birding...

White-faced Scops Owl Otus leucotis ©Greg W. Lasley http://home.earthlink.net/~glasley/

Swaziland is a small country with a big bird list - approximately 500 species, http://www.sntc.org.sz/checklst/sdbirds.html. A staggeringly wide range of environments are found in only 17,360 square km from cool, wet mountain tops to foetid riverine forest.

The Swazi Highveld in the northwest forms part of the Drakensberg escapement. There are steep wooded gorges and sour grasslands. Malolotja National Park covers some of the best Highveld country. Blue Crane, Stanley`s Bustard and Southern Bald Ibis can be found here. Malolotja is best known for critically rare breeding Blue Swallow. There are small numbers of Gurney`s Sugarbird breeding on hillsides which have Protea trees. Ground Woodpeckers are also characteristic of the area.

The Midveld consists of rolling hills and river valleys; one of the best being the Mlumati where Green Twinspot is found. Much of the broadleaved savannah and forest of the Midveld has been lost or degraded by agriculture and forestry but there are numerous unspoilt areas with fantastic birding.

The Lowveld is the least developed part of the country, which consists largely of knobthorn-marula savannah with forested river valleys. The Leadwood forest in Mlawula National Park, http://www.sntc.org.sz/reserves/mla.html is spectacular. It holds African Broadbill and Red-billed Helemetshrike. There is probably no better place in the world to see the rare and beautiful Pink-throated Twinspot than the Swazi Lowveld. Rudd`s Apalis is resident particularly in the south. There is little natural standing water in the Lowveld, so where it does exist, usually in association with sugar cane and cotton production for example at Big Bend (where over 300 species have been recorded) and the Kalanga Regional Development Association dam, migrant Palaearctic waders and other water birds abound.

Swaziland`s eastern border with Mozambique is formed by the ancient Lubombo Mountains rising to 780m. There are spectacular remote valleys running down to the border for example at Mambane. The Lubombos are famous for a number of Palaeolithic caves. As you sit in a cave mouth, resting your weary limbs after a long climb, watching a Cape Vulture circle overhead (if you are lucky) or a Purple-crested Lourie scrambling in the tree tops below, contemplate the fact that early hominids sat in the very same place, doing the same thing over 100,000 years ago!

Swaziland is rich in raptors with 48 species recorded and many species are still common.

December to February is probably the best time to visit. Resident species and inter-African migrants, such as the Cuckoos, are in full breeding plumage, which certainly helps with identifying the Weavers and Widowbirds and it is the time when the Palaearctic migrants are present.

The Swaziland Bird Atlas provides distributional data down to 1/8th degree grid squares (approx 12.5km x 12.5km) as well as seasonal data for migrants. It is essential reading. The South African guides adequately cover identification.