Ethiopia 30/01/12 21/02/12

Transcription

1 Ethiopia 30/01/12 21/02/12 Practical information We booked a flight with Ethiopian airlines from Brussels to Addis Ababa. For the trip we booked a car with Red Jackal ( We had a jeep and a driver and the price included all costs (fuel, driver, costs of the driver). Anyway the flight and the car are the major costs. Staying in Ethiopia is almost for free. You will find hotels everywhere for a very low price. If you want luxury you will pay western prices, but we paid on average 5-10 per room per night for the both of us. For this price you have a bed and a toilet on the room, actually everything you need. If you don t bother having communal French toilets you can sleep for almost 1 or 2 per night per person. The driver had his good and bad qualities. He was always very punctual and was always at the correct time on the meeting places, he started very early every day and knew a lot of places for birds. The minor side was that he thought he knew more about birds then we did and didn t like to go to places he didn t know. But anyway we had a very good trip. We read a lot of trip reports, but almost everyone does the same tour or a variation on the same sites. The trip reports are a nice addition on the books, but you will have to wait and see which birds are there. We found all places without any problem thanks to two new books with detailed information about the birding sites: - Where to watch birds in Ethiopia (Claire Spottiswoode, Merid Gabremichael and Julian Francis) - Birding Ethiopia a guide to the country s birding sites (Ken Behrens, Keith Barnes, Christian Boix) If you want more information, just contact me. (vogelwerkgroep@antwerpennoord.be) Day 1: arrival in Panama We arrived in Addis Ababa in the morning on 30 january. Even when we were still in the plane we had our first new species: white-collared pigeon, African stonechat, thick-billed raven, The people from Red Jackal were waiting for us on the airport and 30 minutes later we were in Ghion hotel. We planned to have a quiet first day, because we flew during the night and I never sleep on a plane. So we could start birding the hotel grounds were you can find already a lot of the endemics. Most endemics are actually very common. We liked this relax first day so you can get used to the common birds and start looking for the better ones the next days. In the hotel garden we found: brownrumped seedeater, yellow-billed kite, yellow wagtail, chiffchaff, African dusky flycatcher, black sawwing, baglafecht weaver, pied crow, dusky turtle dove, speckled mousebird, Abyssinian slaty flycatcher, montane white-eye, tacazze sunbird, booted eagle, mountain thrush, streaky seedeater, crag martin, ruppel s robin chat, black-winged lovebird, common buzzard (vulpinus), white-backed vulture, ruppel s griffon vulture, red-eyed dove, common bulbul, African paradise flycatcher, common fiscal, blue breasted bee-eater, sacred ibis, mountain wagtail, alpine swift, bronze manikin, brown parisoma (lugens), swainsons sparrow, gray wagtail and nyanza swift. Day 2: sululta plains

2 First we went to the office to pay 50% of our itinerary and then went to the sululta plains. On the plains you can stop on several good sites and walk around to look for birds. On this trip I probably have seen more yellow wagtails than in all my life together, impressive. Besides that we had redbreasted wheatear, ortolan bunting, Abyssinian longclaw, wattled ibis, white-collared pigeon (big flocks), groundscraper thrush, blue-winged goose, augur buzzard, thekla lark, red-throated pipit, black-headed siskin, speckled pigeon, yellow bishop, common fiscal, cape rook, cattle egret, redchested swallow, black-winged plover, hamerkop, pied wheatear, green sandpiper, montagus harrier, marsh harrier, steppe-eagle, mosque swallow, Egyptian goose, Ethiopian cisticola, moorland chat, pied kingfisher, black stork, common sandpiper, malachite kingfisher, tawny eagle and booted eagle. Just before mukaturi there was a dead animal with a lot of vultures: white-backed vulture, whiteheaded vulture, ruppel s griffon vulture and hooded vulture. A little bit past mukaturi is a little wetland with glossy ibis, sacred ibis, spur-winged plover, wood sandpiper, grey heron, common greenshank, great egret, yellow-billed duck, African quailfinch, northern shoveler and common redshank. Apparently this is a good place for spot-breasted plover, but we missed that one. We continued to the Portuguese bridge and had a break in the ethio-german hotel. During our coke we had fan-tailed rave, lappet-faced vulture, speckled mousebird and bearded vulture. The we walked to the bridge and the most impressive view was certainly the flyby of two magnificent adult verreux eagles. On the little walk to the bridge we had cape-eagle owl (young bird on a distant cliff), ruppell s black chat, mocking cliff-chat, blue rock thrush, African grey hornbill, white-billed starling, greater bleu-eared starling, red-cheeked cordon-bleu and ruppel s robin-chat. For the night we went back to Mukaturi and slept in a little hotel. Day 3: Jemmu valley - Ankober We started very early in Muraturi to go birding on the planes in the directions of Jemmu valley. From Muraturi it is too long to get by first light in the valley for the francolins, anyway this seemed not to be necessary. During breakfast we had tawny-flanked prinia, swainsons sparrow, red-billed firefinch, so we needed to get on the plains for something special. We soon found our first erlangers lark, an endemic we missed the first day, and continued slowly going from river to river to see red-throated pipit, black-headed siskin, ortolan bunting, green sandpiper, yellow wagtail, wood sandpiper, little grebe, yellow-billed duck and finally had a flock of 13 spot-breasted plovers which landed just in front of us. Because the bale mountains were dry this year, we knew this was one of the only places to see it. And we continued with black-winged stilt, common sandpiper, ruff, isabeline wheatear, spur-winged plover, African quail finch, Egyptian goose, northern pintail, spotted redshank, red-billed qualia, streaky seedeater, black-shouldered kite and a flock of > 100 common cranes before the valley. At the valley edge we saw mocking cliff-chat and common bulbul, but it was getting hot so we descended in the valley. After a little distant we stopped on the place for the francolins, according to our driver. He knew some farmers which would help to find the bird. Anyway when we arrived at the place the started running through the bush and quickly found some francolins. We had terrific views of harwoods francolin for ten seconds, but they kept chasing the birds so we decided to make clear they had to stop. We walked back to the car, gave the guy a little bit of money and went back on our own to bird slowly and quietly. But we didn t see another francolin, probably because of the heat. We drove further down and had pied wheatear, Abyssinian black wheatear, ruppel s black chat,

