8 May 2021 marked the eBird Global Big Day 2021, a worldwide annual celebration of the birds around us. This year there were over fifty thousand participants across the globe and over seven thousand species identified in the single day!
This year on the Global Bid Day, our guiding team were joined by Professional Guide and birding enthusiast, James Varden, who also runs our guide training program.
They started at dawn in order to make the most of the day, to cover as many of the different habitats within the 136,000 acres Matetsi Private Game Reserve and to identify as may species as possible within the 24-hour period.
By day end, our team made it to 130 species, which was the highest count in Zimbabwe! A really great effort from the team, and a count that greatly exceed that of our 2020 Global Big Day.
The full list for 2021 (below) gives an idea of the huge variety of bird species that call Matetsi Private Game Reserve home.
| # | Species |
| 1 | White-faced Duck |
| 2 | Egyptian Goose |
| 3 | Red-billed Teal |
| 4 | Helmeted Guineafowl |
| 5 | Natal Spurfowl |
| 6 | Swainson’s Francolin |
| 7 | Crested Francolin |
| 8 | Red-eyed Dove |
| 9 | Cape Turtle-Dove |
| 10 | Laughing Dove |
| 11 | Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove |
| 12 | Namaqua Dove |
| 13 | African Green-Pigeon |
| 14 | Double-banded Sandgrouse |
| 15 | Kori Bustard |
| 16 | Grey Go-away-bird |
| 17 | Senegal Coucal |
| 18 | White-browed/Burchell’s Coucal |
| 19 | Black Crake |
| 20 | Water Thick-knee |
| 21 | Black-winged Stilt |
| 22 | Blacksmith Lapwing |
| 23 | White-headed Lapwing |
| 24 | Wattled Lapwing |
| 25 | Three-banded Plover |
| 26 | African Jacana |
| 27 | Three-banded Courser |
| 28 | Bronze-winged Courser |
| 29 | African Openbill |
| 30 | African Darter |
| 31 | Reed Cormorant |
| 32 | Hamerkop |
| 33 | Black-headed Heron |
| 34 | Goliath Heron |
| 35 | Cattle Egret |
| 36 | Rufous-bellied Heron |
| 37 | Green-backed Heron |
| 38 | African Sacred Ibis |
| 39 | Hadeda Ibis |
| 40 | Hooded Vulture |
| 41 | White-backed Vulture |
| 42 | Bateleur |
| 43 | Brown Snake-Eagle |
| 44 | Tawny Eagle |
| 45 | African Hawk-Eagle |
| 46 | Lizard Buzzard |
| 47 | African Goshawk |
| 48 | Little Sparrowhawk |
| 49 | Ovambo Sparrowhawk |
| 50 | African Fish-Eagle |
| 51 | Barn Owl |
| 52 | African Scops-Owl |
| 53 | Southern White-faced Owl |
| 54 | Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl |
| 55 | Pearl-spotted Owlet |
| 56 | Red-faced Mousebird |
| 57 | Eurasian Hoopoe |
| 58 | Green Woodhoopoe |
| 59 | Common Scimitarbill |
| 60 | Southern Ground-Hornbill |
| 61 | Bradfield’s Hornbill |
| 62 | African Grey Hornbill |
| 63 | Southern Red-billed Hornbill |
| 64 | Trumpeter Hornbill |
| 65 | Brown-hooded Kingfisher |
| 66 | Striped Kingfisher |
| 67 | Giant Kingfisher |
| 68 | Pied Kingfisher |
| 69 | White-fronted Bee-eater |
| 70 | Little Bee-eater |
| 71 | Swallow-tailed Bee-eater |
| 72 | Lilac-breasted Roller |
| 73 | Crested Barbet |
| 74 | Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird |
| 75 | Black-collared Barbet |
| 76 | Cardinal Woodpecker |
| 77 | Bearded Woodpecker |
| 78 | Meyer’s Parrot |
| 79 | Black Cuckooshrike |
| 80 | African Golden Oriole |
| 81 | Chinspot Batis |
| 82 | White-crested Helmetshrike |
| 83 | Retz’s Helmetshrike |
| 84 | Brubru |
| 85 | Black-backed Puffback |
| 86 | Brown-crowned Tchagra |
| 87 | Tropical Boubou |
| 88 | Orange-breasted Bushshrike |
| 89 | Grey-headed Bushshrike |
| 90 | Fork-tailed Drongo |
| 91 | African Paradise-Flycatcher |
| 92 | Magpie Shrike |
| 93 | Southern Black-Tit |
| 94 | Dusky Lark |
| 95 | Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark |
| 96 | Long-billed Crombec |
| 97 | Burnt-neck Eremomela |
| 98 | Green-backed Camaroptera |
| 99 | Yellow-breasted Apalis |
| 100 | Tawny-flanked Prinia |
| 101 | Zitting Cisticola |
| 102 | Wire-tailed Swallow |
| 103 | Lesser Striped Swallow |
| 104 | Yellow-bellied Greenbul |
| 105 | Terrestrial Brownbul |
| 106 | Dark-capped Bulbul |
| 107 | Arrow-marked Babbler |
| 108 | Red-billed Oxpecker |
| 109 | Violet-backed Starling |
| 110 | Meves’s Starling |
| 111 | Greater Blue-eared Starling |
| 112 | Cape Glossy Starling |
| 113 | Kurrichane Thrush |
| 114 | Ashy Flycatcher |
| 115 | White-browed Scrub-Robin |
| 116 | White-browed Robin-Chat |
| 117 | Collared Sunbird |
| 118 | Scarlet-chested Sunbird |
| 119 | White-browed Sparrow-Weaver |
| 120 | African Golden Weaver |
| 121 | Red-billed Quelea |
| 122 | Blue Waxbill |
| 123 | Green-winged Pytilia |
| 124 | Red-billed Firefinch |
| 125 | Village Indigobird |
| 126 | Southern Grey-headed Sparrow |
| 127 | Yellow-throated Petronia |
| 128 | African Pied Wagtail |
| 129 | Buffy Pipit |
| 130 | Rosy-throated Longclaw |
“We didn’t get any of the Zambezi specials but the Rosy-throated Longclaw is an excellent record.” – James Varden, Professional Guide & birding enthusiast
Days like this give our guiding team an opportunity to learn even more about bird identification and how important it is to be 100% accurate, as the sightings are recorded and logged in research databases.
You can find the global breakdown of species and participation on the eBird website, here. The Matetsi Victoria Falls list, logged by James Varden, is on the eBird website, here.
Thanks to James Varden for sharing photos, updates and the complete list from the Global Big Day. And many thanks as always to the extended Matetsi family, including Daniel Hargrove, for sharing their bird photos with us that we have included in this write up.
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