Ethiopian Endemics Naturetrek Tour Report 8 - 21 November 2013 Abyssinian Ground Thrush Abyssinian Owl Report compiled by Cliff Waller Images courtesy of Alex Pemberton Naturetrek Cheriton Mill Cheriton Alresford Hampshire SO24 0NG England T: +44 (0)1962 733051 F: +44 (0)1962 736426 E: [email protected] W: www.naturetrek.co.uk Tour Report Ethiopian Endemics Tour Leader: Cliff Waller Naturetrek Leader Mehiret Ewnetu Local Guide Main Tour Girum Tewlde Extension Guide Tour Participants: Juha Autio John Brannan Catherine Chatham Simon Cross Graham Dennis Alex Pemberton Phil Pemberton Karen Pickles Day 1 Friday 8th November London to Addis Ababa Everyone arrived at Heathrow in good time for our Ethiopian Airlines overnight flight to Addis. Day 2 Saturday 9th November Addis Ababa – Gerfersa Reservoir We arrived in Addis at 6:50 a.m. It took some time to get visas and proceed through security and it was after 10 a.m. before we reached the Ghion Hotel, where we caught up with the two ladies in the group who had preceded us. A few birds were seen around the hotel garden including African Goshawk, Taccaze Sunbird, Speckled Mousebird and both Brown-rumped and Streaky Seedeaters. At 11.15am we set off with packed lunches for the Gerfersa Reservoir, where we found the water level extremely high providing little in the way of shallow edges, but we still found a few birds mainly on the water or short grassland around the bay; these included a Little Grebe, Little Egret, Wattled Ibis, Tawny Eagle , Blue-winged Goose, Egyptian Goose, Shoveler and Pintail, while the few waders here included Ruff and Wood, Common and Green Sandpipers. More terrestrial species present included Barn Swallow, Abyssinian Long Claw, Ortolan Bunting, Red-breasted (Botta’s) Wheatear, Whinchat, African Stonechat, Ground Scraper Thrush and Yellow- bellied Waxbill. After lunching on the roadside grassy bank we drove down the road towards the stream, before getting out to walk along the line of Eucalypts trees. The highlight here was fine views of a Half-collared Kingfisher, while other species included White Pelican, Reed Cormorant, Montane White-eye, Tree Pipit, Hill Chat, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, and Abyssinian Slaty and Dusky Flycatchers. Driving back into Addis, we visited the rapidly diminishing area of rough ground opposite the Imperial Hotel, where in spite of considerable disturbance we still saw several Rouget’s Rail as well as Abyssinian Cisticola and our first Pied Wheatear, while more Cattle Egret and Botta’s Wheatear were seen. We then returned to our hotel for an early dinner to allow the group the option of an early night to catch up on some sleep. © Naturetrek October 14 1 Ethiopian Endemics Tour Report Day 3 Sunday 10th November Addis Ababa – Sululta Plain - Debre Libanos We got away on time and crossed Addis to visit the airport to successfully track down some luggage, but we did see our first Grey-backed Fiscal and Southern Citril Finch while waiting in the car park. Once away we made only one brief stop where we found an Abyssinian Woodpecker and had distant views of Lanner Falcon. Arriving at Debre Libanos we headed straight down towards the monastery, first stopping for some Gelada Baboons and then at the bridge over the stream, where we found Rueppell’s Chat and White-cheeked Turaco, as well as our first Brown Parasoma, Mountain Wagtail, Grey Wagtail and African Firefinch, as well as Yellow- bellied Waxbill. Next we went for a short walk in the adjacent forest, finding our first Lemon Dove, Hemprick’s Hornbill, Little Rock Thrush and Banded Barbet, as well as an African Goshawk. We then moved to the Ethio- German lodge to arrange lunch. We sat with drinks overlooking the gorge, seeing little at first but eventually Fan- tailed Ravens and some Ruppell’s Griffons appeared. Later on we followed the cliff track to the Portuguese Bridge finding Verreaux’s Eagle, Lammergeier and White- billed Starling, while also getting distant views of Erckel’s Francolin, while around the bridge Common Sandpiper and White-rumped Babbler were seen. After which we walked back to the road, only stopping to photograph some close Gelada Baboons. We made a few stops as we crossed the Salulta Plain on our way back to Addis. First at the regular stream and marsh, which was much quieter than usual, but we did see Blue-winged Goose, Blue -headed and Black- headed Wagtails, Red-throated Pipit and a few common waders. Further stops provided us with Plain and Banded Martins, Yellow Bishop and White Wagtail. Our final stop at some pools produced our first Little Stint, Three- banded Plover and Greenshank, plus a large flock of Ethiopian Siskin, as well as Yellow-billed Duck, Shoveler, Pintail, Spur-winged Plover and