The Liben Plain

This was a really great day and could not have got off to a better start with a flock of 7 Abdim’s Storks roosting beside the road – well it was a good sighting for 2 out of our 3 Landcruisers as one of our vehicles had to return to the hotel to retrieve a wallet. Perfect timing or what!  Approaching the Liben Plains we stopped to scan a flock of hirundines perched on telegraph wires which turned out to be Ethiopian and the endemic White-tailed Swallows, and we had further flight views of both species over the next hour or so.

Sidamo Lark is one of the rarest endemics.

Then, within 10 minutes of searching we had found the rare Sidamo Lark on the huge Liben Plain! This scaly-backed lark can only be found here and we were treated to what can only be described as crippling views down to 5 metres – and I think David got even closer views at one stage. Shortly after, a little group of 3 Somali Short-toed Larks were found and it was good to be able to study them for a while. Around some grass huts a pair of Shelley’s Sparrows were new for the trip. 

Kori Bustard

Having already seen a pair of Kori Bustards on the drive here, a line of ten more birds in a crop field was pretty impressive and as we scoped them, noticed a lot of activity above them which turned out to be a flock of Amur Falcons. So we walked over and got a lot closer and spent a nice time watching their antics as they hawked for insects right in front of us. 

We were surprised to see a flock of Amur Falcons...

There was also a small flock of Lesser Kestrels to see here as well. Overhead there was a Montagu’s Harrier and we also had a very rare record of an Eastern Imperial Eagle.

Superb Starling

 Then we drove to an area of acacia trees and had our picnic breakfast, during which we saw Yellow-bellied Eremomela, Tree Pipit, many Superb Starlings & White-crowned Starlings, Red-billed Buffalo-Weavers, and a flock of Grey-capped Social Weavers.

Temminck's Courser

Driving on we hit a purple patch with a pair of Temminck’s Coursers beside the road, followed by a stately Secretarybird picking its way across a field of tall grass, a Grey Kestrel, Isabelline Shrike, Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrush and Somali Crow. Continuing on into the heat of the day we made our last stop along the road and came up trumps with an Abyssinian Oriole skulking in the shade of some large trees. Oh yes baby! There was also a flock of White-headed Buffalo-Weavers and Reichenow’s Seedeaters as well.

Abyssinian Oriole

So we turned around and headed back towards Negelle and our appointment with a very late lunch. Along the way we stopped at a seasonal lake where there were hundreds of Egyptian Geese, Egyptian Vulture, Marsh Sandpiper, White-winged Tern, African Sacred Ibis, but best of all was a superb Martial Eagle we watched soaring through the scopes and many Collared Pratincoles hawking for insects over the crop fields.

After lunch we checked out a small lake but there was nothing new, although a Hamerkop and 100’s of Yellow Wagtails were seen.

The Long Day to Negelle

We left Goba early and drove back across the Sanetti Plateau, seeing much the same as before but an Abyssinian Longclaw and Yellow-crowned Canary were a bonus. 

Abyssinian Longclaw

The morning was very cold with a blanket of sharp frost covering the vegetation, making photography of Chestnut-naped and Moorland Francolins and Rouget’s Rail all the more appealing.

Chestnut-naped Francolins in the early morning frost.

Great views of Moorland Francolin this morning.

Moorland Francolins showed well

Dropping down into the Harenna Forest, it proved to be rather quiet and all we had to show for our efforts were Black-and-white Mannikin, Yellow-bellied Waxbill and Grosbeak Weaver. We lost a lot of time this morning looking for woodpeckers and also searching for a missing walkie-talkie, so had to press on as it is a very long drive down to Negelle. Then we drove down into the ‘bush’ country and travelled for many miles in order to reach the area for Ruspoli’s Turaco. 


With a further delay for a flat tyre our arrival was much later than planned but we quickly found the turaco thanks to some local help – and pure relief all around as this is quite possibly the No 1 endemic to see here.

Red-and-yellow Barbet

Other birds seen on the drive included White-backed Vulture, Black-chested Snake-Eagle for some, Lesser Spotted Eagle, African Harrier-Hawk, Diederik Cuckoo, African Grey Hornbill, Red-and-yellow Barbet, Straw-tailed Whydah and others.

Mammal highlight were Eastern Black-and-White Colobus, Ethiopian Wolf, Gunther’s Dikdik, and Ethiopian Klipspringer.

Sanetti Plateau

Today we birded the highest road in Africa, under the second highest mountain in Africa and found the rarest ‘canid’ in the world – Ethiopian Wolf. 

Ethiopian Wolf

The scenery was stunning amidst fine Afro-alpine moorland habitat with giant lobelias dotted across the moorland plateau. 

Sanetti Plateau

We made a short walk at the treeline and quickly nailed the local race of Brown Parisoma before setting off across the plateau where we found our first  Spot-breasted Lapwings. 

Brown Parisoma

Augur Buzzard

The endemic Moorland Chat is very common

There was also Chestnut-naped Francolin, a small group of Moorland Francolins, lots of Rouget's Rails, Ruddy Shelduck, Lammergeier, Golden Eagle, Red-billed Chough, and some flyby Slender-billed Starlings.

The endemic Rouget's Rail is very common in the Bale Mountains

 We returned to the hotel for a late lunch and then drove on to Dinsho. As soon as we arrived at the Park HQ a local ranger met us and showed us a day roosting African Wood Owl – a good start. 

