Tanzania October - November 2012 - Mikumi National Park

Tanzania is famous for its big mammals and safaris, however it also offers an amazing set of endemics to the birders besides the East-African avifauna that can be seen on the standard Northern Circuit (Serengeti, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro crater and Tarangire). We did not want to miss a real Tanzanian safari so we opted for a combination of Safari and the Eastern Arc Mountains, which hosts the most endemics in Tanzania and is actually the second most biodiverse region of entire Africa.

Our choice for the Safari was Mikumi National Park, which is due to its lack of fame reasonably priced, but still offers some decent mammalwatching. We were lucky enough to find some people who wanted to share a 4WD with us so we paid 50 Dollar for the vehicle and 20 Dollar each for the National Park.

Our safari was a big succes, for we saw 15 species of mammals including Lions, African Elephants, Common Zebra's (I don't know which subspecies, probably boehmii or crawshanki or something in between), Hippopotamus, Masai Giraffe, African Buffalo, Bridled Gnu, Eland, and Impala. Less spectacular , but still really cool, species included Bohor Reedbuck, Bushbuck, Yellow Baboon, Slender Mongoose, Black-backed Jackal and Common Warthog. Also two Nile Crocodiles were noted.

Yellow Baboon (Papio cynocephalus)

Blue Wildebeest (Connochaetus taurinus)

Black-backed Jackal (Canis mesomelas)

Masai Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi)

Young Impala (Aepyceros melampus)

Bohor Reedbuck (Redunca redunca)

African Elephant (Loxodonta africana)

Common Zebra (Equus quagga)

African Lion (Panthera leo)

Besides the spectacular mammals, this park also offers some really good birdwatching. The Hippo-pools proved good for several waterbirds such as Hamerkop, Yellow-billed and Saddle-billed Stork, African Spoonbill, African Fish-Eagle, Water Think-knee, Blacksmith Lapwing, Three-banded Plover, Marsh Sandpiper and Little Stint. The park is also really good for raptors as eleven species were recorded including: Hooded, Palmnut, African White-backed and Lappet-faced Vultures, Booted and Steppe Eagles, Black-chested Snake Eagles. Bateleurs were ever present and a pair of Grey Kestrels was a bit of a surprise.

Tawny Eagle (Aquila rapax)

Bateleur (Terathopius ecaudatus)

Crappy record shot of a Lappet-faced Vulture (Torgos tracheliotus)

Grey Kestrel (Falco ardosiaceus)

The plains proved also good for several species as Southern Ground-hornbill, Black-bellied Bustard, Helmeted Guineafowl, Red-necked Spurfowl, Temminck's Courser and Yellow-throated Longclaw were all much enjoyed. The scrubs held a whole different set of birds and species like Little Bee-eater, Northern Pied Babbler (Tanzanian near-endemic), Scarlet-chested Sunbird, Black-crowned Tshagra, Long-tailed Fiscal, Southern Blue-eared Starling, African Firefinch and Fan-tailed Widowbird.

Temminck's Courser (Cursorius temminckii)

Black-bellied Bustard (Lissotis melanogaster)

Helmeted Guineafowl (Numida meleagris)

Scarlet-chested Sunbird (Chalcomitra senegalensis)

I can recommend Mikumi National Park to anyone who is looking for a safari in Tanzania as it is reasonably priced but still has a lot of wildlife and it is easy to reach from Dar es Salaam. Even the busride is very worth doing as the the bus passes through the National Park and African Elephants, Masai Giraffes, African Bufallos, Common Zebra's and Impala's can all be seen from the bus.

Mikumi town itself is quite uninteresting, however we managed to see two very interesting birdspecies here: a Walhberg's Eagle flew over our tent both days we stayed there and one night we observed a displaying Pennant-winged Nightjar, which was as incredible to see as all the big mammals we saw that day!

Migrating juvenile Bee-eater (Merops apiaster)

Tanzania October – November 2012 – Pemba Channel

Most birders visiting Pemba or Unguja (Zanzibar) go there by plane, however we took the second option: by boat. Taking the ferry offers the chance to see some seabirds as well as some cetacaeans. This is a post on the birds and mammals we saw one the three ferry crossings we took. The first ferry crossing was the one from Stonetown – Zanzibar to Mkoani – Pemba. This was also the most interesting as we saw the most seabirds during this crossing. The stretch of the channel between Zanzibar and Pemba is the most interesting as this part is in direct contact with the Indian Ocean. Birds noted on the crossing included: a single Masked Booby, several Long-tailed Cormorants, many Sooty Gulls, Greater Crested and Lesser Crested Terns. A feeding flock of terns included many Common Terns, some Lesser Noddies (no contrast on upper- and underwings) and a single Sooty Tern.

