Grey-headed Gulls, Malawi

I popped down to Seafield this morning to reacquaint myself with the Lothian avifauna. Nice views of Red-throated Divers were the highlight along with a colour-ringed Black-headed Gull (left yellow 2XCL - ringed in Aberdeen I suspect). [Also, just remembered, a candidate Nordic Jackdaw at the entrance to Craigmillar Castle along with a group of typical Jackdaws - I pulled in, avoided eye contact but the flock still flew before I got the shot...] As always at thecoast, I spent a wee while grilling the gulls - even a small number of Herring Gulls can provide plenty of entertainment for the larid-lover.

Gulls are not a major feature in Malawi. The only species that I saw was the Grey-headed Gull and I only had disappointingly brief and distant flight views. It is a species that I have seen before in Africa but never really within photographic range. Here are a few very poor record shots in flight.

The shots are of a first winter (if that means anything in the tropics) photographed on the Shire River at Liwonde National Park alongside a Whiskered Tern. The dusky underwings are fairly distinctive in the Grey-headed Gull along with the white blaze across the primaries and coverts

Finally, here is one of the Red-throated Divers from Seafield this morning.

African Fish Eagle, Lake Malawi

This was one of those occasions in birding when everything came together at the right time. 

We had been working hard for a few days on a nursery school renovation, putting in a functioning water supply and drainage system, so could justify an afternoon of R&R to let the blisters on our hands subside. After some lunch and a dip in Lake Malawi to have a peek at some of the cichlid fish I decided to pick up the lens and climb a nearby hillock to enjoy the view. 

A couple of friendly locals gave me some route finding advice and warned against stepping on a puff adder so I set off slowly sweating in the sweltering heat. As I hopped from rock to rock scrambling up the steep hillside I spent more time scanning the rocks for slumbering serpents than looking up for birdlife but as I crested the rise I took the time to peer back through the leafless trees down to the lake. As I did so a branch moved and revealed itself to be a fantastic adult African Fish Eagle. 

The steepness of the slope meant I had a eye-level view of the high branch in the tall tree that it had chosen as a suitable perch to devour its perch-like cichlid. For once a truly frame-filling view of a large raptor that then spent the next 15 minutes feeding on its fish apparently unconcerned about my presence. In this time the thing that struck me about it's feeding behaviour was the dainty way in which it fed. It seemed to remove tiny morsels of flesh each time it fed. Instead I was expecting much more of a tearing, ripping motion with a guzzling type rapid consumption of the fish. Even with the dainty feeding motion the eagle still managed to drop the fish after a while. It did not retrieve it from the forest floor. 

Later I saw the same adult interacting with a fledged youngster so I wonder whether the dainty feeding behaviour was linked to it still having a dependent youngster. All-in-all a fantastic close encounter.

Martial Eagle, Liwonde, Malawi

I think that this is one of those archetypal birding safari shots - a Martial Eagle glaring down at the camera from its perch. What is difficult to appreciate from the shot is the scale of the bird in question. In life it appeared about the same size as an elephant - in the photo it appears about the same size as a Common Buzzard. The reality is somewhere between the two. If you are struggling to get the scale, just check out those talons...

While this was a very close encounter, and exciting too, especially for those in the party who had never seen such a big bird so close, I can't help but re-post another shot of a hunting Martial Eagle that I took in KwaZulu Natal a few years ago. I love the way it looks bigger than the rhino!

Vincent's Bunting: first pictures on the internet?

I photographed this skulking Vincent's Bunting at about 1700m on Mount Mulanje, Malawi, earlier this month. The location was between Chambe and Likhubula and the bird was foraging in miombo type vegetation scorched by fire (presumably deliberately set by poachers).

At the time of the sighting I realised that the bird appeared darker toned than the Cape Buntings that I had seen in South Africa a few years ago, but thought little more of it. Only once I was down the mountain did I refer to Sinclair and Ryan's Birds of Africa south of the Sahara that I had picked up in Nairobi Airport and notice the Vincent's Bunting illustration. In the photo above the lack of rufous on the coverts seems to be quite different from typical Emberiza capensis. Vincent's Bunting had not been on my radar as the excellent Birds of Malawi by Dowsett-Lemaire and Dowsett lumps these two species together as Cape Bunting.

I have now read that most authorities split the Vincent's Bunting as a separate more northerly mountain-dwelling species. Unusually for the internet there appear to be no searchable photographs of Vincent's Bunting available and I have even drawn a blank when searching for this form labelled as Cape Bunting. So, it is possible that these shot are an internet first!...

