Scotland - First two weeks of January

On Thursday 2nd January, Emily and I left a cold and sunny Hampshire and began our journey northwards, eventually arriving the following day at our temporary accommodation at Aigas, close to Beauly in Inverness-shire. 

Since then, we've been birding a fair bit, starting on Saturday 4th on the Black Isle, getting nice views of Hawfinches with four seen, plus at Udale Bay were approximately 270 Scaup. A week in Stirling for our induction training was fun, but probably best remembered for the drake Smew in Clyde, a species I haven't seen for many years, especially a drake! Also here were many Goosander. On Saturday 11th, I drove north in beyond freezing conditions to Helmsdale and checked many coastal sites heading south to Cromarty Firth, with highlights being a dozen Purple Sandpipers, a drake Green-winged Teal and White-tailed Eagle at Loch Fleet and another flock of Scaup in the firth, plus lots of Slavonian Grebes. 

This past week we've been to many sites for work, but were lucky to find a nice adult Iceland Gull at Lossiemouth while eight Purple Sandpipers were in the harbour here. We also had a Hawfinch and Tawny Owl in our garden this week adding to the list of nice stuff seen so far.

Goosander

Woodcock

Purple Sandpiper, Turnstone and Sanderling

Golden Plover

Smew

some interesting cloud formations up here

adult Iceland Gull - looking quite large here

Madagascar Part 3 - Marojejy NP

This is the final blog post of our trip to Madagascar. Although we had another week or so after Marojejy, it wasn't particularly birdy, although Ankarana NP was OK for both birds and lemurs, e.g. a trio of White-breasted Mesite were seen, as were Golden-crowned Sifaka. I'm also way behind on our recent trip to Philippines and Borneo, so these must now take priority. 

4th October

Following on from our brilliant time in Andasibe, Emily and I caught a 90-minute flight up to Sambava, where my initial contact, Eugene Rakotobe, greeted us at the exit door. Once we'd cleared the scrum of the now desperate taxi drivers, we set off west towards the mountains, stopping off for a coffee on the edge of town, which for some reason took many lifetimes to arrive, but eventually did and was deemed 'not worth the wait'. On the drive, our driver was in fact the highlight, having a strange mechanical voice having us in stitches for some time before the novelty wore off; his name was Kristoff and was a pleasant chap.

The journey to Marojejy HQ was around two hours, but we did stop off at a viewpoint for a view of the mountains, with a Hognose Snake at our feet being the most exciting sighting. It was soon time to arrive at HQ, meet our guide (Franko), shed our load of gear and set off to the local village where our hike would commence. A quick word on Franko - he was excellent, spoke good English, knew the park well and was interested in many aspects of wildlife, especially herpetology, which for this specific region, proved invaluable. 

The first four kilometres were through farmland and cultivations (Vanilla plantations) where Emily was soon finding her own chameleons (I never found one the entire time) after Franko found the first, while I was repeating as courteously as I could the need and desire to see a Helmet Vanga (I think the point had been well and truly drilled in before we'd even hit the forest proper). We entered the park officially and made our way up to Camp 1 where the birding was generally quiet, although a few bird flocks kept us entertained, although a prolonged view of a perched Cuckoo-roller was the highlight. Along the walk a natural pool was very welcome for us, as was a cup of tea when we reached camp. 

White-lipped Frog

young Parson's Chameleon

Eastern Red Forest Rat

our plane to Sambava

Marojejy Massif

Beginning of the 6km trek to Camp 1

Natural Pool/Bath at KM4

Our accomm at Camp 1

5th October

Currently unbeknown to us as we awoke to a fine morning, today was to be a quite excellent day! We were all up at the crack of dawn and had a light breakfast before venturing down the Humbert Waterfall trail, accessible from this campsite. The outbound journey was relatively quiet, finding the usual Blue Coua and some roosting bats. We had reached the waterfall rather quickly due to little activity, but the presence of two Hook-billed Vangas here was a sign of our return journey. It began with a roosting White-browed Owl, then a small flock comprising White-throated Oxylabes, Spectacled and Grey-crowned Tetraka, then a vanga flock a short while later contained not only Tylas Vanga, but the hoped for White-headed Vanga. The latter species was critical in finding the main target as this is a typical carrier species, and after a tense wait, a large shadow arrived above our heads, revealing itself to be the unmistakable Helmet Vanga!!! Few words can do this bird justice, it's simply out of this world and now two birds had the decency to hang about (as they so typically do) while we gawped with amazement. Our views couldn't have been better and after 45-minutes of viewing, we ventured back to camp for a second breakfast and to regain some form of normality after such an amazing experience. 