Masked Booby (Sula dactylatra)

The best bird noted on the crossing was a single Jouanin's Petrel, which is, according to the book of stevenson and Fanshawe (2003), a new species for Tanzania. The bird was flushed from the sea surface by the ferry and was observed for a minute in good light conditions and at close distance before it flew of in the direction of the Indian Ocean. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the bird, for at that moment the sea was quite rough, causing a lot of spray. Therefore I hid my camera in my bag to protect it from the salt water. However I can give an accurate description of the bird: it was a medium-sized, dark brown seabird with long, slender wings, that showed a lighter brown wingbar on the upperwing. When the bird was flushed from the sea surface it fanned its tail shortly reveiling its rounded shape. Held closed the tail looked pointed, but the rounded shape excludes Noddies or any other genus of seabirds except Bulweria. Bulwer's Petrel was excluded by the flight motion of this bird, as it was anything but batlike and rapid, but much slower and stronger. Any comments on this sighting are most welcome. I will send a description of the sighting and of the bird to the African Bird Club, but besides this I don't really know what to do with this sighting. Mammals recorded on this crossing where Indo-Pacific Bottle-nosed Dolpins an a smaller, darker unidentified species. Also several flying fishes were noted. 

On the next crossing (Mkoani - Stonetown) we noted not so many seabirds. The birds we saw included: Brown Noddy, Roseate tern, Sooty Gull and Long-tailed Cormorant. Howeve much more Indo-Pacific Bottle-nosed Dolphins were noted during this crossing. 

Indo-Pacific Bottle-nosed Dolphins (Tursiops anduncus)

Indo-Pacific Bottle-nosed Dolphin (Tursiops anduncus)

Our final crossing was from Stonetown to Dar es Salaam. This was a high-speed catamaran, therefore not every bird that was seen could be identified. We saw several Sooty/Bridled Terns, but those were left unidentified. However, we managed to identify three Brown Noddies and to Lesser Black-backed Gulls between the more common species. 

Brown Noddy (Anous stolidus)

Although this year a ferry in this stretch of the Indian Ocean sunk, we have the feeling that things have changed. There are life vests and other emergency equipment and most boats are now high-tech, high-speed catamarans. The price of a crossing is a reasonable 40 dollar and thus still cheaper than flying and much more fun. Yoy can also take the cheap (25 dollar) nightboat, but this is one takes 12 instead of two or three hours and is uninteresting if you want to see seabirds. 

Tanzania October - November 2012 - Pemba

Pemba is a more relaxed, quiet and less visited version of Unguja (Zanzibar), but a must for birders as this island hosts four endemics, which we all saw. This island can be reached by boat or by plane. We opted for the former (see next post). If arriving by boat, you will most likely arrive on the Southside of the island at Mkoani. We took the dalla-dalla from Mkoani to Wete directly after the boat arrived. In Wete the gigantic Pemba Flying Fox can be observed, but we missed it here however a small stroll through the town proved good for the endemic Pemba Sunbird, some Whire-tailed Swallows and an African Paradise Flycatcher.

The only nature reserve on Pemba is found in the far North and is called Ngezi Vumawimbi Forest. This site is problematic to visit for backpacking birders as you have to be there until after dark for the endemic scops owl and by then there are no more dalla-dalla's to a larger village and Konde (the gateway town) has no accomodation. In the end we just showed up there and asked to camp there, but ended up in one of the local houses which was just fine.

Pemba Green Pigeon (Treron pembaensis)

Our trip to Ngezi Vumawimbi Forest was quite productive for we saw three of the four endemic species (Pemba Green Pigeon, Pemba Sunbird and Pemba Scops Owl) and other goodies such as Dickenson's Kestrel, Brown-headed Parrot, Mangrove Kingfisher, Hadada Ibis and White-faced Whistling Duck. I advice visiting birders to call in advance if they want to try to see the scops owl as our guide was piss-drunk since he wasn't expecting any clients.Mammals seen during our visit to this nature reserve included Pemba Flying Fox and Vervet Monkey (ssp. pembaensis). The next day we saw our last endemic: Pemba White-eye.

