travel – Keith Barrington's personal blog

I was invited to Rwanda, to assist in teaching their fellows in their newly developed training program. I was delighted to try to help out, and in the days before my teaching commitments I decided to take a few days to tour Rwanda, to visit several national parks, and to do some serious birding.

On day 1 we left Kigali, went north west towards the Volcanoes national Park, stopping at a lake (lake Bihinga) on the way. After a couple of hours in various locations around the lake (over 55 species), we then set off for the lodge (Karisimbi Cave Resort) in a town called Musanze. I then settled into a lodge close to Volcanoes park, and looked around the grounds for some birds. I saw many birds on the way, and at the lake, almost all of which were entirely new to me, and then many more new species around the lodge.

The header image is a Baglafecht Weaver, one of a large number of Weaver bird species, many of which are similar and difficult to separate for an amateur. I have no idea what “Baglafecht” means.

There are also a large variety of Sunbirds, which have long down-curved beaks, used to extract nectar from various flowers. This one is called the Variable Sunbird.

Speckled Mousebird.

According to some sources, they hang like this to get sunlight on their abdomens to increase intra-abdominal temperature and aid digestion. I think that is very suspect, and my guide did not think it was true. Indeed, if it were so, why wouldn’t many other birds (and other creatures) do this?

Gray-capped Warbler

White-browed Robin-chat. This is a common bird, frequently seen around human habitations, it is quite noisy, sometimes even before dawn!

At the lake, there were several Pied Kingfishers, they can hover over the lake surface to detect prey, and then drop on their prey, usually small fish.

The African Spoonbill, is named for their most obvious feature.

A similarly-sized, wading bird, is the Yellow-billed Stork.

Another Sunbird, this is the Bronze Sunbird.

The group set off very early, breakfast at 4h30, to drive to the very end of the TransAmerica highway at Yaviza. From there we took a “lancha”, a motorized boat, travelling upstream on the Chucunaque river to a town called El Real.

After the boat trip, there was a half hour or so in a 4-by-4, then another hour of walking, during which this magnificent Macaw was spotted, we entered the Darién national park, and finally arrived at the ironically named Rancho Frio.

Offices of the Ministry of the Environment at Rancho Frio

After lunch at Rancho Frio, the last 30 minutes walk took us to a nest of the Harpy Eagle, today’s goal. There was a female on the nest, with a chick of about 10 days of age (the top of whose head we occasionally glimpsed) and as we were watching, the male flew off in search of prey, which are mostly monkeys and sloths.

The Harpy Eagle has little sexual dimorphism, the identification by our guides was based on their activity, usually the female stays on the nest with the chick, while the male is out hunting.

On the trip back there were very heavy showers; we were still able to see the Great Green Macaw, a real rarity, a Wood Stork (not rare at all), and a small flock of Brown-hooded Parrots. Despite arriving back soaked through, the day was a great success.

I was fortunate to take a 1 week trip to Panama, with “Wings“, going east to the Darien region. The guide, Gavin Bieber, was amazing, the accommodation, in fancy tents, was excellent, and the birding was exceptional.

The first night was an extra, staying in a hotel right next to the canal, although the flight was delayed, and I arrived at the start of rush hour, so it took nearly 2 hours of taxi to the hotel, traffic in Panama city is horrendous.

The next morning started well with several new birds before breakfast, including great views of the Yellow-headed Caracara

Also these other birds

I then walked down toward the Biomuseo, with many other avian encounters

Common Black Hawk, immature (not yet all black)

There were many thousands of Black Vultures around, including this one

Black Vulture on Korean friendship monument

The Biomuseo was designed by Gehry, and is fascinating, with the geologic history of Panama well explained. The isthmus formed about 20 million years ago, followed by the Great Interamerican Biotic Interchange (apparently), with south american bids and animals heading north, and vice versa, which is what gives Panama its amazing biodiversity.

Right on the grounds of the Biomuseo were these 2 birds, one from a family originally south american, the second northern.

I then hired a bike to cycle down the Amador peninsula, constructed from rock that was excavated to build the canal, to a group of 3, what used to be, islands. On the first of which there is a Smithsonian research institute. On the way down there is a view of the city, and this sunken boat with a Brown Pelican perched.

At the research centre, just near the gate, a Hoffman’s two-toed Sloth was hanging out.

I then took a trip to Panama city old town, which was interesting, but marked by a tropical downpour, so I got soaked cycling back to the hotel area. An amazing first day.

Tag: travel

Rwanda, day 1. Northwest Rwanda, Lake Bihinga and Musanze.

Panama, day 4. Expedition to find the Harpy Eagle

Panama, November 2024