After a busy, and, I hope, successful week, teaching neonatal respiratory care to the staff, fellows and nurses of the Rwanda NICUs, I decided that my weekend would be best occupied going on another guided trip to Akagera. It is the closest of the parks to Kigali, and I knew there was lots that I hadn’t yet seen. After another early start, we arrived in time to pick up a local park guide who specialized in bird life. There have been few name changes among the birds that I saw, which occasionally led to some confusion. The one in the header image was previously known as the Intermediate Egret, to distinguish it from the Great Egret and the Little Egret, but there is also a Medium Egret (across southern Asia), and in addition another of about the same size known as the Plumed Egret (which often doesn’t have plumes). This one is now known as the Yellow-billed Egret, even though it is not the only one with a yellow bill, but the park guides were all calling it the Intermediate.

Black-winged Kite

Violet-backed Starlings

Black Cuckooshrike, the patch of colour behind his beak is an area of naked skin.

The male Pin-tailed Whydah. The female is brownish, with a “normal” tail.

Spot-flanked Barbet

Another boat trip brought a better view of the Squacco Heron

One of the few woodpeckers I saw, this Bearded Woodpecker

The African Openbill. Named, obviously, for the permanent gap between the two halves of the beak.

African Fish-eagle, tucking into the entrails of a fish he had just caught.

As we were driving closer to the hotel, the guide asked if I’d like to make one last stop to see an Owl, how could I refuse? This (male) Southern White-faced Owl is well known to spend his time on a park which is on a large roundabout in Kigali. The park is surrounded by a 880m running track, which makes a surface area of the park about 60,000 m². It is crossed by many walkways, has a small wooded area with mature trees, and is inhabited by a pair of Owls. The header image is the female, substantially smaller and quite different in appearance.

We Left Akagera early enough to spend a productive day at the Nyandungu Eco-Park in Kigali. Not far from the airport, they have preserved and reclaimed some wetlands that have a great variety of bird life, very close to the bustle of Kigali. The header image is of a Double-toothed Barbet.

This view looking upward shows the notches on his beak that give him the misnomer “Double-toothed” Barbet

This is a male Red-billed Firefinch, just a few centimetres long,

White-collared Oliveback

Black-and-white Mannikins

The hammer-shaped head of a Hamerkop

A Little Bee-eater

This Gabar Goshawk was perched quietly, then…

Attacked the Weaver nests, seeking out chicks

The header image is a view over one of the valleys in the park, with Plains Zebras and Masai Giraffes.

Rufous-breasted Heron

On the largest of several lakes in the park one can take a motorised boat trip, dodging the Hippos, and watching carefully for the Nile Crocodiles. This African Fish-Eagle was perched waiting for prey.

This is an African Woolly-necked Stork, with a Nile Crocodile in the foreground.

Cape Buffalo with Yellow-billed Oxpecker.

The world’s largest Heron, the Goliath Heron.

Long-crested Eagle

I checked into a lodge just outside the park when arriving, as it was getting dark. There was enough light to get a photo of the African Wood-Owl in the header image. In the morning, another early start, and a short drive to the park entrance. Between the lodge and the visitors centre there were already over 20 new species.

Black-collared Barbets

White-browed Coucal

Red-necked Spurfowl

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

This Great Spotted Cuckoo was perched within the branches of the tree. It had never been reported in this park previously, so I decided to include the photo, even if it is not the best view of the bird.

This was the first time I had seen a White Rhinoceros outside of a zoo, this one accompanied by Western Cattle Egrets.

These 3 Bare-faced Go-away-birds were hunting termites. My guide thought they were called “Go-away-birds” because of their call, which sounds a bit like “Go”, they are quite noisy and travel in small groups.

Day 4 we left Nyungwe early, heading for our 3rd national park, Akagera. Roads in Rwanda are narrow, speed limits are 30 to 80 km/h, and it is not infrequent to get stuck behind a truck, going slowly up, or down, hill. Very few Rwandans own a car outside the big cities, the most common means of transport are by foot, or bicycle. Average speeds end up being around 30 km/h, and even though it is a small country, some of the journeys were quite long. This trip we broke up with a couple of stops, including a few hours in a wetlands. With, again, many new birds, including the Red-billed Queleas in the header image.

Southern Red Bishop

Fulvous Whistling-Duck, fairly uncommon here.

Woodland Kingfisher

Black-headed Gonolek

Red-throated Alethe

The national parks in Rwanda are each very different, Volcanoes is at the highest elevation, about 2,500 metres, with, obviously, volcanic geology, and even snow on one of the peaks at times. Nyungwe is old-growth rainforest, at a somewhat lower elevation, about 2000m, with a huge variety of bird life. Akegeba is Savannah, with some hills around, a place where you can do the classic Safari type thing, with zebras, giraffes, rhinos (white and black) and hippos.

We arrived in Nyungwe on the evening of day 2, it was already dark, so checked into the lodge and prepared for a full day birding on day 3. After a brief drive to the reception centre we headed off for a walk, with a local guide.

As we left the lodge, this Augur Buzzard was waiting

Chinspot Batis. This is the male, who does not have a chin-spot. This is one of the few birds named for a feature found only on the female! (I didn’t see a female)

A family of Black and White Colobus watched us carefully.

The Black-crowned Waxbills often travel in small flocks.

Like this one

Yellow-eyed Black Flycatcher

MacKinnon’s Shrike

In the morning we went to Volcanoes national park, well known as a place to view the mountain gorillas. I decided not to do that but to have a walking, birding tour of the park. We did still get to see the Golden Monkeys, though.

Also, many new bird species, the header image is a Regal Sunbird.

As mentioned on day 1, Sunbirds are a large group of birds, they feed on nectar, and the females are often drab and brown, but the males are spectacularly colourful. The one above is a Northern Double-collared Sunbird.

African Stonechat. Very similar to the European Stonechat.

The Regal Sunbird is one of my favourites, so incredibly colourful.

This Weaver is strange… really, the Strange Weaver.

An Ibis, the Hadada Ibis, apparently named for the call, which ebird describes as the sound of Africa.

This Sunbird is the Green-headed Sunbird.

Leaving Volcanoes park behind we headed south and a little west, aiming for Nyungwe national park.

My flight left late on the last day, so I was able to have one last guided trip, on the viewing platform of the Canopy Tower, and down the street that leads to the tower. Which is where we had the view of the Snowy-bellied Hummingbird in the header image.

I saw several Puffbirds during the trip, it was only seeing this male face-on that made me realize exactly why it has that name, with the droopy moustache-like feathers on the face.