Atlasville, 3 January 2009
Our first night at Lebala had been punctuated by the whooping sounds of Spotted Hyena, but we were nevertheless up and ready for a light breakfast and a 06:15 departure for our morning drive.
First photos of the day were of a displaying male Black-bellied Bustard which was located by his ‘cork popping’ call and a small flock of Meyer’s Parrot, then another bird with a distinctive call, the Rufous-naped Lark. A female Southern Red-billed Hornbill was seen collecting mud, which she will use to seal herself inside the tree cavity that is her chosen nest for breeding. A sighting of Red-billed Spurfowl was followed by my closest yet encounter with the handsome Wattled Crane which had African Wattled Lapwing in close attendance. Along the fringes of the marshland we ticked off Long-toed Lapwing, Yellow-billed Duck, Blue-billed Teal, Whiskered Tern and African Fish Eagle among others, while in drier areas away from the marsh we added the African sub-species of Eurasian Hoopoe, Black Cuckoo, African Stonechat, Emerald-spotted Wood Dove and in the same tree two bee-eaters, Southern Carmine Bee-eater and Blue-cheeked Bee-eater.
Among the other animals seen during this early morning drive were Southern Reedbuck, Common Warthog and Blue Wildebeest. The small herd of wildebeest contained many very young calves, one of which was coming in for some very close attention from a Yellow-billed Oxpecker searching for ticks. The herd was very closely shadowed by Cattle Egret waiting to pounce on any large insects such as crickets, grasshoppers and moths that might be stirred up by the wildebeest grazing.
Back at camp I retired to the game-viewing hide to see whether I could add anything to the day list before lunch. The reedbeds in front of the hide produced Fan-tailed Widowbird, White-winged Widowbird and my 2nd lifer of the trip in the camp Chirping Cisticola.
Our afternoon drive got off to a good start with a male Saddle-billed Stork. Then a juvenile Bateleur perched atop a termite mound and very close by a Black Coucal and a pair of Collared Pratincole. Later we saw African Fish Eagle, African Marsh Harrier, African Spoonbill, Fulvous Whistling Duck, African Woolly-necked Stork, one of the regional specials Slaty Egret, Common Sandpiper, Ruff, Wood Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, Malachite Kingfisher, Senegal Coucal and my 3rd lifer of the trip African Crake.
Best photo opportunity amongst the other wildlife was this grazing Common Hippopotamus. No staying out late today and we watched the sunset from our tent. No night drive today either so we got an early night to catch up on our sleep after two very full days.
