Helen and I visited Amakhosi private game reserve in September 2023. This was the start of spring in southern Africa so most of the migrants had yet to arrive and it was dry. The rains usually only arrive in late November or early December. Despite this, there is a perennial flow of water in the Mkuze river which courses through the reserve. The Mkuze river is known for its wonderful diversity of birdlife. Around 420 bird species can be seen in this reserve. There is something for every wildlife enthusiast from the “big five”, birdlife and frogging in the wet season. As a wildlife photographer I am interested in all wildlife.

There is a remarkable diversity of birdlife around the lodge. At breakfast, after the morning game drive, I found myself regularly getting up from the table to photograph new birds which showed themselves in the trees next to the pool and above the deck in front of the lodge.

“In the cathedral of the wild a glorious language is revealed in every breath.” ~ Robbie George

We saw this Orange breasted bushshrike outside our room at the safari lodge. I have often heard these small bushshrikes but seldom saw them as they are normally found at the top of the tree canopy. Thankfully each species of bushshrike has a distinctive call. Once we heard the call we started to look for the vividly coloured bushshrike. This bushshrike has a vivid yellow forehead, throat, belly and rectrices. It has a black bland across its eye from its beak to ear coverts. Its nape and the top section of its back is grey which wraps around to its ear coverts. Its lower back and wings are a green-yellow colour which blends well with the colour of the tree’s leaves.

This bushshrike is not a migrant and is highly active constantly moving in the branches of tree foraging for insects such as beetles, caterpillars, bees, ants and wasps.

This Red-billed firefinch is a small gregarious seed eater and is often seen on the ground foraging for seeds alongside Blue waxbills. This male has a pinkish-scarlet forehead, face throat and breast. Its uppertail coverts are scarlet as are its rectrices. Its nape, back, wings and belly are brown tinged with scarlet.

Next to the lodge is an inviting swimming pool. At the deep end it has a fountain flowing across a large boulder which attracts many birds to drink. One of the regular visitors was a group of Cape white-eyes. These small insectivores have yellow plumage with a slight green tinge and a distinctive white eyering.

“Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird?” ~ Sir David Attenborough

In many of the reserves in the northern part of South Africa you will see Brown-headed kingfishers but in this reserve you will see mainly Striped kingfishers. This species is an insectivore. It has powder blue rectrices and primary wing feathers. Its crown is light brown with dark brown stripes. It has a whitish buff coloured cheek and nape and its eye stripe is dark brown reaching from behind the eye around the back of the head. Its breast and belly are a whitish buff colour with dark brown stripes. It beak comprises a dark brown maxilla and red mandible which is diagnostic feature.

Lesser striped swallows were constantly flying around the lodge hawking flying insects. These are large swallows with a russet coloured head, nape, ear coverts and upper tail coverts. Their back and upper wing coverts are steel blue in colour. Their throat, breast and belly are white with thick black streaks. The primary and secondary wing feathers are a black-dark brown in colour. The outer rectrices are long streamers, which are longer in the male.

Next to the dining area and deck that overlooks the Mkuze river, there are coral trees. The nectar in the florescences attract a variety of birds from weavers and Cape white-eyes to sunbirds. The Scarlet chested sunbird is a large dark brown sunbird with a vivid scarlet chest. It aggressively protects its feeding area from other sunbirds such as the smaller Collared sunbird.

The Collared sunbird is also strikingly coloured with an iridescent green back and head and yellow underparts. This small sunbird has a short beak so it feeds on different parts of the florescence to the Scarlet chested sunbird. The male has a purple collar which is absent in the female.

The most frequent visitors to the trees around the lodge were Purple crested turacos. Like most turacos, it is a large vividly coloured fruit eater. This species has a bright red eyering and its primary and secondary wing feathers are bright scarlet. Its crown has a purple-blue crest which extends down its nape. Its throat, back, belly and shoulders are an olive green. Its chest is an apricot colour tinged with olive green. This is a large, beautiful noisy turaco which is always on the move in the tree canopy. We saw this species feeding on fruit in the cycads at the entrance to the lodge and fruiting trees around the lodge.

“Tranquility of the heart is a blessing one receives from the wilderness.” ~ Robbie George

These turacos found the soft red seeds from the cycads around the lodge very enticing. The antics of these turacos around the pool area of the lodge provided plenty of entertainment.

A White-browed scrub-robin foraging in a open dry area close to where we found the cheetah family. This species of scrub-robin has a distinctive pale white superciliary (above its eye) stripe. Its crown, nape and back are light brown and its upper tail coverts are a rust colour. It has a buff coloured throat, breast and belly with dark brown stripes. Its greater and lesser wing coverts are distinctively white striped. This is a restless insect eater foraging mainly on the ground.

