Mongolia Day 2

The day started at 5.30am with coffee and cookies in the dining tent before we walked a few hundred metres into the forest once again where we witnessed up to 8 displaying male Black-billed Capercaillies. When I say the day started at 5:30am, it started a bit earlier as I lay awake in my tent after a decent night’s sleep as I was woken by the clicking capercaillie display that sounded like it was right beside me. Amazing! Anyway, we spent another 2 hours marvelling at these behemoths of the forest, as they displayed at various spots maybe 20 metres away from us. 

Black-billed Capercaillie

It’s not a lek like Black Grouse, but each individual male calls from allocated territorial spots that do seem fluid and can be encroached upon by other males. We moved slowly and quietly from male to male, perhaps within a radius of half a kilometre or even less. The male could obviously see us coming and continued to call, not blinking an eye at our approach. Sometimes he’d walk a little away but continued to call. It was an utterly brilliant experience and it’s very rare to spend so long on just one bird. But everyone was in agreement at how utterly fantastic this was. A male Taiga Flycatcher was also seen, along with Red-flanked Bluetails and Olive-backed Pipits. We returned to camp for an excellent breakfast after which the camp was packed up by our excellent ground crew, whilst we sat looking at the view, or wandered around the nearby hill where Blyth’s Pipits were occupied in their parachute display songflight.  

 

Leaving here we drove to Gun Galuut Nature Reserve, a series of lakes that were full of birds. We could not find the previously reported Relict Gull but had a fine time sifting through all of the birds present. The first and largest lake held a great assortment of widespread wildfowl such as Ruddy Shelducks, Garganey, Gadwall, Eurasian Teal, Eurasian Wigeon, Common Pochard, Tufted Duck, Common Goldeneye and even a female Smew. More importantly, several Stejneger’s Scoters were present and looked mighty fine in the scope. A pair of Whooper Swans were here too, along with both Slavonian (Tufted) and Black-necked (Eared) Grebes, and groups of Demoiselle Cranes were stood at the shoreline. Shorebirds were not numerous and only a few species were present, although 8 summer-plumaged Spotted Redshanks looked rather sexy! A flock of 30+ White-winged Terns suddenly appeared and a Black Tern was spotted amongst them. The next lake was only a couple of hundred metres away and had many of the same species as well as Common Shelduck, many Pied Avocets, Temminck’s Stint, and our first Mongolian Lark. 

The third lake was very different, hosting some dense tussocky vegetation and muddy margins. This is where White-naped Crane nests and we enjoyed fine scope views of a pair, with one on the nest. Puje picked up 2 Asian Dowitchers amongst a group of Black-tailed Godwits and we spent a while admiring them in the Swarovski scope. 

We enjoyed better views of Stejneger’s Scoter here, as well as seeing Northern Pintail, Shoveler, Eurasian Wigeon, Little Ringed Plover, Terek Sandpiper, Vega Gull, Common Tern, 6 Eurasian Spoonbills, Citrine Wagtail and Asian Short-toed Lark. We enjoyed lunch here before walking a few hundred metres across to a smaller lake where a drake Falcated Duck posed beautifully. All too soon it was time to leave and we had a drive of several hours back to Ulaanbaatar and the famous Mongolica Hotel, where we arrived at 5.15pm. This gave us just enough time to see a couple pairs of Amur Falcons, which had recently arrived and were nesting in some old magpie nests nearby. A flock of White-cheeked Starlings were pretty impossible to miss, as were the numerous  Hawfinches. We keyed in on our two main targets of Azure Tit and Siberian Long-tailed Rosefinch and had fine views of both, whilst other notable sightings included Bar-headed Goose, Daurian Jackdaw, Asian Brown Flycatcher and 2 female Common Rosefinches. What a day!

Mongolia Day 1

After a stupidly early arrival time of 02:30am we were on the road with our excellent guide Puje after having coffee and snacks at the airport. Our route took us towards Terelj NP and we stopped along the way to check out a huge statue of Genghis Khan, seeing our first Daurian Jackdaws and Shore Larks before continuing our journey east to a picturesque campsite at the edge of the Larch forest. The drive was enlivened by a pair of Cinereous Vultures feeding on a carcass. Once at the campsite we walked a couple of hundred metres into the forest where we were privileged to witness several male Black-billed Capercaillies displaying close by . 

Our camp...

The one and only... Black-billed Capercaillie

Terrelj National Park

Even though it was after 8am they were still in full disply, producing a cacophony of weird clicks that echoed around the forest. We also had several singing Red-flanked Bluetails, a Taiga Flycatcher and a few Olive-backed Pipits on territory. After lunch back at camp we drove a short distance to another valley where we searched in vain for Hazel Grouse but did see some cracking Pine Buntings, a brief Arctic Warbler, Daurian Redstart, Isabelline Wheatear, and more OBP’s, with a Marmot spotted on the drive back to camp.