3 black-crowned tchagra, cinnamon-breasted bunting, blue-breasted bee-eater and scarlet-chested sunbird. Halfway down the valley we found a nice big tree where we could eat lunch. Suddenly a flock of seedeaters come sitting in the bush in front of us, which appeared to be white-throated seedeater. One of the targets we didn t expect to find that easily. We birded the area a little bit further and had nice views of these birds besides grey-backed camaroptera, red-faced crombec (not common on this place I think), red-cheedked cordon-bleu, two fox kestrels and steppe eagle. Because we had seen the most important ones we decided to go to Ankober instead of sleeping in the valley. In ankober we searched for two hours for the ankober serin, but missed it. Instead we had redbreasted wheatear, erlangers lark, black-headed siskin, wattled ibis, brown-rumped seedeater, streaky seedeater, bearded vulture, rock hyrax and some gelada baboons. For the night we stayed in Debre Birham (Eva hotel). Because we were anxious to run out of time in the south and the big amount of endemics there we decided to continue further south the next day, a stupid mistake. Never rush Day 4 Debre birham - Lake chechelaka - Awash We had breakfast in Debre birham and drove to lake chechelaka. This is a nice little lake and the only place where we had Maccoa duck and ferruginous duck. The water level was not to high and on the lake and the mudflats were a lot of birds: spur-winged goose, common teal, northern shoveler, ruff, avocet, marabou, common crane, black-tailed godwit, isabelline shrike, marsh sandpiper, sacred ibis, little grebe, hottentot teal, spur-winged plover, black-winged stilt, African collared dove, grey heron, little egret, marsh harrier, yellow-billed duck, little stint, snipe spec., greater flamingo, red-knobbed coot, garganey, squacco heron, red-eyed dove, red-billed duck, black-crowned crane, intermediate egret, great crested grebe and grassland pipit. On the road to Metahara we suddenly saw four Abyssinian ground hornbills next to the road, so we stopped and this was a nice place. We had black-bellied bustard, kori bustard, eastern chanting goshawk, secretarybird, masked shrike, grey-headed woodpecker, hoopoe and white-crowned starling. Probably a lot of places along the road are worth a stop. In metahara we first booked a hotel and relaxed a little bit during the heat. Around we went to the lava fields to search for the sombre rock chat. We missed that one and ended with pink-backed pelican, cinnamon-breasted bunting, white-browed sparrow-weaver, marabou, yellow-billed stork, fork-tailed drongo and 4 klipspringer. Day 5: Awash On the road to the park entrance we had white-headed buffalo-weaver, helmeted guinea fowl and white bellied go-away bird. At the park entrance was our first beisa oryx. Just after the entrance is a very nice area with trees and bushes where we had gillets alrk, buff-crested bustard, black-crowned tchagra, black-headed lapwing, nile valley sunbird, black-breasted snake-eagle, rosy-patched bushshrike, blue-naped mousbird, African silverbill, green-winged pytilia, red-billed hornbill, whitebrowed coucal, chestnut-headed and backed sparrowlark and African grey hornbill. We drove further and went to the left on the crosspoint to start the loop. We walked around on the plain and had Egyptian vulture, southern grey shrike, Somali fiscal, yellow-bellied eremomela, chestnut-bellied

4 sandgrouse, northern white-crowned shrike, montagus harrier, blue-breasted bee-eater, common kestrel, pallid harrier, superb starling, red-billed buffalo-weaver, palm swift, African grey flycatcher, namaqua dove, helmeted guineafowl, Abyssinian roller, woodchat shrike, dark-chanting goshawk, black-billed barbet, yellow-billed hornbill, hoopoe, steppe-eagle, fan-tailed raven and hadada ibis. In the afternoon we drove to the awash falls where we had a delicious meal. It was a nice place with tawny eagle, Abyssinian scimitarbill, African fish-eagle, shining sunbird, northern crombec, ruppell s weaver, ring-necked dove, ruppell s starling, mountain thrush, straw-tailed whydah, peregrine falcon, African stonechat, chestnut-backed sparrowlark, Abyssinian ground-hornbill and carmine red beeeater. There were also a lot of mammals: warthog, soemmerings gazelle, lesser kudu, beisa oryx, Day 6 Bilen lodge Ali debe plains Metahara We drove to the Bilen lodge in the hope to find Arabian bustard. Unfortunately we missed this one. But it s a nice place for birding: steppe-eagle, yellow-billed hornbill, shining sunbird, northern crombec, African grey hornbill, nile valley sunbird, chestnut-bellied sandgrouse (huge flocks), blackeared wheatear, rufous chatterer, crested francolin, white-headed buffalo-weaver, Nubian woodpecker, Abyssinian roller, yellow-spotted petronia, superb starling, blue-breasted bee-eater, marsh harrier, Abyssinian scimitarbill, mourning dove, grey-headed batis, bateleur, wire-tailed swallow, Ethiopian swallow, barn swallow, yellow-breasted barbet, yellow-billed stork, village weaver, Somali bulbul, swainsons sparrow and red-fronted barbet. At noon we went back and had a quick stop on the ali debe plains. Somali ostrich is easy to find including grevy s zebra. Then we continued to Metahara to have another try on the lava fields. After two hours searching we finally found a distant sombre rock chat. Day 7: Lake Koka Lake Ziway Bishangari lodge Wabe shebelle We started very early to head for lake Koka. It s a very busy road so an early start saves a lot of time, although driving in the dark isn t that safe. We arrived at lake Koka and had a quick scan from the bridge: sacred ibis, Egyptian goose, squacco heron, pink-backed pelican, spur-winged plover, African jacana, marsh sandpiper, garganey, northern shoveler, hottentot teal, African spoonbill, great egret, African fish-eagle, goliath heron, yellow-billed stork, white pelican, grey heron and lilac-breasted roller. Next stop was the fish market in lake ziway: carmine red bee-eater, cattle egret, white-faced whistling duck, glossy ibis, hamerkop, black-tailed godwit, black-winged stilt, ruff, African jacana, sedge warbler, wood sandpiper, moorhen, African fish-eagle, village weaver, Nubian woodpecker, malachite kingfisher, lesser swamp warbler, pied kingfisher, black heron, black rail, temminck s stint, three-banded plover, African pygmy kingfisher, African pygmy goose, grey-headed gull, blue-cheeked bee-eater, red-knobbed coot, African paradise flycatcher, chiffchaff, ruppels weaver, red-eyed dove and little stint. We then booked our hotel in Langano (Wabe shebelle) and decided to ride to Bishangari lodge. It s a very bad road and we stopped at the container bridge, which is a very nice spot: blue-spotted wooddove, wattle starling, bare-faced go-away-bird, bruce s green pigeon, African harrier hawk, redfronted barbet, white-browed coucal, common sandpiper, woodland kingfisher, banded barbet, African paradise flycatcher, red-headed weaver, white-rumped babbler, Egyptian goose, emerald

