African update 2 - Ngulia

Last two days were very good, though ringing was not. Last night was useless with no mist at all and no birds on the ground. The night before started with good mist, and during one hour (00:30 to01:30 we caught 350 birds) but then the wind changed and mist lifted. After just one minute thousands of passerines took off into the sky and south - an incredible sight. Morning catch was OK but not too busy.
Both yesterday and today we did safari drives through the park after ringing. Yesterday we drove to Mzima Springs which are very beautiful, and produced some waterbirds as well as Crocodiles and Hippos. We had several Leopard encounters yesterday - apart for the Ngulia lodge resident, we bumped into three more doing real leopard stuff, including one chasing after a Dik-Dik. Impressive! This is the Ngulia beast having its dinner:

Other interesting mammals included two Black Rhinos and some Gemsbok.
Best bird was a Black-throated Wattle-eye, and other favourites were Pygmy Falcon and Pangani Longclaw that posed very nicely.

Pangani Longclaw

As I am typing this mist is coming in, so things are looking good at the moment. Good night!