1 Jul 23 - Angola - A Bonus Endemic

It was another early start, but at least it was only a twenty minute drive back to a spot on the Tundavala Escarpment that we had scouted the previous afternoon. As we entered the rocky area at the top of the road, we flushed a couple of Freckled Nightjars from the road. Fortunately, they landed again & they provided me with a bonus pre-dawn Tick. This area had long parts of the escarpment that was heading away from us on the left and the right. The key endemic we were looking for was Swierstra's Francolin. They call in the first few hours of light & we were expecting that they would call from a prominent position to allow their call to carry from the escarpment edge.

The Tundavala Escarpment: There are some stunning views from the edge of the escarpment

After about thirty minutes of searching, a Swierstra's Francolin started calling from part of the escarpment that was heading away to our left. It sounded like it was about a half mile from us, but there was a lot of the cliff and at varying elevations to scan and it wasn't possible to figure out exactly where it was calling from. Swierstra's Francolins are the most difficult of the Angolan endemics to see. Most trips only hear them or if they are really lucky, they get a brief flight after flushing one: so I wasn't optimistic. Still there were worse places to sit in Angola & scan for a Tick, whilst supping on an early morning coffee, especially as it was warmer than we were expecting.

Another view from the Tundavala Escarpment

We spent a couple of hours scanning up and down and from near to far along the escarpment cliffs. Finally, after a couple of hours of looking, Niall shouted that he could see a Swierstra's Francolin. We were spread out & looking from various viewpoints. There was a quick scramble to get to where Niall was sitting, but quickly we had all enjoyed prolonged scope views. Niall was happy as it was one of the few Ticks for him: as he hadn't connected on previous trips. It was a calling from a prominent position that was maybe six hundred metres away and lower down the escarpment than our position. The photos aren't brilliant, but given most Birders fail to see Swierstra's Francolin, it was an achievement to get them.

Swierstra's Francolin: This is a West Angolan endemic

I hadn't taken my scope on this trip and I was using the camera to photograph distant objects of interest to zoom into to check they weren't a calling Swierstra's Francolin. When I sorted my photos in the UK, I found a photo I had taken of the rock it was calling from, well before it was found. But it wasn't on there at the time. It appears that some of the time it was calling from rocks that weren't in our view, before finally moving to a rock we could see.

The Swierstra's Francolin was calling from a prominent rock on this escarpment

After twenty minutes of watching it, I saw it walk off its rock & disappear back into the vegetation. This was the sign we could go back to the 4WD & have our field breakfast.

Buffy Pipit: This is the neumanni subspecies which breeds on the Angolan plateau and disperses to Namibia & Botswana

After breakfast, we drove down a couple of miles to an area of forest with barbeque grills set up.

Pied Crow: This monotypic species occurs in Sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar, Aldabra & the Comoro Islands

Part of the forest with the barbeque grills: Initially, the attendants didn't want us to enter. But it was a language problem and we didn't appreciate there was an entrance fee. Once the one US dollar fee per person was paid, we were OK to enter

The barbeque area: This was a mixture of tables, surrounded by areas of flowering plants, dry bush areas, as well as, some bigger fruiting trees around a small stream

Black-collared Barbet: This is the bocagei subspecies which occurs from South Angola to North Namibia, North Botswana, South Zambia & West Zimbabwe

Cape Crombec: This is the flecki subspecies which occurs from South Angola to East Namibia, East Botswana, South West Zambia & West Zimbabwe

Variable Sunbird: This is the falkensteini subspecies which occurs from Gabon to North Angola, the East of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia & Zimbabwe

Variable Sunbird: This was the commonest Sunbird we saw at Tundavala

Variable Sunbird: The same individual

Variable Sunbird: The same individual

We saw plenty of Variable Sunbirds at Tundavala. But the species we were looking for was an adult Oustalet's Sunbird. Finally, we found one in the barbeque park. We had seen a number of out of plumage immature Sunbirds and seeing the adult Oustalet's Sunbird confirmed my suspicions that the immatures were all Variable Sunbirds.