Pine Bunting

Red-flanked Bluetail

After lunch and a siesta we walked further into the forest from camp and found a surprising number of thrushes. There were many Red-throated Thrushes, a few Naumann’s, a couple of Eye-browed and a few Dusky Thrushes. Red-flanked Bluetails and OBP’s displayed and sang everywhere, a male Daurian Redstart appeared, at least 4 Little Buntings showed, and there were more Pine Buntings, a Willow Tit was excavating its nest hole in a tree stump, and Steppe Eagle and Great Spotted Woodpecker were also found. 

Red-throated Thrush

Wow, what a day!

Tanzania Day 16 - PEMBA ISLAND. THE END!

With all 4 endemics done and dusted we just had a few more personal targets for the group today, so we set off towards Msuka Beach after breakfast. A quick pre-brekky look around the gardens produced the endemic race of African Goshawk, Brown-headed Parrots, many Broad-billed Rollers and a White-browed Coucal. 

African Goshawk - phonescoped

Along the way we had much, much better views of Dickinson’s Kestrel than yesterday and spent quite a while admiring a pair loitering on telegraph wires and a post in some fields. 

The stunning Dickinson's Kestrel

Moving on we had our first Black-winged Red Bishop of the trip and the male certainly looked stunning in the scope and a brief African Pipit as well. Once at the coast it was a little disappointing to see the tide was already way out but within a few seconds of setting up the scope we were on the hoped for Crab-Plover, well there were quite a few once we started scanning. 

Crab-Plover

They were a bit distant so the only thing to do was take off our shoes and socks and head out across the mudflats and we had further views although the tide was receding quicker than we could walk! We also found a pair of Black Herons, Common Greenshank, Grey Plover, Western Reef Herons and other padders. 

Happy with this we walked back to the car and set off in search of our next target, which we duly found at a small wetland and pool. At least 7 impressive Madagascar (Olive) Bee-eaters were sallying forth from a leafless tree after insects and flew quite close to us. Out on the pool were many White-faced Whistling-Ducks and I counted an impressive tally of 22 White-backed Ducks. And that left us just one more target, which was a lifer for most of us – Mangrove Kingfisher. And this didn’t take long to track down either and we had a very impressive individual parading around us, calling all the while and perching on prominent bare branches in a small patch of woodland. 

Mangrove Kingfisher

And so we were done. Back to the lodge at 1.30pm for lunch and we had a restful afternoon, celebrating with some ice-cold beer, swimming in the sea and enjoying a siesta. Most unusual…!!! And that was our birding in Tanzania over! What an epic trip!

Tanzania Day 15 - PEMBA ISLAND

We left Morogoro at 5.30am and set out on the 4+ hour drive to Dar Es Salaam, where Aidan was due to fly back to Ireland at 3.30pm and the rest of us had a 2.30pm flight to Pemba Island. Just over halfway we stopped to look for Ruvu Weaver, but our search was halted as someone told us it was a military area and we had to cease immediately. We did see Coastal Cisticola, Marsh Tchagra, Common Waxbill and a single Fulvous Whistling-Duck in a flock of White-faced Whistling-Ducks flying over. Anyway, despite several police checkpoints, a car crash (not us!) and few other hold-ups we still reached the airport by 11:30am. After saying our goodbyes to Aidan, our great driver George and amazing guide Abdul,  we spent a few hours in the domestic terminal’s private lounge before boarding our 14 seater aircraft for the 80 minute flight to Pemba that included a touchdown in Zanzibar. 

On our way to Pemba....

Upon arrival we met up with local guide Eddie and set off towards Gecko Lodge in far north Pemba. We birded our way there, seeing Pemba White-eye, Pemba Green-Pigeon and Pemba Sunbird at our first stop! 

Pemba Green-Pigeon

Pemba Sunbird - the only photo I managed to get

Pemba White-eye

A Dickinson’s Kestrel perched on a telegraph post then caused us to screech to a halt a bit later on the drive, although it was a little distant and didn’t linger very long but still a cracking looking bird! We eventually reached Ngezi Forest Reserve just after sunset where a Pemba Scops-Owl was easily tracked down for superb views, meaning we’d nailed all four endemics in just over two hours on the island! 

Pemba Scops-Owl

Feeling quite smug, we celebrated at the lodge with numerous Safari beers and a fine meal, which was interrupted by a Garnett’s Greater Galago next to the restaurant.

Tanzania Day 14 - UKAGURU MOUNTAINS

Our destination this morning was the impressively forested Ukaguru Mountains, where we had four specific targets. On the way up we stopped when a Southern Fiscal was spotted beside the road – or, more importantly, it proved to be the Marwitzi race and a really good candidate to be split as Uhehe Fiscal. 