5 spotted wood-dove, hoopoe, common redstart, red-shouldered cuckoo-shrike, northern puffback, red-fronted thinkerbird, slaty-colored boubou, baglafecht weaver, green-backed camaroptera, lesser whitethroat, grey-headed batis, northern crombec, blackcap, black-winged lovebird, grey-backed fiscal, black-billed woodhoopoe and northern black flycatcher. It was getting late so we went back to the hotel to go birding on the hotel grounds. A local guy pointed us to a greyish eagle-owl and four slender-tailed nightjar. Besides this we had little rock thrus, rufous-breasted wryneck, Eurasian wryneck, northern black flycatcher, orange-bellied parrot, masked shrike, lesser black-backed gull, cardinal woodpecker, little swift, siffling cisticola, pied kingfisher, red-knobbed coot, buff-bellied warbler and white-browed sparrow-weaver. Day 8: Wabe shebelle lake langano Bishangari lodge Wondo Genet Before breakfast we walked around on the hotelgrounds of the Wabe Shebelle hotel. We missed clapperton s francolin and as appetizer we had Dwarf raven, Von der Decken hornbill, striped kingfisher, eastern oliveaceous warbler, black-headed batis, mocking cliff-chat, spectacled weaver, brubru and white-bellied go-away-bird. After breakfast we wanted to go to bekelle mola, but our driver went to the lakeshore of lake langano and said the bekelle mola was closed. At the lakeshore we had kittlitz plover, grey-backed fiscal, curlew sandpiper, temmincks stint, little stint, grey heron, garganey, northern pintail, Egyptian goose and goliath heron. Next we went to the Bishangari lodge, where we arrived a little bit late. On the road are a lot of big fig trees with silvery-cheeked hornbill, violet-backed starling, Nubian woodpecker, But the forest behind the lodge is also very interesting: black-winged lovebird, sulfur-breasted woodshrike, lesser honeyguide, broad-billed roller, Abyssinian groundthrush, cape rook, little sparrowhawk, whitecheeked turaco, African paradise flycatcher, Abyssinian oriole, common bulbul, blue-spotted wooddove, red-billed firefinch, marabou, scaly francolin, double-toothed barbet, sharpe s starling, scalythroated honeyguide, grey-headed woodpecker, African olive pigeon, northern puffback, Egyptian goose, African pygmy kingfisher, woodland kingfisher, long-crested eagle, slender-billed starling, black saw-wing, Ethiopian boubou and narina trogon. Around 2 we start driving to Wondo Genet. We talked with the guide Nuru, but his price was extremely high and I didn t liked his attitude at all. Instead our driver arranged another guide, Mekonen, an older guy who knows its birds also very well and looks much more involved with the problems of deforestation, although they have no means of stopping it. We did a little tour in the evening and found half-collared kingfisher, African citril, white-winged cliff-chat, tambourine dove, bristle-crowned starling, bruce s green pigeon, woodland kingfisher, lemon dove, African firefinch, black saw-wing, montane nightjar, yellow-fronted parrot, Abyssinian woodpecker (auditive) and yellow-fronted tinkerbird. Day 9 Wondo Genet Dinsho We had an early start to get to the remnants of what once was a mountain forest. Although you barely can speak of a forest, most birds are still present and not too difficult to see. We had ruppels robin-chat, mountain thrush, African firefinch, white-rumped babbler, scaly francolin, augur buzzard, white-cheeked turaco, Abyssinian woodpecker (8 in total), black saw-wing, banded barbet, silvery-

6 cheeked hornbill, spotted creeper, African hill babbler, alpine swift, yellow-fronted parrot, sifling cisticola, northern puffback, common bulbul, mountain white-eye, blackcap, streaky seedeater, lesser honeyguide, thick-billed raven, African hill babbler, blue-headed coucal, green-backed honeybird, common buzzard, bronze manikin, grey-headed kingfisher, lesser striped swallow, spectacled weaver, double tooth barbet, crowned hawk-eagle, verreaux eagle, African paradise flycatcher and black-winged lovebird. At noon we drove in the direction of Dinsho and crossed some highland with white-headed vulture, lappet-faced vulture, ruppels griffon vulture, red-billed chough, Egyptian vulture, rouget s rail, redknobbed coot, African snipe, yellow-billed duck, peregrine falcon, Abyssinian slaty flycatcher, chiffchaff, mountain thrush and common fiscal. We stayed in the bekele molla, without water and electricity so had a candle-light dinner. Day 10 Sof Omar It s a long drive to Sof Omar, but a nice place for birding although we missed the target species. We went to the opposite site of the caves because this was less disturbed and after a while you get to a nice river. But in the end we had to pay entrance for the caves, although we were in a completely different part. Anyway you have to try to get here as soon as possible because it starts warming up pretty fast: hunter s sunbird, yellow-billed hornbill, red-headed weaver, red-billed hornbill, Egyptian vulture, mottled swift (climb up the hills and they fly at a few meters before you), fan-tailed raven, mountain wagtail, greater honeyguide, white-crested helmet-shrike, bristle-crowned starling, thrush nightingale (a little surprise), red-fronted tinkerbird, dodson s bulbul, collared sunbird, emerald spotted wood-dove, northern brownbull, white-rumped babbler, brown-tailed chat, Somali tit, blackheaded oriole, pygmy batis, African hawk-eagle, von der decken hornbill, Nubian woodpecker, barefaced go-away-bird, black-headed batis, green-backed camaroptera, steppe-eagle, white-headed buffalo-weaver, African citril, grey-headed bush-shrike, eastern imperial eagle (our only one of the trip), green-backed honeyguide, white stork and pallid harrier. On the way back to dinsho you cross a lot of nice habitat, but we didn t stop that much because our driver wanted to get back in time because we forgot to hand over our key. But as you approach Dinsho most is cultivated, although there are still a lot of birds to be found: swainsons sparrow, Ethiopian cisticola, red-breasted wheatear, kestrel, Egyptian goose, Day 11 Sanetti plateau Dinsho forest This morning we started at 5.30 and drove up the plateau. We were the first car and on the road were a lot of rouget s rails and many flocks of chestnut-naped francolin. Higher up we also had some groups of moorland francolin between black-headed siskins, mountain thrush, augur buzzard, bluewinged goose, African snipe, thekla lark and after fifteen minutes searching two Ethiopian wolfs. We descended back a little bit and had green sandpiper, greenshank, streaky seedeater, brown-rumped seedeater, wattled ibis, moorland chat, bale brown parisoma, baglafecht weaver, lesser spotted eagle, chiffchaff and tacazze sunbird. In the afternoon we went to Dinsho Forest. On the road we found an immature African swallowtailed kite on the wires. We first birded a little bit on the planes past Dinsho: streaky seedeater, redthroated pipit, Abyssinian longclaw, white-collared pigeon, yellow bishop and fan-tailed widowbird.