Oustalet's Sunbird: This is the nominate oustaleti subspecies which occurs in Central & South Angola. A second subspecies occurs from North East Zambia to Malawi & extreme South West Tanzania

Angolan Agama sp.: This appears to be an Agama & is perhaps an immature male Namib Rock Agama which have a brick red head and blue body

Angolan Agama sp.: Another photo of the same individual

Congo Rope Squirrel: They were easily seen in the barbeque area

We had spent a couple of hours of the morning unsuccessfully looking for the last Angolan endemic, Angola Slaty-flycatcher. We decided to try another Birding site below the escarpment in the afternoon & to leave Angola Slaty-flycatcher for a final look on the last day.

30 Jun 23 - Angola - It's Time For A Chat

It was another day with a long two hundred & fifty mile drive from Huambo to Lubango. We left at dawn and stopped after a couple of hours for an en-route breakfast break. It was a largely uneventful six hours drive that wasn't helped by a long stretch of dirt tracks around many miles of tarmac road that was closed off: presumably for resurfacing although it looked like no work was taking place on the road. The only highlight of the drive was a pair of Lanner Falcons.

Lanner Falcon: This is the nominate biarmicus subspecies which occurs from Angola & the South of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Kenya & South Africa

Finally, we arrived at the decent looking Casper Resort in the middle of Lubango. Despite the decent appearance there were the usual problems with the slow arrival of meals and also a barely functioning wifi, which was a surprise given it looked an upmarket hotel. After a slow late lunch snack, we left the hotel for the stunning escarpment area at Tundavala. This was easily the best looking location we visited in Angola with some cracking rock formations and the vertical escarpment edge, overlooking a much lower plain. There was a fair bit of light woodland a couple of miles before the escarpment edge. We tried a couple of brief stops before continuing on to the top.

Pale Flycatcher: This was a fairly common species in the woodland. This is the murinus subspecies which occurs from Gabon, Republic of the Congo, & Angola to the South East of South Sudan, West & South Kenya, and South to North East Namibia, North Botswana, West & South Zambia & Zimbabwe

The top of the escarpment included areas of large stone boulders. This was surrounded by larger areas of grassland which is undoubtedly, burnt regularly as that is a national past-time.

Some of the boulders were very attractive

Another large boulder

The area was largely open grassland behind the boulder fields and the escarpment

Some areas around the boulders had wild flowers growing, which shows how good the habitat could be if the locals stopped their burning obsession

The road ends by one of the more impressive areas of the escarpment with stunning views over the plains below.

The view from the escarpment over the plain below

The escarpment edge had parties of Bradfield's Swifts and Rock Martins which appeared & as quickly dispersed again

These young girls were chasing each of the tourist groups wanting money for posing for photos

The top endemic that we were looking for this afternoon was the gorgeous Angola Cave-chat. We were glad to quickly see the first of several Angola Cave-chats.

Angola Cave-chat: This monotypic endemic occurs in the rocky caves & gorges of West Angola

Pied Crow: This monotypic species occurs in Sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar, Aldabra & the Comoro Islands

Pied Crow: Pied Crows were an erratic, but regular, species that we saw while driving, but this was the first time we had seen them at a Birding site

Wailing Cisticola: This is the namba subspecies which occurs in the highlands of West Angola

Wailing Cisticola

Violet-eared Waxbill: This monotypic species occurs from Angola to Namibia, Zambia, South Zimbabwe, Botswana & Northern South Africa

Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax: Yellow-spotted Rock Hyraxes seem to enjoy a lazy life: with some stunning views from their territories and probably a safe life providing they can keep out of sight of large Raptors

Namib Rock Agama: Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison for helping to identify a number of the Lizard species from my published photos

We carried on Birding until dusk & it was nice to only have a twenty minute drive back to the Casper Resort.

