birding never sleeps

Saturday, 12 February 2011

ETHIOPIA 12 February 2011: Debre Birhane to Awash

Saturday 12 February. We left the hotel before it was light, driving to the scarp south of Ankober for first light. Here calling Erckel’s Francolins were soon picked up on the edge of some small fields below us. We quickly moved on to Melka Ghebdu where we spent over two hours birding on a scrubby hillside before a leisurely breakfast by the river. The hoped for Yellow-throated Seedeaters took a bit of finding but were eventually tracked down although like most Ethiopian seedeaters they were not overly inspiring. A bit further down the road a dead Martial Eagle was a sad casualty of overhead powerlines, and apparently not the first in that area. It was then a long drive on a very poor track towards Awash. At times of the year the route is impassable and Merid told us we’d only been given permission to take the vehicles on this route the week before we came out. Once out of the mountains the route actually became worse and at one point we had to retrace our steps several kms to a small village (the only one we passed) to check we were going the right way. As we got closer to Awash we entered one of the best areas for seeing Arabian Bustard and I became much more tense as it was one of my top targets for the trip. Fortunately my worry was short lived as I saw one under a nearby tree as we were driving past. George radioed the lead car to ask if they wanted to come back for it. Unsurprisingly they did, although we’d seen another three by the time we reached Awash. We had a couple of brief stops in decent looking scrub by the track and eventually arrived at the Waterfall Lodge at 5pm where we birded the nearby area until dark. The aptly named lodge was superbly situated if somewhat basic. Other birds seen included 7 Crested Francolin, Brown Snake-Eagle, Little Sparrowhawk, Buff-crested Bustard, 6 Black-headed Lapwings, 5 African Collared Doves, 4 Orange-bellied Parrots, 6 Abyssinian Rollers, Half-collared Kingfisher, 3 Northern Carmine Bee-eaters, 3 Yellow-breasted Barbets, 4 Bearded Woodpeckers, Sulphur-breasted Bush-Shrike, 2 Mouse-coloured Penduline Tits, 3 Red-fronted Warblers, Nightingale, 3 Pied and an Abyssinian black Wheatear, 2 White-winged Cliff Chats, 2 Rock Thrushes and Nile Valley Sunbird.

traffic south of Ankober

Eckel's Francolin

Yellow-throated Seedeater at Melka Ghebdu

Northern Crombec, Melka Ghebdu

Yellow-breasted Barbet, Melka Ghebdu

Melka Ghebdu

dead Martial Eagle, size comparison with Dave M's watch

Arabian Bustard on approach to Awash

African Collared Dove on approach to Awash

Awash Falls

nightjar after dark, Awash Falls

Friday, 11 February 2011

ETHIOPIA 11 February 2011: Jemma Valley and Gemessa Gedel

Friday 11 February. We left the Ethio-German lodge early and drove to the Jemma Valley, stopping a short way down the dirt track over its rim at first light. The main target here was Harwood’s Francolin and we soon heard them calling from the fields below us, seeing three without too much trouble. The same could not be said of the invisible Erckel’s Francolins heard calling from the escarpment above us. After an hour or so in this area we moved on down the valley stopping briefly at the Jemma Bridge and then for two hours at Lomi Bridge which was particularly productive although the hoped for Red-billed Ptylia couldn’t be found. We drove back towards Debre Birhane stopping on the plains nearby to see Erlanger’s Lark before checking into the Eva hotel where most had a late lunch. We then drove for an hour along a very good road to the impressive cliffs at Gemessa Gedel where we spent the rest of the day before returning to the hotel. Ankober Serin is pretty much guaranteed here although low clouds sometimes cause problems. Visibility remained very good for us and 20+ serins were found easily although like most Ethiopian seedeaters it was somewhat disappointing to look at. Other birds seen during the day included Black Stork, 8 Wattled Ibis, 4 Lammergeyers, Rufous-chested Sparrowhawk, 40 White-collared Pigeons, 2 Bruce’s Green Pigeons, Bare-faced go-away-bird, Abyssinian Roller, Abyssinian Blue-breasted Bee-eater, 4 Black-billed Barbets, Thick-billed Raven, 2 White-rumped Babblers, 15 White-billed Starlings, Groundscraper Thrush, 2 Abyssinian Black Wheatears, 2 Moorland and 3 Ruppell’s Black Chats, 6 White-winged and 4 Mocking Cliff Chats, Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-Weaver and 2 Speckle-fronted Weavers.

