Dry January or Thank Goodness It's Over!

I'm sitting in my study tonight reviewing everything that has transpired this month. And I must say i'm blown away by the level of interest in Zoothera's birding tours - and I didn't even do 'Dry January'..! 

When 2024 began one whole month ago, which has felt like 6 months with the freezing British weather, it certainly feels really weird to be in the UK for the whole of January. So I have had some time to review in more depth what happens here from a birdwatching holiday booking perspective and it gave me some additional time to 'think outside the box' as to what to do with late April & early May. The Corsica House Party with a dash of Morocco was born, as was SE Turkey. Turkey now has one remaining space and I can't thank people enough for their feedback on this tour. Corsica is a slower burn but still has 4 confirmed bookings. Other tours have taken off quickly and year-to-date it's been the best start to any year since pre Covid. I am thankful to all of my loyal customers as ever, and also thrilled that 60% of new bookings this month are new customers. It's always hard to attract new customers, lots of clients are loyal to one birding company or another, so it really does feel great to have taken bookings from so many new customers. I have also been able to revise my seabirds again for the forthcoming Cape Horn Cruise and organise a little side-trip to see Hooded Grebe. I will hopefully be able to share my experiences of a new part of Argentina with you all very soon. 

So bring on February and let's go birding!

A little light reading....

SOUTH-EAST TURKEY MAY 2024 - 1 SPACE LEFT

Visiting South-East Turkey in the springtime guarantees some of the most exciting birding in the Western Palearctic, lying in a spectacular avian and cultural crossroads between Europe and Asia. Nowhere else in this region offers such a complex mosaic of habitats and resulting heady mix of mouth-watering species. We will explore the south-east corner of this fascinating country amidst habitats ranging from Mediterranean maquis, saline lagoons, marshes and beaches, through flower field fields, steppe and semi-desert, to alpine meadows and all the way up to the snow-capped Taurus Mountains. 

Caspian Snowcock

We will begin by meeting in Istanbul before a short, domestic flight to Adana where we will arrive mid-morning. Our first day will be spent along the coast looking for migrants and breeding species that could include the usual Mediterranean species such as European Roller, European Bee-eater and Eurasian Hoopoe, as well Pygmy Cormorant, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Thrush Nightingale or even a Semi-collared Flycatcher. Then we will head up to the eastern Taurus Mountains and in particular, Aladag Mountain where we will stay for a couple of nights at a delightfully secluded pension. We will use 4x4's to head high up towards the mountain tops early one morning in search of the main prize - Caspian Snowcock. Other specialities include Lammergeier, Radde's & Alpine Accentors, Wallcreeper, White-winged Snowfinch and Asian Crimson-winged Finch. Slightly lower down the slopes we will seek out Finsch's Wheatear, Western Rock Nuthatch, White-throated Robin, Sombre Tit, Red-fronted Serin, Black-headed, Ortolan & Cretzschmar's Buntings.

White-throated Robin

Heading further east we will arrive at the famous town of Birecik, home to some amazing birds. Here we can find See-See Partridge, Pallid Scops Owl, Syrian Woodpecker, Eastern Rock Nutjatch, Iraq Babbler, Upcher's Warbler, Dead Sea & Yellow-throated Sparrows, Heading west we will explore some lagoons and steppe country where Kurdish Wheatear, Calandra & Bimaculated Larks occur, Pale Rock Sparrow, Cinereous Bunting, Desert Finch and we will also look for Turkestan Short-toed Lark. 

Eastern Rock Nuthatch

Iraq Babbler

See-See Partridge

Moving on down to the famous Goksu Delta will take us across rocky hillsides where we can see Ménétries’s & Ruppell's Warblers, with Kruper's Nuthatches in the forest just inland, before reaching the lagoons, reedbeds and marshes a the delta. Here, anything can turn up and we should see some interesting migrants, as well as many shorebirds, egrets, herons, ibis, gulls and terns to end a fascinating trip to this Western Palearctic hotspot.

