1 Jul 23 - Angola - Below The Tundavala Escarpment

We had enjoyed a successful morning at the Tundavala Escarpment where we had been lucky to see an endemic Swierstra's Francolin. The plan for the rest of the day was for an hour & a half drive to Bruco to the South West of the Tundavala Escarpment. There were some fantastic views as the road wound down the escarpment.

The view from the Serra da Leba Escarpment

Another view from the Serra da Leba Escarpment

Another view from the Serra da Leba Escarpment: This escarpment was easily the prettiest part of Angola, even beating the views of Calandula Falls: which are Africa's second largest waterfall

We stopped at one viewpoint to walk down a section of the mid escarpment while Niall drove down to a lower viewpoint to wait for us. There was a Grey-headed Bushshrike by the first viewpoint, but just like every Bushshrike we saw, it was really skulking. After a couple of minutes of hiding in one of the trees, I managed to get some photos as it flew out of its last tree.

Grey-headed Bushshrike: This is the interpositus subspecies that occurs from Angola to West Zambia

Grey-headed Bushshrike: It is a widespread species that occurs over much of Sub-Saharan Africa

Grey-headed Bushshrike

Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax: I tried pishing to get the Grey-headed Bushshrike to show, with no success. However, it interested this Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax

There were flocks of Bradfield's Swifts & Rock Martins along the escarpment edge

Bradfield's Swift: This is the nominate bradfieldi subspecies which occurs in the deserts & arid savanna of South West Angola & Namibia. A second subspecies occurs in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa

Bradfield's Swift

Bradfield's Swift

Bradfield's Swift

Rock Martin: This is the anderssoni subspecies which occurs in North & South West Angola and North & Central Namibia

Looking down to the plains below

After about thirty minutes of walking down part of the escarpment, we were back in the 4WD & heading to a dry forest area at the base of the escarpment. The avifauna changed to some lowland species like Grey Go-away-bird, Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill and White-tailed Shrike that I had seen back in my 1990 trip to Botswana.

The habitat at Bruco reminded me of some parts of Namibia

Looking back at the escarpment

Namaqua Dove: Female. This is the nominate capensis subspecies that occurs in Sub-Saharan Africa, Socotra & Arabia. A second subspecies occurs in Madagascar

Little Bee-eater: This is the meridionalis subspecies that occurs from the Congo basin to East Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central Angola, Uganda & West Kenya South to the Eastern part of South Africa

Red-billed Quelea: This is the lathamii subspecies which occurs from Gabon, the Republic of the Congo & Angola to Malawi, Mozambique & South Africa. They are one of the most abundant avian species in the world

Malbrouck Monkey: Adult

Malbrouck Monkey: Juvenile

Skink (Panaspis wahlbergii): Panaspis wahlbergii is the species of Skink that appears to be the best fit on range. Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison who was able to identify a number of the Lizard species from my published photos

Epaulet Skimmer: This doesn't look too dissimilar to a Black-tailed Skimmer. Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison who was able to identify a number of the Dragonfly species from my published photos

Some of the local cattle

We had been looking for the regional endemic Cinderella Waxbill, which is a scarce & tricky species to find at Bruco. Sadly, we were unlucky. It looks like we had used all of our Birding luck for the day with the views of the Swierstra's Francolin. We stayed as late as we could & had a long drive back to the Casper Resort in the dark. In reality, we couldn't complain about how the day had gone.

11 April 14 - A Pricky End To The Day

The late afternoon saw us back at the km20 water tanks North of Eilat. Simon & I had another look at the bushy pools heading towards km19, while Edge & Nigel checked out the main saline water tanks. I voted to stay in the area till dusk & have another look for the Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse at the km19 freshwater tank, while the others decided to check out a Gull roost closer to town. In the end their Gull roost proved quiet & while I ended up seeing a similar set of species to the previous visits, I did get much better views of the Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse.

Black Stork: One of three birds which appeared to have just arrived

Little Egret: This is the nominate garzetta subspecies which is widespread in Eurasia, East & Southern Africa

Squacco Heron

Egyptian Goose

Whiskered Tern: This is the nominate hybrida subspecies

Namaqua Dove: This is the capensis subspecies which occurs throughout Africa, but it is at the edge of its range in Israel 

Yellow Wagtail: The pale ash-grey head, strong white supercilium & long pale patch under the eye indicates this is the beema subspecies, which is a very common migrant through Israel ending up in Russia from the Lower Volga East to Lake Baikal, the Kirghiz steppes, SW Siberia, N Kazakhstan & the Altai area 

Graceful Prinia

Spanish Sparrow

The others collected me at dusk & we drove back into Eilat along the small road towards the Eilat ringing area. This route proved to be a good choice as not only was it quick as it was much shorter, but I spotted a Desert Hedgehog crossing the track. A quick stop allowed Nigel to jump out & grab it in his hat (which now has an aroma of  Desert Hodgehog wee). It was a frustrating animal to photograph being either rolled up or running surprisingly rapidly.

Desert Hedgehog: This species was something we hoped to see in the Western Sahara, but weren't lucky enough 

Desert Hedgehog: It could move really fast when it wanted to