7 In the forest itself are a lot of mountain nyala s, but also many flocks of birds with white-backed black tit as one of our targets. Abyssinian catbird is also singing on a lot of places. We also had ruppell s robin-chat, buff-bellied warbler, brown woodland warbler, dusky flycatcher, mountain thrush, brown-rumped seedeater and pallid harrier. Day 12 Sanetti plateau Harenna forest Genale river In the morning we crossed the sanetti plateau pretty fast to get as early as possible to the harenna forest. On the plateau itself we had: blue-winged goose, chestnut-naped francolin, mountain nyala, augur buzzard, thekla lark, kestrel and wild cat. In Harenna forest we made the mistake to keep on birding in the upper parts of the forest to long, so it was already very warm when we reached lower forest areas. Probably it s best to camp here, but our driver unfortunately didn t want to camp. In the forest we had African olive pigeon, cinnamonbracken warbler, mountain thrush, tacazze sunbird, African citril, streaky seedeater, buff-bellied, white-backed black-tit, moorland chat, greater honeyguide, blackcap, yellow-crowned canary, augur buzzard, black saw-wing, Abyssinian catbird, silvery-cheeked hornbill, mountain buzzard, baglafecht weaver, tawny-flanked prinia, white-cheeked turaco, thick-billed raven, shikra, chiffchaff, yellowbellied waxbill, crimson-rumped waxbill and Abyssinian white-eye. This probable is the biggest forest in Ethiopia which is very easy to bird and not yet degraded. After a long drive we got to the genale river. Our driver said he knew a good guide for the prince ruspoli turaco. He didn t find the guy he was looking for, but another person was going to guide us. Anyway just ask the next for the place and look yourself. These guys start to chase everything and flush the prince ruspoli s turaco. We got to see a glimpse of it but you can t keep up with the guys which run up the hills twice as fast as you can. When we finally found our guide back we wanted to make clear we absolutely didn t like his way of birding, but that s difficult to explain in Amharic so we went back to the car. My girlfriend unfortunately missed the bird, but we think it s better to leave the bird quiet and not pay people only to chase it. On this spot we also had pygmy hawk, black-billed woodhoopoe, African harrier hawk, white-browed coucal and black-headed heron. Day 13 Liben plains Filtu This was going D-day for the Sidamo lark. I wanted immediately to the plains, but our drivers first wanted to arrange breakfast. Anyway we were too early for breakfast, lost half an hour waiting and finally departed without breakfast. I was a little bit frustrated about it, but anyway it was time for birding now. We had huge amounts of Somali short-toed larks, but finding sidamo lark was a little bit more difficult. But then we saw one in songflight in a little bit higher grass, which we crossed only some minutes before. The Somali short-toed larks have a songflight very high in the sky, but the sidamo lark goes up for about 5 or 10 m, hovers there with hanging feet and parachutes down. But locating one on the ground took some time, but with some patience you certainly will find some. In the end we found three individuals on several spots. Besides this we also had black-breasted snakeeagle, isabelline shrike, crowned plover, wire-tailed swallow, dwarf raven, Eurasian hoopoe, chestnut sparrow and plain-backed pipit. Next we drove east in the direction of filtu. It s a nice area for birding and walking around was pretty productive with yellow-bellied eremomela, rosy-patched bush-shrike, orange-bellied parrot, three-

