Natural Selection

Striped Kingfisher

We flew from Gatwick mid afternoon and changed in Dubai at 2.30 local time. Not knowing what to expect we were surprised to end up on a train / tram in the airport. Even when we got to the right place the bus transfer was fairly epic in very humid conditions.

When we landed at Zanzibar airport there were ubiquitous House Crows, a few Feral Pigeon and a lone Cattle Egret. Our transfer took us through Stone Town, I’d already heard about how people drive in the capital but was still taken aback a bit when encountering it in the flesh.

At the hotel our room wasn’t due to be ready for seven hours. As we had been travelling for hours Jane told me to go birding in the grounds whilst she negotiated early access to the room. This soon gave good views of some young Bronze Mannikins, though the picture below was a male a few days later.

During the afternoon I had a wander round the grounds. A few sunbirds were seen, but were difficult to photograph. Coucals and Common Bulbuls were among other highlights, before I stumbled on a kingfisher. I’ve since had to fess up to my naivety not expecting this away from water. I’ve only seen Common and Belted Kingfishers before, both in exclusively aquatic habitats.

We located to loungers overlooking the beach in the remaining hours of daylight after unpacking. Distant seabirds included presumed Greater Crested Terns and definite Brown Noddies, whilst passing herons were not close but examination of photos showed they included Black Herons. For those who don’t know these hunt by creating an ‘umbrella’ so the darkness encourages fish to the surface.