ETHIOPIA 26 February 2010: Rift Valley Lakes

Saturday 26 February.  We were up at dawn and birding in and around the hotel beside Lake Awassa for an hour before departing rather sooner than we’d’ve liked.  This allowed us time for some stops on the long drive towards Gibe Gorge.  We tried two sites beside Lake Langano and the causeway on the western side of Lake Ziway on the way north up the Rift Valley before heading west. We arrived at Walisso, in striking distance of Gibe, as it was getting dark.  Birds seen included 10 African Pigmy Geese, 10 Abdim’s Storks, 7 Wattled Ibis, 15 Fish Eagles, Long-crested Eagle, 2 Black-winged Lovebirds, 2 Greyish and a Verreaux’s Eagle Owl, 3 Slender-tailed Nightjars, 5 Somali and a Northern Carmine Bee-eater, Black Scimitarbill, 2 Red-throated Wrynecks, Masked Shrike, Spotted Creeper, 2 Ruppell’s Robin-Chats, Abyssinian Black Wheatear and Little Rock Thrush.

Verreaux's Eagle Owl at Lake Langano

Dusky Eagle Owl at Lake Langano

Slender-tailed Nightjar at Lake Langano

Red-throated Wryneck at Lake Langano

Maribou at Lake Ziway

 



White Pelicans at Lake Ziway

  



Marsh Sandpiper at Lake Ziway

Nubian Woodpecker and rival

White-browed Sparrow-Weaver

heading west

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