199 : Yellow-throated Longclaw

Yellow-throated Longclaw - Macronyx croceus

My youngest boy who was I think 8 at the time of this trip picked this bird out of the field guide and insisted that we see one a good couple of weeks before we travelled to Tanzania. Some chance I thought - whenever you set a plan to see something you are setting yourself up for disapointment. Birds do not come to order. You can narrow the odds by being in the right price at the right time. Ultimately a nest during the breeding season or a known feeding spot. I can guarantee that within 30 minutes in Dubai I can find you 10 species that are the backdrop to my life. Perhaps if I was a pastoralist in a protected area of grassland somewhere in East Africa I would be bound to see a Yellow-throated Longclaw the moment I stepped out of my hut. I wouldn't know though. Most of the world's birds to me are a picture and a range map and some indication of scarcity. The book states that they are ''the most common and widespread Longlaw''. They look pretty exotic to me but then so would a Long-Tailed Tit to a man from Papua New Guinea.

Even common birds can be elusive and difficult to see. I am sure there are many thousands of grasshopper warblers in the UK each Summer. I have seen two in my life. One by accident when it hopped through the field of vision of my scope in the bottom of a bush at Nags End (I was looking for a Nightingale that had gone to cover). A second singing in view on some brambles at a known breeding spot (I reduced the odds dramatically). You have to work hard for some birds. Very hard. I have had to work hard to see every Short-eared Owl in my life, Crossbill (you don't accidentally walk into conifer plantations and exercise you neck muscles for 3 hours). On the other hand I had a bittern fly over my car once and land on a frozen dyke on the Pevensey levels 10 yards away. The car almost went in a ditch. Barn owls have jumped out on me, I have been accosted by Hobbies and pounced on by Peregrines. Birds can hide or they can explode into your life from the corner of your eye like a practical joker. I wonder if some people think big brown bird and walk past a bittern in Winter while walking their dog - hurrying back for lunch. Strange.

Whether its rare or whether its not - easy to see or not we were lucky to see this beautiful bird singing in the long grass in the Serengetti in the full morning sun. I expect that Young S wanted to see one because it has the brightest yellow throat outlined with a smart black line. Out of a dozen shots I managed to get one that just gives the faintest hint of that. I think you can see why it is called a ''longclaw". Whats my point. Some days you can step out and see little but the familiar - most days of my life are like that with birds. So a common bird in an unusual place becomes special. I saw a chiff-chaff at 6pm in November on a bare tree in the City Centre of Manchester leaving work once - bathed in sodium light. He was overwintering in the warm city centre rather than chancing his arm flying down to Morocco or Tunisia. Other days you wake up and you are in Gods country and the life ticks fall into your lap every 20 yards. Both are special - but realising what you are seeing - why it is there and having some understanding of the bird in its place elevates the whole thing. That and the obvious male stamp collecting urge ! Grown men will take on rictus grins and talk for hours about a single bird. My son was beaming when he saw this bird - what was in a book was transformed to reality - in the sun on a morning in Tanzania.

I have posted up a lot of birds from an albulm on my computer called Monday Morning recently. All from a single game drive. Our first I think to see the Wildebeeste Mega-herd - which I have posted about earlier. I will remember that drive for the rest of my life. For the herd of course. But also for the light. I remember one morning when I was about 15 I woke up at school and the light was the same. I had had my window open in the dormitory - it was probably 6 am. I went for a run - I was an athlete in those days. When the light is right and the dew has fallen the English countryside looks stunning first thing in the morning. In the strangest way the Northern Serengetti with its rolling hills, small streams, acacias and grasslands reminded me of Northern Essex/Suffolk countryside in the Summer. Whether a temperature to the air I had forgotten by living in the Gulf too long or a stillness from teh countryside or just the colour green. They were both perfect mornings. I didn't run into one of these when I was 15 though so probably best to stay in a vehicle.

And of it wandered keeping an eye on the herd. You just know there are 30 more of these nearby ! The weight of a local pack of hyenas is equivalent to all of the female lions in a pride apparently. The thing that keeps them at bay - the males in the night - they sleep all day but by night its warfare - they take on whole packs of hyena and thats how they earn the right to ''lions share'' apparently. I saw a long line of hyena loping, moving at speed across the floor of the Ngorogoro crater - they reminded me of that pack of orcs running across the plains of Rohan in the Lord of the Rings - squabbling as they went and hell bent on mischief. Mrs C and I have discussed Hyenas quite often. Its hard to get into them once you've seen them carrying off a baby Thompson's gazelle. They have a job to do in the whole system - its not a nice one but its a job. Jaws that can crack bones !

Yellow-throated Longclaw, Macronyx Croceus
Tanzania, Serengetti, Mara River, Olakira Camp
July 2012