Makinde springs

What a day!!!
The beauty of the Ruaha's miombo woodland and some of its specials unravelled in front of us today.
We were actually looking for Sable which we did not see but we had amazing birds.
The starting beauty was a Lizard buzzard sunbathing on a naked branch....
Plenty of purple crested turacos showed up a bit further on, basically everywhere.  I love that primary feathers!!!
Shelley's francolins crossed the road in front of us and even stayed close enough to allow me to take a pic.... awesome!
We heard and then saw a stunning Black collared barbet.
My two favourite of today were.... Raquet tailed roller and Ruaha black and white chat.
The first perched on a tree on top of the car... it's stunning blu color a joy for the eyes, in ruaha there is no pink, is all blue resembling more a eurasian roller while the subspecie in selous is more similar to a lilac breasted.
The second is a less colorful bird but has and interesting story.. had always been considered a normal Black and White (Arnott's) chat but recently Rob and Sue found out that is a different specie, the female being different, with more white markings.

Stunning morning!!!

Total count 513

Marsh owl!!

My first Marsh Owl, at dawn, just down fom camp at Festo crossing.
It flew back and forth in the dim light. Looked like it was after nightjars perching on the ground but I cannot be sure of that.

Total count 508

A bit of Europe

I spent my holydays in Italy with family and friends. Birding was not top of my list but still I had time to enjoy some.
I had Pheasants and collared dove in Tuscany, Yellow legged gull in Recco (Liguria), European swift in Albiolo (Lombardy), Purple heron and Black crowned night heron around Milan and European jay in Turin.
I went even to Bosnia Herzegovina for a couple of days where I saw a Subalpine warbler.

Total count 507

Green Ruaha

Ten days in Ruaha in the middle of the rainy season!!!
I am running a course for italian bush lovers that already followed a first guiding course and wanted to have a bit more knowledge focused on the greenest time of the year.
The park at this time is just awesome, everything is lush, flowers everywhere and still sooooo many elephants. We even saw a good number of cats.
Birding was good, I enjoyed the breeding colors and shapes. The Southern red bishops, the White winged widowbirds and many others were doing their best to impress the girls and it was a show.
We saw a lesser moorhen nesting in a thick bush plunging in a small waterhole, we even managed to see the chicks even if they were so hidden that it was quite difficult.
Black coucals were in w7 area again,  Broad billed roller were often perching along the roads, Square taled nightjar usually the last sighting on the way back to camp and even the striking Eurasian hobby showed itself in the tortilis forest.
Cuckoos were flying fast through the bushes and sometimes perching and giving time to the students to identify them. The european cuckoo that we seldomly see in europe was one of them as the Diderick.
Took me 20 minutes to get the secretive Sprosser to show itself. It was singing from inside a bush in camp but ... maaaaaannnnn!!!! it did not want to come out.

Total count 498

The samburu harshness

Training guides in a new place is fantastic... so many new things to look at and so many new birds.
Samburu is a stunning place and the Saruni camp in the Kalama concession is a palce tha you won't believe if you do not see it.
On top of a huge kopjie, one of the most incredible view I have seen in my life!!!
The place is bone dry with the Ewaso nyiro river giving the necessary quantity of water to the abundant wildlife.
In two weeks we got an amazing time, Gerenuk, Reticulated giraffe, Gunther's dik dik, Leopard hunting, Cheetah hunting, Wild dogs hunting, Caracal and Lions... and these are only the mammals, birds were even more impressive.
The diversity of the habitat from open dry grassland, to riverine vegetation, to acacia commiphora woodland grants a great variety of species.
The somali birds gave me satisfaction.... Somali ostrich, Somali fiscal, Somali courser, Somali beeater and Somali long billed crombec!!!
To distinguish between the Taita fiscal and the Somali fiscal was a bit of a mission but eventually we managed.
Secretary birds were nesting and displaying, collecting nest material and dancing beautifully, plenty of Vulturine guineafowl and the White throated beeaters were everywhere.
African and Grey headed silverbill were common visitors in camp together with purple grenadiers, bristle crowned starling and northern crombec.
Donaldson-Smith sparrow weaver was seen during day time and Donaldson-Smith nightjar was often on the road late evening.
Irania, Three streaked tchagra, Pringle's puffback, Pigmy batis and Northern grey tit were all seen in the acacia commiphora woodland in Kalama.
The puffback was a hell of a job, we had to follow it through thorns and spikes!!
We went one day to buffalo springs and we got one of the highlights of the training, Swallow tailed kite.... SUPER!!
We spotted also Fischer's lovebirds.... not sure if they are in distribution though. and a lot of Chestnut bellied sandgrouse...
The ewaso nyiro gave us a good present as well. African quailfinch....
One bird every three in the Samburu list was a lifer for me...  it was insane, the landscape itself is worth going there and if you add mammals and birds you see why the place is so unbelievable!

Total count 492

Lualenyi and the Mara

First ten days of training in Lualenyi with AIEA, then two weeks in Mara North conservancy training guides of Saruni Mara camp.

Lualeny is in the Lumo consevancy bordering Tsavo, a beautiful place, dry and beautiful. Birdlife is quite stunning and running around with students  that have to learn how to bird gives great opportunities.

Loads of wheatear, Isabelline, Northern, Pied..... Loads of larks as the huge Red winged lark... Loads of pipits, the most striking being obviously the most stunning and beautiful of them all.

I saw my first Black capped social weaver, the white beak is really something, a shining bit of marble, contrasting with the dark forehead.

Grey headed kingfishers, European bee eaters, Eurasian rollers, Golden breasted starling, Pangani longclaw and Bateleurs were adding a bit of color to the otherwise quite arid environment.

Some areas were burnt and in one of this bit we spotted Chestnut backed sparrow weavers.

Amongst the most common birds of prey was the pigmy falcon, stunning pairs perching top of branches.

Kori bustards were all overe the place and also White bellied and Black bellied were often walking the grasslands. 

ok that is not a bird but i think it is worht to mention.... BLACK SERVAL!!!!!!! 

Mara north conservancy and the Mara itself are definitely cat's country, Cheetahs, Lions, Leopards almost everyday in stunning setting made of open planes, luggas covered with magic guarri and marshes.
Birds though were not a bit less exciting, Ruppell's long tailed starling was the first bird we saw out of the plane, followed by beautiful Grey crowned cranes, then a plethora of stunning ones revealed themselves in the next few days.
The similar Northern anteater chat and Sooty chat were always on termite mounds or in the grass hunting down their food.
A Pallid honeyguide entered the classroom one day and was quite a job to easy it out, hard job but easy opportunity to observe it.
Looking in the grass we often saw both Yellow throated longclaw and Rosy breasted longclaw, they were a bit shy but sometimes they would accept our presence a bit more.
The Red throated tit was ot so obliging and the only one we saw took off almost immediately, but not far in the same lugga we saw a Southern black flycatcher that did not know what th word shy does mean. Awesome.
One day we went on the back road from camp that runs on the hills overlooking the open plains, IT WAS UNBLIEVABLE..... Red throated wryneck first....... NARINA TROGON to follow.....
I could not believe it... i looked for the bird for so lng and in so many places and now was there in front of me even if briefly... Happyness!!
Back to the plains amongst many others we saw Caspian plover in breeding plumage and senegal lapwing as usual on the move.
Other birds are deserving a note like the White headed saw wing, Schalow's turaco,  Jackson's widowbird, Montane nightjar and a stunning pair of Verreaux's eagles that soared below us while William and I were trying to locate their nest!

Total count 464