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Ethiopia 12 November – 5 December 2015

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Ethiopia 12 November – 5 December 2015 Ethiopia 12 November – 5 December 2015 www.avg-w.com [email protected] 1 Introduction Ethiopia is a country with a great variety of habitats and hence a huge diversity of bird species. Few other countries offer such unique combination of highlands, tropical forest, savanna landscapes and dry deserts. Over 800 species have been recorded in Ethiopia and 18 of these are endemic to the country and several others are near-endemic and shared only with Eritrea or Somali. All this has made Ethiopia a popular birdwatching destination. This trip report presents an overview of a three week birding trip made in November 2015. It presents the itinerary, an overview of the visited places, the birds and mammals observed as well as some practical information. We recorded an incredible amount of 565 bird species, most of which were seen very well by all participants and many where photographed as well. Next to that 49 different mammal species and numerous dragonflies and butterflies were recorded. Group members: Raoul Beunen, Marijn Prins, Lucas Kaaij, Klaas Bouwmeester, Reinoud Vermoolen, Bas van de Meulengraaf. Pictures by Bas van de Meulengraaf and Raoul Beunen Itinerary Day 1 12-nov Arrival in Addis Adaba Day 2 13-nov Sululta Plains -Debre Libanos Day 3 14-nov Jemma Valley Day 4 15-nov Jemma Valley - Ankober Escarpment Day 5 16-nov Ankober - Melka Ghebdu - Debre Zeit Day 6 17-nov Awash Day 7 18-nov Ali Dege Plains - Bilen Lodge Day 8 19-nov Awash - Lake Ziway - Lake Lagano Day 9 20-nov Lake Lagano - Wondo Genet Day 10 21-nov Wondo Genet - Bale Mountains Day 11 22-nov Oromiya Day 12 23-nov Bale Mountain - Sanetti Plateau - Harenna Forest Day 13 24-nov Harenna Forest - Negele Day 14 25-nov Liben Plains Day 15 26-nov Negele - Mega Day 16 27-nov Mega - Yabello Day 17 28-nov Yabello - Awassa Day 18 29-nov Lake Awassa - Senkele - Shashemene Day 19 30-nov Lake Langano - Lake Ziway - Butajira Day 20 1-dec Butajira - Gibe Gorge - Jimma Day 21 2-dec Jimma - Chebera-Churchura NP Day 22 3-dec Chebera-Churchura NP Day 23 4-dec Chebera-Churchura NP - Abelti Day 24 5-dec Gibe Gorge - Addis Adaba 2 Map of our route 7 2 3 4 1 6 5 23 19 8 18 20 17 9 10 21 11 22 12 13 14 16 15 1 1. Addis Adaba 13. Negele 2. Debre Libanos 14. Liben Plains 3. Jemma Valley 15. Mega 4. Ankobar 16. Yabello 5. Debre Zeit 17. Awassa 6. Awash 18. Shashemene 7. Bilen Lodge 19. Butajira 8. Lake Lagano 20. Jimma 9. Wondo Genet 21. Chebera-Churchura NP 10. Bale Mountains HQ 22. Chebera-Churchura NP 11. Oromiya 23. Gibe Gorge 12. Harrena Forest 3 Logistics Travelling around in Ethiopia is easy if one makes use of one of the many operators who rent out cars with drivers. These drivers not only take you around, but can also help you with the other logistics and some of them even know the birding spots and even the birds. We used the services from Ethiopian Quadrants (http://www.ethiopianquadrants.com). They proved to be very reliable, knowledgeable and helpful in organizing the whole trip and making it into a big success and we can highly recommend them. Most nights we stayed in a hotel. These were generally ok. Only in the very remote areas one has to settle for a very basic option. We camped in Chebera-Churchura NP. Food was generally good, especially if one goes for the local injera’s or pasta. Bread, avocado’s, onions and tomatoes make for a good lunch and are widely available. We never had any food-related health issues. The currency in Ethiopia is Ethiopian Birr. ATMs are found in most cities, but we found out that they are not always working. It might therefore be smart to take enough cash when you have the option to withdraw it. 1 Birr is worth about 0.04 euro’s. Bank notes come in small notes so be prepared to carry a thick wallet. 