Birding in Tanzania . . .

Flamingos in the Ngorongoro Crater

I never saw a crocodile bird,

nor the village weaver with its round bush nest.

I missed the Eastern Paradise Whydah

and the little red-billed fire finch.

I looked unsuccessfully

for the yellow-eyed babbler,

and the red-cheeked Gordon-bleu.

But I saw waves of pink flamingos rise from a marsh,

one Gray Crowned Crane, far from home,

and a Masai ostrich court his mate.

I fell in love with the bright blue eye patch

of the friendly Helmeted Guinea Fowl,

watched baby Francolins skitter away in the grass,

and admired the stately walk of a Secretarybird.

I once slept in a tent in the grasslands of the Serengeti,

and heard lions cough at dawn.  

The long-tailed widowbird never appeared. 

Helmeted Guinea Fowl

Slowly, slowly, I'm putting together pictures and stories about our three-week stay this November in Tanzania in my Travel Blog, On the Road Again. Words don't seem adequate to describe the scope and depth of what we saw.