Muzi Pans
The community liaison is a pleasant chap called Themba, but we were basically free to walk and drive as much as we could along the Fever Tree lined pan.
Perhaps we were too late in summer or perhaps the water level had not dropped enough (probably a combination of the two), but there were no rarities about and we had to content ourselves with a lot of the usual suspects.
The African Jacana were particularly noticeable defending their territories and flying to-and-fro with their long legs dangling. There was a large flock of Spurwinged Goose on the pan and a few Whitewinged Tern in full black-bellied breeding plumage.
Our best sightings were Purple Heron (close to shore), a single Purple Gallinule, lots of Bluecheeked Bee-Eater swirling overhead, Pinkbacked Pelican and a fairly distant Malachite Kingfisher.
Away from the water, there is some good birding to be had in the acacia woodland and we saw Browncrowned Tchagra, Redbilled Quelea and Southern Boubou.
The community still use the pan a great deal for their daily needs, even with a pod of Hippopotamus grunting contentedly away less than a hundred metres from shore, but it is hoped they will see the worth of maintaining its reputation as a prime birding spot.
I’m sure they also derived some entertainment from watching my wife and I clamber and fall, in ungainly fashion, up and down the banks on the side of the main road!
Sightings list
Cattle Egret
Little Egret
African Jacana
Pied Kingfisher
Yellowbilled Duck
European Swallow
Spurwinged Goose
African Pied Wagtail
Purple Heron
Blacksmith Plover
Whitewinged Tern
Little Bee-Eater
Purple Gallinule
Forktailed Drongo
Glossy Starling
Spottedbacked Weaver
Whitefaced Duck
Black Flycatcher
Emeraldspotted Wood Dove
Browncrowned Tchagra
Redbilled Quelea
Speckled Mousebird
Southern Boubou
Blackeyed Bulbul
Laughing Dove
Common Myna
Tawnyflanked Prinia
Bluecheeked Bee-Eater
Hippopotamus
African Darter
Reed Cormorant
Egyptian Goose
Pinkbacked Pelican
House Sparrow
Great White Egret
Grey Heron
Yellowbilled Stork
Malachite Kingfisher
Brownhooded Kingfisher
Thank you!