From the limited information that is available it seems that Emberiza vincenti is an uncommon endemic living in granite outcrops in a restricted part of Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. Presumably, given its subtle plumage and (possibly) shy nature (this individual flew once it was aware that it was under observation), along with its restricted range and former subspecies status, the Vincent's Bunting has not been a high-profile target in Malawi for most camera-toting visiting ornithologists.

Yellowbill, Liwonde, Malawi

Frank, one of the guides at Liwonde National Park was determined to find a Pel's Fishing Owl during my 20 hours in Liwonde last week. Well, the owl had not read the script but I was not complaining when Frank spotted this Yellowbill (Green Malkoha) in the depths of a sausage tree. Difficult to see and difficult to photograph I was delighted with the prolonged views of this individual as it foraged slowly under the canopy. I think the owl is seen at Liwonde about 20 times more frequently than the Yellowbill... ...so I'm happy to leave that until a future visit!

Lanner Falcon mobbing Crowned Hawk-eagle

There is nothing like the excitement of an aerial tussle between raptors. This spat occurred after this Crowned Hawk-Eagle lifted through airspace that appeared to belong to a pair of Lanner Falcons. The feisty falcons looked to have the upperhand but the Hawk-eagle continued to rise and then thermalled away with a Steppe Buzzard. Only moments earlier a Verreaux's Eagle had cruised over. This bumper crop was atypical of my recent trip to Malawi. Although I managed to notch up 25 species of raptors over the fortnight, most sightings were of individual birds, and for 15 of those species, a single sighting was all that I managed.

Crowned Hawk-Eagle, Mount Mulanje, Malawi

I have returned recently from a trip to Malawi. A work trip rather than a birding trip, but there was a fair opportunity to use the long lens from time to time. Wildlife appeared to be thin on the ground given the subsistence nature of most of Malawi's human population. Tree cutting, fire-assisted poaching and snare poaching appeared to be widespread even in protected areas. While I sympathise with the plight of those who are in need, at the current rate of habitat destruction I think Malawi will likely lose its status as a serious birding destination in the very near future. More on that in a future post...

For the time being here was one of the birding highlights for me in Malawi. After 3 days of trekking through the ashes of what was nominally Mount Mulanje Forest Reserve, I spotted this Crowned Hawk-Eagle roosting in the canopy along an unburnt ridge. It then took to the air and powered up into the sky - an unfeasibly large raptor maneuvering the broadest wings imaginable to grab the necessary lift to make it into a thermal. I'd like to say that I was left speechless but instead one of my colleagues was treated to some rather colourful language instead...

Fin Whale at Cape Cod

After yesterday's Long-finned Pilot Whales off East Lothian, I thought I would post some pictures of the biggest animal that I have seen to date - an incredibly impressive Fin Whale seen at near touching distance on a whale watching trip from P-town, Cape Cod. This animal literally brought tears to my eyes such was the excitement of this unexpected close encounter. One of those real highlight moments that occur occasionally in many years of wildlife watching.

Pilot Whales in the Forth

The first twitch I have been on this autumn was for mammals rather than birds. The remnants of the pod of Pilot Whales that had made the news recently by beaching in Fife last weekend had spent the week in the Forth - swimming so far West that it seemed likely that none of the group would survive. Luckily they had turned East and managed to get out past the bridges again.

This morning news broke that they were off Cockenzie harbour, so with little delay mum and I headed down to find several others already watching them. We enjoyed prolonged distant views, and managed to count at least 15, although apparently there are 20 in the group. Clearly a variety of different sizes in the pod, it was not clear whether the animals were feeding but at one point they appeared to be circling a buoy for a while. Not a new species for me after seeing a large group off Porthgwara in Cornwall about 20 years ago, this is the first time I have seen them and known what I was looking at at the time...

The round head and very low blow are visible on the animal on the right. The dorsal fins show quite a lot of variation, some clearly longer and more stepped at the front than this individual.

It was nice to bump into Stephen as well - his local patch is having a really god run at the moment.

Piping Plovers

I haven't had the time to go birding recently with work and other commitments filling my time. I did manage an hour in the garden today and enjoyed lifting the year's crop of onions in the sun. As I had finished brushing the soil from the last a piping 'clooee' call from above drew my eye to a Ringed Plover flying S strongly overhead. It veered toward Alnwickhill, but now the water treatment works is dry there was little hope it was going to pitch down there.  This is the 78th species on the garden list but only the fourth wader (Curlew, Snipe, Whimbrel and Ringed Plover) - Lapwing is long overdue!

The photographs here are not of that species, but of Piping Plovers photographed at Cape Cod earlier in the summer.