Camp Tsavo

An area I have visited several times before, still very lovely, excellent accomodation banda style, open air dining room with D'Arnaud's Barbets, Red Headed Weavers, Slate Coloured Boubous and others mobbing the tables, looking for crumbs etc. An experience I never get tired of. The area was very dry and birds not as prolific as I remember. Many species not present. Lots of White Bellied Go-away Birds whose cross sounding calls typify the bush. Round trhe camp plenty of doves, Ring Necked, Red-Eyed, Namaqua, Laughing and Emerald Spotted Wood. Von der Deckens, with some Red Billed being resident hornbills. Chin Spot Batis, Northern White Crowned Shrike, Red Billed Buffalo and White Headed Buffalo Weavers, Spotted Morning Thrush, Yellow Breasted Apalis, Northern Brubru, Black Throated Barbet, Hunters, Eastern Violet Backed and Purple Banded Sunbirds, Fischers Starling and Vitelline Masked Weavers, a pair of Black Necked Weavers visiting the breakfast table on one occasion. Lots more common birds around as well.

Driving round the ranch the only birds of prey were a single Palid Harrier and a single Montague's, no other birds of prey seen with the exception of many Eastern Pale Chanting Goshawk. White Bellied and Black Bellied Bustard, some superb Secretary Birds stalking round the grassland and a lovely pair of Spotted Thick Knee seen on the road when returning to the camp at night. Black Faced Sandgrouse at the water (mostly mud) hole, Golden Pipits fairly numerous. White Crested Helmet Shrikes and a brief glimpse of Golden Breasted Starlings. Two fantastic Rosy Patched Bush Shrikes, a lifer for all the rest of the group. Migrants few and far between: A Common Rock Thrush at the tree nursery at Maungu and a female Northern Wheatear in the same place on the wire. A splendid Lesser Grey Shrike and lots of Barn Swallows still feeding before taking off for northern climes. One Willow Warbler seen while the others were elephant watching! A hike up Satao Rock still did not yield up Taita Falcon for me but a buffalo gave all of us a bit of a surprise! Still have to see that falcon! A total of 62 species over 3 days, not nearly as many as I recorded on previous visits.