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MADAGASCAR: the Wonders of the “8Th Continent” a Tropical Birding Custom Trip

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MADAGASCAR: The Wonders of the “8th Continent” A Tropical Birding Custom Trip October 20—November 6, 2016 Guide: Ken Behrens All photos taken during this trip by Ken Behrens Annotated bird list by Jerry Connolly TOUR SUMMARY Madagascar has long been a core destination for Tropical Birding, and with the opening of a satellite office in the country several years ago, we further solidified our expertise in the “Eighth Continent.” This custom trip followed an itinerary similar to that of our main set-departure tour. Although this trip had a definite bird bias, it was really a general natural history tour. We took our time in observing and photographing whatever we could find, from lemurs to chameleons to bizarre invertebrates. Madagascar is rich in wonderful birds, and we enjoyed these to the fullest. But its mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and insects are just as wondrous and accessible, and a trip that ignored them would be sorely missing out. We also took time to enjoy the cultural riches of Madagascar, the small villages full of smiling children, the zebu carts which seem straight out of the Middle Ages, and the ingeniously engineered rice paddies. If you want to come to Madagascar and see it all… come with Tropical Birding! Madagascar is well known to pose some logistical challenges, especially in the form of the national airline Air Madagascar, but we enjoyed perfectly smooth sailing on this tour. We stayed in the most comfortable hotels available at each stop on the itinerary, including some that have just recently opened, and savored some remarkably good food, which many people rank as the best Madagascar Custom Tour October 20-November 6, 2016 they have ever had on any birding tour. Especially considering that Madagascar is one of the world’s poorest countries, the fine food and excellent lodging that you’re able to enjoy on a tour of the country are quite remarkable. The birding was great, and though this itinerary wasn’t aimed to maximize the bird list or the endemic tally, we recorded a solid 155 species, including virtually all of the endemics and other specialties possible on our route. As usual, the highlight was seeing all five of the incredible ground-rollers, from the roadrunner-like Long-tailed of the spiny forest to the wonderful rainforest- dwelling Scaly. There was a strong cast of vangas, including the range-restricted Red-shouldered, anpitta-like Crossley’s, and huge Sickle-billed. As normal, the couas were also favorites. From the shy and beautiful Red-breasted of the eastern rainforest to the huge Giant Coua of the dry western forest, to the elusive Verreaux’s Coua of the southwest, we were looking for and at couas virtually every day. The bizarre mesites form a Malagasy endemic family, and we had superb views of two of the three members of the family: Brown and Subdesert. The asities form yet another endemic family, and we saw two of its members: The Blue Coua, a large and colorful rainforest coua. Velvet Asity and Common Sunbird-Asity. The Malagasy “warblers” or “greenbuls” were recently found to constitute an endemic family, the Bernieridae. Most of these birds at not colorful, but there is much to be enjoyed in their subtly different shapes and drastically different feeding strategies. In Zombitse we saw the highly localized and rare Appert’s Tetraka, and several sightings of the hefty Long-billed Tetraka were thoroughly appreciated. Madagascar Custom Tour October 20-November 6, 2016 Crab Plovers and Sanderlings on Nosy Ve. The colony of gorgeous Red-tailed Tropicbirds on Nosy Ve was much enjoyed and photographed, as always. One special treat this year was seeing a couple of tropicbirds sitting on the water, far away from the island – very different from the normal in-flight views at the colony. A pod of Spinner Dolphins on the way to the island was another great bonus sighting. Madagascar Crested Ibis is one of the toughest birds on this tour, but this year we were treated to a good sighting of a pair in Andasibe after dedicating most of a day to searching for this elusive bird. We had excellent views of Madagascar Sparrowhawk, Henst’s Goshawk, and Madagascar Cuckoo- Hawk, three of the island’s most elusive raptors. Coastal sites held good shorebirding as normal, and we spotted Greater Painted-snipes, Madagascar Plover, and the much-wanted Crab Plover, which makes up its own family. In the eastern rainforest, we enjoyed astoundingly good views of two tough rails: Madagascar Flufftail and Madagascar Wood-Rail. Owls and nightjars were well represented; we had great looks at Madagascar Scops-Owl, White-browed Owl, Madagascasr Madagascar Custom Tour October 20-November 6, 2016 Long-eared Owl, and Collared Nightjar. A Madagascar Pygmy-Kingfisher that shot into view and perched a few feet in front of the group was a real crowd pleaser. The bright orange coloration