Today we were off to Mount Moco. This is one of a number of large hills which stand out on the already high Angolan plateau in this part of the country. After over an hour of driving, we reached the turn off to the village. Initially, it was another very rough track for the first couple of miles, but it did improve to a more typical dirt track for the several remaining miles. Right at the start we saw our one & only Angola Lark. The reality is if we hadn't of seen it, we would have spent more time looking for others.
Angola Lark: This is the angolensis subspecies which occurs in North & West Central Angola. There are two other subspecies which occur in parts of East Angola, South Democratic Republic of the Congo & North West Zambia
Angola Lark: It was a good looking Lark
It was a depressing drive through miles of a clearly regularly burnt plateau.
Some of the burnt plateau
Red-capped Lark: This is the spleniata subspecies which occurs in South West Angola & North West Namibia
Buffy Pipit: This is the neumanni subspecies which breeds on the Angolan plateau and disperses to Namibia & Botswana
Capped Wheatear: This is the neseri subspecies which occurs from South Angola & North Namibia to West Botswana
Lesser Striped Swallow: This is the ampliformis subspecies which occurs from South Angola to North Namibia, West Zambia & North West Zimbabwe
Rock-loving Cisticola: This is the bailunduensis subspecies of Rock-loving Cisticola which occurs in Central Angola. It has been proposed as a potential split in the past as Huambo Cisticola
I will continue with the species in the patches of remnant woodland on the hillside in the next Blog Post.
Angolan Flower sp.: This was a common species on Mount Moco foothill
