopping to look if we saw a bird that looked as if it might be interesting. There was however one species that we did search for the black-breasted barbet Lybius rolleti this is perhaps for birders at least Zakouma’s star bird. We had been told that on our drive down to the south of the park we would pass a number of fig trees and if they were in fruit we should stop and look for the barbet, this is where some of the guides who came to Zakouma had seen this bird however none of these trees were still in fruit. On our return journey we stopped by a fig tree on our way to look at the pelicans at Medjalam however although Darren said that he could see one Squack and I despite walking all the way around the tree couldn’t pick it up, we assumed it either must have flown away or was staying well hidden from view. Giving up I feared that with only another full day and a morning left I would probably leave again without seeing this bird. On our final night of the trip asked Darren if there was enough time for him to take us up on another short flight in the morning before we left the park. I had enjoyed our earlier flight considerably but decided that I wouldn’t go up again while I would have liked to have had the chance to try and take some better photos and videos from the air as I’d messed up many of the ones I took the first time around I though I’d rather have one last game drive with Squack.

 

On our final morning having decided to stay on the ground I learned I would actually have a last chance to go and look for the barbets and that in fact Lorna had just seen some in some fig trees over by Machtour. We headed over that way to have a look, last year I hadn’t seen a single barbet of any species so I was hoping not only to see the black breasted but also the Viellot’s barbet. We tried first walking around one fig tree that was in full leaf so spotting anything was quite a challenge at first it seemed as if the only birds there were rose-ringed parakets Psittacula Kameri being bright green they’re not the easiest birds to see in a very leafy tree. I wasn’t able to photograph the parakeets which we actually saw and certainly heard them quite often during the trip though they were usually flying away, they’re fairly common in Zakouma although nothing like as common as they now are in parts of the UK. This is also a very common species in India, in Africa it is the only parakeet and only occurs naturally across the Sahel Region, last years trip was the first time I’d seen them in Africa. Otherwise there were really just a few long-tailed starlings Lamprotornis caudatus and some green pigeons.

 

 

[inyathi]

Bruce’s Green Pigeon

 

Bruce’s green pigeon (Treron walia) is the northern counterpart of the African green pigeon (Treron calvus), favouring more arid country, it is found across the Sahel region to Ethiopia and in Northern Uganda and the far North of Kenya.

 

 

Edited June 2, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

Vieillot’s Barbet

 

The Vieillot’s barbet (Lybius vielloti) is a close relative of the black-collared barbet (lybius torquatus), that is common in Tanzania, south through much of Southern Africam their distinctive duetting calls are a very evocative sound of Africa familiar to many safari goers. The call of the Viellot’s is really quite similar, something I wasn’t aware of until I heard them calling at Tinga on last years trip, as soon as I heard the calls, I knew it had to be this barbet, but despite looking for them, I wasn’t able to spot one. It is a bird principally of dry woodland, that occurs throughout most of West Africa across Central Africa up to Eritrea and just over the border into Ethiopia, it doesn’t otherwise get into East Africa. I heard their calls quite often again on this trip and had thought that I might leave again without seeing one, this would have been frustrating, however, after a good deal of searching of the fig tree Squack managed to spot one. Just as I was starting to think I must be blind, I eventually managed to spot it.

 

 

 

Edited June 2, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

White-headed Barbet

 

The next barbet I spotted proved to be a white-headed (Lybius leucocephalus), this is a bird I’ve seen before in East Africa, this barbet has a slightly curious distribution with a western population in Nigeria, Cameroon, C.A.R. and Chad, an eastern population in South Sudan, Northeastern D.R.C., Uganda, Western and Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania, with a large gap between the two and then another tiny isolated population in the south of Angola.