Harwood's Francolin in the Jemma Valley soon after dawn

early morning view over Jemma Valley

Grey-headed Kingfisher by Lomi Bridge

Bruce's Green Pigeon at Lomi Bridge

Wire-tailed Swallow on Lomi Bridge

Striped Kingfisher near Lomi Bridge

Black-winged Red Bishop from Lomi Bridge

Black-billed Barbet near Lomi Bridge

Abyssinian Blue-breasted Bee-eaters near Lomi Bridge

Mocking Cliff Chat at Lomi Bridge

Speckle-fronted Weaver in the Jemma Valley

leaving the Jemma Valley

Gemessa Gedel

Ankober Serin at Gemessa Gedel

Verreaux's Eagles at Gemessa Gedel

Gemessa Gedel

Thursday, 10 February 2011

ETHIOPIA 10 February 2011: Addis to Debre Libanos

For a number of years Ethiopia had been working its way up the list of places that I wanted to visit and with holidays for 2011 somewhat in flux I was on the lookout for a trip that was both reasonably cheap and offered a fairly full itinerary. In mid December 2010 I was therefore very receptive to an email request on African Birding for two birders to share the costs of a second vehicle on a privately arranged trip - particularly as I knew the sender, Dave Sargeant. George Wagner was also recruited, with the original group of Mick Green, Ian Harrison and Dave Murdoch having already arranged a comprehensive itinerary around the southern circuit with top Ethiopian bird guide Merid Gabremichael. Preparations were rather rushed although there was still time for everything to almost go off the rails with misunderstandings as to how compatible the priorities of the two vehicles were, the main disadvantage of email correspondence! A non-birding guide was taken on to allow more flexibility but in the event the two vehicles were hardly apart and Robel, nice guy as he was, was pretty much a waste of space.

Thursday 10 February. Dave M, Ian, Mick and I arrived in Addis soon after 7am on a direct overnight flight from Heathrow. We were met by Merid and driven into town to the Ghion Hotel. Bundles of cash were handed over in the car park and Merid promptly left to finalise arrangements. We found our first endemics in the extensive hotel gardens (Abyssinian Slaty Flycatcher, Brown-rumped Seedeater and White-backed Black Tit for me) and met up with Dave S and George who had arrived from Thailand and Chicago respectively, George the previous day. When Merid returned we set out north towards Debre Libanos, stopping at a damp shallow valley on the Sululta Plains. Here we saw our first Blue-winged Geese, Wattled Ibis, Spot-breasted Plovers and a Red-breasted Wheatear. We continued on to the Ethio-German Lodge where we checked in and went birding for a couple of siesta hours before driving to Debre Libanos. We stopped at a very impressive bird-filled fig tree and then the monastery but the dry forested grounds there were quite birdless and the setting very ordinary. We returned to the fig tree before finishing the day back at the Lodge where my first spaghetti meal in Ethiopia didn’t bode that well for the rest of the trip. Birds seen by me included 12 Blue-winged Geese, 40 Wattled Ibis, 2 Verreaux’s Eagles, 10 Black-winged Plover, 2 Spot-breasted Plover, 6 White-collared Pigeons, White-cheeked Turaco, 6 Abyssinian Blue-breasted Bee-eaters, Banded Barbet, 2 White-backed Black Tits, White-billed Starling, 10 Groundscraper and 7 Mountain Thrushes, 2 Ruppell’s Robin-Chats, Red-breasted and 3 Pied Wheatears, 4 Ruppell’s Black Chats, 3 White-winged Cliff-Chats, 2 Little Rock Thrushes, 5 Abyssinian Slaty Flycatchers, 20 Brown-rumped Seedeaters.