Once a birder ........

When I went to see the American Bittern at Carlton Marshes a few years ago I was greeted by the words "I thought you were dead!" Not that unusual, since some of my age are, and birding friends and acquaintances, who are now sadly missed, grow in number almost daily. But I'm one of the lucky ones, and almost without exception people are still birders until the day they can physically not pick up a pair of bins. (or have sustained an injury, Pete Colston recently celebrated his 89th birthday indoors for that reason, but I'm sure he'll be back.) I recently travelled to Ghana, which is why I haven't posted a blog recently, and have decided to give up rainforest birding, since it was, for me, a hard trip involving long hours on often uphill trails, in heat and humidity I haven't experienced together before. I've been in hotter places, but not with 97% humidity! Wasn't helped by the fact that that my travelling companion, Jonathan, used to be a fell runner, and our guide, Kalu Afasi. from Malimbe tours, was an ex professional footballer. And mention must be made of our driver, Cobby, who after spending hours negotiating tank tracks which pass for roads in many places, came to help, and often found birds as well as carrying the scope. I just plodded along. In truth it wasn't an issue, but I won't be getting any fitter so time to draw a line under rainforests. It was never my favourite type of birding, and the bucket list is getting longer as I get older. Next trip is Mongolia, where it's not so hot.
 

But highlights of the trip were several. I saw my last African Plover (Forbes),  JT finally caught up with Egyptian Plover after dipping in the Gambia forty-odd years ago, and obviously the strange looking Rockfowl. This is now the prime site in the world for family listers, and you just feel compelled to see one at some stage in your birding career. I've never been a family lister, it must be a bit of a nightmare. When I wake up my only concern is that I'm still a live birder, but a family lister must always be haunted by the fact the taxonomists may have "discovered" a new family, hitherto unseen. However, any list of "100 birds to see before you die" or similar, will always include a Picathartes.
 
 
 

A personal highlight was my new Canon R7. I've used a secondhand R since going mirrorless, and technology has improved so much, particularly in flight photography, that I see why it is becoming a birder's number one choice. It is able to get a decent record shot of a bird at great distance, which is often the case in a rainforest, even if that distance is in part the height of a massive tree. Flight shots are much easier with the newer focusing system, and results in low light are incredible. I saw my first ever Broadbill, and was able to get a shot in semi-darkness. The new camera allowed me to photograph difficult kingfishers, such as White-bellied, Shining-blue, Chocolate-backed and Pygmy, and we managed to see all twelve on the Ghanaian list. 
 

 My personal favourite bird was Red-chested Owlet. Despite what the tour companies would have you believe, this isn't an easy bird and can often be missed, even more frustratingly it is almost always heard. Problem is it moves around in daylight, like several owlets, and it is very small compared to the leaves in a rainforest. JT was "indisposed" on the morning we first saw it but I didn't manage a photo so we had to return in the afternoon anyway. Despite two guides and a forest guide (mandatory in some forests, complete with rifle) we were struggling, but in a stroke of luck I found it and showed JT. The eyes still work fine!  This resulted in a rather surreal few minutes during which I was congratulated and fist-bumped by three excellent guides, and somehow managed to get a reasonable photo before it moved again. Needless to say, beers were on me!
More on Ghana in my next blog.

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