SEE FULL TOUR INFO HERE - BIRDING TURKEY MAY 2024

CORSICA HOUSE PARTY & NORTHERN MOROCCO

Another variation of our famous (or infamous!) house parties sees us on the mountainous Mediteranean island of Corsica where we will be starting our unique specialities tour that will also take us into the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Our primary targets on Corsica are Corsican Nuthatch and Corsican Finch, with both Marmora's & Moltoni's Warblers also high on our wishlist. There's a fine supporting cast with Lammergeier, Golden Eagle, Alpine Chough, and all the usual Mediterranean species. As it is a Zoothera House Party we have our own private cook to cater for us and there's going to be the odd drink or three in the evening as we discuss the day's birding events.

Corsican Finch

Corsican Nuthatch

Marmora's Warbler

Andalusian Hemipode

Moltoni's Warbler

After 5 nights on this beautiful island we fly to Fes in Northern Morocco and will spend 5 nights as we travel to Rabat and Casablanca targetting the Western Palearcic mega Andalusian Hemipode, as well as Maghreb Owl (split from Tawny Owl), Marsh Owl and Atlas Flycatcher. We should also see a some other pretty cool species such as Double-spurred Francolin, Barbary Partridge, Marbled & White-headed Ducks, Black-winged Kite, Eleonora's Falcon, Maghreb Lark (split from Crested Lark), Pallid Swift, African Blue Tit, Maghreb Magpie, African Chaffinch and more. And as it's prime spring migration time who knows what else we can find?

So let's go birding Western Palearctic style!

FULL TOUR INFO HERE

NEW TOUR TO TANZANIA - THE EASTERN ARC MOUNTAINS JULY/AUG 2024

Our tour to this rarely visited corner of Tanzania is guaranteed to be an adventure, as we search for some of Africa's rarest and least-known birds. The Eastern Arc Mountains are well off the usual Tanzania safari route and this tour is aimed at finding as many endemics, rare and extremely localised species as possible. We travel from the South Pare Mountains, to West Usambara & East Usambara Mountains, up into the Uluguru Mountains and finish up with a visit to the Ukaguru Mountains. Very few birders ever reach this remote area but there are so many great birds present that it makes the camping worthwhile! However, out of 15 nights on the main tour we camp for less than half of that time but it all adds up to an adventure of a lifetime!

Rubeho Warbler

We begin by heading to Same and some great habitat near Nyumba ya Mungu Dam for species such as Scaly Chatterer, Pringle's Puffbackand Pink-breasted Lark amongst many others. After that we will head for a small woodland just outside Mkomazi National Park, where we will hunt for species like Tsavo, Black-bellied and Hunter´s Sunbirds, Fischer´s Starling and others. Next up is the South Pare Mountains where we  look for the endemic South Pare White-eye and also Usambara Double-collared Sunbird before eventually reaching Magamba Forest in West Usambara. What a place this is! Here, we will search for species such as Usambara Akalat, Füllerborn´s Boubou, Usambara Thrush, Usambara Double-collared Sunbird, Montane Tiny (Usambara) Greenbul, Red-capped Forest Warbler and Usambara Weaver. It is also a very good area to find the much-wanted endemic Spot-throat as well before we reach the legendary Amani Forest in East Usambara Mountains. Here we will look for Fraser's (Usambara) Eagle-Owl, Mombassa Woodpecker, Kretschmer´s Longbill, Sharpe´s Akalat,  Short-tailed Batis, Usambara Hyliota, Long-billed Forest Warbler and Uluguru Violet-backed Sunbird.  

Uluguru Bushshrike

Moving on to the Uluguru Mountains we target Böhms Bee-eater, Uluguru Bushshrike, Livingstone's Turaco, Loveridge’s Sunbird, Bertram’s Weaver, Orange Ground-Thrush and plenty more. Moving to a different section of the Ulugurus we can find Winifred’s Warbler, Olive-flanked Gound-Robin, Uluguru Greenbul, Chapin’s and Dark Batis. 

