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Madagascar Comprehensive IV 9Th to 29Th November 2017 (21 Days) Trip Report

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Madagascar Comprehensive IV 9th to 29th November 2017 (21 days) Trip Report Madagascar Leaf-nosed Snake by Rand Rudland Trip report compiled by Tour Leader, Adam Walleyn Rockjumper Birding Tours | Madagascar www.rockjumperbirding.com Trip Report – RBL Madagascar - Comprehensive IV 2017 2 Tour Summary We started off the comprehensive tour with lunch at our pleasant hotel on the outskirts of Antananarivo and then boarded a bus to weave our way through the busy traffic into the downtown area. Here, a private reserve at Lac Alarobia is a haven for waterbirds, and offered an excellent start to our Madagascar birding. We were greeted by throngs of Red-billed Teal and White-faced Whistling Ducks and were soon enjoying several Meller’s Duck – an endangered species that is now seemingly thriving at this location. We also saw a few Hottentot Teal and a pair of bulky Knob-billed Ducks. Herons were in abundance, including large nesting colonies of Dimorphic Egret, Cattle Egret, Black Heron, Squacco Heron and Black-crowned Night Heron. Smaller numbers of Great Egret and Striated Heron were also present; but it took some searching to find the most wanted heron here, the endangered Malagasy Pond Heron. We eventually enjoyed good looks at three birds in full breeding regalia. A nice bonus was a pair of Madagascan Grebe – yet another endangered waterbird. Along the borders of the lake lurked Common Moorhen and a White-throated Rail by Rand Rudland single Red-knobbed Coot; while a White-throated Rail paraded around in the open, giving simply incredible looks. We also had our first sightings of a couple more common endemics, such as Malagasy Kestrel, Red Fody, Malagasy Brush Warbler and superb little Malagasy Kingfishers to conclude a wonderful start to our birding. We then headed back to our hotel to enjoy a dinner and discuss plans for the adventure ahead. After a tasty breakfast, we loaded up our set of four-wheel-drives. After navigating the early morning Tana traffic, we were headed eastbound for the incredible rainforests of Andasibe. It was a largely birdless drive through rice paddies and eucalyptus plantations but we did stop for a Hamerkop and then scoped up a pair of Madagascan Pratincoles at the Mangoro River. Eventually, we arrived at our rainforest lodge set right on the edge of Analamazoatra Reserve and were soon hearing the evocative wails of Indri and enjoying bright green Striped Day Geckos. After lunch, we set off straight for the reserve, Collared Nightjar by Peter Friedmann where our fantastic local guide had a steady stream of exciting wildlife to show us! We saw our first forest birds, like Spectacled Tetraka, Nelicourvi Weaver and Stripe-throated Jery, but things really started getting exciting when our guide showed us a rufous morph Rainforest Scops Owl peering down at us from its tangled roost. We then headed up the hill, where a Madagascan Wood Rail nest was unfortunately unoccupied – probably Rockjumper Birding Tours | Madagascar www.rockjumperbirding.com Trip Report – RBL Madagascar - Comprehensive IV 2017 3 having fledged out the day before. We had better luck at a Madagascan Sparrowhawk nest, where we could enjoy excellent scope views of this rare forest raptor sitting up on its nest. We next visited a Collared Nightjar nest that had also just fledged, fortunately the youngster was roosting on the ground just beside the nest. The bird was in almost full adult plumage, with just a bit of down left on the underside. The cryptic colouration of this species makes it one of the most beautiful and poorly-known birds in the country, and we gorged in the great views of this special bird. Hearing some Indris wailing nearby, we set off in search of them but instead found a pair of roosting Eastern Wooly Lemurs, staring quizzically at us with their big orange eyes. We then headed back down the hill where our local guide played a fun game with us called “spot the leaf-tailed gecko” and we were eventually able to spot it. This was a Mossy Leaf-tailed Gecko and its camouflage really has to be seen to be believed. We were also fortunate to get good views of a couple of beautiful snakes – Perinet Tree Snake and Eastern Wooly Lemurs by Rand Rudland Lateral Water Snake. At this stage we had to leave the reserve, as it was closing for the day, but just before the gate we lingered when we had a female and chick Madagascan Flufftail showing incredibly well on the edge of the path – really superb! From the gate, we walked a short distance where we were able to scope up a fantastic Madagascan Owl sitting on an exposed perch