Comoros November 2012 - Grande Comoro, Mount Karthala

The most important site of Grande Comoro is the spectacular vulcano that dominates the island: Mount Karthala. It is actually the worlds largest vulcanic crater and the views are nothing but breathtaking. I would even go so far to call them awesome, a word most people rape in daily life. I can therefore highly recommend this site, also for the less bird-inclined. For the birders: every endemic, except the Drongo, can be seen on the slopes of the mountain.

The crater of Mount Karthala (picture made by Anna van der Kaaden)

 The access of this site is not very easy and a guide is recommended. We used "Chauffeur" (Said, 002693365387) which we can highly recommend. He is a bit pricey (we paid 85.000 CMF), but entire Comoros is a bit pricy for Africa, also he knows the mountains, the forest and most of the birds, most importantly the Scops Owl, fairly well. The walk up the crater is long, for the trail starts at Mvouni (300 m.a.s.l.) and goes all the way up to the crater (2200 m.a.s.l.), but is not particularly steep or hard. It is possible to do the walk within one day. It is even possible to visit  the crater and return to Mvouni on the same day, but that would mean to rush a stunning hike and more importantly, the chances to see the Karthala  Scops Owl drop to zero.

We left Moroni around 5:00 and made it all the way up to the top and returned to 1600 m.a.s.l. to sleep in a hut. The next day we made our way down in just 2.5 or 3 hours. The birding is very good all endemics with all endemics seen, except the Drongo; Comoro Blue Pigeon (just a single one), Comoro (Olive) Pigeon (large numbers at higher altitude, above the forest), Comoro Bulbul (numerous at higher elevation where Madagascar Bulbul does not occur), Grande Comoro Thrush (four noted in good quality forest), Humblot´s Flycatcher (small numbers in good quality forest), Comoro Brush Warlber (fairly common in high altitude scrub), Kirk´s White-eye (very common up to 1600 m.a.sl.), Karthala White-eye (surprisingly scarce and very  unlike the drawing in the book, small numbers noted at high altitude. Also one or two in a Kirk´s flock around the camp), Comoro Green Sunbird (quite scarce at lower and medium altitude), Comoro Cuckooshrike (just two males noted in good quality forest), Comoro Fody (quite common at medium altitude with some juveniles hanging around the camp). Non-endemics included: Madagascar Harrier, Eleonora´s Falcon, Common Quail (ssp. africana), Madagascar Spine-tailed Swift (ssp. mariae), (Comoro) Cuckoo Roller (of the ssp. gracilis which has a different vocalisation than the (sub)species on Madagascar), Madagascar Paradise Flycatcher (ssp. comoriensis) and both Vasa Parrot species. For the Karthala Scops Owl, we went back down to 1300 m.a.s.l. and tried with tape at a spot Chauffeur pointed out. A bird aswered quickly, but seeing it the bird took some time. In the end we went straight into the forest and the bird came and set in a tree just above us and called back. Lovely!

Grande Comoro Scops Owl (Otus paulani)

Comoro Cuckooshrike (Coracina cucullata cucullata)

Comoro Bulbul (Hypsipetes parvirostris)

Grand Comoro Brush Warbler (Nesillas brevicaudata)

Humblot´s Flycatcher (Humblotia flavirostris)

Comoro Pigeons (Columba pollenii)

Comoro Pigeon (Columba pollenii)

A crappy record shot of Karthala White-eye (Zosterops mouroniensis)

African Stonechat (Saxicola torquatus voeltzkowi)

The hut were we slept in on the Vulcano

The nightwalk also produced some Common Tenrecs, which are introduced to the Comoros for food. During the day we also saw a Furcifer cephalopis Chameleon (endemic for the Comoros). I can only repeat myself: when visiting the Comoros, Mount Karthala is an experience not to be missed.

Furcifer cephalopis

Comoros November 2012 - Grande Comoro, Salimani

After two months spend on the African mainland, we ventured out to the Indian Ocean, where we will spend the next nine months, at least. We started with the Comoros, an archipelago seldom visited, although I don´t know why, for it offers a huge variety of ecosystems and a respectable list of endemic species. We started on Grande Comoro (Ngazidja), of course, for it has the only airported that can be reached from the African mainland. We wanted to start with the most difficult species first: Grande Comoro Drongo. After some research I found a reliable site: Salimani (http://biodivcomores.africamuseum.be/Biodiversity/Birds/Bird_home.htm)

The first time we visited this site which consists of abandoned plantations by ourselves by just taking a taxi-brousse to Salimani (be sure to state that you want to visit the Salimani in the South, for there is also a Salimani Norht of Moroni, the capital. We were shown around by a local we met in the taxi-brousse, who apparently knew the bird. However we did not find it. We still saw other endemic species like Humblot´s Sunbird (nominate subspecies), Comoro Green Sunbird, Kirk´s White-eye, the   dazzling Comoro Blue Pigeon and a pure (!) Comoro Fody (ssp. consobrina). Other good birds included Madagascar Turtle Dove (ssp. picturata although there seem to be no pure ones of this taxa left), Frances´ Sparrowhawk (ssp. griveaudi), Greater Vasa Parrot (ssp. comorensis) and Lesser Vasa Parrot (ssp. sibilans). We also saw plenty of the omnipresent Seychelles Flying Foxes (ssp. comoriensis), which I won´t mention again, for they were truly seen daily. Some Phelsuma v-nigra v-nigra were also noted.

Comoro Blue Pigeon (Alectroenas sganzini)

Seychelles Flying Fox (Pteropus seychellensis comoriensis)

The second time (10 days later) we recruited Chauffeur (see next entry) and we were in possesion of tape, for we found a copy of Atlas des Oiseaux de la Grande Comoro, du Mohéli et d´Anjouan, which contained a cd with all the bird sounds including those of different subspecies, which we were free to copy! According to Chauffeur, the best time to see the Drongo was in the afternoon. So we went from 15:00 to 18:00. We took the same taxi-brousse, got out at the same place and walked the smae route we did the first time, so the random local indeed knew what he was talking about. After a fair bit of searching a bird responded to tape by coming in silently to check things out. (Only the high-pitched contact call seems to work) We enjoyed great views of the bird for 15 minutes and after that we returned to Moroni. Other birds seen on this  walk included a lovely male Frances Sparrowhawk (ssp. griveaudi), Kirk´s White-eye and Lesser Vasa Parrot (ssp. sibilans).

Grande Comoro Drongo (Dicrurus fuscipennis)