Between here and Camp 2 (2km) we again had amazing luck: a Red-breasted Coua was a lucky sighting, we saw some cool frogs, but perhaps best of all, was an uber-rare snake named Liophidium pattoni, a species only discovered in 2010 and has maybe been seen by only a handful of people. 

Once we arrived at Camp 2 and admired the views from the nearby waterfall (the top roped off due to a supposed thrill-seeker having fallen and died some years back), we set off to find one of the country's rarest lemurs, the Silky Sifaka. Marojejy is now the only reliable site for this species; with this and it being Madagascar's second largest lemur, we were very keen to see a family. Helpfully, local trackers keep an eye on them and after a mega steep descent through tangles (disturbing a female Bernier's Vanga in the process), we clocked eyes on the Silky Sifakas. Despite the book making them out as rather ugly animals, in real life they are true stunners and completely out of place in the green forest - it's thought the family of four is perhaps 5% of the world population! We observed these gentle creatures until the sun started to set, them nodding off on their chosen branches. 

Back at the camp, after dinner a short walk around the site revealed some roosting Eastern Bamboo Lemurs and more active Woolly Lemurs. 

Helmet Vanga

White-throated Oxylabes

White-browed Owl

Liophidium pattoni

Brown Leaf Chameleon

Madagascar Cuckooshrike

Silky Sifakas

female Bernier's Vanga

Climbing Mantella

Humbert Waterfall looking downriver

Camp 2

views from Camp 2

6th October
We were offered to trek to the summit of Marojejy, but thankfully our foresight of how tough a trek this could have been meant we instead opted for a tough ascent to Camp 3, birding as we went, and returning to Camp 2 to overnight. Due to our earlier successes, the list of potential targets we could have seen was greatly reduced, but there were still a few outstanding and an ascent to higher climes would aid us in tracking down the remaining few. 

A dawn until breakfast scan of the area was very good, with Alpine Swifts and Madagascar Buzzards patrolling the skies, while a Cryptic Warbler, Rand's Warbler, Green Jery and Velvet Asity were seen/heard and Eastern Bamboo Lemurs were happily tucking into their breakfast, of... bamboo!

After breakfast, it was a near-vertical ascent, therefore, birding was limited to observing a few metres in front of us, though this did mean we saw a few cool frogs. Once the terrain had levelled off, we came across a couple more White-headed Vangas with a brief Helmet Vanga also tagging along. Madagascar Brush-warblers were being particularly frustrating with not being in prime habitat and a lovely flock of Blue Vanga also appeared. There were very few flowering trees, but those that did had a couple of female Common Sunbird Asity around them. We finally arrived at Camp 3 in time for lunch, but a large low-feeding bird flock quite rightly took our attention, containing the hoped-for Wedge-tailed Jery, plus Long-billed Bernieria, Grey-crowned Tetraka and Red-tailed Vanga. 

It was then time to return back to Camp 2, keeping a close eye on any flowering trees along the way, which thankfully produced a sublime Yellow-bellied Sunbird Asity, although it was a brief sighting meaning no photos of this relatively identical species to its cousin. Other than Dark Newtonias, the return journey was quiet and we arrived with beaten-up knees and feet are a tricky descent. It was then time for a natural bathe, dinner and then a nocturnal walk which produced two mega leaf-tailed geckos, the Giant, and even rarer, Lined. 

The Waterfall View

Eastern Bamboo Lemur

Leaf Frog sp.

view from near Camp 3

Green-backed Mantella (female)

Giant Leaf-tailed Gecko,
taken by Emily

Lined Leaf-tailed Gecko, taken by Emily

7th October

We desperately didn't want to leave this amazing park, therefore, we retraced our steps back to HQ today as slowly as we could. We again birded the Camp 2 grounds seeing most of the same stuff, then after breakfast, almost crawled the six kilometres to the starting point. Franko and Emily went searching mostly for chameleons and frogs, whilst I remained birding and between us we had some excellent sightings, including the second smallest chameleon in the world, a chameleon named after the park, two more incredible Helmet Vanga including one on a nest (expertly spotted by Franko), a pack of White-fronted Brown Lemurs, a Madagascar Sparrowhawk perched above a stream and oddly our first Madagascar Green Pigeons of the trip! Lastly, an incredibly tame Ring-tailed Vontsira (mongoose) graced our presence for maybe 15-minutes. Our final KM was again through the paddies until we arrived back into the village, greeted by the waving children. Somehow it had taken us approximately eight hours to walk the six kilometres!!