8 streaked tchagra, fork-tailed drongo, white-browed scrub-robin, pied wheatear, lilac-breasted roller, bateleur, yellow-billed hornbill, green-backed eremomela, yellow-vented eremomela, white wagtail, eastern chanting goshawk, shelley s rufous sparrow and chestnut weaver. The closer we got to filtu, the less we could get out the car because our driver said it wasn t save due to the Somali people present. Although we didn t feel unsafe, we decided to return to the liben plains. In a drainage area we started looking for prince ruspoli s turaco, but couldn t locate it here. We had thekla lark, salvadori s seedeater, reichnow s seedeater, white-headed buffalo-weaver, black-headed batis, white-bellied go-away-bird, speckled mousebird, brown-rumped seedeater, cutthroat, Egyptian vulture and gabar goshawk. Day 14 West of Negele This was going to be a relaxed day, we had the lark and had a spare day in negele. So we went to some birding areas to the west of Negele. On the road birding was nice: superb starling, red-andyellow barbet, brubru, red-cheeked cordon-bleu, rosy-breasted bush-shrike, maurico sunbird, greater blue-eared starling, red-billed hornbill, white-bellied go-away-bird, common bulbul, rufous chatterer, red-fronted tinkerbird, pied wheatear, northern wheatear, Von der decken hornbill, reichenows seedeater, pale flycatcher, willow warbler, vitelline masked weaver, chiffchaff, common rock thrush, white-headed buffalo-weaver, yellow-spotted petronia, lesser whitethroat, black-headed oriole, shelley s starling, white-headed shrike, African thrush, black-billed barbet, blue-spotted wood-dove, northern puffback, brown-woodland warbler, rufous chatterer, African paradise flycatcher, whiterumped babbler, black cuckoo, African hawk-eagle, green-backed camaroptera, blue-breasted beeeater, red-winged starling and black saw-wing. We had lunch at one of the places which is indicated in the book where you have a good chance to see prince ruspoli s turaco. We already saw one flying away when we were walking through the shrubbery and had some nice views. When we were eating a prince ruspoli s turaco went sitting just above our jeep, where I left my camera. So when the bird went on feeding, I got my camera and the next hour we had a very nice show of two prince ruspoli turaco s. Just sit down and the birds will circle around from tree to tree to eat. At this spot we also had northern white-crowned shrike, bearded woodpecker, sulphur-breasted bush-shrike, house martin, Eurasian hoopoe and a honey buzzard. On the way back we walked along the road on several places and had purple grenadier, cardinal woodpecker, tree pipit, bateleur, eastern chanting goshawk, crested francolin, whitebrowed scrub-robin, fork-tailed drongo, rattling cisticola and brown snake-eagle. Day 15: Negele Yabello This day was going to be a long drive to Yabello. Leaving Negele we had white-bellied bustard and spotted hyena. We stopped sometimes on the road, but the best stop was in a big dry riverbed where some black-faced sandgrouses were drinking. We walked this riverbed for a while and had red-billed hornbill, superb starling, crowned plover, tawny eagle, vitelline masked weaver, blackheaded oriole, Abyssinian ground hornbill, white-bellied go-away-bird, black-billed woodhoopoe, bristle crowned starling, magpie starling (a little flock), blue spotted wooddove, red-billed firefinch, red-billed buffalo weaver, golden breasted starling and yellow-billed hornbill. We drove further and had Somali bunting, shelley s starling, fork tailed drongo, black-throated barbet, pale prinia, whitebrowed scrub-robin and black-bellied sunbird. Because these stops took some time it was already

9 very hot when we arrived at the river with the people looking for gold. We only had banded parisoma and blue-breasted bee-eater here due to the heat. I also forgot to go looking for the African whitewinged dove at the opposite side of the road, so far my good preparation We continued to Yabello and had several stops, but birding was difficult in the heat and the only new one was black-cheeked waxbill. Just before we arrived to the paved road, we took a shortcut on a dirtroad which proved to be a good choice: taita fiscal, pale prinia, stresseman s bushcrow, greycapped social-weaver, white-tailed swallow, Abyssinian ground-hornbill and red-bellied parrot. We also had grant s gazelle and gerenuk here. Day 16: Yabello Today was birding along the road which goes south from yabello. The first stop is around the bridge described in the book. We had a remarkable find here, Salvadori s seedeater. If you reach the bridge walk up in the fields to the east, this is the place where we had this bird. Besides that we had superb starling, d Arnauds barbet, common bulbul, spotted palm thrush, rufous chatterer, bare-eyed thrush, shikra, shining sunbird, emerald spotted wood-dove, buff-bellied warbler, pygmy batis, fork-tailed drongo, slaty-coloured boubou, African paradise flycatcher (also the white morph), Abyssinian whiteeye, white-bellied go-away-bird, red-fronted tinkerbird, green-backed camaroptera, rosy-patched bush-shrike, red-shouldered cuckoo-shrike, orange bellied parrot, black-headed oriole, white-headed buffalo-weaver, dwarf raven, red-throated pipit, shelleys starling, eastern violet backed sunbird, maurico sunbird, reichenows seedeater, white-browed scrub-robin and red-naped bush-shrike. We drove further south and stopped on several locations which looked good: black saw-wing, common rock thrush, red-fronted barbet, black-throated barbet, lesser striped swallow, tawny eagle, lilacbreasted roller, white-tailed swallow, northern grosbeak canary, red-fronted warbler, pale flycatcher, Nubian woodpecker, Somali bunting, grey-wren warbler, pale prinia, stresseman s bush crow, hunter s sunbird, Somali crombec, yellow-spotted petronia, yellow-bellied eremomela, chiffchaff, white-bellied canary, tiny cisticola, three-streaked tchagra, Somali tit, mouse-colored penduline tit, northern crombec, common whitethroat and pygmy falcon. We went for a coke as lunch in Dubuluk. There was a little bole of water in the back of a house where parrot-billed sparrow was coming to drink as well as speke s weaver. Around three we continued further south to the dirt track we did yesterday: foxy lark, black-capped social weaver, shelley s rufous sparrow, white-bellied canary, grey-capped social weaver, plain backed pipit, taita fiscal, bluebreasted bee-eater, isabelline shrike (Turkestan), wattled starling, white-tailed swallow (flying around some meters in front of us, magnificent), crowned plover, brubru, Somali fiscal, a probable short-tailed lark, Somali courser, white-bellied bustard and rufous roller. Day 17: Yabello Today we did more or less the same area as yesterday, although we left very early to try to see vulturine guineafowl. Although a common bird, we missed this one. This day we had more or less the

