We set off on the trails at Vohiparara around 6am and were almost immediately greeted by a pair of Scaly Ground Rollers beside the path, with one bird being rather obliging and coming out onto the path in front of us.
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| Scaly Ground Roller |
Not long after we were enjoying fine views of a Brown Mesite that crossed the path after some encouragement by our local guide and tracker. What an odd bird, and to my eyes appeared to be a cross between an antthrush and a quail-dove in overall shape and jizz.
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| Brown Mesite |
Moving on we saw another male Velvet Asity before the first of two attempts at Brown Emutail. This notorious skulker sticks to the forest floor and the first bash at it resulted in a few of the group seeing it but the second spot produced crippling views for all and I really should have done better with my photos.
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| Brown Emutail |
A pair of Madagascar Yellowbrows were next up and went straight into our top 10 birds of the trip, and the field guide definitely does not do them justice. A few Dark Newtonias were seen by all but a White-throated Oxylabes didn’t stick around long enough for everyone.
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| Pitta-like Ground Roller |
We continued following a number of trails and found the hiking much easier than yesterday. Birds kept appearing at steady intervals and we saw Red-fronted Coua, two pairs of cracking Pitta-like Ground Rollers, White-headed Vanga, a Hook-billed Vanga on a nest, Blue Coua and finished off with a female Crossley’s Vanga feeding on the forest floor. Not a bad morning at all.
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| Blue Coua |
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| White-headed Vanga |
Following lunch and a siesta we opted to stay out of the forest and visit some nearby ricefields, which didn’t really produce anything of note. However, along the main road we had a great look at Blue Coua, Cryptic Warbler and Common Jery before returning to the hotel.
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