Awash National Park

Left at 5am and got to Nazret for a 7am breakfast of scrambled eggs at a nice hotel, whose gardens held another Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, several Black-winged Lovebirds and this African Grey Woodpecker. 

African Grey Woodpecker

So we continued on the journey to Awash, seeing a Verreaux’s Eagle fly over the road as we watched a pair of Blackstarts and a Blue Rock Thrush on a lava flow. I didn’t find out until we were on the journey that we were booked into a hotel in the town of Awash rather than one of the lodges actually inside the park, which kind of made me a little angry but I had to just go with the flow – we’ll stay inside the park next year!!! Anyway, after an early bolognese lunch at the hotel we drove to the park entrance and set off through the open savanna dotted with acacias – a typical African scene. 

Pygmy Falcon

It was great to finally be here and we were all excited, so to get Green-winged Pytilia early on was nice as it was the only sighting of the day. Helmetted Guineafowl, Pygmy Falcon, Dark-chanting Goshawk, African Palm Swift, Ashy Cisticola, Woodchat Shrike, Somali Fiscal, and these Northern Carmine Bee-eaters were all seen within the first half an hour, but I loved this Madagascar (Olive) Bee-eater…. Isabelline Wheatears were also exceedingly common and kept distracting us, but our first Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Larks were much better!

Northern Carmine Bee-eaters

Madagascar (Olive) Bee-eater

The overcast conditions then cleared and we had bright, sunny weather by mid-afternoon which meant the temperature soared and bird activity died down totally. And things remained slow for the rest of the day, except for Cardinal Woodpecker, our first Grey-headed Batis, a pair of Brubru, Lanner, Isabelline and Red-backed Shrikes and Black-crowned Tchagra. Oh and a couple of Buff-crested Bustards were also found close to the main track….

Buff-crested Bustard

Dinner at the Awash Falls Lodge was kind of like Jim Bowen telling you what you could have won – if only you were staying at this lovely location – if you get my drift! Still, managed to spotlight some crocs on the river below….

Lake Abiata, Lake Langano and more!

We left the wonderful Haile Resort after a later than usual start at 7am and called in to a nearby area along the lake shore where a Goliath Heron was seen close by, along with Malachite and African Pygmy Kingfisher, whilst a beautiful Grey-headed Kingfisher was new for the trip. 

Goliath Heron

Leaving here we drove for an hour or so to Lake Abiata, one of the famous Rift Valley sites. And what an amazing place this was. There were literally thousands of Lesser Flamingo’s all the way along the shoreline, as well as smaller numbers of Greater Flamingo’s as well. 

Lake Abiata - so many birds to sift through here

Lake Abiata

Lesser Flamingo's

The shoreline was crawling with many species of wader, including numerous Little Stints, hundred upon hundred of Pied Avocet, 1000’s of Ruff, 100’s of Kittlitz’s Plovers, plus smaller numbers of Ringed Plover, Common Greenshank, Green, Wood and Marsh Sandpipers, a solitary Black-tailed Godwit and a few Black-winged Stilts. Overhead was an almost constant stream of Common Cranes flying in to land on the marshes, and it was such a great surprise to see 21 Wattled Cranes flying in as well. To add to all this activity were some African Spoonbills, lots of Marabou Storks, Yellow-billed Storks, Sacred Ibis, egrets, ducks and the odd Western Marsh Harrier, Pallid Harrier and African Fish Eagle, Gull-billed Terns, 100’s of Yellow Wagtails and a single Pallas’s Gull. A flyover Northern Carmine Bee-eater was also much appreciated, whilst a few Grassland Pipits were seen as we left the area. 

African Spoonbills

Wattled Cranes - something of a surprise to find 21 at Lake Abiata

Wattled Cranes at Lake Abiata

We had lunch at the Wabe Shebelle Hotel on the shores of Lake Langano, which is surrounded by some nice trees and is a known stake-out for Slender-tailed Nightjar and Greyish Eagle-Owl – both of which obliged. 

Grayish Eagle-Owl

We also found Red-throated Wrynecks to be common, and also saw Little Rock Thrush, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, and African Orange-bellied Parrot. We sat on the veranda of the restaurant which overlooks Lake Langano and watched numerous White-winged Terns flying past in the strong winds. The odd Whiskered Tern also passed by, as did a White-rumped and Little Swift, along with our first Western Reef Egret.

