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THE BEST of MADAGASCAR and NORTHWEST and BERENTY EXTENSIONS TRIP REPORT 15 September ‐ 5 October 2016 by Justin Nicolau

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THE BEST of MADAGASCAR and NORTHWEST and BERENTY EXTENSIONS TRIP REPORT 15 September ‐ 5 October 2016 by Justin Nicolau THE BEST OF MADAGASCAR AND NORTHWEST AND BERENTY EXTENSIONS TRIP REPORT 15 September ‐ 5 October 2016 By Justin Nicolau Giant Coua - Coua gigas www.birdingecotours.com [email protected] [email protected] 2 | T R I P R E P O R T MADAGASCAR, 2016 ITINERARY Day Date Start Finish 1 15 September 2016 Antananarivo Antananarivo 2 16 September 2016 Antananarivo Antananarivo 3 17 September 2016 Antananarivo Mahajanga 4 18 September 2016 Mahajanga Ankarafantsika NP 5 19 September 2016 Ankarafantsika NP Ankarafantsika NP 6 20 September 2016 Ankarafantsika NP Mahajanga 7 21 September 2016 Mahajanga Antananarivo 8 22 September 2016 Antananarivo Berenty Reserve 9 23 September 2016 Berenty Reserve Berenty Reserve 10 24 September 2016 Berenty Reserve Ifaty 11 25 September 2016 Ifaty Ifaty 12 26 September 2016 Ifaty Toliara 13 27 September 2016 Toliara Isalo 14 28 September 2016 Isalo Ranomafana NP 15 29 September 2016 Ranomafana NP Ranomafana NP 16 30 September 2016 Ranomafana NP Antsirabe 17 01 October 2016 Antsirabe Andasibe 18 02 October 2016 Andasibe Andasibe 19 03 October 2016 Andasibe Andasibe 20 04 October 2016 Andasibe Antananarivo 21 05 October 2016 Antananarivo Departure Day 1: 15 September 2016 Arriving in Antananarivo mid afternoon, the group set out after the meets and greets and currency exchange toward our hotel for the next two nights. En route the bird sightings were few and far between, as one would expect while in transit. We picked up Common Myna, Dimorphic Egret, Squacco Heron, and a few Mascarene Martins. Malagasy Kingfisher - Corythornis vintsioides www.birdingecotours.com [email protected] [email protected] 3 | T R I P R E P O R T MADAGASCAR, 2016 Arriving at the hotel, bags offloaded, and room keys in hand, we set off for a brief walk around a small body of water in front of the accommodation. Here we enjoyed the likes of Black Heron, Great Egret, Squacco Heron, Mascarene Martin, Red Fody, Red-billed and Hottentot Teals, White-faced Whistling Duck, Common Moorhen, Black Crowned Night Heron, and the diminutive feathered jewel, Malagasy Kingfisher. Dinner was the next order of events, while we all got to know each other a little better during the course of our meal. Dimorphic Egret - Egretta dimorpha Day 2: 16 September 2016 A pre-breakfast walk around the hotel produced the likes of Great and Dimorphic Egrets, Squacco Heron and Black-crowned Night Heron, Malagasy Kingfisher, Madagascan Swamp Warbler, Malagasy Brush Warbler, Malagasy Black Swift, Mascarene Martin, Common Moorhen, Common Myna, Madagascan Cisticola, and Red Fody, while Red- billed and Hottentot Teals were fairly abundant. Stomachs full and well caffeinated, we headed off to a local bird sanctuary within the capital city. A small lake with a variety of exotic trees is home to large breeding numbers of herons and egrets and a variety of other local fauna. Right away we had large numbers of Red-billed Teal, Hottentot Teal, White-faced Whistling Duck, and a half dozen Meller’s Ducks. Western Cattle, Great, and Dimorphic (both color variations) Egrets, as well as Black, Squacco, and Malagasy Pond Herons and Black-crowned Night Heron showed well. Within the reeds we managed to pull out Madagascan Swamp Warbler and two brilliant views of White-throated Rail. Malagasy White-eye, Madagascan Hoopoe, Malagasy Coucal, Madagascan Mannikin, Madagascan Cuckoo, Malagasy Kestrel, and Yellow- billed Kite were welcome additions, as well as a fair number of Common Jery, which called from the tree tops, and additional common species. In the afternoon we headed for the Antananarivo Zoo, here we had close-up views of unusual mammals such as fossa and a variety of lemur species as well as sought-after bird and reptile species. While exploring the grounds we picked up a number of common species already seen, but added the likes of Souimanga Sunbird and Malagasy Turtle Dove. www.birdingecotours.com [email protected] [email protected] 4 | T R I P R E P O R T MADAGASCAR, 2016 Day 3: 17 September 2016 Once again a pre-breakfast walk was the order of the day, the hotel grounds producing the usual suspects with Malagasy Kingfisher, Madagascan Cisticola, Squacco Heron, Black- crowned Night Heron, Great Egret, and many Red-billed Teals and White-faced Whistling Ducks entertaining us. Good numbers of Malagasy Black Swift showed briefly overhead, as did Mascarene Martin and a constant stream of Red Fodies. After breakfast we revisited the central lake in town. Here we picked up good views of Malagasy Kestrel and a large number of herons and egrets, with noteworthy sightings of breeding-plumaged Malagasy Pond Heron, and a dark-morph Dimorphic Egret. A handful of Meller’s