Bale Mountains - Sanetti Plateau

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. 

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. 

Moorland Francolin

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. 

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. 

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.

Ayres's Hawk-Eagle

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. 

Simien Wolf

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.

Wondo Genet to Bale Mountains

A quick dash down to the nearby public swimming baths ( ! ) and stream at first light resulted in cracking views of a pair of Half-collared Kingfishers perched on a rock. Several Lemon Doves were also present in the vicinity as well before returning to the hotel for breakfast.

Half-collared Kingfisher

Afterwards we drove to the Agricultural College and spent a pleasant couple of hours walking through the forest seeing  our first Abyssinian Orioles, which were surprisingly common here. Flocks of Mountain Thrushes were present, along with even more Lemon Doves, a flyby Tambourine Dove, a few Red-headed Weavers and eventually a fine Narina Trogon. A short walk through more open areas gave us Double-toothed Barbet, Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird, Grey-backed Fiscal and several inquisitive White-rumped Babblers.

Mountain Thrush

White-rumped Babbler

 Leaving here we set out on the long drive to the Bale Mountains and as the road wound ever higher we eventually arrived at the moorland. Our first stop at a small cliff produced a day roosting Cape Eagle Owl which we enjoyed fine scope views of surrounded  by loads of small children from nearby settlements. 

Cape Eagle Owl

Other notable goodies up here include a ringtail Pallid Harrier, Steppe Eagle,  Augur Buzzard and Lammergeier in the clear blue sky. A small pond held 30+ endemic Blue-winged Goose, and the endemic Wattled Ibis. Our first Chestnut-naped Francolins and Rouget’s Rail were much appreciated before we reached Dinsho and the National Park HQ. 

Chestnut-naped Francolin

A local guide showed us a roosting African Wood Owl, but we couldn’t locate Abyssinian Owl. However, Abyssinian Catbird and White-backed Black Tit were added to our growing list of endemics, whilst a Cinnamon Bracken Warbler was the last bird of the day just before the sun set. Non avian tick of the day went to this Mountain Nyala. 

Mountain Nyala

We then drove 30kms to Goba and a decent hotel where we’d be staying for a couple of nights.

Lake Hawassa to Wondo Genet

Up and out before sunrise, listening to the sounds of the well wooded gardens coming to life. We pretty quickly caught up with Silvery-cheeked Hornbill whilst walking down to Lake Hawassa and spent a pleasant time scanning the area where our first White-backed Duck was found. Several African Pygmy Goose were close by, and as we watched them a few White-rumped Babblers worked their way towards us, a Lesser Swamp Warbler and Black Crake appeared close by.  Just at the edge of the gardens a flowering tree was attracting numerous sunbirds with Tacazze, Scarlet-chested, Beautiful and Shining Sunbirds giving outrageous views. An African Thrush then appeared and was followed by Northern Grosbeak-Weaver, lots of Little Weavers, a single Spectacled Weaver and a Rufous-throated Wryneck. It was pretty full on as there were so many birds appearing all at once – lovely!

African Pygmy Goose

Hadada Ibis

One of the key birds here is Spotted Creeper which took some searching but we eventually found it and what a stunner it was too! During the search we also had a pair of African Grey Woodpeckers, Hadada Ibis and a Blue-headed Coucal. 

Spotted Creeper

After another fine breakfast we drove to a different part of the lake and took a walk which didn’t really add many new birds but the sheer numbers of Silvery-cheeked Hornbills was impressive, and more in-your-face Marabou Storks were nice. 

Silvery-cheeked Hornbill

Several Banded Barbets showed much better than our one previous sighting, a Goliath Heron was also nice, as was Woodland Kingfisher, Ruppell’s Starling, and a Broad-billed Roller. A flyby Lesser Crested Tern was something of a surprise to me and may well be just one of a handful of inland records.

Banded Barbet

Woodland Kingfisher

Leaving here we drove an hour or so to Wondo Genet and checked in to the hotel, and during the process of unloading the luggage a pair of Brown Parisomas were seen, along with Abyssinian Slaty Flycatcher, Montane White-eye and others.

Abyssinian Slaty Flycatcher

At 3pm we took the long uphill walk to find some decent habitat and although it was slow to start with, we ended up seeing a number of very good birds. Although the habitat has been severely degraded there are still some big trees and around these we had Grey Cuckooshrike, Abyssinian Woodpecker, Ruppell’s Robin-chat, another Spotted Creeper, Brown-throated Wattle-eye and a couple of Yellow-fronted Parrots. 

Ruppell's Robin-chat

Along the path a Lemon Dove showed very nicely indeed and a Scaly Francolin was feeding out in the open,  whilst overhead a Mountain Buzzard put in an appearance. On the walk back down we had a Klaas’s Cuckoo and a Nubian Woodpecker. We’d left it rather late to check for Half-collared Kingfisher but in the gathering gloom a superb Abyssinian Ground-thrush flew in and landed right in front of us, and a pair of White-cheeked Turacos were also nice.

Finished the day off with some cold beers, great bolognese and premiership football on the t.v in the restaurant.