Ethiopia Nov 2011

Ethiopia 13th November - 3rd December 2011

So I've re turned from a fantastic trip to Ethiopia. I've been spending the last week sorting out the pictures and will now update the blog with what I can remember from the trip.

We landed early morning at Addis Ababa, which  is at 2,400m. and and after a quick breakfast and a sort through the bags and a look at Abyssinian Flycatcher and Booted Eagle in the Ghion Hotel garden, we were on the road and in no time looking at for endemic birds amongst many others on the Sululta Plains. Erlanger's and Thekla Larks, Red-breasted and Isabelline Wheatears, Blue-winged Goose, Spot-breasted Plovers and Ethiopian Cisticolas were soon added. We had a fairly lengthy journey but there was much to see with Wattled Ibis, White-collared Pigeons and many Raptors on route.

Thekla Lark

Blue-winged Geese

Our first couple of nights were spent at Debre Lebanos, with spectacular views from the lodge from c2,800m over a valley, populated by troops of Gelada Baboons, and happy soaring for the hundreds of Yellow-billed Kites, Ruppells Griffon, Hooded and Egyptian vultures, Steppe and Tawny Eagles and the impressive Lammergeier.

The slight shock,other than the altitude adjustment, was at night the temperature plummeted to 3c  with a whistling wind blowing straight up the valley through the cabins and with 2 hours of daybreak the temperature had risen to 35c ! - welcome to Ethiopia! - Our first evening meal of a plate of cold spaghetti was also not really a cure for travel exhaustion - but the introduction to the local beers was more welcome. St George no less.

view at Debre Lebanos

Tacazze Sunbird

Gelada Baboon

The nearby riverine valley held Erkels and Harwoods Francolin, Mocking Chat, White-winged Cliff Chat, Ruppells Black Chat and Brown-tailed Rock Chat , we moved into the Jemma Valley pre-breakfast and before the temperature reached the 38c we had seen our first endemic seedeater the White-rumped, the new birds kept appearing, particularly satisfying was finding a distant perched Fox Kestrel, which are fairly scarce, which took flight but circled over us giving great views, so we retired very satisfied for our second night.

The impressive Lammergeier

Yellow-billed Kites

Abyssinian Black Wheatear

Fox Kestrel

White-winged Cliff Chat



Gelada Baboons

After an early morning blank for nightjars, we drove to Debre Birhan, which positioned ourselves close to the amazing escarpment at 3,300m, where the endemic Ankober Serin lives. Within 5 minutes of arriving at the site at Gemessa Gedel, we picked up several of these birds although they were very flighty, the Debre Birhan location also allowed another very early morning trip to another valley holding Yellow-throated Seedeaters, where we also saw Reichenows Seedeater, Black Scrub Robin, Black-cheeked Waxbill, Yellow-breasted Barbet, Rufous Chatterer and a small stretch of river held Half-Collared, Giant, Pied, Malachite and Pygmy Kingfishers.


The Debre Birhan Hotel was a small fairly modern hotel  (by Ethiopian standards) in the middle of town. Modern meaning that not much yet was broken, as the word maintenance didn't really appear in the language. We were also getting used to the local food - Indura came with each meal - which was supposedly a bread but was grey, soggy, and rolled into large sections and resembled carpet underlay and never did it for me. Lamb Tibs - small bits of grisly meat in a spicy sauce - maybe goat. Or fish goulash, ethiopian interpretation, which was usually the best bet - but at least we often had a choice !

Escarpment view at Gemessa Gedel

Half a small Ankober Serin !



Northern Crombec



Short-toed Snake Eagle

Yellow-throated Seedeater



The hotel next door thankfully wasn't finished - the rooms looked a little slopey



The next day we were up early and crossing back through Addis to the start of the Rift Valley Lakes .The journey back across the high altitude plains held many birds including lots of Black-headed Siskins, thousands of Yellow Wagtails, Groundscrapers Thrushes and four species of Wheatear, Pallid and Montagu's Harriers. We had lunch overlooking Lake Bishoftu at Debre Zeit and then spent a very birdy 3 hours by Lake Cheleleke, with an abundance of wildfowl including Maccoa Ducks, White-backed Ducks, Fulvous Whistling Ducks, Red and Yellow-billed Ducks, Southern Pochards, Knob-billed Duck, Spur-winged Goose, Black-crowned Cranes and hundreds of Common Cranes. We then had a brief stop at Lake Hora with crowds of Egrets, Ibis and Sandpipers before we ended up in a resort-like hotel in the middle of Nazret (well it did have a swimming pool !)

