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Ethiopia Budget Birding 26Th November to 7Th December 2018 (12 Days) Trip Report

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Ethiopia Budget Birding 26Th November to 7Th December 2018 (12 Days) Trip Report Ethiopia Budget Birding 26th November to 7th December 2018 (12 days) Trip Report Ethiopian Wolf by Jan Pienaar Trip report compiled by Tour Leader: Jan Pienaar Rockjumper Birding Tours View more tours to Ethiopia Trip Report – RBL Ethiopia - Budget Birding 2018 2 Tour Summary Ethiopia is a country that has a lot to offer its visitors – high mountains steeped in alpine moorland, dense woodlands and forests, Acacia woodland, semi-desert and lest we forget the Great Rift Valley with its associated lakes, woodland and cliffs. On our 12-day exploration of this marvellous country, we sampled a great cross-section of these habitats and came away with great sightings and even better memories. We met on the first afternoon at our hotel in Addis Ababa, where the gardens offered the first taste of Ethiopian birding. Tacazze Sunbird, Brown-rumped and Streaky Seedeaters, Dusky Turtle Dove, scores of Hooded Vulture and Yellow-billed Kite, Abyssinian Slaty Flycatcher, Brown Parisoma and Wattled Ibis kept us entertained. After breakfast the next morning, we headed east of the capital towards the town of Debre Birhan. A few birding stops along the way bagged us Blue-winged Goose, African Black Duck, Black Stork, Bearded Vulture, a Lanner Falcon that literally flew between members of the group, unmistakeable Thick-billed Raven, near-endemic White-winged Cliff Chat, Long-billed Pipit and Yellow-crowned Canary. Our main targets for the day, though, were a ways past Debre Birhan to an area called Gemesa Gedel. Here, on steep cliffs overlooking the Great Rift Valley, we had Ankober Serin (only described to science in 1976) and the impressive Gelada Baboon. Despite the cold and the driving wind, we nevertheless enjoyed good views of these. We then headed White-winged Cliff Chat by Jan back to Debre Birhan for the night. Pienaar Early the next morning, still way before sunrise, we started our journey to the vast Jemma River Valley. We arrived just after sunrise at the top of the valley in order to locate Harwood’s Francolin, a very localised endemic. After many sightings of the more widespread Erckel’s Francolin, we finally managed to find a pair of Harwood’s – with the male displaying towards the female! Other gems we found here included Booted Eagle, Dark Chanting Goshawk, Nyanza Swift, Black-billed Barbet, Red-tailed Shrike, Lesser Whitethroat, White-billed Starling, Abyssinian Wheatear, Rüppel’s Black and Mocking Cliff Chats and Speckle-fronted Weaver. We had lunch on the banks of the Jemma River and added African Pygmy, Pied, Giant and Half-collared Kingfishers, Senegal Thick- knee, Crimson-rumped Waxbill, Eurasian Wryneck and Bush Petronia. On the way back to Addis, a quick stop on the Sululta Plains revealed dozens of Black-winged Lapwing, hundreds of Western Yellow Wagtail, Northern Shoveler, Red-billed Teal, African Spoonbill, Northern Pintail, Hamerkop and Common Snipe. We arrived at our hotel in the early evening and settled Gelada Baboon by Jan Pienaar in for the night. Rockjumper Birding Tours View more tours to Ethiopia Trip Report – RBL Ethiopia - Budget Birding 2018 3 After breakfast the next day, we struck out south from the capital as we headed down the western wall of the Great Rift Valley. En route to our accommodations in the town of Awassa, we visited a good selection of the Rift Valley lakes and came away with White-faced and Fulvous Whistling Ducks, Knob- billed Duck, Garganey, Hottentot Teal, Greater and Lesser Flamingoes, Glossy Ibis, Squacco Heron, Great White and Pink-backed Pelicans, African Darter, Western Marsh and Montagu’s Harriers, Black Kite, stately Common and Black-crowned Cranes, African Jacana, Black-tailed Godwit, Ruff, African Snipe, Marsh Sandpiper, Lesser Black-backed and Grey-headed Gulls, Gull-billed and White-winged Terns, Malachite Kingfisher, Blue-breasted and Northern Carmine Bee-eaters, Red-fronted Tinkerbird, Orange-breasted Bushshrike, Ethiopian Boubou, Northern Crombec, Rüppel’s Starling, African Thrush, Collared Sunbird and Rüppel’s Weaver. A pre-breakfast stroll around our hotel was a great way to get the day started, as we had some great birds including African Pygmy African Spotted Creeper by Jan Pienaar Goose, Purple Heron, African Fish Eagle, Black Crake, Allen’s Gallinule, Blue-headed Coucal, Woodland Kingfisher, a large flock of Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, Banded and Double-toothed Barbets, Nubian and Eastern Grey Woodpeckers, Western Black-headed Batis, Buff-bellied, Sedge and African Reed Warblers, White-rumped Babbler, African Spotted Creeper, White-browed Robin-Chat, Beautiful Sunbird and Little, Spectacled and Rüppel’s Weavers. Guereza Colobus and a few Grivet Monkeys kept us entertained, especially when they came to look for scraps around the breakfast tables! Our base for the next two nights was in the town of Goba, which meant leaving Awassa and almost straight away starting to climb out of the Rift