African Orange-bellied Parrot

Eastern Olivaceous Warbler

Rufous-throated Wryneck

Leaving here we re-entered Lake Abiata National Park, but from a different entrance and a nice walk through the acacia forest turned up a couple pairs of the endemic White-winged Black Tit, along with Mouse-coloured Penduline-Tit, Buff-bellied Warbler, Black Scimitarbill and Cinnamon-breasted Bunting. 

White-winged Black Tit - another endemic

As it was late afternoon we drove the short distance to our lodge overlooking Lake Langano and had our first Icterine Warbler and Ruppell’s Weaver. 

Heading North to Awassa

A long drive north to Hawassa with just a quick stop at a roadside marsh yielding a singing Winding Cisticola, Black-and-white Mannikin, Red-collared Widowbird, Yellow Bishop, a flyover White-headed Vulture and some other common birds. 

White-headed Vulture

We eventually arrived at the very plush Haile Resort Hotel on the shores of Lake Hawassa around 4pm and went straight out into the garden which had a lovely view over the lake. 

White-browed Robin-chats

In a shady corner we watched 3 White-browed Robin-chats respond to the ipod very well indeed, plus our first Marsh Warbler showed quite well. There was also a pair of Brown-throated Wattle-eyes, White-rumped Babbler and this African Thrush. 

African Thrush

Over the lake there were literally thousands of Barn Swallows, White-winged Terns, several Squacco Herons, Malachite Kingfishers, African Fish-eagles, Grey-headed Gulls and others.

Yabello, Bushcrows and Phaffing

A few Red-winged Starlings accompanied us for breakfast at the Yabello Motel this morning before we set off to a special site where we enjoyed point-blank views of the much-wanted endemic White-tailed Swallow. A pair were nesting in a small hut in a village, and once again we provided a vast amount of amusement to the local villagers - but the crippling views of the swallow were amazing. 

White-tailed Swallow

But we did get distracted by very close views of Grey-capped Social Weavers, D’Arnaud’s Barbet, Boran Cisticola, Vitelline Masked weaver, and Chestnut Sparrow.

D'Arnaud's Barbet

We then phaffed around visiting a lake which I found a little frustrating, but there was a Pink-backed Pelican, African Spoonbill, Woolly-necked Stork, Red-billed Teal, and our first Shikra, Lesser Masked Weaver and Bare-faced Go-Away-Bird – but come on there’s better birds to find.

Driving to the Yabello Wildlife Sanctuary gave us a group of endemic Stresemann’s Bushcrows, so we jumped out and had nice views for half an hour. I was really pleased to get such nice views and it was nice to be able to watch them for quite some time.

Stresemann's Bushcrow

In the reserve we only spent a short time but managed to find a flock of European Bee-eaters, Banded Parisoma, Ashy Cisticola, Whinchat, Vitelline and Speke’s Weavers, Purple Grenadier and best of all, a fine Buff-crested Bustard – but we’d some plenty of the latter species in a few days.

Somali Bunting

After lunch we drove south out of Yabello to an arid, bushy area and spent a wonderful couple of hours before heavy rain came in later in the afternoon. Shame we didn’t get here earlier, but the list of birds we came up with made the visit eminently worthwhile. First up was a fine Black-throated Barbet singing from the top of an acacia. Then a flurry of activity around a big tree turned into several Purple Grenadiers, Black-capped Social Weavers, Somali Bunting, Grey Wren-Warbler and Yellow-breasted Apalis. A male Pygmy Falcon was then scoped on a distant tree top. A furtive movement in a dense area of bushes turned out to be a Spotted Palm-Thrush, a group of Mottled Swifts flew over, and we also saw White-bellied Canary and Northern Grosbeak Canary as well. 

Northern Grosbeak Canary

We spent much of our time searching for Red-naped Bush-Shrike which initially proved elusive, near-invisible and downright skulky, but eventually we had pretty decent views of several birds in the vicinity. 

Red-naped Bush-shrike

More new birds followed with a group of African Yellow White-eyes feeding on some red flowers, a singing Red-fronted Warbler, Masked Shrike and best of all, a pair of Heuglin’s Coursers found by Lee hiding in the shade of some dense bushes. What stunning birds they are! With really dark clouds rapidly approaching we made a hasty retreat back to the car (yes we ran) and arrived just in time before a heavy rainstorm, seeing more White-tailed Swallows and a couple of African Orange-bellied Parrots fly across the road.

Heuglin's Courser

We then drove along a dirt road and tried a spot of owling which resulted in a Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl being spotlighted alongside the road and an obliging African Scops-Owl being found.