redneck birding

Here we are in Africa- a birder’s paradise just off the front porch, and me without my BB gun. What’s a redneck to do on a long Sunday then but to make the best of it? The Udzungwa Mountains Park is one of the most highly bio-diverse areas on planet Earth. Ruth tells me that means there are lots of different kinds of birds in this one small area. Birds!? You mean like pigeons and robins? Not at all, way more kinds. Although I didn’t have my pea-shooter, I figured I would give modern technology a try and bag a few digital trophies. Wearing a stained and smelly wife-beater from the day before, I gathered up essentials in my sunburned arms like beer, beef jerky and popcorn and moved out into the bright sunshine of the front porch.



First order of business was to test my hypothesis that all those fancy birder telescopes and cameras are just for show and in a pinch can be substituted with binoculars and a pocket digital camera propped up with some books and a sock. I would have duct taped the whole thing together to make it portable but I wasn’t planning on leaving the porch. Let them come to me. Indeed, while this setup required precise sock alignment and constant book tuning it took pretty decent photos. There is a nice high branch on a tree about 30 yards from the porch that seems to be a popular bird crossroads. Too long a shot for my old Daisy single cock BB rifle but well within range of this new apparatus. So what I did was set up the focus on that spot and wait, and drink beer.



Most birders are also armed with KNOWLEDGE of the species that they are stalking, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me and I have been so presumptuous as to include identification which I made using our Birds of Eastern Africa book. Take these with a grain of salt. In fact, I challenge any readers to positively ID these birds (more positively than I have). Who knew this could be so much fun? I’m sure than I’ll get photos of some strange or little known species when I do it again next Sunday. Sure, I wasn’t tucking into a pigeon breast wrapped in bacon (poor man’s pheasant) at the end of the day a la a hungrier and skinnier young James Bouwer but there also was no blood on my hands and no poorly shot birds to put out of their misery. Just a good beer buzz and the satisfaction of knowing I’d watched these creatures in their natural environment and captured the moment forever. Those childhood days of hunting up in Humboldt with my buddy Tino are long gone now. That is….until the day the lights go out for good and the TV stops blaring and the food trucks stop trucking ….and pigeons are back on the menu.


Canary or female Weaver and Bulbul


Straw Tailed Whydah- maybe a female and a young male


Mannikin and unknown


Sunbird (although type unknown and coloration not in our book!) and Streaky Seedeater

And once again, there is no post without a good bug picture. It just wouldn’t be appropriate considering how many of them are crawling around. So here’s the mdudu of the day- a nice juicy spider.