After Ngezi Vumawimbi Forest we headed via Chake-Chake to the uninhabited Island Misali for some high quality snorkeling. During our visit we noted Palmnut-Vulture, African Reed Warbler, Pemba White-eye, Pemba Sunbird, Mangrove Kingfisher and Greater Sand Plover. The next day we headed back to Mkoani to take the Pemba-Zanzibar ferry and the Zanzibar-Dar es Salaam ferry (see next post).

Tanzania October - November 2012 - Zanzibar

Zanzibar, the name for the three major offshore Islands is often misused for its most visited island: Unguja. This post will discuss the birding on this island during the six days we have stayed here. After Ethiopia we flew from Addis Ababa via Dar es Salaam to Zanzibar - Stonetown. Most of our time we stayed in this rather expensive and touristic city, the capital of the island. However some interesting species were noted like Dimorphic Egret (common along the shoreline), Striated Heron, Sooty Gull (the most common seabird here), Greater Crested Tern and Long-tailed Cormorant. Besides these some more common land birds were observed. These were surprisingly scarce to come by an I think the reason for this are the ever present House Crows who have the nasty habit of destroying the nests of native birds. Another introduced species which is very abundant is the House Sparrow which may be outcompeting the local species. Local species seen in Stonetown included: Scarlet-chested Sunbird, Broad-billed Roller, African Palm and Little Swift and Bronze Mannikin. A nice mammalian surprice were two Indo-pacific Bottlenosed Dolphins swinging past the beach in the early morning.

Besides Stonetown we visited Pongwe on the eastern Shore of the island. This tiny village is located next to a very quiet stretch of lovely beach and easily accessible by Dalla-dalla. The beach hotels are fairly expensive. We paid 50 dollar per night for a beautiful room at the Queen Sheba Hotel after some hard bargaining. The birding along the shore is very nice as we saw a very obliging juvenile Crab Plover, several Dimorphic Egrets, many Terek Sandpipers, Greater and Lesser Sandplovers next to other shorebirds. We also saw three Sandwich Terns (a scarce migrant here) together with several Common and Saunders Terns.

Juvenile Crab Plover (Dromas ardeola)

Juvenile Crab Plover (Dromas ardeola)

Dimorphic Egret (Egretta dimorpha)

Greater Sand Plover (Charadrius leschenaultii)

Lesser Sand Plover (Charadrius mongolus)

Greenshank (Tringa nebularia)

Terek Sandpiper (Xenus cinereus)

Species within the coral scrub lining the beach included Bar-throated Apalis, the aptly named Zanzibar Sombre Greenbul, Purple-banded Sunbird, Collared Sunbird, Black-bellied Starling, Crowned Hornbill, Lesser Striped Swallow, Green-backed Apalis, Grassland Pipit and Dark-backed Weaver. Near some coral caves (which are defenitely worth visiting) we also found the rare Zanzibar Red Colobus, but our mammalian top encouter had to be the Small-eared Galagos at the Santa Maria Coral Park which even ate banana's out of our hands!

Small-eared Galago (Otolemur garnettii)

Another site worth visiting might be the Jozani Forest National Park where sightings of the Zanzibar Red Colobus are virtually guaranteed. It is also the only place in the world to see the rare Ader's Duiker, but this one is very hard to see. Due to lack of time we did not visit this site, but a trip report on this site is available on www.birdingtanzania.blogspot.com.

Ethiopia September - October 2012 - Awassa

For a big city, Awassa offers some very fine birding with days that yielded more than 100 species just within the city boundaries. We did most of the birding at the shore of lake Awassa which provides a nice stroll for a couple of hours. Many water birds can be found easily along the shore like Black Crake, African Jacana, Pied, Woodland and Malachite Kingfisher, Hottentot Teal, African Pygmy Goose, Blue-headed Coucal, Allen's Gallinule (can be tricky to find this one), Purple Swamphen, Little Bittern and the ever present African Fish Eagles.

Little Bittern (Ixobrychus minutus)

African Jacana (Actophilornis africanus)

Red-throated Wryneck (Jynx ruficollis)

Hamerkop (Scopus umbretta)

Malachite Kingfisher (Alcedo cristata)

Woodland Kingfisher (Halcyon senegalensis)

We strolled the lake side for three days as we noted that the palearctic migration had started with many waders at the shore, dozens of European Bee-eaters flying over and many passerines in the scrubs near the lake like Spotted Flycatcher, Yellow Wagtail (beema and flava) and Northern Weathers. However the numerous (West-)palaearctic Acro's present next to the resident species proved to be a difficult identification challenge. In the end I noted African (cinnamomeus) and Eurasian Reed Warbler, Little Rush Warbler and Lesser Swamp Warbler. However the best Palaearctic migrant I found was a Basra Reed Warbler, although I wasn't sure about the identification right away, but with a little help of Nils van Duivendijk it got all sorted out.