African Wood Owl

We then walked through the juniper forest and quickly found Abyssinian Catbird as well to make our visit here really worthwhile.

Sof Omar

We headed on the long, bumpy drive to Sof Omar, leaving the hotel early doors and driving a lot of the way in the dark. Once the sun rose above the hills we started seeing a few birds such as Kori Bustard, Chestnut-naped Francolin, Eastern Chanting Goshawk, Rosy-patched Bush-shrike, Boran Cisticola, and a trio of new hornbills: Von Der Decken’s, Northern Red-billed and Eastern Yellow-billed. 

Boran Cisticola

Rosy-patched Bush-Shrike

The road became almost impassable as it went down into the valley but our landcruisers made light work of it and after parking in the shade of some acacia trees we set out on a walk to see what was around.

I thought it was rather quiet here and we failed to get definitive views of Salvadori’s Seedeater apart from a dubious flyover. But we did see a bunch of good birds including Shikra, Verreaux’s Eagle, Crested Francolin, Emerald-spotted Wood Dove, African Orange-bellied Parrot, White-bellied Go-Away-Bird, Levaillant’s Cuckoo, Pearl-spotted Owlet, Cardinal Woodpecker, White-browed Coucal, Rufous Chatterer, Northern Brownbul, Brown-tailed Rock-Chat, Northern Crombec, Grey-headed Batis, Northern White-crowned Shrike, Brubru, White-crested Helmet-Shrike, Grey-headed Bush-Shrike, Acacia Tit, Shining Sunbird, Bristle-crowned Starling, Yellow-spotted Petronia, Red-headed Weaver and Purple Grenadier.

Cardinal Woodpecker

Driving back towards Goba across the huge open plains with arable fields either side had a few good birds such as Black-winged Kite, Rattling Cisticola, Pallid Harrier, Lanner, African Stonechat, and we also heard a calling Common Quail.

Garden Birding and Roosting Owls

It made a pleasant change to just walk out of our rooms and bird the gardens for a few hours this morning. And what a cracking session we were treated to as we saw so many new trip birds, beginning with a Red-faced Cisticola, African Thrush, Spectacled and Little Weavers,  and at least 3 Black Crakes that all showed nicely. Walking out the gate to view the lake 3 African Pygmy Geese (and what stunners they are!) and our first Grey-headed Gulls were present.

African Pygmy Goose

Following the path bordering the lake many more new birds appeared such as a Nubian Woodpecker, Blue-headed Coucal, Marsh and Sedge Warblers, Scarlet-chested Sunbird, White-rumped Babbler, Common Waxbill and after much scrutiny a Lesser Swamp Warbler.

The above two photos are Lesser Swamp Warbler......

And we had really close views of plenty of other species such as White-winged and Whiskered Terns, Black-winged Lovebird, a flock of really confiding African Citrils, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Sand Martin and more.

Returning to the gardens we had a mad spell with birds everywhere as first of all a group of Black-billed Wood-Hoopoes were seen, followed by Red-fronted Tinkerbird, Northern Puffback, Black-headed Batis, Brown-throated Wattle-eye and Buff-bellied Warbler. Then it was time to search for Spotted Creeper, but it was hard as we kept getting distracted by more birds including Grey-headed Kingfisher, both Eurasian and Red-throated Wrynecks, Ethiopian Boubou, Northern Black Flycatcher, Cut-throat Finch, nest-building Bronze Mannikins and Grosbeak Weaver. Eventually we found a pair of Spotted Creepers as well to round off a really great pre-breakfast session.

Reluctantly leaving here, we drove just five minutes down the road to Hawassa Fishmarket but didn’t stay long as the hoped for Goliath Heron wasn’t around. There were still plenty of birds and we particularly liked the close views of African Fish Eagle calling evocatively from the top of an acacia. A Spur-winged Goose, Hadada Ibis, plus many Hamerkops and Squacco Herons were also nice.

So from here we began the drive up towards the Bale Mountains, but didn’t get far before pulling over at the side of the road to take a look at some Northern Carmine Bee-eaters and a Lilac-breasted Roller perched on telegraph wires. It’s always difficult in Ethiopia to get from A to B as there are just so many birds but with much effort on our parts we sifted out the common birds and only stopped for such goodies as Lappet-faced and White-headed Vultures, and a flock of 31 Black-winged Lapwings.

White-headed Vulture

Of course we stopped to pay our respects at the usual stake-out for Cape Eagle Owl, which this year required a scramble down into the little valley to look back up at the bird at its day roost below a small conifer on the cliff.

Cape Eagle Owl

As the road wound ever upwards (we travelled from around 1900m at Hawassa up to 3000m) into the Bale Mountains the scenery changed from rolling arable fields to moorland and it was here that our first endemic Rouget’s Rail was seen. We eventually arrived at the park HQ at Dinsho and immediately set out with one of the rangers to see a pair of absolutely fantastic Abyssinian Owls. 

Abyssinian Owls in the Bale Mountains

Perched high up in a conifer, one of them was clearly visible close to the trunk, whilst the other had its back turned. But what a bird and having missed them last year, I was particularly pleased to nail them this time. We also came across a flock of the endemic highland speciality - White-backed Black Tits as well, which showed quite well and a fine Abyssinian Ground Thrush.

Settled into the hotel a short while later for a 3 night stay. More Spaghetti Bolognese.....