of this tiny forest-dwelling kingfisher almost seems to glow in the dark forest interior. OK, the birding was great. But in Madagascar the birding is only part of the story. Of course, we run birding tours, and the birds have priority in some sense. However, one of the amazing things about tours to this island is that you can also see an astounding array of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, butterflies, and other wildlife, without sacrificing a single bird. Sometimes birding tours see more mammals than do devoted “mammaling” tours! The “mammaling” on this tour was exceptional. Overall, we In Isalo National Park, we had fantastic recorded 24 mammals, views of a day-roosting Madagascar Long-eared Owl. most of which were lemurs, from the tiny mouse-lemurs up to Indri and Diademed Sifaka, the largest living species. Between were a captivating range of dwarf lemurs, spunky sportive lemurs, the tree-clinging Eastern Woolly Lemurs, a variety of brown lemurs, and the big and beautiful Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur. There were some great non-lemur mammals too, such as the cute Madagascar Custom Tour October 20-November 6, 2016 little Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec, and a beautiful Ring-tailed Vontsira (formerly known as “mongoose”). This was also an excellent tour for reptiles and amphibians; we racked up 37 species of reptiles. The chameleons alone showed incredible diversity; we saw 10 species, including the world’s two largest chameleons, and one of its smallest. Geckos were spectacular. Perhaps best of all was the Satanic Leaf-tailed Gecko, one of the Diademed Sifaka, a member of the indri family, and one of the largest best-camouflaged living lemurs. animals on earth, but it had strong support from Madagascar Ground Gecko, with eyes like the evil lord Sauron, and a bunch of beautiful blazing-green day geckos. The presence of iguanids or “swifts” on Madagascar is a mysterious fact of biogeography, making us especially appreciate seeing three species of swifts (the lizards, not the birds!). The boas are another Malagasy biogeographic mystery, and were also the serpentine highlight; we saw Dumeril’s Boa, and both Western and Eastern Madagascar Tree Boas. Although October is still quite dry in most parts of Madagascar, and it’s not quite prime frog season, we identified several species of frogs, including the gorgeous Baron’s Mantella. Madagascar Custom Tour October 20-November 6, 2016 We were once again in full “butterfly mode” on this trip as well. We identified 41 species of butterflies, the majority of which were endemics. Some of the highlights included the massive Madagascar Giant Swallowtail, many sightings of the enigmatic Madagascar Metalmarks, the truly Brilliant Blue, and Madagascar Malachite Swallowtail, just to name a few. Two amazing moths were also highlights: the huge Comet Moth, and the splendid and very butterfly-like Madagascar Sunset Moth. Other prized invertebrate sightings included the famous Giraffe-necked Weevil and the less well-known but biogeographically fascinating pillbug millipede. Merrem’s Madagascar Swift. The Malagasy iguanids are probably a relict of the days of Gondwanaland. Madagascar Custom Tour October 20-November 6, 2016 ITINERARY October 20 Arrival in Antananarivo. October 21 Flight to Tulear. Drive to Ifaty. October 22 Ifaty. October 23 Ifaty to Tulear. October 24 Boat trip to Nosy Ve and Anakao. October 25 Tulear to Isalo. October 26 Isalo NP. October 27 Isalo to Ranomafana National Park. October 28 Ranomafana National Park. October 29 Ranomafana to Antsirabe. October 30 Antsirabe to Andasibe. October 31 Andasibe-Mantadia NP. November 1 Andasibe-Mantadia NP. November 2 Andasibe-Mantadia NP. November 3 Andasibe to Anjojorobe. November 4 Anjojorobe. November 5 Anjojorobe to Antananarivo. November 6 Departure from Antananarivo We employed a wide range of conveyances on this trip: planes, busses, 4x4s, and even zebu carts… Madagascar Custom Tour October 20-November 6, 2016 PHOTO GALLERY Follows tour’s chronology Eurasian Moorhen of the regional endemic subspecies (left). Madagascar Bulbul (r.) is a common endemic. On our first morning, we kicked off birding right in Tana, where we found a bunch of common endemic birds and a great selection of waterbirds, including Black Heron, Red-billed Duck (Teal), and White-faced Whistling-Duck. Madagascar Custom Tour October 20-November 6, 2016 A beautiful and bizarre mudskipper in coastal mangroves near Ifaty. An Elegant Skink in the spiny forest. Madagascar Custom Tour October 20-November 6, 2016 Birding in the otherworldly spiny forest. A beautiful hairstreak (left) and an oddly black-shouldered sportive-lemur, probably Petter’s (right). Madagascar Custom Tour October 20-November 6, 2016 Fony Baobab (left) in the spiny forest. Madagascar Harrier-Hawk (right). Madagascar Nightjar on a nest. Madagascar Custom Tour October 20-November 6, 2016 Watching the rare endemic Madagascar Plover on a coastal flat.
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