Basra Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus griseldis)

Local species could be ruled out due to the short P1 and only two primairy emarginations which leaves the West-Palaearctic migrants. An aberrant Marsh Warbler could be ruled out, for the bird did not call like a Marsh Warbler, but more like a harsh Eurasian Reed Warbler. Besides the bird was slightly larger than Marsh and Eurasian Reed Warbler. The bird was identified as a Basra Reed Warbler because of the short supercilium, colour of the legs, longish bill, rather "cold" mantle coloration, dark tail feathers and very white underparts. The primairy projection appears to be rather short on the picture which is not a feature of Basra Reed Warbler, but this seems to be more a photographic effect. Combining these charactaristics the bird was identified as a Basra Reed Warbler. (any comments on this bird are more than welcome)

Lake Awassa is also a good site for some more scarce Afro-tropical species like Spotted Creeper, Lesser Jacana and Black-crowned Crane. the first species is easy to find south of the United Africa Hotel, which proved good voor several other Woodland Species. For the second species the lake side in the back of the United Africa Hotel was a good site but we did not find it here during three days. This might be due to a concrete "jetty" that has been build into the well-vegetated lake side, which is always busy with  fishermen and other locals. Perhaps this is not such a reliable site for Lesser Jacana anymore...

For the Black-crowned Crane you have to head a couple of kilometers out of the town to the village of Wondo Washa. We went there by Bajaj and walked the entire distance back along the lake side, but we did not find this species. This was also very probably due to increased human disturbance as many people were washing, fishing, playing etc. here and a lot of cattle came here to drink as well. However the Hippo's don't seem to mind... The walk was still nice  and produced some good species like White-faced Whistling-duck, Many Herons, Storks and Ibisses, a lot of Palaearctic waders including Marsh Sandpiper,  some Senegal Thick-knees, Red-collared Widowbirds and Abyssinian Waxbills (near-endemic).

Senegal Thick-knee (Burhinus senegalensis)

Senegal Thick-knee (Burhinus senegalensis) in flight

Awassa was a nice and easy-going town to finish our trip to Ethiopia and prepare for a month birding and travelling in Tanzania. We left Ethiopia with a total of more than 330 species. I highly recommend this country to any birder, for it offers a lot of endemics and local specialities, many Afro-tropical species which can seen next to Palearctic species as this post has shown. This makes the birding very varied and highly enjoyable.

Ethiopia September - October 2012 - Arba Minch

Arba Minch is the gateway town to the Nechisar National Park were a couple of years ago the wing of an undescribed species of Nightjar was found: the Nechisar Nightjar. This bird has never been seen alive, so we wanted to share a 4WD to go into the park and return after dark to look for this mythical bird. However we failed to find anybody to share a vehicle with. Instead we made two short walks into the National Park and shared a boat with another backpacker to visit the "Crocodile Market".

The first walk was in the late afternoon and therefore the bird activity was rather low as it gets quite hot here. We still managed to see some interesting species like African Olive Pigeon, Rufous Chatterer, Easter Violet-backed Sunbird, White-browed Scrub Robin, Slate-coloured Boubou and a lovely male Narina Trogon. The Baboons here are very tame and scared us  the quite a bit. The Warthogs are equally tame but less frightening. The Bushbucks here are very skittish on the other hand, probably due to hunting pressure. Vervet Monkey and Guereza Pied Colobus can also be seen.

Narina Trogon (Apaloderma narina)

Eastern Chanting Goshawk (imm) (Melierax poliopterus)

The next day we took a boat to "Crocodile Market", a large gathering of Nile Crocodiles. During this boat trip a couple of good birds were also seen: Goliath Heron, African Spoonbill, African Darter, Knob-billed Duck, African Hobby and the (in Ethiopia) very localised Northern Masked Weaver. The boat trip yielded of course good views of Nile Crocodiles including some gargantuan ones. Some Hippopotamusses near the crocodiles were also much appreciated.

Nile Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus)

A 6 meter long Nile Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus)

Since we already had bought the permits for the National Park (these last for 24 hours) we went back to do the same walk we did yesterday in the late afternoon. This resulted in some different species like Klaas's Cuckoo, a Yellowbill that gave very good close-up views and a Black-chested Snake Eagle flying over. We also saw the same mammal species as the day before.

