Malawi; Day 17 - Luwawa Forest Lodge & Chimaliro Forest Reserve

 Unbelievably, today was our last full day in Malawi. Sadly it did not start well, with my tent being flooded during the nights heavy rainfall, and subsequently leaving me awake from the early hours of darkness. Once the rain finally ceased at around 07:00 we set off to bird the Miombo woodland not far from the Luwawa Lodge that we were staying in.

The woodland here was very lively with some good birds, but we failed to find our missing species for this habitat. That said, we still enjoyed many of the range-restricted species we had become familiar with over the last weeks, including Red-capped Crombec and Greencap Eremomela, as well as a few European migrants such as Collared and Spotted Flycatcher, as well as Tree Pipit. We also stumbled across a day-roosting African Wood Owl, discreetly tucked away in the woodland but betrayed by a mob of sunbirds and willow warblers.

In the afternoon we stopped off at another patch of forest called the Chimaliro Forest Reserve which we hoped to have one final shot at our missing species. While the flocks were impressive and lively, featuring species such as Whytes Barbet, Miombo Scrub Robin and Stierlings Wren Warbler, we didn’t find our missing birds. And due to the car being left in a rather vulnerable position, and us still needing to drive almost three hours south, we could not spend more than an hour in this otherwise very promising location.

We called off at the Chiete/Kabvunguti Dam on our way south, the same we had visited on our journey north, but the birds were still all distant. A flyby Lesser Moorhen was nice, and the plentiful Southern Pochard were good to see again. It provided a nice break on our journey back to the capital before our flight tomorrow, rounding off an excellent trip back in Africa. 

-Blue-spotted Wood Dove

-Yellow-bellied Hyliota

-Southern Black Flycatcher

-Bearded Woodpecker

-African Golden Oriole

-Red-capped Crombec

-Chinspot Batis

 -Stierling's Wren-Warbler

Species List:
Perekezi Forest Reserve: Red-eyed Dove, Ring-necked Dove, Schalow's Turaco, Common Swift, Common Buzzard, African Wood Owl, Crowned Hornbill, Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird, African Golden Oriole, Black-headed Oriole, Chinspot Batis, Brubru, Black-backed Puffback, Fork-tailed Drongo, African Paradise Flycatcher, White-tailed Crested Flycatcher, Red-capped Crombec, Green-capped Eremomela, Dark-capped Bulbul, Willow Warbler, Southern Yellow White-eye, African Dusky Flycatcher, Spotted Flycatcher, White-browed Scrub Robin, Cape Robin-Chat, Collared Flycatcher, Amethyst Sunbird, Eastern Miombo Sunbird, Forest Double-collared Sunbird, Variable Sunbird, Tree Pipit,
Chimaliro Forest Reserve: Red-eyed Dove, Wahlberg's Eagle, Common Buzzard, Green Wood Hoopoe, Common Scimitarbill, Whyte's Barbet, Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird, Cardinal Woodpecker, Bearded Woodpecker, Golden-tailed Woodpecker, White-breasted Cuckooshrike, Black Cuckooshrike, Chinspot Batis, Black-crowned Tchagra, Fork-tailed Drongo, Rufous-bellied Tit, Miombo Tit, Red-capped Crombec, Yellow-bellied Eremomela, Green-capped Eremomela, Stierling's Wren-Warbler, Willow Warbler, African Spotted Creeper, Kurrichane Thrush, Spotted Flycatcher, Southern Black Flycatcher, Miombo Scrub Robin, Collared Flycatcher, Western Violet-backed Sunbird, Red-headed Weaver,
Chitete/Kabvunguti Dam: White-faced Whistling Duck, Southern Pochard, Lesser Moorhen, Red-knobbed Coot, African Jacana,