What a cracking day this was
and lived up to all expectations as we visited the Sanetti Plateau. Leaving at
6.30am after a long night’s sleep we stopped just out of town as the roadside
was crawling with birds, most of which turned out to be Streaky Seedeaters, but a Ruppell’s
Robin-chat was also very nice and a bunch of Chestnut-naped Francolins also showed well along the road.
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| Sanetti Plateau |
As we
got up onto the moorland numerous photo opportunities arose from the
mind blowing scenery, although Rouget’s Rail, Wattled Ibis and our first Moorland Francolins were also great.
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| Moorland Francolin |
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| Rouget's Rail |
The variety
of birds up here isn’t great but what is here is very special, and none more so
than the endemic Spot-breasted Plovers and we spent ages watching and
photographing them in the beautiful sunshine.
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| Spot-breasted Plovers |
However, a pair of Wattled Cranes
stole the show for me and what views we had as they fed in a marshy hollow
below the road. Other goodies present were hundreds of Ethiopian Siskins, Thekla
Lark, a pair of Lanners, Red-throated Pipits, Blue-winged Goose, Ruddy Shelduck and Yellow-billed
Ducks.
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| Wattled Crane |
Raptors were well presented with Steppe and Greater Spotted
Eagles, a pair of Lanners, Peregrine, Common Kestrel, lots of Augur
Buzzards and Eurasian Sparrowhawk.
Fantastic views of a Simien Wolf
hunting Mole Rats was also something
special. We even had an Ayres’s Hawk-eagle as we descended towards the
Harenna Forest, along with African
Stonechat and Ethiopian Cisticola.
Our picnic lunch was taken in the forest but it was really quiet, apart from a White-headed Vulture, and a few Red-billed Oxpeckers hanging around some cattle., so we drove back
up to the plateau.
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| Ayres's Hawk-Eagle |
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| Red-billed Oxpeckers |
The last hour of sunshine
was spent around some fields close to town and what a good move this turned out
as we had really great views of Groundscraper Thrushes, Black-winged Lovebirds, Common Fiscals, a nesting pair of Yellow-fronted
Parrots, yet another pair of Lanners,
a pair of Abyssinian Ground Hornbills
and the last bird of the day was a Rufous-breasted
Sparrowhawk we scoped as it perched on top of a conifer.
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| Simien Wolf |
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| Yellow-fronted Parrot |
Today also
provided us with several good mammals and to add to 3 sightings of Simien Wolf, we also had Ethiopian Klipspringer and Menelik’s
Bushbuck.
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