within an exotic pine plantation. At this stage, thunder that had been rumbling louder and louder for the past hour was starting to sound very close indeed, so we beat a hasty retreat back to our lodge where the heavens promptly opened up and an absolute deluge of rain beat down – our timing could not have been better. The rains did clear up in time for a night walk, and we had a fantastic series of critters – our first chameleons, both Short-horned and Nose-horned, were enjoyed with raindrops still clinging to their skin. Frogs were calling abundantly, although we could only locate one species – the Boophis viridis. A Webbs’ Tuft-tailed Rat clambering around in some low vegetation was a bonus find. Lemurs were a bit elusive initially in the damp conditions, but we did glimpse a Goodman’s Mouse Lemur, we had good views of Eastern Wooly Lemurs and then got progressively better views of Furry- eared Dwarf Lemurs. The final dwarf lemur showed superbly well and ending on this high note we headed back to the lodge for dinner and straight off to bed with an early start Boophis viridis by Rand Rudland ahead. We headed out early this morning to the excellent Mantadia National Park. The distance is not far but the road is certainly bumpy, and after last night’s downpour the driving was a bit more tricky than normal. Eventually, we arrived at the forest and spent the morning birding, making numerous stops Rockjumper Birding Tours | Madagascar www.rockjumperbirding.com Trip Report – RBL Madagascar - Comprehensive IV 2017 4 along the road in search of the many special birds to be found here. During one of our first stops, we heard the much-desired Pitta-like Ground Roller and soon had four birds bopping all around us. Initially the birds were a bit elusive, but eventually one settled down, offering us unbeatable views of this, arguably the most beautiful of all Malagasy birds. We headed off in search of Scaly Ground Roller next, a much more challenging species to catch up with. This bird led us on quite the chase for a while, but it too eventually settled down and offered us superb views of its wonderfully cryptic scaly plumage. Indeed, we were able to see an adult bringing food to its underground nest! We then tried to find the third ground roller here – Short-legged Ground Roller, but this difficult species was completely silent and we Pitta-like Ground Roller by Rand Rudland drew a blank. We also spent quite a bit of time searching for Red-breasted Coua. After a bush bash, we heard a couple of different birds calling at reasonably close range but just could not get close enough to the birds to see them. Other good sightings during our morning’s birding included France’s Sparrowhawk, Madagascan Buzzard, Madagascan Blue Pigeon, Blue Coua, Lesser Vasa Parrots, Red- tailed Vanga, Common Newtonia, Ward’s Flycatcher, Rand’s Warbler, Green Jery, Malagasy Green Sunbird and Madagascan Starling – quite the list! We also saw a chick Madagascan Pygmy Kingfisher outside its nesting hole, but the adult was nowhere to be seen. It was now time to pause for a picnic lunch, but our meal was interrupted on a couple of occasions – firstly by a Baron’s Mantella, one of the most beautiful of all the world’s frogs, and then by a family group of about 7 Eastern Bamboo Lemurs which showed very well. After lunch, we tracked down a family group of Black-and-white Ruffed Lemurs. This striking and often elusive lemur put on quite the show for us and got into a bit of screaming match at one stage – spectacular! We then visited a Madagascan Ibis nest but were disappointed to find it recently fledged, so we carried on to a small lake. Here we had a breeding plumaged Madagascan Grebe along with a couple of new species – Madagascan Spinetail low overhead and both Madagascan Swamp Warbler and Dark Newtonia giving us very nice views. The Scaly Ground Roller by Rand Rudland latter species occurs here at an unusually low elevation. The long drive home was uneventful and a try at Madagascan Rail had to be aborted as the afternoon downpour hit. Indeed, today’s downpour was probably even harder than yesterday’s, but good timing for us again. One final highlight at the end of our long day was an Indri feeding up high in Rockjumper Birding Tours | Madagascar www.rockjumperbirding.com Trip Report – RBL Madagascar - Comprehensive IV 2017 5 the light rain just behind our cabins – not a bad way to end a wonderful day in the field! With the rain continuing into the evening, we cancelled our planned night walk and enjoyed a slightly earlier dinner, with another big day ahead. Another early start saw us heading off in a different direction to a site that gets very little visitation – Ioroka Forest.
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