Kristoff and Eugene were ready to greet us and we drove back to Sambava where a fine hotel was waiting for us, a relief after camping, but it somehow felt wrong to have such luxuries, having had some truly memorable moments while living a rustic lifestyle!

Madagascar Dwarf Chameleon
(the second smallest in the world)

Helmet Vanga

White-fronted Brown Lemur

Ring-tailed Vontsira

Helmet Vanga

Madagascar - Part 2 Andasibe/Mantadia NPs

30th September

Following on from our meeting up with each other, as well as our local fixer (Fanela... I called her Flannel as she was a bit of a damp squib), we set off eastwards early on the 30th September, bound for Andasibe. This area comprises a few large swathes of primary and secondary forest, still housing many species of lemurs and endemic birds and we were ready to start our journey through the forest as early as 10am, as we made excellent time from Tana. 

We had three nights at Hotel Feon Ny Ala, but before checking in, we headed straight for the forest at Andasibe itself and met our professional guide for our duration here, Teddy. Teddy was nothing short of exceptional and we equally enjoyed his company. He was also very adaptable which was important to us as he quickly realised we hated other tourists who were here to see lemurs, not that we didn't want to see lemurs, but in a more quiet area than the typical tourist. 

So, we set off for our first walk within the Analamazaotra reserve and soon the 'dream come true' moment of hearing Indri happened. Birds also came thick and fast with Mad Starling, Long-billed Bernieria, Spectacled Tetraka, Red-tailed Vanga, Red-tailed Newtonia and a few other expected species. What wasn't expected however was the quite incredible viewing of two Collared Nightjars, proving to be one of the trip highlights. Flannel had quickly proved her un-worth as she latched onto us and constantly chatted, much to our annoyance and I think even Teddy was also annoyed as he kept his distance from the monotony behind. 

As we entered a cleared area, a Common Brown Lemur emerged tempted by our side-pocketed bananas. Our next Lemur soon followed with a family of Indri - absolutely incredible! Any tourist soon departed meaning we had them to ourselves; a true delight and another firm highlight of the trip. We had lunch here watching a Malagasy Kingfisher and a Ward's Flycatcher (plus the Indri) but was quickly interrupted by our first Giraffe-necked Weevil. Afterwards we crossed the road, quickly finding Mad Forest Rail, a confiding group of Spectacled Tetraka, Mad Harrier-Hawk, more Common Brown Lemurs and Indri, and just as we exited, a pair of superb Rainforest Scops Owls. 

It had been an exceptional start to our time in the forest and a final look at the forest centre produced a Forest Fody and Nelicouvri Weaver. 

Our day wasn't over however, as a short nocturnal walk had us back out again, proving productive with a ridiculous-looking Mossy Leaf-tailed Gecko, Eastern Wooly Lemur, a roosting Hook-billed Vanga and a few chameleons. 

Collared Nightjars

Blue Coua

Common Brown Lemur

Indri

Nelicouvri Weaver

Rainforest Scops Owl

Mossy Leaf-tailed Gecko

1st October

Today we ventured to Mantadia NP to try for a number of sought-after species. This forest, although large, is separated from other fragments by widespread eucalyptus plantations and takes approximately 90-minutes to get to. Once within though, the forest is superb and we had a quite amazing day, and if it wasn't for dipping Mad Crested Ibis and Short-legged Ground Roller, it would've been exceptional! 

Our first major sighting were a family of Diademed Sifaka, a quite beautiful lemur. Teddy knew our hoped for targets and whilst we stood within the forest observing an impressive bird flock, comprising Nuthatch Vanga, Blue Vanga, Tylas Vanga, Mad Cuckooshrike and Lesser Vasa Parrots overhead, he went off searching for ground-rollers. Teddy emerged with no success and we continued through the forest, temporarily getting annoyed by loud tourists observing Red-bellied Lemurs, but the lemurs were brilliant. Onwards, the birding became less interesting, but we soon went off the main trail to a presumed location for Scaly Ground-Roller, my main target! Teddy knew this was a territory and my new thermal camera came into its own here, soon picking out a motionless bird in a ditch... it was a Scaly Ground-Roller! It vanished but again the thermal picked it out on a log, only for it to vanish again. A frustrating and cautious circuit failed to produce, until we returned to its original position... and there it was, stood still in full view at 10m range!! Two birds were here and after some walkaway views, we did just that and later found White-throated Rail and Mad Pygmy Kingfisher nearby, but no Ibis. 