Lunch stop overlooking Lake Bishoftu

The next morning we were up and out very early to get to the Lava fields of the Fantalle Volcano before first light. We were soon crunching our way across the crumbling black stone in search of our quarry, the rather drab looking Sombre Rock Chat, which co-habited the area with it's cousin, the similarly drab looking Blackstart, we found these birds quite easily along with Striolated Bunting and a few Pied Wheatears,  before hiking towards our breakfast which Merid had prepared -hot porridge with honey goes down remarkably well before the heat gets up !

After breakfast we walked around the surrounding but very arid area seeing our first Northern Carmine bee-eaters, a Saddle-billed Stork, Ethiopian Swallows, and Chestnut-backed Sparrow Lark, Our stroll into the wilderness spooked a group of Salts Dikdiks and just about trod on 5 Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse. The heat was rapidly rising and it was time to journey to Awash National Park.

Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse

This is the rather dull Sombre Rock Chat in its very grey home in the lava fields. I could think of a few actuaries that might fit in here !




We arrived at Awash National Park and slowly drove through the mixed plains Acacia scrub towards the Falls lodge where we were to stay the night. We saw Hartlaubs, Kori and White-bellied Bustards and had amazing views of the incredibly decorated Rosy-patched Bush Shrike. It was Bustard and Shrike heaven with Woodchat Shrike, Southern Grey, Turkestan Isabelline, Daurian Isabelline and Northern White-crowned being seen. Into dusk we picked up Slender-tailed Nightjars, including one that bumped it's nose on the bus before flying off, but no Owls.

Hartlaub's Bustard




Kori Bustard



Rosy-patched Bush Shrike

Striped Kingfisher

White-bellied Bustard

Yellow-billed Hornbill

Up early the next morning to repeat our wanderings through the park and head to Wydah and Weaver city, the incredible Paradise and Straw-tailed Wydahs with breeding plumage males bounced their way through the skies, and we notched up Cutthroat Finch, Green-winged Pytillia, Red-billed and White-headed Buffalo Weaver, White-browed Sparrow Weaver, Purple Grenadier, African Silverbill.

At the headquarters to the next stretch of park a group of nomadic Black-headed Plovers were a welcome find as they can be difficult to locate, then we headed towards Bilen Lodge for our next night. We had to search quite hard before we were rewarded of great views of Arabian Bustards, and the scrub around the lodge held Abyssinian Scimitarbill and Chestnut-headed Sparrow Lark, our first (although distant) Somali Ostrich and superb pair of Lichtensteins Sandgrouse. 

We walked out in the desert area and back to the lodge just after dusk and were amused at the local humour when we were arranging breakfast for 5am with the Lodge Manager he told us that was the time the Lion was in the area and we may want to have a later breakfast ! , with each individual cabin being some distance from the dining area we thought for a moment but dismissed this as a bit of a joke as Lion had yet to be seen or recorded in the 25 years Birdquest had been coming to Ethiopia. So after dinner and a couple of beers,  I sauntered back to my own cabin waving my torch into the darkness beyond seeing nothing, little did I believe that at 3.30am  I would be cowering under my mosquito net with a male Lion roaring its shaggy mane off outside my hut. There were at least 3 roaring sessions between 3am and 4.30am, none of which I was going to investigate. Two huts along Carlos (our only Brazilian and mammal enthusiast) was beside himself at sunrise with tears of joy as he managed to see the beast through his door whilst taking a 3.30am comfort break. .... astonishing, but it went on the list !!.

Eastern Paradise Wydah

 

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African Grey Flycatcher



Lichtensteins Sandgrouse

Out into the desert hunting (looking) for Bustards

Arabian Bustard

Arabian Bustard

The next morning, we departed early (again), heading out to the Ali  Degi plains where the early morning flocks of Sandgrouse were a spectacle, and up to 40 Somali Ostrich were dotted across the plains, some wearing a Northern Carmine Bee-eater as the latest fashion. We found Buff-crested Bustard, a distant Secretary Bird and  plenty of Sommerings Gazelle, Gerenuk and Beisa oryx before we departed back towards Nazaret and onto Lake Langano.

Common or Golden Jackal (thinks he's invisible)

Somali Ostrich - up to 40 across the plains.

Northern Carmine Bee-eater.