Valley as we headed further east. As we ascended the trees became sparser, and we drove through mixed areas of upland grassland and cultivation. Erlanger’s Lark and Red- throated Pipit were picked up before we reached the highest point of the day (at 3,600m above sea level), whilst the marshes at the top delivered our first Rouget’s Rail and African Stonechat and, nearer the town of Dinsho, we had cracking views of a Cape Eagle-Owl on the nest. At the Bale Mountains National Park’s headquarters, a stroll through the Hagenia-Juniper mixed woodlands produced African Wood and Abyssinian Owls (both were pairs on their day roosts), Abyssinian Catbird and White- backed Black Tit. The mammals in the area did not disappoint either, with good numbers of Mountain Nyala, and smaller numbers of Bohor Reedbuck, Bushbuck (an endemic sub- species, characterised by longer fur), Common Warthog and Common Duiker. A Serval seen just before the town was also a nice surprise, although not everyone got to see it. After a long but eventful day, we settled into our hotel in Goba, full of Rouget’s Rail by Jan Pienaar anticipation for the trek up to the Sanetti Plateau the next day. Rockjumper Birding Tours View more tours to Ethiopia Trip Report – RBL Ethiopia - Budget Birding 2018 4 A day spent up on the Sanetti Plateau, ranging in elevation from around 2,800m to over 4,000m above sea level, is surely one of the major highlights of any trip to Ethiopia. One of the major drawcards is without doubt a sighting of the Ethiopian Wolf – the world’s rarest canid, with fewer than 500 individuals left. The Bale Mountains are the stronghold of this handsome predator, with more than half the population estimated to occur here. We were extremely fortunate to have excellent views of seven different individuals, including one that jogged past a mere three metres from our vehicles! It’s main prey, the Giant Mole Rat, was also much in evidence excavating their burrows. Whilst traversing this wonderland of Erica, Helicrysum and Giant Lobelias, we also happened upon specials such as Ruddy Shelduck, Chestnut- naped Francolin, a pair of Wattled Crane, good numbers of Spot- breasted Lapwing, Red-billed Chough, Cinnamon Bracken Warbler, Ethiopian Cisticola, Thekla’s Lark and large numbers of the handsome endemic Ethiopian Siskin, as well as multiple sightings of the endemic Ethiopian Highland (or Starck’s) Hare. Juniper woodlands just below the northern lip of the plateau produced Abyssinian Woodpecker, Martial Eagle, White- cheeked Turaco and Brown Woodland Warbler. As we ventured further south, we crossed through the country’s largest extant patch of forest, known as the Harenna Forest. Spanning an altitudinal range of 1,500m, it has a lot to offer in terms of species diversity. Avian gems we picked up included Crowned and Long-crested Eagles, Mountain Buzzard, Tambourine Dove, Lesser Honeyguide, Ethiopian Oriole, Black Saw-wing, African Hill Babbler, Slender-billed Starling and Abyssinian Owl by Jan Pienaar Pin-tailed Whydah, whilst we were also treated to a sighting of the rare and little-known Bale Monkey. Dropping in altitude even further after exiting the forest, the group moved through areas of Acacia savannah, interspersed with some gallery forest along larger rivers. This area produced a host of new species, including Blue-spotted Wood Dove, Bruce’s Green Pigeon, the enigmatic Ruspoli’s Turaco, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, Violet-backed Starling, Red-throated Wryneck, Northern Black Flycatcher, Purple Roller and Yellow- fronted Canary. We checked into our accommodations in the town of Negele then, our base for two nights. White-cheeked Turaco by Jan Pienaar An early start saw us again rising before dawn to head out to the Liben Plains, home to the rare Archer’s (or Liben) Lark. Whilst searching for this grassland denizen, we were entertained by sightings of Amur Falcon, Crowned Lapwing, Temminck’s Courser, Grey, Lesser and numerous Common Kestrels, Taita Fiscal, large numbers of Somali Short- toed Lark, Ethiopian Swallow, Pectoral-patch Cisticola, Wattled, Shelley’s and White-crowned Rockjumper Birding Tours View more tours to Ethiopia Trip Report – RBL Ethiopia - Budget Birding 2018 5 Starlings, Shelley’s Sparrow and Plain-backed Pipit. A pair of Archer’s Lark showed very well indeed, and allowed scope views for everyone. More wooded areas further east held Coqui and Crested Francolins, Eastern Chanting Goshawk, Shikra, Kori and White-bellied Bustards, Lilac-breasted Roller, Isabelline Shrike, Black-headed Oriole, Somali Crow, Mouse-colored Penduline Tit, Northern and Red- faced Crombecs, Boran Cisticola, Yellow-breasted Apalis, Grey Wren-Warbler, Yellow-bellied Eremomela, Common Rock Thrush, Marico Sunbird, Yellow-spotted Petronia, Grey-capped Social and Chestnut Weavers, Cut-throat Finch, Purple Grenadier, Somali Bunting and Reichenow’s and the difficult Salvadori’s Seedeaters. At lunch back in Negele, we added African Harrier-Hawk, African Palm Swift, Northern Puffback, Grey-headed Kingfisher and Grey- headed Bushshrike, before venturing out on an afternoon excursion to the west of town.
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