4 Sululta Plains – Debre Libanos Most birders will pass this area when they travel to the well known sites north of Addis Adaba. The plains offers a good opportunity to find birds that are less easy seen elsewhere, including Fan-tailed Widowbird, Black-winged Lapwing, Botta’s Wheatear, Erlander’s Lark, Abyssinian Longclaw, Ethiopian Cisticola, White- winged Cliff Chat, African Black Duck and African Stonechat. A few stops along the way will be sufficient to find most of these species. Wattled Ibis, Bottás Lark and Black-winged Lapwing Debre Libanos Debre Libanos is famous for the Gelada Monkeys, which are common in the area. We stayed at the Ethio- German Park Hotel, a great location near the deep gorge that holds Verreaux’s Eagle, amongst other birds. Specialities include White-billed Starling, Rüppell's Black Chat and Little Rockthrush. It is also a well-know place to find Stout Cisticola – a bird which we failed to find. Jemma Valley The Jemma Valley is the place to find the endemic Erckel’s and Harwood’s Francolins. The Erckel’s is fairly common, but the Harwood’s can be difficult to find. Make sure you arrive early morning and be prepared for a large number of local people willing you to show the birds – although they were good in spotting Francolins we still are not sure if their help was really useful or not. We failed to see the bird on our first morning, 5 despite extensive searching and had to go back the next day. Another speciality of this valley is the Lineated or Red-billed Pytilia. This bird was found in the dense bushes along a river. It required some effort, but in the end we could obtain nice views. At the most northern part of our trip into the Jemma Valley we found Yellow-rumped Seed-eater, the northern counterpart of the much more common Reichenow’s Seedeater. Other birds to look for in this area include Bush Petronia, Speckle-fronted Weaver, Woolly-necked Stork, Cinnamon-breasted Bunting, Yellow-rumped Seedeater, Abyssinian Wheatear, Lesser Blue-eared Starling, African Silverbill and Hemprich’s Hornbill. Most of these can be found on route or while birding at the sites for the specialities. One bird that we did miss here was the Fox Kestrel. It can be found on the ridges that one pass while driving into the valley. Red-billed Pytillia Yellow-rumped Seedeater Erckel’s Francolin Ankober Escarpment This is the place for the localized Ankober Serin. They are fairly common near the viewpoint and we found them immediately after we got out of the car. The place is also home to a large group of Gelada Monkeys. Ankober - Melka Ghebdu - Debre Zeit A long drive east from Ankober brings you in a completely different and greener habitat. Here one can find Yellow-throated Seedeater, Eastern Grey Plantain-eater, Yellow-breasted Barbet, Red-headed Weaver, Rufous Chatterer, Blue-spotted Wood Dove, Banded Barbet, Bare-faced Go-away-bird and Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-weaver. Yellow-breasted Barbet Yellow-throated Seed-eater Banded Barbet 6 After a long drive we arrived just in time to allow an hour of birding at Debre Zeit, a place were, with some luck, Black-Crowned Crane can be found. Our first good birds were some Quailfinches foraging in the fields. The lake itself offered very nice birding, with many waders and ducks. A large group of Common Cranes was also present, but no Black-crowned could be found among them. We concentrated on the water birds and found Red-billed Teal, Knob-billed Duck, Hottentot Teal, Southern Pochard, Gull-billed Tern and Pink-backed Pelican. Around 17:30 the sun started to go down and we decided to return to the cars. We still had some driving to do and our drivers didn’t like driving around in the dark. We kept an eye on the sky as more and more cranes came in. Persistence paid of and just before leaving, we finally saw two Black-crowned Cranes flying by. A great end of a long day. Awash An early morning start brought us on the way to Awash National Park. There is a long list of specialities that can be found in Awash and the nearby areas Ali Dege Plains and Bilen Lodge. This list includes Chestnut- bellied Sandgrouse, Somali Ostrich, Kori Bustard, Hartlaub’s Bustard, Buff-crested Bustard, Yellow-necked Spurfowl, Somali Fiscal, Chestnut-back Sparrow Lark, Singing Lark, Gillet’s Lark, Chestnut-crowned Sparrow- lark, Yellow-vented Eremomela, Ashy Cisticola, and Rosy-Patched Bushshrike. Next to all these birds one can also find a wide range of mammals here, including Soemmerring's Gazelle, Grévy's zebra, Gerenuk, East- African Oryx, Spotted Hyena, Bat-eared Fox, and Aardwolf. Several days are needed to do all the different place justice and search for the different species. We end up in staying two nights in Awash. On the second day we made a trip to Ali Dege Plain and Bilen lodge, but returned to Awash as staying at the Bilen Lodge is much more expensive. The final morning was again spent in Awash, where we left around 11 h. On the way to Awash we made a short stop for our target of the day, the Sombre Rock Chat. This species can be found on the volcanic rocks north of Lake Basaka. We quickly found several birds of this highly localized near-endemic. Another good find here was a pair of Nile Valley Sunbirds.
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