Chestnut-backed Sparrow Lark

Our early morning Owl and Nightjar hunt drew a blank but we were away early to Lake Abiata, a brief stop picked up a Bearded Woodpecker whilst looking at Black-billed Woodhoopoes and a Clappertons Francolin was seen whilst entering the park. The bus was parked a fair distance from the Lake edge so we had a reasonable trudge across the salt-encrusted mud towards the Lake edge which was teeming with bird - but we found out later we had a savvy driver.

The saline lake was covered in Greater and Lesser Flamingo's with flocks of Pied Avocets, Common Cranes, African Spoonbills and many ducks, the edges were alive with waders. Little and Temmincks Stints, Curlew Sandpipers, Kittlitzs, Three-banded, Grey, Kentish and Ringed Plovers even an African Skimmer was seen. On our way back to the bus another group of tourists had arrived in a 4x4 but the driver had driven a further 100 yards than  us and the vehicle had sunk into the salt pan. We spent a little time helping them out which appeared slightly against the wishes of the local herdsmen who tried to dig the vehicle in with some weird tactics probably to win a huge extraction fee.

Flamingo's, Cranes and Wildfowl.



In the UK we use a Pishing technique (sucking air through pursed lips) to encourage birds to appear form the depths of bushes- In Ethiopia they do it differently !



Hello Warthogs !

Superb Starling - as Starlings go the name's about right.



Hoopoe - a bird I can never tire of watching many were of the Senegalensis race.


We returned to our hotel after a fantastic lunch at a new hotel that we weren't staying at !!!!. but picked up some good birds in the grounds of our own shack, with a roosting Greyish Eagle-Owl and Slender-tailed Nightjar. In the evening we went to another part of the lake and picked up our only White-winged Black Tit of the trip along with Verraux's Eagle Owl and great views of Freckled Nightjar to end the day.

Greyish Eagle Owl.

Slender-tailed Nightjar



Temmincks Courser

We were up and away very early to depart the Rift valley and head towards the Bale Mountains (pronounced Bar-lay). An on-route stop in a small river valley, where we eventually found Red-chested Swallow, Abyssinian Longclaw, Grassland Pipit, Moorland Chat, African Qualifinch and our first Rouget's Rail. Continuing on the journey a brief roadside stop  located a roosting Cape Eagle Owl (local race known as Mckinders)and finally arrived at lunchtime in Dinsho and a Juniper forest which was at 3200m. A pair of African Wood Owls, were fairly hidden in their daytime roost above the toilet block, which was frequented by a Abyssinian Ground Thrush. We spent the afternoon puffing around  the forest and found a pair of Abyssinian Long-Eared Owls, Abyssinian Catbird, and White-backed Black Tit.



African Quailfinch



Red-breasted Wheatear

Cape (Mckinders) Eagle Owl

A new leader in the making ? (not the tall guy in the hat !)

Local Commuter - beats the Waterloo & City Line !

African Wood Owl

Abyssinian Long-Eared Owl

Bushbuck

Mountain Nyala

The next morning early rise had us journeying up to the Sanetti plateau and the highest road in Africa (apparently ) we exchanged our bus for 4 Landcruisers, from here on some of the roads could be more difficult. We stopped on the way to the plateau to try and see the Abyssinian Woodpecker, but no sign. Very shortly after arriving up on the plateau large groups of Spot-breasted Plover were visible along with Chestnut-naped Francolins and many Rouget's Rails. We were after the endemic Ethiopian Wolf, but the first hour or so we only managed to see their lunch and dinner, the Giant Mole-Rat and the Blick's Grass Rat, which torpedoed across the plain between their burrows, acquiring the name 'Turbo Rat'. The top of the plateau was just over 4000m and the landscape was astonishing, in some ways like English moorland but dotted with Giant Lobelias. We flushed African Snipe from the marshy pools and then found 3 different pairs of Wattled Cranes. Merid soon found a distant Ethiopian Wolf, but shortly after this distant sighting we had one circle our vehicle very closely giving amazing views as it hunted Mole-Rats. We stopped for for a picnic lunch (it wasn't  very warm !) and saw 5 Moorland Fancolins.

We returned to lower altitudes in the afternoon to resume our quest for the Abyssinian Woodpecker. But we were out of luck. We found Red-breasted Sparrowhawk, Cinnamon-Bracken Warbler, Brown Parisoma, but no sign of the Woodpecker so we would have to return the next day.