Klaas's Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx klaas)

Ethiopia September - October 2012 - Yabello

After the depressing events in Negele Borena (see previous post) we headed south to Yabello. To get here by public transport: take the very overcrowded (even for Ethiopia) Negele Borena - Moyale bus and get out at Mega. From here it is only two hours to Yabello and the roads are also in very good shape again. Keep an eye out for birds and mammals in this stretch of Ethiopian road (if possible...) for we saw some good species like Vulturine Guineafowl, Orange-river Francolin, Buff-crested Bustard, White-crested Helmet-shrike, Golden-breasted, Bristle-crowned and Shelley's Starling. The mammals recorded included Lesser Kudu, Guenter's Dikdik, Gerenuk and Bright's Gazelle.

The two major targets in Yabello are the enigmatic Ethiopian Bushcrow and the equally range restricted White-tailed Swallow. You don't need a guide to find them, but after Negele Borena we wanted to succeed very badly so we hired a guide named Ali (0911787693; ali.guche@yahoo.com). He knew the birds and also helped with a scientific paper on the social structure of the Bushcrow. We took a bajaj to a well known site near a ranch and soon struck gold: a very obliging Ethiopian Bushcrow which was approachable for up to two meters!

But we wanted to explore the area some more and so we did. In the end we found twelve Bushcrows and two White-tailed Swallows. But we also saw other great birds like two very enjoyable Heuglin's Coursers, A Northern White-faced Owl at its roost, a lovely D'Arnaud's Barbet and a tame Black-headed Oriole (ssp. rolleti).

Ethiopian Bushcrow (Zavattariornis stresemanni) in its full glory

A pair of Ethiopian Bushcrows (Zavattariornis stresemanni)

Ethiopian Bushcrow (Zavattariornis stresemanni), preening

Heuglin's Courser (Rhinoptilus africanus)

Lilac-breasted Roller (Coracias caudatus)

Northern White-faced Owl (Ptilopsis leucotis)

D'Arnaud's Barbet (Trachyphonus darnaudii)

We also saw some great mammals with nine Boehm's Zebra's being the stars. The Unstriped Ground Squirrels and an unidentified Elephantus Elephant-shrew were also much enjoyed.

Boehm's Zebra (Equus quagga boehmi)

Ethiopia September - October 2012 - Negele Borena

Negele Borena (not Arsi Negele, so make sure you always say the full name of the city you want to visit) is the only site in the world were the ultra-rare and critically endangered Liben Lark can be found. Since this village is now connected to the public transport system, the lark was our major target of the trip to Ethiopia. To get here by bus you need to take the 6:00 Shashemene - Negele Borena bus. Make sure to be there at 4:00 to get good seats (in the front) in the bus. The bus takes approximately ten hours to reach the village.

We arrived at Negele Borena in the dark and the next day we headed out to find the lark. Prince Ruspoli's Turaco is also possible here, but the lark was our main target and therefore we wanted to make sure we got to the Lark Plains first and as soon as possible.

We hired a horse cart to take us to the Diida Liben (Liben plains in the local language) but he dropped us at the Liben Hospital a couple of blocks further and demand the full amount of money. In the end we hired two motor cycles to take us out of town to continue on one motor bike. (there are many police checkpoints around the town and three people are forbidden to ride the same motor bike) This rigmarole caused much disstress for both motor cycles headed in different directions and I thought I would not see my girlfriend again. Luckily everything went fine and around 8:30 we were on the Liben Plains.

Unfortunately these were awfully quiet. (the birds are supposed to sing between 6:30 and 9:30 in their display flight) So we opted for plan B: zigzagging across the entire plains several times untill we found a bird on the ground. We did this for the next five hours which resulted only in frustration. We did find a White-tailed Swallow, a very good bird here, which proves this bird does not only occur around Yabello (see next post). Two Kori Bustards, several Common Buttonquails, many Black-winged Lapwings, some White-crowned Starlings and a load of Plain-backed Pipits, but not a single lark species was noted.

Birding the Liben Plains in the scorching sun (picture taken by Anna van der Kaaden)

The problem was that the preferred habitat of Liben Lark is long dry grassland without bushes, but the entire plains seemed grassless and burned by the local people. The parts that were not smoking were covered with bushes like Whistling Thorns (much appreciated by some Shelley's Sparrows) and therefore the entire plains seemed unsuitable for the lark... The only suitable area of grassland was around the military barracks, but we were adviced not to go near them. We did anyway, resulting in some more flushed Common Buttonquails and some soldiers who asked us kindly but seriously to leave their property.