Ruff. Day 4 Monday 11th November Addis Ababa to Wondo Genet Leaving the Ghion at 6:45 a.m. we picked up our local guide, before heading south through Addis, we made only one brief stop to observe two Mocking Cliff Chats. On reaching Debre Zeit we diverted to Lake Cheleleka, which we found to have the lowest water levels we had ever seen here, certainly due to the increased agricultural irrigation, but we still found a number of new birds such as Africa Jacana, Knob-billed Coot, Lesser Flamingo, White-faced Whistling Duck, Southern Pochard, Garganey, Africa Quail Finch and Northern Red Bishop, as well as some Common Cranes and about 300 Marabou Storks. Moving on we did not stop again until Koka Bridge, where we found the water levels to be extremely high, in fact the highest we had ever seen here, providing little in the way of edge, but we still saw a few birds such as Senegal Thick-knee, Spur-winged Goose, Gull -billed Tern, Black-billed Barbet, Bruce’s Green Pigeon, Grey- headed Woodpecker, Woodland Kingfisher and a migrant Golden Oriole. Stopping once again at the next wet area, there was a small fringe area of mud which provided our first Kittlitz’s Plover and Marsh Sandpiper, as well as Ruff, Ringed Plover, Little Stint, and Black-winged Stilt, while Ruppell’s Weaver, and Blue-naped Mousebird were seen in the adjacent scrub. 2 © Naturetrek October 14 Ethiopian Endemics Tour Report We had lunch at the Bekele Mola hotel in Ziway, the hotel garden as usual provided us with a few new birds, including Red-faced Crombec, Cardinal Woodpecker and Black-headed Batis. Later we visited the causeway at Lake Ziway, which for the first time we were unable to walk due to the unusually high water levels, but there were good numbers of close White Pelican, Sacred Ibis, Hamerkop and Marabou Storks to photograph, as well as our first African Darter, Black Heron, Black Crake, Whiskered Tern, Grey-headed Gull, Carmine Bee-eater, Spectacle Weaver and Little Weaver, as well as a good variety of other waders and water birds. Moving on our next stop was for some much search for Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, we located three birds, while a further three were seen in the distance, our first European Hoopoe was also seen here. Having a small amount of time in hand allowed us to make a very brief visit to the river end of Lake Abiata, where we found a group of seven Wattled Cranes, as well as several hundred Common Cranes, while along the distant edge of the lake vast numbers of Shoveler and Ruff were seen along with a number of Avocet, while other new species included Lilac-breasted Roller and some very distant Bright’s Gazelle. It was after dark, 7:20 p.m. before we reached Wondo Genet, where later a White-tailed Mongoose was seen in this hotel grounds. Day 5 Tuesday 12th November Wondo Genet A short walk at around 7am in the garden and down to the hot pools with our local guide Mekonem produced our first Grivet Monkey and new birds included Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, Ethiopian Oriole, Double-toothed Barbet, Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird as well as excellent close views of another Half-collared Kingfisher. At 8.30am, after breakfast we headed for the forestry school only stopping on the way to view some Blue- breasted Bee-eaters, while waiting at the gate we got good views of Silvery-cheeked Hornbill and Scarlet – breasted Sunbird in a dead tree. We climbed right through to the edge of the forest, with new birds appearing occasionally as we walked, these included Tambourine Dove, Olive Pigeon and Hill Babbler, while other species included Lemon Dove, White-cheeked Trogon, Ethiopian Oriole, White-rumped Babbler and Common Bulbul. As we neared the upper forest edge we saw both Common and African Cuckoo as well as Broad-billed Roller, while mammals recorded included Olive Baboon and Gambian Sun Squirrel. Little was seen on the walk down until we almost reached the vehicle, where we encountered both Grey and Red-shouldered Cuckoo Shrikes, Green-backed Honey Guide and Slender-billed Starling, as well as Nubian Woodpecker. During our lunch a Greater Honey Guide was seen, while later on an Abyssinian Ground Thrush was located in the garden. Our afternoon walk was up to the Old Quarry before cutting across the hillside to follow the valley back down. On our way we found our first White-winged Cliff Chat, as well as Red-headed Weaver, Blue Spotted Wood Dove and Common Waxbill. At the quarry itself, we got excellent views of a Paradise Flycatcher. The valley was fairly quiet, but we did find our first Black Stork, Lesser Honey Guide, Beautiful Sunbird and African Citril Finch, while an immature White- headed Vulture was seen by a few of the group.