Rouget's Rail



Chestnut-naped Francolin



Bale mountains at 4000m

Ethiopian Wolf

Giant Lobelia - Bale Mountains

Spot-breasted Plover

Wattled Cranes

Streaky Seedeater



Cinnamon-bracken Warbler

Another early start saw us heading East  to our most Easterly point of the trip in the Sof Omar area Our target bird for the morning was the last endemic Seedeater, known as the Salvadori's Serin. Shortly after failing to lure a Spotted Morning Thrush out of cover Merid heard the Serin singing and was soon tracked down. Our pre-breakfast excursion added Red-fronted Tinkerbird, Orange-bellied Parrot, Brown-tailed Rock Chat, and Bristle-crowned Starling. After breakfast - more yummy porridge - we were taken around some nearby Limestone caves which held quite a few bats, Ruppels Horseshoe and a colony of larger bats that remained un-id'd.

We -retraced our steps for the afternoon Woodpecker quest and returned to the same area as yesterday. After more than an hour of walking through a mixed area of small arable fields with larger coniferous and mixed deciduous trees , the call came up from the back of the Group and a male Abyssinian Woodpecker had been found by Brian and Graham and was in view long enough for all the Group to see. A relieved stroll back to the cars and back to the hotel for dinner and a couple of beers.

Salvadori's Serin

Red-fronted Tinkerbird



Verraux's Eagle


We packed up from Dinsho (again early) and headed off over the Sanetti plateau and down through the Harenna Forest. The only surprise on the first part of the journey was a Eurasian Stone Curlew on the road at 3200m. We stopped in the Harenna forest and started birding down the road. very quickly we had seen White-cheeked Turaco, Sharpe's Starlings and a pair of Abyssinian Crimsonwing. Another Abyssinian Woodpecker was found along with brief and distant views of a Green-backed Honeybird. Olive Pigeon, African Hill Babbler, Abyssinian Oriole and Silvery Cheeked Hornbill. The onset of rain spoilt our chance for raptors so after a quick lunch we headed on and continued South. Another roadside stop produced
Red-headed Weavers and Red and Yellow Barbet, who frequent the top of Termite mounds.

A final stop mid-afternoon gave us the bird of the trip, the outstanding Prince Ruspoli's Turaco. The prince was an explorer and collector who was killed by an Elephant in Asia in the late 19th century.One of his possessions was the skin of the Turaco, which was named after him as a new species, but no one had any idea where he had collected it from. It was not until the late 1940's when the birds were found in Ethiopia.

Our long journey ended up in the Southern town of Negelle, about 200km from the Somali border. The accommodation was ,,, umm basic ? but we were here for a reason.... It rained heavily all night.

African Citril



Bird of the trip - Prince Ruspoli's Turaco - nice eyelashes !

Worthy of 2 pics

The next day we travelled out of town to the Liben plains. The  rain was coming down quite heavily but we persevered pre-breakfast. The Liben plains hold Africa's rarest bird and only found in Ethiopia. The Sidamo Lark, where it is estimated there are only some 100 birds left. With the help of Merid we found 2 of these birds along with the Somali Short-toed Lark, but our morning session was hampered by heavy rain (It wasn't supposed to be raining in the South at this time of year!) so we returned to our hotel? for breakfast and headed back to the plains later with a gap in the weather. A flock of White-crowned Starlings were seen before we arrived back then we headed off again having fantastic views of the Somali Short-toed Lark but it took a long while before finally another Sidamo lark was found with extended views. The rain set in later on and continued overnight.

White-crowned Starling



Flash floods on the Liben Plains

Somali Short-toed Lark


We left Negelle the next morning to head to Yabello, the rain had been extremely heavy and rivers were extremely swollen. We stopped at the Dawa river, our pre-breakfast walk gave us Juba Weaver, Bare-eyed Thrush and Spotted Morning Thrush, but we had to wait until after breakfast before we added White-winged Dove, Brown-tailed Apalis, Grey-Wren Warbler, Pale Prinia, Eastern Violet-backed Sunbird, Yellow-vented Eremomela, Golden-breasted Starling and D'arnauds Barbet. Our Journey to Yabello took us to the most southerly point of the trip wihtin 100kms of the Kenyan border and we were picking up Southern Species, Eastern-Chanting Goshawk, Somali Courser, Pringles Puffback and Red-naped Bush Shrike. Another roadside stop was productive with White-tailed Swallow, Shelleys Rufous Sparrow, Grey and Black-capped Social Weavers, Magpie Starling, Foxy Lark, Gillets Lark and slightly odd endemic Stresseman's Bush Crow. Despite the weather we'd had a great day for the birds and retired very happy. Back at our lodge a couple of other birders arrived having lived to tell the tale that their vehicle was washed away down a river, whilst they were in it !, crossing a stretch of road that we had crossed the previous day following a flash flood. They were given a lift to Yabello by a couple of Dutch birders, after some locals helped them escape and rescued their rather wet belongings.