“I would like to paint the way a bird sings.” ~ Claude Monet

When we have meals at the safari lodge on the deck overlooking the Mkuze river, we were visited by a pair of Mocking cliff chats who were quick to pick up scraps of food dropped on the floor. There were quite habituated to people which gave us a chance to see them close up. This cliff chat is black all over except its belly and undertail coverts are chestnut brown. This species has a distinctive white shoulder patch. It is a very “chatty” chat.

Similar to all chats, this species lifted it tail just after it has landed. The male’s upperparts are black while the female’s upperparts are a dark grey. This species inhabits rocky boulder strewn areas and well-wooded rocky ravines. On the opposite side of the Mkuze river to the lodge is a high, well treed rocky cliff.

This Groundscraper thrush is an upright standing thrush. It is a bold, long legged thrush with a short tail. Its upper parts are a grey-brown and its cheeks, and underparts are white with bold dark brown spotted which join together around the face creating a malar and ear stripe. It characteristically, runs long distances on the ground hunting insects, stopping and standing bolt upright all the while flicking its wings. The Groundscraper Thrush is predominately terrestrial, hopping on the ground like many thrushes and scrapings among fallen leaves and other dead vegetation for insects. Sometimes it can be seen cocking its head to listen for prey moving in the leaf litter.

While having breakfast we were visited by a pair of Black backed puffbacks who hopped around in the trees close by the lodge’s deck. This small shrike has white underparts, a black head, variegated black and gray lesser and median coverts. Its back is black as are its rectrices.

“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.” ~ Gary Snyder

The male and female Black-backed Puffbacks are similarly coloured but the male has an all black head with the black becoming white just below its ruby red eye. The female’s face is mostly white face and she has a white eyebrow. These little shrikes also have a distinctive call which announces their presence. Thereafter it requires some patience to see them clearly.

The Pied wagtail is also a strikingly pied coloured wagtail. It has a long black tail which it wags up and down constantly. It has black upperparts and white underparts. It has a strong white eyebrow and a black stripe down its throat which broadens out into a black apron on its chest. It has a white panel of feathers on the leading edge of its wings. This insect eater seems to prefer to be close to water, be it a swimming pool or a river.

The other side of the Mkuze from the lodge is a steep rocky cliff with a small valley between the cliff faces leading down to the river. The opposite bank of the river is lined with large trees. On several occasions we heard what we initially thought was a baby crying but it turned out to be a family of Trumpeter hornbills. This pied colour hornbill has a wide pink area of skin around its eyes. This species is a large hornbill, compared to its yellow or red billed cousins. It has a large grey casque on top of its maxilla which is bigger on the male than the female.

On two occasions, the family of hornbills flew from their roosting trees on the other side of the Mkuze river to the fruiting trees around the lodge. They made quite a noise while communicating with each other.

This adult Fish eagle was perched on a broken branch close to a large pool of water in the river. There must be plenty of fish in the river because we saw a number of Fish eagles.

“Nature’s beauty is that is cultivates appreciation and gratitude.” ~ Louie Schwartzberg

We found a lone African hawk-eagle perched on a fallen tree. It had a high position from which to scan its surroundings. This raptor prefers savanna and and riverine forest habitats where it primarily hunts gamebirds, such as francolin and guineafowl. This hawk-eagle hunts by swooping from a perch, quartering low over the ground or stooping from a soaring position. It is aggressive and highly territorial.

In my experience, adult African hawk eagles hunt in pairs. The only time I have seen a single African hawk eagle was when it was a fledged juvenile.

An adult Martial eagle perched on a large aloe on the side of a hill looking down onto the Mkuze river. This is the area where we found the three year old male lion hiding from the coalition. This is one the largest and most powerful species of booted eagle. Also found in Amakhosi private game reserve another large and very powerful booted eagle, the Crowned eagle, which is sometimes called the “flying leopard” because of its colouring. The Martial eagle is one of the few eagles which hunts primarily from a high soar followed by a high speed stoop once it has located its quarry.

We saw many more interesting birds but I was not able take a good images of them. Two species which proved difficult and elusive were the Crested guineafowl and the Gorgeous bushshrike. Many raptors appeared to move up and down the river but were usually on the other side of the river to the lodge. I never got to see a Crowned eagle this time but we did see a pair of Crowned eagles in 2008 sitting in a large tree above a female bushbuck which they had killed.

“Birds provide a treasure trove of colour, diversity and sound. Treasures that can be seen on every game drive.” ~ Mike Haworth

We plan to return to Amakhosi in September this year before it gets too hot. I still want to get a good image of a Purple crested turaco flying, and try to see and photograph a Crowned eagle. Brown hyaena, civet and a serval are also on my mammal wish list.

“You never know what may cross your path and fuel the wildness of your soul.”~ Robbie George

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at bits interconnectedness and let it be.

Have fun, Mike