We had had a good start to the day trip to Praia & Santiago Island where we had seen the endemic species Cape Verde Buzzard, Alexander's Swift & Cape Verde Sparrow. Additionally, we had seen the endemic Bourne's Purple Heron & Alexander's Kestrel which are regarded as subspecies of Purple Heron & Kestrel respectively, but have been split in the past. However, we still needed to see the endemic Cape Verde Warbler. This is another Acrocephalus Warbler that seems to have found a niche on a small island group & evolved into a distinct species. The Pacific has quite a few Acrocephalus Warblers including Tahiti Reed Warbler, Pitcairn Reed Warbler & Henderson Island Reed Warbler.
Cape Verde Warbler: There were several in the Acacia scrub. Despite the Acacia looking to be a fairly open tree, they were remarkable good at skulking in it
Cape Verde Warbler: They sit still & spend a lot of time looking for insects. This species is restricted to Santiago Island, but used to occur on Sao Nicolau & Brava Islands
Cape Verde Warbler: It is surprisingly short-winged
Spectacled Warbler: This is the orbitalis subspecies which occurs on Cape Verde, the Canary Islands & Madeira. The nominate conspicillata subspecies occurs in the Iberian Peninsula, Italy & North Africa
Spectacled Warbler: I only saw a couple during the day
Spectacled Warbler
African Monarch
Back on the dam wall, a few more Black-winged Stilts had joined the Little Egret flock. Overall, there were ten Black-winged Stilts on the reservoir bottom, but most were further back.
Chestnut-bellied Kingfisher: This species is also known as Grey-headed Kingfisher & is found on Cape Verde, in most of Sub Saharan Africa & along the Red Sea coast of the Southern Arabian Peninsula
Chestnut-bellied Kingfisher: This is the acteon subspecies which only occurs on the Cape Verde islands & is a nice Western Palearctic Tick
Chestnut-bellied Kingfisher: This widespread species helped to make Cape Verde feel more African than the Canary Islands & Madeira which have a more European feel to their Birds
Blackcap: This is the gularis subspecies of Blackcap which is restricted to Cape Verde & the Azores
Blackcap: It was good to get these photos as I only saw a couple of Blackcaps during the day
There was also an African Monarch by the dam. The last ones we had seen were on St Helena.
Little Egrets & Black-winged Stilts
Black-winged Stilt: This is regarded as a monotypic species with just one subspecies throughout its range
It was time to head off to look for some Larks & Cream-coloured Courser. As we were driving away from the reservoir, we saw this group of Helmeted Guineafowls feeding quietly near the road. A quick stop allowed a few photos from the minibus. This widespread Sub-Saharan African species are regarded as a self-sustaining population on the Cape Verde, so it was Cat C addition to my Western Palearctic List.
Helmeted Guineafowl
Helmeted Guineafowl