Rubeho Akalat

Staying at the very nice Hondo Hondo Camp there's a shot at Pel's Fishing Owl, as well as Speckle-throated Woodpecker, Stierling’s Woodpecker, Collared Palm Thrush, Hofmann’s Sunbird, Pale Batis, Cinnamon-breasted Tit, Stierling’s Wren Warbler, Eastern Black-headed Batis and more. We will also search the Kilombero River for the recently described Kilombero Weaver, before heading up into the Ukaguru Mountains for Rubeho Akalat and Rubeho Warbler and then we drive to Dar-es-Salaam where the main tour concludes. Or you can continue to Pemba Island for another 4 endemics: Pemba Scops-Owl, Pemba Green Pigeon, Pemba White-eyeand Pemba Sunbird. Plus chances of Dickinson's Kestrel and Mangrove Kingfisher. 

Chapin's Apalis

This is a different side to Africa than many other visiting birders have experienced, with secluded lodges, even more remote campsites, great food and some truly superb and rare birds. And it is only for a select group of 6 birders, making for a more personalised and productive tour!  2024 TOUR COST IS £4750.00

SEE FULL ITINERARY HERE: EASTERN ARC ADVENTURE 2024

EL CAJAS NATIONAL PARK

Our final morning’s birding was spent in the valley below our hotel, which entailed a 4.30am departure in order to make an attempt at Rufous-banded Owl. Well we well and truly nailed this bird with point-blank views shortly before sunrise. The rest of the early morning was taken up with walking around the lake seeing many Andean Gulls, Andean Coot, Andean Teal, a superb Ecuadorian Rail, Superciliaried Hemispingus, Tyrian Metaltail, Plain-coloured Seedeater, Mountain Wren, Grass Wren, Sapphire-vented Puffleg and Turquoise Jay.  

Violet-throated Metaltail

Then it was back to the hotel for breakfast and a quick check above the hotel for Violet-throated Metaltail that took all of 10 seconds! And that was it, we were done. All that was left was to get ready, pack our luggage and set out on the nearly 4 hour drive to Guayaquil airport where we said our goodbyes to our excellent guide Juan Carlos and great driver Carlo. What a tour!

I hope you enjoyed my story about our Southern Ecuador tour. I still need to do a birdlist, but I have to say this was an extremely enjoyable tour. There's great birds (of course), really brilliant lodges with good rooms and feeding stations, the food is excellent (probably too much food!), superb scenery and a great local guide in Juan Carlos. It's a classic tour and I can't wait to return next year. 

See next year's tour info here: Southern Ecuador 2024

CERRO ACACANA

We headed up to Cerro Acacana at 3200m in search of Crescent-faced Antpitta this morning, which involved a 5am breakfast at our hotel in Loja and then just over a 90 minute drive with the last 8kms steeply uphill on a track barely passable by our minibus. But we made it and got cracking on the antpitta straight away. Unfortunately the CFA didn’t respond despite numerous attempts involving walking into the bamboo understorey and crouching down on the steep slope. But all wasn’t in vain as Juan Carlos called in an Equatorial Antpitta on two occasions with the latter attempt getting us cripplingly close views of a bird perched a few feet off the ground right in front of us. What a chunkster it was, a real round ball of bright rusty brown! 

Equatorial Antpitta - one of the numerous Rufous Antpitta splits....

We also had some very, very good views of a Mouse-coloured Thistletail that didn’t really skulk too badly beside the track, as well as a Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant being another new addition to the trip list. 

Mouse-coloured Thistletail

Previously seen species included Glossy Flowerpiercer, Red-crested Cotinga, Lacrimose Mountain-Tanager, Glowing Puffleg and Tyrian Metaltail. We spent a good few hours searching for the near-mythical Chestnut-bellied Cotinga without any luck, and also a calling Andean Pygmy-Owl didn’t cooperate either. 

Glowing Puffleg

Red-crested Cotinga

Bird density was very low at this altitude so we called it quits and headed to lower elevations, which proved to be a genius move as we had cracking views of an Ocellated Tapaculo calling away from a tree stump beside the track. It was an unbelievable sighting and we watched it for a good 5 minutes before it jumped down off its songpost and melted into the undergrowth. 

Crowned Chat-Tyrant

Ocellated Tapaculo

A Masked Trogon was equally showy at the same spot and we also added Crowned Chat-Tyrant to our impressive list as well before leaving for lunch at a nearby restaurant.

