Having just come back from a 4 day birding photography
extension in Botswana’s Okavango Deltas Pan-Handle with an Australian group, I
can categorically say that this is a
birders paradise, whether you are a twitcher at heart or just want to get some
incredible birding images, the Okavango Deltas Pan-Handle is the Place to be.
With 84 species countered in 4 days and 7 lifers ticked off
for my books, bearing in mind that we were concentrating on specific birds like
Kingfishers, African Skimmers, Carmine Bee-Eaters and the African Fish Eagle,
the species was quite impressive. The days were taken up by early morning and afternoon
boat trips up and down the tributaries of the Pan-Handle in search of our
birding Quarry.
The first early morning trip up
river we decided to target African Skimmers and the African Fish Eagle, with a
return trip searching out the Pel’s Fishing Owl on the islands just north of
our camp before getting back to Xaro Lodge for a late breakfast.
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Having filled our cards memories with Fish Eagles in early
morning light, we started slowly making our way down river towards the African
Skimmers breeding beaches, all the while searching for any other photographic
subjects.
The African Skimmer is listed as
a threatened species by the IUCN, with a estimated population in Southern
Africa of 9500 birds. The main threat to the species is the creation of dams
along important water sources as they need bare sand banks to breed during the
dry season. This colony was one of 3 that we encountered during the 4 days.
Having spent a good 2 hours with
the Skimmers we were able to take some creative images of these birds as they
flew close to the waters surface, while pursuing prey and each other.
We had about an hour of light
left and decided to check out the Palm islands that dot their way through the
Pan-Handle in search of the elusive Pel's Fishing Owl, which luckily I know of
a breeding pair not far from our home base, so we made our way to Loyd's Camp
island to see if we could track this mysterious bird.
The group and I returned to base camp in preparation for the next 2 days of birding photography in the Pan-Handle.
The rest of the trip was spent moving up and down river into
the Pan-Handles smaller tributaries and channels in search of the smaller, unlikely species of
bird that frequent these smaller water pathways and capturing the nesting
Carmine Bee-Eaters in the afternoons, while always keeping our eyes open for
any further Fish Eagle and African Skimmers action while on the river.
Keeping the best action for last, the colony of Carmine
Bee-Eaters was a treat for the entire group. Although difficult at first to
keep up with the birds due to their aerial acrobatics, we had spent 4 hours at
the colony and everyone started to get the hang of capturing these birds in
flight.
The Carmine’s were a great end to the Okavango Deltas Pan-Handle
extension, where the group now made their way into Botswana’s great game
reserves, the Moremi and Chobe, to see what lay in store for them in
the guise of furrier subjects.
Finally, this image of an African Skimmer was the perfect end to the 4 days extension to the rest of the Botswana Safari.