Stresseman's Bush Crow



Foxy Lark - songflighting.

White-tailed Swallow

We were up ealry to try and find any Owls that might be nearby, but other than a distant Freckled nightjar we drew a blank. We headed off and soon stopped at a fairly open area, where eventually a very confiding Short-tailed Lark was found, along with Shelleys Starling, Long-billed Crombec and some more Stresseman's Bush Crows. We visited more scrub areas later on in the afternoon, and found Buff-Crested Bustards, Banded Parisomas, Pygmy Falcon, Grosbeak Canary, Scaly Chatterer, Northern Grey Tit, Crested Francolins. Our time in Yabello was up but we had added some great birds to the list.

Short-tailed Lark



Grosbeak Canary

Pair of Pygmy Falcons - Female has brown back

We departed Yabello, and up to Lake Abiata, The ground of the lunch hotel held Spotted Creeper, Sulphur-breasted Bush Shrike. Both Eurasian and Red-necked Wryneck were seen (all world species of this family in one location)!. The lake edge and marshy pools were very productive in the evening light with plenty of Wood Sandpipers, Ruff, Snipe, Black Crakes, Squacco Herons, African Pygmy Goose, Gery-Headed and Woodland Kingfishers. Our hotel for the night was one of the best we had stayed in !

Spotted Creeper



Sulphur-breasted Bush Shrike

Malachite Kingfisher

The next morning we returned again to the Lake at first light and added Allens Gallinule, Abyssinian Waxbill, Littel Rush Warbler and Great Reed Warbler . Back to the hotel for breakfast and to pack and then onto the Fish Market. It really did stink !!, but the Marabou Storks enjoyed this. We were interviewed for Ethiopian TV then left the area back towards Lake Langano and the very impressive Bishangari Lodge. Nubian Woodpeckers, Double-toothed Barbet and Lemon Doves were around the Dining area and a pair of roosting Heuglin's Courser were found.

After dinner we told we would be taken on an Aardvark walk. We were all mistaken thinking this would be a gentle wander in torchlight around our huts ... wrong... It turned out to be a bit of a route-march for nearly two hours in the pitch black (annoyingly I'd only worn my Sandals to dinner so spent most of the walk tripping over small Accacia bushes and getting thorned feet). We stopped briefly 3 times, once when the glistening eyes of a mammal were seen in the torch glow, where the South African lady lodge manager declared that it was a Hyena then a Cerval and we had to be careful ' because the beasts are dangerous ya', well we descended on the poor beast which turned out to be a Dikdik (a small deer). Then a charge after another mammal that our guide had called Aardvark, after falling down a couple of holes, we concluded it was a White-tailed Mongoose and lastly a domestic Cat ! .. Retired knackered.

 

Abyssinian Waxbill

Marabou Storks at the Fish Market

Abyssinian Ground Hornbill

Nubian Woodpecker (male)

Nubian Woodpecker (female)

Our next morning at the lodge, we were successful in seeing our last endemic, the Yellow-fronted Parrot and brief views of Scaly Francolin. We tracked down a Grey-headed bush Shrike and had good views of Red-shouldered Cuckoo Shrike. We departed before lunch for a long drive to our last stop, arriving just as it got dark.

Grey-headed Bush Shrike



Blue-breasted Bee-eater

Mountain Thrush

Abyssinian Roller

 Well it was our last day and we had a morning in the Gibe gorge area with 3 main potential target birds (although realistically we thought we'd be lucky if we found one). Our first roadside stop, and we found one of these targets very quickly before breakfast a Foxy Cisticola. Moving further into the scrubby area and our second target was located by Merid the Black-faced Firefinch, which put in two appearances, we also found a Gambaga Flycatcher and a probable Barka Indigobird. Moving to the gorge and a mixed flock of Firefinches included Bar-breasted, which we hadn't seen before today and Eastern-plantain Eater, before our third target a Red-billed Pytillia came down to drink in front of us.

That was it for the birding on the trip with a great last morning which added 5 write-ins to the trip list.

In summary this was a wonderful trip, we recorded some 540 species of bird, seeing all the Ethiopian endemics and most of the near endemics. The scenery and landscapes were spectacular and the group worked really well with good birders and a great deal of humour.