A little later things got even better when Teddy and I simultaneously heard a Crossley's Vanga... a true mega! We dived into the forest and a bit of playback resulted in a bird crashing into the leaves almost at our feet. No binoculars required, Em and I had a Crossley's right in front of us affording excellent views, before it scuttled off. Our final bird here before retracing our steps was thankfully a Rand's Warbler, after hearing so many!

We had one more location to stop at before leaving Mantadia and another top target for us. As soon as we stopped, our target called and again we dived into the forest and soon clapped eyes onto a Pitta-like Ground Roller. Two birds were again present and despite the amount of cover, we obtained excellent views. A Mad Pygmy Kingfisher was even good enough to come and land near to us as well topping off another excellent day!

Diademed Sifaka

Madagascar Pygmy Kingfisher

Pitta-like Ground-Roller

Scaly Ground-Roller

entrance road into Mantadia

2nd October

Unfortunately I woke up feeling rather fragile and I had clearly eaten some dodgy stuff the night before, becoming violently sick a bit later in the morning. Em wasn't feeling too great either and we therefore had a frustrating, albeit, successful morning trying to stay upright at another section of the park, mainly for two more ground-rollers and Black-and-white Ruffed Lemurs. At the car park, a Forest Rock Thrush performed superbly and Blue Coua and Mad Black Swift were also around.

A single trail led us through the higher elevations and our park guide kept on stopping for stuff we had already seen. With my illness, I quite sharply explained I wanted to only search for new stuff and to ignore what we had already seen, incase I became too unwell to continue - not ideal. Thankfully he took this well and we continued straight for a Rufous-headed Ground-Roller location, stopped in our tracks by a male Velvet Asity! Heading towards the ground-roller, some Eastern Bamboo Lemurs graced us with their cuteness. Out of nowhere, the deep grunt call of a Rufous-headed Ground-Roller and we rushed towards it, stopping at a small clearing where we waited (mostly laying down) for it to appear, which it duly did, although it was very shy and we maybe saw it four or five times as it crossed the clearing, but still a brilliant bird! On the return two Pollens Vanga appeared but were difficult to locate in the canopy. 

We continued on but we had a long walk to get to a Short-legged Ground-Roller territory and no one had seen any Black-and-white Ruffed Lemurs, so regrettably, we thought it best to return back to the car and head back to base, in order to rest up and hopefully feel better. I'm so glad we did as with no food and some sleep, I miraculously felt as good as new a mere four hours later, as did Em. We still had an hour of light left before our nocturnal walk so we walked along the road adjacent to the forest. I was randomly playing Mad Flufftail on my phone when one replied almost at my feet, although we just couldn't see it, even with the thermal. We had a free period pre-breakfast so we would return then. On our walk back, a Grey Mouse Lemur was located and it showed really well at head height. 

We commenced our nocturnal walk with Teddy and had a quite amazing session, mostly by ourselves. It started with two Mad Nightjars, then a short way up the track two Grey Mouse Lemurs started feeding on tree sap right next to us giving incredible views. A little later a Mad Tree Boa was spotted and then little else until two Furry-eared Dwarf Lemurs ploughed through. A large group of Germans couldn't dive into the forest as their group was too large, so we abandoned them and went after the lemurs, getting further views. Then Teddy went and found a Stump-tailed Chameleon, one of the world's smallest!

Forest Rock Thrush

Eastern Bamboo Lemur

Madagascar Cuckoo

Parson's Chameleon

Stump-tailed Chameleon

a male Giraffe-necked Weevil

3rd October

This morning we had a few hours close to our accommodation, walking some forest we had yet to visit. Before breakfast, however, Em and I walked the road and saw a host of good species, including our first Mad Flufftail! Other bits included Mad Cuckoo, Malagasy Coucal, a flyover Henst's Goshawk and finally my first Mad Turtle Dove! The flufftail initially afforded poor views, but a bit of coaxing and it ran along the verge in view before hurtling across the road in front of us. 

We then met Teddy and Flannel and walked the forest, spending any quiet moments playing Short-legged Ground-Roller, but to no avail. However, our walk did coincide with some very low-lying Diademed Sifakas and it was amazing to watch them fling tree to tree right over our heads! The birding remained rather quiet, but we were again pleased to see our final Indri of the trip.

We bid farewell to Teddy who had been excellent and went on our way back to Antananarivo, arriving maybe six hours later. We grabbed some supplies from the supermarket for our time at the more remote Marojejy NP where supplies would be limited. We had a poor nights sleep ready for our flight to Sambava. 

Madagascar Paradise Kingfisher

Indri

Emily in the forest