In the end we headed back, depressed and aith the idea that it was indeed to late to save this species from extinction. By the time we hitched a ride back with a Somali truck driver totally stoned on chat I suffered from a mild heat exhaustion. This made me unwilling to try again the next day and sadly therefore we also had not seen the Prince Ruspoli's Turaco.

I severely hope I'm wrong but I'm convinced that this species will be (if it is not already) extinct within the next five years, simply because there is barely any habitat left and the military is also keeping cattle on the plains so I don't think the grassland around the barracks will remain for much longer. A sad, sad story...

Ethiopia September - October 2012 - Wondo Genet

Wondo Genet is The classical site in Ethiopia to see all forest endemics despite the fact that the forest is rather degraded by logging for timber and charcoal burning. This creates a rather depressing sight, however all birds are still present and some parts of the forest are still intact and now protected by the College for Forestry and Natural Resources. The Wondo Genet Guiding Association offers good and knowledgable guides, however they are not mandatory. Many fake (and often bad) "guides" will tell you they are and will be very persistent about it and may even try to stop you from visiting a site! hiring one of those "guides" is also very expensive. Therfore hiring a guide at the association near the fairly expensive Wabe Shabelle Hotel can come in handy, as the fake guides will leave you in peace and this is not too expensive (200 Birr for a full day birding).

We arrived in the evening at the Wabe Shabelle Hotel in Wondo Genet were we would stay for three nights. At our arrival we were greeted by calling Silvery-cheeked Hornbills and a Spotted Hyena, fighting local dogs, in the well wooded grounds of the hotel, which were the reason we chose this hotel. The next morning we tried to go out birding by ourselves and we found an Abyssinian Woodpecker behind the hotel, but were forced bak into the hotel compounds by an annoying fake guide. Later that day we hired Saruwit (no clue on how to write his name) which was a very decent and enthusiastic guide and we headed out with him to find some of the birds native to these forests. We did well with many Abyssinian Orioles, another Abyssinian Woodpecker, two Crowned Eagles, several Yellow-fronted Parrots and Black-winged Lovebirds, many White-cheeked Turacos, four White-winged Cliff Chats and a Wahlberg's Honeyguide (!) all falling in quick succession in the sparsely forested hills above the hotel. This forest also yielded our first Guereza Pied Colobus and Vervet Monkeys as well as some Olive Baboons.

Abyssinian Oriole (Oriolus monacha), a split from Black-headed Oriole

White-cheeked Turaco (Tauraco leucotis)

Vervet Monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops)

To find the lovely Narina Trogon, Spotted Creeper and Banded Barbet, we headed to the protected forest but found little more than two Ethiopian Boubous and a lot of rain. We made arrangements with Saruwit to try again the next mprining and enjoyed some Thick-billed Ravens, White-rumped Babblers (ssp. omoensis) and many Abyssinian Slaty Flycatchers in the hotel gardens. Two Double-toothed Barbets finished the day very nicely.

Abyssinian Slaty Flycatcher (Dioptrornis chocolatinus)

The next day we went back to the protected forest areas and found Banded Barbet (ssp. leucogenys) on the way to it. Aithin the forest a bit of searching yielded a lovely male Narina Trogon as well as two Red-shouldered Cuckoo-shrikes. On the way back we enjoyed good views of Lemon Doves, African Pygmy Kingfisher and a strange looking immature male African Emerald Cuckoo. We tried to find Giant and Half-collared Kingfishers at several different spots, but failed. However the Guereza Colobus and Vervet Monkeys were much enjoyed again. Birding in the hotel compounds during the rest of the day produced little new species but was equally good compared to yesterday.

Hooded Vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus), a common sight in Ethiopia

Northern Puffback (Dryoscopus gambensis)

Guereza Pied Colobus (Colobus guereza)

The next morning we tried to get to the kingfisher sites by ourselves but agian we were witheld by another fake guide. When we pushed through and were equally persistant as he, he threatened to call the police, but in the end he gave up and walked away. Unfortunately the kingfishers were not around again so we headed off to the bus.

Wondo Genet really is a lovely birding site and the degradation of the forest should not stop birders from visiting this site, for it raises public awareness to the local community and the guide association makes enough money now to expand their package and soon they will offer accomodation and multi day hikes to better patches of forest. Perhaps one day they can buy their own land for the sake of their jobs and the birds.