The very distinctive Marwitzi race of Southern Fiscal

So we managed to get some record shots of it and whilst we were here a pair of Angola Swallows were seen perched on wires and an Augur Buzzard also appeared. Not a bad start!

Augur Buzzard

Angola Swallows

Our first main target up in the forest was Yellow-throated Mountain Greenbul, which duly obliged and showed its distinctive yellow throat. 

Yellow-throated Mountain Greenbul

Shortly after we saw the first of many Moreau’s Sunbirds feeding in nearby bushes. Walking along a narrow trail into the forest a pair of Rubeho Warblers gave point-blank views and in a burst of activity we also had Bar-throated and Chapin’s Apalis as well – the latter with a white throat and different to the more orange throats of the birds in the Uluguru Mountains…. 

Bar-throated Apalis

Chapin's Apalis

Our last target was Rubeho Akalat and this took more effort but eventually everyone had decent views as it circled us as we sat on the forest floor. It always stayed low to the ground in the dense understorey but with a bit of patience everyone managed pretty decent views. Along the same trail, an Olive-sided Ground-Chat also performed very well along the trail, but unfortunately only Abdul saw an Oriole Finch. 

Olive-sided Ground-Chat

With all of our targets seen well before 10am, we birded along the road a while, seeing an Evergreen Forest Warbler quite well for a change, saw a Livingstone’s Turaco, heard a Barred Long-tailed Cuckoo and enjoyed further very good views of a pair of Rubeho Warblers. 

Rubeho Warbler

And that was us done. So we then headed to Morogoro, a drive of several hours, where we spent the night in a decent hotel.

Tanzania Day 13 - MIKUMI NATIONAL PARK

Mainly a travelling day as we had 300kms+ to get to our next hotel. Well, saying that…. As we drove along the main road that passes through a section of Mikumi National Park we stopped a few times to look at herds of Impala, Masai Giraffe, Plains Zebra, some Water Buffalo with attendant Yellow-billed Oxpeckers, and best of all, an immature Martial Eagleperched in classic pose on top of an acacia. We called in to the entrance gate to the National Park, where we saw a Tawny Eagle, Lappet-faced & White-backed Vultures, Yellow-throated Bush Sparrow and a few other previously seen species. On a whim I asked if we could do a game drive and maybe see a few birds……? After half an hour of negotiating we were in and setting off into the National Park, with Southern Ground Hornbill high on a few of the group’s wish list. The park itself must have been hit by a major fire as every mile we travelled the grassland was burnt to a crisp and there was very little bird life or even animals at all. 

Yellow-throated Longclaw was the first bid of the game drive

Still, the open ground looked perfect for our quarry. We did see a Yellow-throated Longclaw, a couple African Elephants, more Giraffes, Nile Crocodile and Wildebeest. At a pool we saw 5 Water Thick-knees, a pair of Blacksmith’s Plovers and a Collared Pratincole flew around us for a few minutes. 

Water Thick-knee

Blacksmith's Plover

We searched and searched the burnt savanna, with only Long-tailed Fiscals being anything like numerous, along with some African Green Pigeons, Greater Blue-eared Starlings, Wattled Starlings and Capped Wheatears. Eventually, on our way back towards the entrance we did find 5 Southern Ground-Hornbills walking sedately off to our left, much to everyone’s relief. 

Capped Wheatear

Shortly after we received word of Lions on a kill so sped off and tried to locate a group of jeeps surrounding the kill. Along the way we saw 2 adult and 3 large immature Saddle-billed Storks, as well as a Marabou Stork. 

Saddle-billed Storks are always impressive

However, we passed many jeeps along the way but if it wasn’t for some Hooded Vultures circling we wouldn’t have found the right place, which was thankfully devoid of jeeps with goggling tourists and we came upon the Lions and had the place to ourselves. 

Hooded Vulture

More accurately we discovered 3 Lionesses snoozing in the shade of a couple of acacias, next to their kill – with 8 small cubs in attendance. Wow! 

Loved spending a bit of time with this group of Lions and cubs...

The cubs were sleepy but we watched some of them climbing over the adults, trying to find a comfy position to sleep. One cub looked rather uncomfortable trying to rest its head on the horn of the recently deceased Wildebeest. Driving back to the entrance gate we passed a lagoon with a few not-so-hungry Hippo’s(no Malteser references please!), and at least 3 African Jacanas. There was also a few Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Larks and a brief Fischer’s Sparrow-Lark.  Leaving here we had several hours more driving to reach a small guesthouse not too far away from our next birding site, up in the Ukaguru Mountains.