 

 

Edited June 2, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird

 

The next barbet to put in an appearance was a yellow-fronted tinkerbird (Pogoniulus chrysoconus), this bird of woodland and savanna, is a widespread species found across Western and Central Africa to the western side of East Africa, south to Angola, Zambia Mozambique and Northeastern South Africa.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 2, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

I was very pleased to have finally seen Viellot’s barbet, had I not done so, I would have hoped that I might see it sometime in the future, if I visit West Africa, however the black-breasted was nowhere to be seen, we drove over to another fig tree, this one had all but lost it’s leaves, but again we had no luck finding the black-breasted. It seemed I would have to resign myself to not seeing this bird, as time had just about run out and we had to return to the airstrip, before we left, there was just time to go and have one last morning coffee with Imogen and Darren at Machtour.

 

 

Edited March 10, 2021 by inyathi

[twaffle]

I'm very pleased that your dedication resulted in some barbet sightings, you must have felt very happy. You have certainly compiled an excellent resource of birds from Zakouma.

[Marks]

I've always liked hornbils; the group shots on the last page are very nice.

[inyathi]

Although I was disappointed to think that I would be leaving Zakouma again, without seeing the black-breasted barbet, I was satisfied we had at least tried our best to look for it and always with birding, nothing can be guaranteed, sometimes you just need a bit of luck or in this case a lot of it.

 

Black-breasted Barbet

 

Where we were stopped having our coffee, was in fact just a short distance from the first fig tree that Squack and I had searched earlier for the barbet, while we stood around chatting, Darren went off to have another look at the tree and soon called out that he had found the barbet, it seemed I might not leave without seeing it after all. The black-breasted barbet (Lybius rolleti) one of the largest African barbets, is for birders really Zakouma’s star bird because of its distribution, this includes some of the unfriendliest parts of Africa. Its range covers a relatively large area of the Eastern Sahel, in a rough arc from Chad into Darfur in Sudan and the North of C.A.R. through South Sudan, the Northeast corner of the D.R.C. and the far north of Uganda.

 

Distribution map

 

Outside of Zakouma NP, really the only safe option to try and see this bird is to go to Uganda and visit the countryside north of Murchison Falls NP or go to Kidepo NP. As a consequence it is a bird, that very few birders have actually seen; none of the birding tours of Uganda that I’ve looked at, go far enough north to find it. That Darren knew where to find it and that we had known where to search for it, was really down to the fact that back in March Callan Cohen who runs the South African company Birding Africa, had visited Zakouma on one of the recce trips. He knew that the secret to finding this bird was to locate fruiting fig trees, it had just been bad luck for us that the trees down in the south, had finished fruiting when we passed them. I had at the time thought that was my one chance to see the barbet gone, it was just pure luck that this tree at Machtour did still have fruit on it. Walking back over to the fig where Darren was, it didn’t take me too long to spot this wonderful bird, although I got good views of it, it didn’t come right into the open to show off the beautiful bright red down the centre of its belly. All the same I was able to get a few photos of it and even if they are not the best, as I really needed a longer lens than my 100-400, they are certainly the only photos of the black-breasted barbet on Flickr and some of the very few on the web, there are I think four photos taken in Uganda and three from Zakouma which were only taken this March, evidence of just how few birders have ever seen this bird.

 

Seeing the black-breasted barbet at the eleventh hour made for an unexpected and almost perfect end to the safari.

 

All of these photos are cropped the last 3 quite heavily

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is one other barbet on the park list, the similar bearded barbet (Lybius dubius), this is a species of the Western Sahel, I’m not sure if and when anyone has actually seen this species in Zakouma, the Birds of Africa says that it’s range is not known to overlap with the black-breasted, but may do so east of Lake Chad. So it’s perhaps not surprising that I didn’t see one, certainly the IUCN map doesn't suggest it comes near Zakouma, but the map could well be wrong, I don't know.

 

Bearded barbet map

Edited June 2, 2020 by inyathi

[Marks]

You should be very proud of those barbet photos; it would seem they take on extra significance given the scarcity of other photos. I just looked at the bird's entry on Wikipedia; even there an illustration appears in lieu of a photo!

Edited June 25, 2015 by Marks