Masked Trogon

Well , we ate our packed lunch at the restaurant actually and had a cup of coffee before going to the Red-faced Parrot site, just a 20 minute walk across a field and through a narrow belt of forest to a clearing. All uphill of course! But boy was it worth it as we saw over 20 Red-faced Parrots flying around the epiphyte-laden forest, as well as nailing a couple really clear scope views of perched individuals. Yes! And what a beautiful parrot it is. 

Red-faced Parrot - looked better through the scope tbh!!!

There was also scope views of Grey-breasted Mountain-Toucan and a Northern Mountain Cacique to add to the excitement as well. And then it was a 3 hour drive to our amazingly plush hotel at El Cajas NP.

PODOCARPUS NATIONAL PARK - LOJA

After a 5.45am breakfast we spent a little time loitering in the car park, where a female Rufous-throated Sapphire had been seen recently and is something of a rarity here. Luckily it was still around and we watched it feeding on the Verbena flowers along with our first Wire-crested Thorntail. 

Rufous-throated Sapphire

Overhead we had both Chestnut-collared and Grey-rumped Swifts motoring through the valley. And then we drove a short distance to the trail of the Bombuscoro Section of Podocarpus National park and spent the morning birding the excellent forest. There’s not as big a variety of species here as at Maycu Reserve but what’s here is special. First up was a female White-crowned Manakin in the canopy beside the trail, followed by a White-necked Thrush and then a very confiding Black-billed Treehunter. 

Black-streaked Puffbird

A short distance further along the trail and a Black-streaked Puffbird was a welcome addition to our life lists and it showed really well at eye level for several minutes. Next up was Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher and Montane Foliage-Gleaner, the latter probably loitering at the edge of a large mixed species flock just around the corner. In this mishmash of movement in the canopy above were several previously seen tanagers in good numbers including Yellow-bellied, Spotted and a few delightful Orange-eared Tanagers, a pair of Red-headed Barbets, Slaty-capped Flycatcher, and a Wedge-billed Woodcreeper. And then we arrived at the park HQ where a pair of Lemon-browed Flycatchers called away and just at this point a superb Amazonian Umbrellabird appeared and we saw it several times before flying off into the forest. 

White-breasted Parakeet - mega!

We followed this with Foothill Elaenia, before a group of stunning White-breasted Parakeets flew in and landed in the tree next to us. Wow! Further along the trail a pair of Ecuadorian Piedtails showed nicely, a Foothill Stipplethroat came in to check us out at very close quarters and at this point in the trail we decided to turn around. 

Foothill Stipplethroat

Fortunately our timing was impeccable as an exceedingly rare Orange-crested Flycatcher began calling and Juan Carlos called it in for a decent view and a Plain-breasted Hawk then flew in and landed nearby. 

 

Back at the lodge, it was 1pm and time for yet another excellent meal. We hung around until 3.30pm, checking out the various feeders. A Crowned Woodnymph seemed a little out of range, and we had fine views of Many-spotted and Violet-headed Hummingbirds, as well as Golden-tailed Sapphire, Sparkling Violetear and Violet-fronted Brilliant. 

Crowned Woodnymph

Violet-fronted Brilliant

Once the White-faced Capuchin Monkeys had departed some more fruit was put out and we enjoyed a flurry of activity with Golden-eared, Silver-beaked, Golden and Green-and-gold Tanagers all coming in – at one point they were side-by-side (check out my video on YouTube). 

Golden Tanager

Golden-eared Tanager

Green-and-gold Tanager

Russet-backed Oropendolas came in en-masse, a fine male Green Honeycreeper lingered, and both Thick-billed and Orange-bellied Euphonias were once again in good numbers. 

Crested Oropendola

Green Honeycreeper

Russet-backed Oropendola

Orange-billed Sparrows lurked in the understorey, and then a Grey-chinned Hermit came in to a close feeder, but was chased away by the larger Green Hermit. 

Orange-billed Sparrow

And that was it. So we drove back 90 minutes or so to Loja and the same hotel as we’d stayed in a few days before, where we enjoyed a nice meal out a local restaurant to celebrate my birthday.