10 same birds as yesterday with yellow-breasted apalis, beautiful sunbird and great sparrowhawk as only new ones. The others were spotted hyena, white-browed scrub-robin, common bulbul, purple grenadier, spotted palmthrush, white-bellied go-away-bird, slaty-colored boubou, green-backed camaroptera, rufous chatterer, red-billed hornbill, yellow-billed hornbill, buff-crested bustard, white browed coucal, pallid harrier, speckled mousebird, d Arnauds barbet, buff-bellied warbler, blackheaded oriole, grey-wren warbler, tawny-eagle, steppe-eagle, eastern olivaceous warbler, greyheaded bush-shrike, sulphur-breasted bush-shrike, emerald spotted wood-dove, crested francolin, chiffchaff, African paradise flycatcher, violet-backed sunbird, bare-eyed thrush, vitelline masked weaver, red-naped bush-shrike, little sparrowhawk, tiny cisticola, pale flycatcher, shelley s starling, house martin, pied wheatear, rufous roller, black-capped social weaver, grey-capped social weaver, white-headed vulture, Egyptian vulture, dwarf raven, common rock thrush, brubru, superb starling, white-tailed swallow, red-billed buffalo weaver, white-headed buffalo-weaver, eastern chanting goshawk, foxy lark, red-fronted warbler, Somali tit, maurico sunbird and shikra. Day 18: Yabello Awassa Because we had all the endemics in the south, we decided we would go back north to look for the ones we missed in the beginning. This meant we had a little bit more time, but we had to skip nechisar national park. So there goes my appointment with history for the rediscovery of the nechisar nightjar. We left Yabello and birded a little area to the north of the city: superb starling, shelley s starling, common bulbul, white-bellied go-away-bird, yellow-breasted apalis, grey-wren warbler, eastern yellow-billed hornbill, d Arnauds barbet, black-headed oriole, rosy-patched bushshrike, black-breasted snake-eagle, slaty coloured boubou, and bare-eyed thrush. We stopped on the road in a big forest with a large flat open area which the way crosses: African paradise flycatcher, brown woodland warbler, green-backed camaroptera, Abyssinian groundhornbill, common buzzard (vulpinus) and silvery-cheeked hornbill. We had lunch in Dilla and the next stop was Midroc hotel in Awassa. We had a quiet afternoon for the two of us and could bird from the hotel grounds: great cormorant, black-winged lovebird, malachite kingfisher, pied kingfisher, greenshank, Egyptian goose, African fish-eagle, eared grebe, little grebe, African jacana, little egret, black heron, woodland kingfisher, long-tailed cormorant, carmine red bee-eater, gull-billed tern, common sandpiper, African pygmy-goose, squacco heron, striated heron, yellow wagtail, sacred ibis, hamerkop, lesser black-backed gull, baglafecht weaver, lesser swamp warbler, bronze manikin, grey-headed woodpecker, African citril, northern puffback, blue-breasted bee-eater, scarlet-chested sunbird, spectacled weaver, red-knobbed coot, marabou, great egret, spur-winged plover, intermediate egret, silvery cheeked hornbill, hadada ibis, white backed duck and bat hawk. This last one was a nice surprise. Day 19: Awassa fish market Midroc At first light we went to the boardwalk, it s only five minutes walking from the hotel. This is a nice place to bird because all birds are very tame and in the early morning you are almost alone at this place. On this walk before breakfast we had: hamerkop, Egyptian goose, African jacana, greenshank, African pygmy goose, white-backed duck (+/- 30), marabou, little grebe, black crake, ruppel s robinchat, sacred ibis, spur-winged plover, African citril, yellow wagtail, sedge warbler, pied kingfisher, common sandpiper, ruff, African spoonbill, hottentot teal, goliath heron, glossy ibis, great reed

11 warbler, squacco heron, common waxbill, blue-headed coucal, swainson s sparrow, white-faced whistling duck, African fish-eagle, African reed warbler, moorhen, chiffchaff, white-rumped babbler, lesser jacana, common coot, common bulbul, red-billed firefinch, Abyssinian waxbill, green-backed camaroptera, spectacled weaver, Abyssinian white-eye, buff-bellied warbler, African paradise flycatcher, steel-blue whydah, vitelline masked weaver, northern carmine red bee-eater, white browed robin-chat, little egret, red-faced cisticola, hippo and purple swamphen. We had breakfast around 9.00 and went to the fish market at am. There were a lot of birds, but not the big flocks of pelicans. Anyway it was nice to see people and birds, who eat the same food at this spot, living peacefully next to each other: black-headed gull, marabou, hamerkop, African jacana, long-tailed cormorant, gull-billed tern, white-winged tern, garganey and pink-backed pelican. Then we went to the old fish market just to the left of the actual fish market: hadada ibis, woodland kingfisher, black-tailed godwit, wryneck, white-faced whistling-duck, sedge warbler, Egyptian goose, yellow wagtail, cut-throat, African fish-eagle, beautiful sunbird, hamerkop, malachite kingfisher, common sandpiper, silvery-cheeked hornbill, greenshank, wood sandpiper, black-headed batis, greyheaded woodpecker, red-headed weaver, ruppels glossy starling and speckled mousebird. We had a relax afternoon and found a nice Italian restaurant to eat lunch. A lot of birds are flying over but the most important one was an ayre s hawk-eagle. In the afternoon we birded again our hotel garden with more or less the same birds. In the evening we went back to the Italian restaurant to eat a pizza. The terras seemed good for raports with an African hobby and again a bat hawk just before dusk. I suppose this bat hawk sleeps somewhere in the big trees, but we had terrific views of this hawk flying at some meters next to our table. Day 20: Awassa Langano (Bekele Mola) Ziway Koka The first hour of the morning we birded again the hotel garden: spurw-winged goose, cattle egret, scarlet-chested sunbird, beautiful sunbird, green-backed camaroptera, blackcap, black-winged lovebird, silvery-cheeked hornbill, white-faced whistling-duck and hottentot teal. Then we went to Langano and drove after a discussion finally to the bekele mola hotel. Although it is closed you can enter by giving the guard a little tip and here we finally had Hemprich s hornbill besides barn swallow, yellow wagtail, pied wheatear, grey-backed fiscal, long-crested eagle, village indigobird, ruppell s robin-chat, speckled mousebird, red-faced crombec, orange-bellied parrot, common bulbul, ruppell s weaver, red-billed firefinch, yellow-crowned canary, red-fronted barbet, blue-breasted beeeater, mocking cliff-chat, white-bellied go-away-bird, Abyssinian scimitarbill, namaqua dove, hoopoe, ruppels glossy starling, sulphur-breasted bush-shrike, red-billed hornbill, black-winged lovebird, striped kingfisher, African fish-eagle, superb starling, grey-headed woodpecker, Abyssinian whiteeye, spotted flycatcher, lesser masked weaver, little weaver, crested francolin, fan-tailed raven, steppe-eagle, rufous chatterer, blue-spotted wood-dove, little rock-thrush, Von der decken hornbill and brown-rumped seedeater. So still a nice place for birding, but they cut down most of the big trees which were probably important for the hornbills to forage. In the afternoon we went back to the fish market in Ziway. About halfway the track in a muddy area we had some goodies: African openbill, lesser jacana and two little crake. On the lake were also some pallas gulls. Other species were: wood sandpiper, white-faced whistling-duck, wattled starling, blacktailed godwit, woodland kingfisher, garganey, ruff, African spoonbill, African pygmy goose, African jacana, marsh sandpiper, sedge warbler, yellow wagtail, ruppell s weaver, goliath heron, black-