Ducks were picked up from within the aggregation of Red-billed Teals and White-faced Whistling Ducks, while Malagasy Coucal and Malagasy Kingfisher put on quite a performance. What we assumed to be a potential escapee in the form of Lesser Vasa Parrot gave us a brief flyby, an unusual bird for the capital. After lunch we set off to the local market to get a good taste of the city before we headed to the airport for a flight to Mahajanga, where we would start our journey to the northwest of the island. This is where the real fun was about to begin. Black-crowned Night Heron - Nycticorax nycticorax Day 4: 18 September 2016 Departing for the coast after breakfast to jump aboard our boat, we headed towards the Betsiboka Delta; here we worked the mangrove swamps and mudflats, where we added a variety of species. Pied Crow, African Palm Swift, and countless dark-morph Dimorphic Egrets welcomed us to the river mouth. At the mouth itself we picked up Lesser Flamingo, White-faced Whistling Duck, and a number of waders/shorebirds, notably Curlew Sandpiper, Terek Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Common Greenshank, Common Sandpiper, Common Ringed Plover, and Greater Sand Plover. Other interesting additions included Yellow-billed Kite, Olive Bee-eater, and Madagascan Harrier-Hawk, a pair of which we observed displaying above us. We also located a couple of very distant Malagasy Sacred Ibises before heading back for lunch. After lunch we made our way to Ankarafantsika National Park, locating Pied Crow, Madagascan Lark, and Namaqua Dove along the way. Once reaching the park we immediately worked the deciduous forest to seek out a few of its specials. Chabert Vanga www.birdingecotours.com [email protected] [email protected] 5 | T R I P R E P O R T MADAGASCAR, 2016 performed right off the bat, followed by Crested Drongo, Lesser Vasa Parrot, Madagascan Magpie-Robin, Blue Vanga, Long-billed Bernieria, Souimanga Sunbird, Malagasy Bulbul, Madagascan Buzzard, Madagascan Hoopoe, Frances’s Sparrowhawk, Malagasy Paradise Flycatcher, and a couple of other more commonly encountered species. Brown lemur and Coquerel’s sifaka were added to our mammal list, while a night walk prior to dinner produced golden-brown and grey mouse lemurs, western fat-tailed dwarf lemur, Milne-Edwards’s sportive lemur, and Oustalet’s and rhinoceros chameleons. Frances’s Sparrowhawk - Accipiter francesiae Day 5: 19 September 2016 Our full day in the national park commenced prior to dawn, and after a quick breakfast we headed immediately for the primary forest. Here we located the likes of Common Newtonia, Coquerel’s Coua, Madagascan Magpie-Robin, Souimanga Sunbird, Rufous Vanga, Sickle-billed Vanga, Madagascan Buzzard, Malagasy Green Sunbird, Sakalava Weaver, Cuckoo Roller, and two local specials in the form of Schlegel’s Asity, where both male and female showed for a lengthy period of time, with the male’s colorful caruncle glistening in the sun. We then picked up a pair of confiding White-breasted Mesites before heading to the secondary patches of forest. Other noteworthy sightings included a male rhinoceros chameleon and two separate roosting Milne-Edwards’s sportive lemurs. www.birdingecotours.com [email protected] [email protected] 6 | T R I P R E P O R T MADAGASCAR, 2016 Our second walk was also somewhat productive, as we added Madagascan Buttonquail, Greater Vasa Parrot, and Crested Coua, saw many more common species, and had improved views of a variety of Malagasy Paradise Flycatcher morphs, Malagasy Bulbul, Olive Bee-eater, Lesser Vasa Parrot, and Coquerel’s sifaka, which came in to inspect us at the restaurant. We then set off in the afternoon on a boat ride around the local sacred lake, where we enjoyed the usual water birds as well as Glossy Ibis, Striated Heron, Three-banded Plover, and one of the resident Madagascan Fish Eagles. We then visited another hidden gem of a site, encountering a variety of the usual suspects and managing to locate a flock of the diminutive and eye-catching African Pygmy Goose. Day 6: 20 September 2016 This was our final morning in the area, so we decided on an earlier start and a later breakfast. This verdict bode well for us, as it wasn’t long before we heard the piercing calls of our main target for the day. Van Dam’s Vanga was near, and a few minutes later we had a spectacular male calling in full view. Following this we picked up Common Newtonia, Malagasy Paradise Flycatcher, Coquerel’s and Crested Couas, Madagascan Magpie-Robin, Souimanga Sunbird, Malagasy Bulbul, Madagascan Buzzard, Lesser Vasa Parrot, Sickle-billed Vanga, and a handful of others. Some time later the piercing calls now familiar to us echoed through the forest again. Agitated calls were giving away the presence of a male Frances’s Sparrowhawk, which had just caught and proceeded to kill and pluck a Crested Drongo in front of us, while the localized Van Dam’s Vangas mobbed it, together with an army of other common species.
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