Hands Down THE BEST Bird Thus Far! – Tanzania 3.0

There’s a moment, just before an African rainstorm, that the air has a nice chill to it. When the heat from the sun becomes the most perfect temperature and the breeze brings along with it the scent of a new freshness. Perhaps you know what I mean. On occasion, the rain doesn’t come despite the feel of it and the perfect conditions remain. It makes for absolutely perfect birding weather.

We were on an exploration mission in northwestern Tanzania and weren’t really trying for any birds we hadn’t already seen in other countries, but our exploration mission turned into a resounding success when we came upon one of the rarest birds in all of Africa, Ring-necked Francolin. To put into perspective just how rare this bird is, resident African birders/ornithologists Adam Scott Kennedy and Brian Finch are creating a new photographic guide to the birds of East Africa. They are sourcing photos from some of Africa’s best birders and photographers and out of nearly 1500 species being represented in the book there were only two birds that they didn’t have a photo of and this was one of them. Photos of this bird didn’t exist because no one really knew where to find them…

Prior to visiting Burigi-Chato, Tanzania’s newest National Park and where we eventually found Ring-necked Francolin, Ross had concocted a plan to make a loop through several villages near swampy habitat along the Tanzanian border with Rwanda and bird all along the way. We hoped to find several marsh birds and when we reached good miombo forest, several new miombo birds as well. (Suddenly we really were Tanzania country listers!)
But as we were driving our loop we didn’t come across much good habitat. In fact, we didn’t come across any habitat at all. In village after village, hillside after hillside, all we saw were banana plants. A single species of plant to dominate the entire ecosystem. It was several hours of driving though remote banana plantations before we made it to decent papyrus swamp. Unfortunately we never managed to turn up our most wanted TZ bird, the iconic Shoebill, but eventually we did come across several patches of miombo forest in which we picked up a few new birds for Tanzania including Red-faced Barbet.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

What once used to be four game reserves has now been combined to become one of the largest national parks in the country and we ended our day in Burigi-Chato National Park to specifically search for one of the rarest francolins in all of Africa. As of right now there isn’t much in the way of amenities, or trails off of the main road to get deep into the bush, and we never passed a gate or had to pay to drive along the main road, but perhaps that will change in the future as what appeared to be an unfinished headquarters was underway and surely off-road trails are to come, although no one was present when we stopped to ask.

The story of how we saw and photographed one of Africa’s rarest birds is downright absurd. We came to this area specifically because Ross suspected we might be able to find our most-wanted target. It was late evening and we were driving through the park when I spotted a francolin on the side of the road. Ross immediately got excited and assumed that all of our hopes and dreams were suddenly coming true. Except when we reversed back to the spot we found it was a Shelley’s Francolin! Ross, mildly disappointed with the bird in front of us, took a few photos then hopped out of the truck to get a bit closer. The bird ran into the weeds. A fresh burn meant we had good visibility and while he was scanning a francolin flushed up into the air. Immediately Ross begins photographing but even through the viewfinder of his Canon 5D MkIV, notices the lack of rufous in the wings. That wasn’t a Shelley’s he thought. Weird. But then the Shelly’s flushes up to follow and as Ross turns to check, he sees yet another bird sitting on the ground and this time knows for certain it’s Ring-necked Francolin. We couldn’t relocate it before dark but vowed to return to this location the following morning to get better views. It’s just funny because had that Shelly’s not been sitting next to the road (the only Shelley’s we saw during our visit btw) we may not have found this location!! To save ourselves on driving time, we opted to camp at a police checkpoint along the road through the national park and grilled up a delicious dinner of leftovers. (Leftover Ethiopian to be precise!) The police were friendly and didn’t mind us parking our truck in their grass. We offered them beer but they were Islamic and thus declined. It was a quiet night in a convenient spot and we fell asleep to the sounds of a Black-shouldered Nightjar calling outside of our tent.

• 

• 

• 

The next morning we returned to the exact spot and spent three hours with an extremely cooperative Ring-necked Francolin nearly running around at our feet! And then a Cocqui Francolin pair came running in! Clearly this was francolin heaven! Thanks again to that Shelley’s Francolin for sitting next to the road!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Neil Baker, resident Tanzanian ornithologist and someone who has done more for the avifauna in TZ than anyone we know, was sure to inform us that this sighting was without a doubt the best bird we had seen in Africa this far! I may have some really impressive dips, but these kinds of birds more than make up for it! After publicizing this finding online, several hardcore African listers let us know that they would be making a trip into remote northwestern Tanzania to try their hand at finding it! Goodluck!

This birding occurred 30 June 2021