A few notables from Sudan

During a recent 3-day visit to Nimule, Sudan I did not have leisure for focused birding but did see some nifty ones along the way. Here are a few highlights, most of them typical of that area but of interest to one who is seldom there:

* Grasshopper buzzard (Butastur rufipennis)

* Bateleur (Terathopius ecaudatus) - formerly much more common across Africa than at present

* Flappet lark (Mirafra rufocinnamomea) - much in evidence with the males passing high overhead in their signature wing-snapping display flights

* Zitting cisticola (Cisticola juncidis) - another common species there that draws attention to itself by its display flight; it is named for the "zitting" call that the male emits as he follows an undulating pattern at fairly high altitude, before plunging back down into the long grass where they live and breed

* Northern red bishop (Euplectes franciscanus) and black-winged red bishop (Euplectes hordeaceus) - these similar spectacular species are found alongside each other in the bushy grassland around Nimule

A pair of long-crested eagles (Lophaetus occipitalis) in flight

A tawny eagle (Aquila rapax) that passed over the location of one of the eye-glasses clinics that we conducted a little east of Nimule