12 winged stilt, carmine red bee-eater, common snipe, white pelican, red-fronted tinkerbird, hamerkop, marabou, Egyptian goose, malachite kingfisher, sacred ibis, anhinga, pink-backed pelican, glossy ibis and common moorhen. Before dark we also had a quick stop at the bridge at lake Koka: yellow-billed stork, Egyptian goose, northern shoveler, hottentot teal, pink-backed pelican, ruff, little stint, garganey, black-crowned crane, spur-winged goose, African fish-eagle, grey heron, sacred ibis, little plover, greenshank. Day 21: Koka Debre birham Today we drove again back to the north and arrived at noon at Debre birham. We tried another place for ankober serin, the one 46 km to the north of debre birham. This one proved much more productive because it s easier to see on the cliff faces. In the end we had a flock of 45 ankober serin sitting and chirping just in front of us. Other birds were ruppell s black-chat, brown-rumped seedeater, verreaux s eagle, fan-tailed raven, rock martin, Barbary falcon, streaky seedeater, moorland chat, augur buzzard, rock hyrax and yellow-crowned bishop. In the evening we tried a bottle of wine to celebrate the ankober serin. The Ethiopian wine isn t that bad, but far from a price winner. Day 22: Ankober Melka ghebdu We drove up to ankober and birded one hour before breakfast on the plains and the cliff: groundscraper thrush, wattled ibis, moorland chat, white-billed starling, kestrel, fan-tailed raven, slender-billed starling, white-collared pigeon, rock martin and white-cheeked turaco. After breakfast we drove down to Melka ghebdu. It s a long drive because the road isn t that good. We stopped a little bit earlier than indicated in the book, actually at the point where a dry river comes from the right and streams parallel to the road. When we got out of the car we almost immediately had a yellow-throated seedeater, our last endemic we could get (except for the ones on the border with Somalia). We walked for about three kilometers and had two more sightings of a yellow-throated seedeater. Other birds in this valley were: brown snake-eagle, eastern grey plantain eater, pied wheatear, common bulbul, greater blue-eared starling, northern crombec, black-crowned tchagra, speckled mousebird, yellow-breasted barbet, cardinal woodpecker, grey wagtail, little weaver, red-billed firefinch, village indigobird, common buzzard (vulpinus), Abyssinian black wheatear, familiar chat, red-billed quelea, blue-breasted bee-eater, common redstart, buff-bellied warbler, yellow-bellied eremomela, white-rumped babbler, white-bellied go-away-bird, shining sunbird, common waxbill, orange-bellied parrot, African paradise flycatcher, Ethiopian boubou, barefaced go-away-bird, black stork, African harrier hawk, rufous chatterer, chestnut weaver. In the afternoon we drove back up the mountain to ankober, where it was nice and cool. It was nice to see a verreux s eagle flying by with his partner, who caught a rock hyrax. We walked around on several spots to the cliff and had thick-billed raven, bearded vulture, erckels francolins, yellow bishop, black-headed batis, rufous-breasted sparrowhawk, lanner falcon, thekla lark, ortolan bunting, African citril, black-shouldered kite and lesser spotted eagle. Day 23: Debre birham Addis Ababa

13 Today we drove slowly back to the capital. On the road we made some stops for birding: pectoralpatch cisticola, blue-winged goose, augur buzzard, groundscraper thrush, common fiscal, baglafecht weaver, yellow bishop, pied wheatear, red-throated pipit and ortolan bunting were the last birds we saw on the trip. In the afternoon we went to see Lucy and a museum about the ethnic groups in Ethiopia. Both museums are nice to see and to get a little bit of an understanding of some habits you have seen during the visit. After this it was time to get to the airport where we had our last pasta tomato. We could go back home with all the endemics and almost 500 species on a relax holiday. Not bad at all. Birding is easy on your own and much cheaper than an organized trip, so just buy a flight ticket and hire a jeep and your off. Species list Mammals: guereza colobus, olive baboon, gelada, vervet monkey, cape hare, starck s hare, unstriped ground squirrel, Gambian sun squirrel, Ethiopian wolf, spotted hyena, wild cat (bale mountains), grevy s zebra, hippopotamus, warthog, lesser kudu, mountain nyala, klipspringer, gunther s dikdik, salt s dikdik, grant s gazelle, soemmering s gazelle, gerenuk, beisa oryx Birds 476: Clements checklist december 2008 Abyssinian Catbird Abyssinian Ground-Hornbill Abyssinian Ground-Thrush Abyssinian Longclaw Abyssinian Nightjar Abyssinian Roller Abyssinian Scimitar-bill Abyssinian Siskin Abyssinian Slaty-Flycatcher Abyssinian Woodpecker African Bare-eyed Thrush African Black-headed Oriole African Citril African Collared-Dove African Dusky Flycatcher African Firefinch African Fish-Eagle African Gray Flycatcher African Gray Hornbill African Harrier-Hawk African Hawk-Eagle African Hill Babbler African Hobby African Jacana African Mourning Dove African Openbill African Palm-Swift African Paradise-Flycatcher African Pipit African Pygmy-goose

14 African Pygmy-Kingfisher African Quailfinch African Silverbill African Snipe African Spoonbill African Thrush Alpine Swift Ankober Serin Ayres's Hawk-Eagle Baglafecht Weaver Banded Barbet Banded Warbler Bank Swallow Barbary Falcon Bare-faced Go-away-bird Barn Swallow Barn Swallow (rustica) Barred Warbler Bat Hawk Bateleur Bearded Woodpecker Beautiful Sunbird Black Crake Black Crowned-Crane Black Cuckoo Black Goshawk Black Heron Black Kite Black Sawwing Black Scimitar-bill Black Stork Black-bellied Bustard Black-bellied Sunbird Black-billed Barbet Black-billed Woodhoopoe Black-breasted Snake-Eagle Blackcap Black-capped Social-Weaver Black-crowned Tchagra Black-faced Sandgrouse Black-headed Batis Black-headed Gull Black-headed Heron Black-headed Lapwing Black-shouldered Kite Black-tailed Godwit Black-throated Barbet Black-winged Lapwing Black-winged Lovebird Black-winged Stilt Blue Rock-Thrush Blue-breasted Bee-eater

