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Out-birding the birds of the miombo

- Leslie Reynolds

The miombo woodlands stretch north from southern Zimbabwe and Mozambique and blanket Zambia, Malawi and much of Angola, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their birds include several wily specialists that have learnt all the tricks of survival in an environment that has been burnt, hunted and farmed by man for tens of thousands of years. The elusiveness of these birds, their tendency to forage in concentrated multi-species parties and their remarkably skilful use of cover can make for a birding experience that is challenging to say the least, but also intensely rewarding when patience and skill pay off.

Something of a miombo endemic myself, I started exploring the Zimbabwean bush before I could walk properly (my dog used to drag me around) and continue in much the same vein as a birding guide in Zambia and neighbouring countries. As a birder, and more recently a photographer, my chief aim has been to get to know my subjects more closely and although I’ve birded with some of the legends of the game, no one’s taught me more valuable lessons in this than the birds themselves. The borrowing of their tricks has given rise to certain rather eccentric behaviours and might best be described as a shift from birding to outbirding the birds.