15 Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Blue-headed Coucal Blue-naped Mousebird Blue-spotted Wood-Dove Blue-winged Goose Booted Eagle Bristle-crowned Starling Broad-billed Roller Broad-ringed White-eye Bronze Mannikin Brown Snake-Eagle Brown Warbler Brown Woodland-Warbler Brown-rumped Seedeater Brown-tailed Chat Brubru Bruce's Green-Pigeon Buff-bellied Warbler Buff-crested Bustard Cape Crow Cape Eagle-Owl Cardinal Woodpecker Cattle Egret Cattle Egret (ibis) Chestnut Sparrow Chestnut Weaver Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse Chestnut-crowned Sparrow- Weaver Chestnut-headed Sparrow-Lark Chestnut-naped Francolin Cinnamon Bracken-Warbler Cinnamon-breasted Bunting Collared Sunbird Common Bulbul Common Chiffchaff Common Crane Common Fiscal Common Greenshank Common Moorhen Common Pochard Common Redshank Common Redstart Common Ringed Plover Common Sandpiper Common Snipe Common Swift Common Waxbill Cream-colored Courser Crested Francolin Crimson-rumped Waxbill Crowned Hawk-Eagle

16 Crowned Lapwing Curlew Sandpiper Cut-throat Dark Chanting-Goshawk Dark-headed Oriole D'Arnaud's Barbet Darter Darter (African) Double-toothed Barbet Dunlin Dusky Turtle-Dove Eared Grebe Eastern Chanting-Goshawk Eastern Olivaceous Warbler Eastern Plantain-eater Eastern Yellow-billed Hornbill Egyptian Goose Egyptian Vulture Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove Erckel's Francolin Erlanger's Lark Ethiopian Swallow Eurasian Buzzard Eurasian Hoopoe Eurasian Kestrel Eurasian Wryneck Familiar Chat Fan-tailed Raven Fan-tailed Widowbird Fawn-breasted Waxbill Ferruginous Pochard Fork-tailed Drongo Fox Kestrel Foxy Lark Gabar Goshawk Gadwall Garganey Gillett's Lark Glossy Ibis Golden-breasted Starling Goliath Heron Gray Cuckoo-shrike Gray Heron Gray Wagtail Gray-backed Fiscal Gray-headed Batis Gray-headed Bushshrike Gray-headed Kingfisher Gray-headed Social-Weaver Gray-headed Woodpecker Gray-hooded Gull Grayish Eagle-Owl

17 Great Black-headed Gull Great Cormorant Great Crested Grebe Great Egret Great Egret (Eurasian) Great Reed-Warbler Great White Pelican Greater Blue-eared Glossy- Starling Greater Flamingo Greater Honeyguide Greater Whitethroat Green Sandpiper Green-backed Camaroptera Green-backed Honeyguide Green-winged Pytilia Green-winged Teal Green-winged Teal (Eurasian) Groundscraper Thrush Gull-billed Tern Hadada Ibis Half-collared Kingfisher Hamerkop Harwood's Francolin Helmeted Guineafowl Hemprich's Hornbill Hooded Vulture Hottentot Teal House Bunting House Martin Hunter's Sunbird Imperial Eagle Intermediate Egret Isabelline Wheatear Kenya Violet-backed Sunbird Kittlitz's Plover Kori Bustard Lammergeier Lanner Falcon Lappet-faced Vulture Laughing Dove Lemon Dove Lesser Black-backed Gull Lesser Black-backed Gull (fuscus) Lesser Jacana Lesser Kestrel Lesser Masked-Weaver Lesser Spotted Eagle Lesser Striped-Swallow Lesser Swamp-Warbler Lesser Whitethroat Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse Lilac-breasted Roller

18 Little Bee-eater Little Crake Little Egret Little Grebe Little Ringed Plover Little Rock-Thrush Little Stint Little Swift Little Weaver Long-billed Pipit Long-crested Eagle Long-legged Buzzard Long-tailed Cormorant Maccoa Duck Magpie Starling Malachite Kingfisher Marabou Stork Mariqua Sunbird Marsh Sandpiper Masked Shrike Mocking Cliff-Chat Montagu's Harrier Moorland Chat Moorland Francolin Mosque Swallow Mottled Swift Mountain Buzzard Mountain Wagtail Mourning Wheatear Mouse-colored Penduline-Tit Namaqua Dove Narina Trogon Nile Valley Sunbird Northern Black-Flycatcher Northern Brownbul Northern Carmine Bee-eater Northern Crombec Northern Grosbeak-Canary Northern Pintail Northern Puffback Northern Shoveler Northern Wheatear Northern Wheatear (Eurasian) Nubian Woodpecker Nyanza Swift Olive Thrush Ortolan Bunting Ostrich Pale Flycatcher Pale Prinia Pallid Harrier Parrot-billed Sparrow

19 Pectoral-patch Cisticola Peregrine Falcon Pied Avocet Pied Crow Pied Kingfisher Pied Wheatear Pink-backed Pelican Pin-tailed Whydah Plain Martin Plain-backed Pipit Prince Ruspoli's Turaco Purple Grenadier Purple Swamphen Pygmy Batis Pygmy Falcon Rameron Pigeon Rattling Cisticola Red-and-yellow Barbet Red-backed Scrub-Robin Red-bellied Parrot Red-billed Buffalo-Weaver Red-billed Chough Red-billed Duck Red-billed Firefinch Red-billed Hornbill Red-billed Quelea Red-breasted Wheatear Red-cheeked Cordonbleu Red-chested Swallow Red-eyed Dove Red-faced Crombec Red-fronted Barbet Red-fronted Tinkerbird Red-fronted Warbler Red-headed Weaver Red-knobbed Coot Red-naped Bushshrike Red-rumped Swallow Red-rumped Waxbill Red-shouldered Cuckoo-shrike Red-throated Pipit Red-winged Starling Reichenow's Seedeater Ring-necked Dove Rock Martin Rosy-patched Bushshrike Rouget's Rail Rueppell's Chat Rueppell's Glossy-Starling Rueppell's Griffon Rueppell's Robin-Chat Rueppell's Weaver