6 Jul 18 - Pied Crow: An Unlikely Vagrant?

When odd rarities turn up in the UK where there is a chance they may get added onto the British Bird List, I think I am generally good at being able to predict which will be accepted. However, after the Chinese Pond Heron in Kent which I saw on its last day, a level of doubt has crept into the back of my mind on the odd occasion. I wasn't sure if this would be accepted, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt. But I combined it with a trip to my old stamping grounds at Dungeness with mate Marcus Lawson, so it would be a good trip even if rejected. But generally, I get my calls right. However, the appearance of a Pied Crow has left me with a bit more doubt than normal. It first turned up at Spurn where it was seen flying South on 13 June 18. Two days later it reappeared in Winterton, Norfolk & moved around the Great Yarmouth area before heading up towards Cromer for a few days, until it was last seen on 23 June 18. Fast forward three days & it reappeared in Clevedon, near Bristol where it hung around until 1 July 18. Two days later it appeared again in a coastal static caravan site on the coastline of South Wales near St David's (where it stayed till 8 July 18). It hasn't been relocated since.

Pied Crow: The initial views when it dropped in

Pied Crow

Pied Crows are a sub Saharan species occurring widely across the whole continent South of the Sahara, as well as, Madagascar & the Comoros Islands. So on paper not a likely addition to the British List. However, there have been a number of well documented records of them following the coast North into Mauritania, Western Sahara, Morocco & Egypt with other records in the Canaries, Spain, Portugal & Italy. Although I don't think all the European records have been accepted. I believe their method of travel has included hitching lifts on boats so similar to the way that Indian House Crows have colonised new countries by arriving into ports. The downside is that they are also kept in captivity in the UK & have escaped in the past. However, any individuals if held properly in captivity should be colour ringed. One that has been publicised as escaping in 2017 had a clearly obvious dark blue ring. But the photos show that this widely travelled individual wasn't colour ringed. On balance I think this probably won't get accepted, however, following the Chinese Pond Heron, there was a small doubt at the back of my mind. I was also swayed a bit by this individual's movements as generally I've not been aware of too many escape Birds in the past that have travelled around as much as this Pied Crow has done.

Pied Crow: It reappeared within a few minutes

Could I convince myself to travel to South Wales to see it on the small chance it would get accepted. The answer was no, unless I could find a better reason to go in that direction. There were no Butterflies or Dragonflies that I could tie into the trip. However, it was on the headland by St David's and daily boat trips run form this headland out to Grassholm Island, the third largest Gannet colony in the UK, as well as, Cetacean trips. That sounded a good reason to head off to South Wales, given the continual good weather. A quick check of the internet confirmed that boat trips were going several times a day to Grassholm which looked for Cetaceans. I still hadn't decided to go. However, I woke up well before dawn the following morning & decided that a trip to South Wales might be more fun than waiting for dawn, so I could walk along the South Haven patch trying adding Little Ringed Plover to my South Haven patch list. LRPs are just about annual in late June/July, but they disappear when the first dog walkers flush them from the beach. After a quick breakfast, I grabbed the cameras and optics & headed off for St David's.

Pied Crow

Pied Crow: It came into food, but so will Carrion Crows & Jackdaws if people throw food to them

It had been present for several days in the overflow camping field in the caravan park, so when I arrived at Pencarnan caravan park, I drove through the site & carried onto the overflow camping field. There were a few tents & towing caravans set up, but plenty of empty field. The field provided a great view over the incredibly beautiful coastline & across to Ramsey Island which lies about a half mile offshore. There was a steady movement of Rooks & Jackdaws between various farmland fields on either side of the camping field, but no sign of the Pied Crow. After an hour, I decided to have a drive around on the headland to see if I could find it in other fields, as it had been mobile on occasions. Another hour passed and no sign, so it was back to the caravan park. This time I stopped at their reception & shop to ask if they had seen it. The answer was yes, it had spent most of the morning on the open grass fairly close to the reception, but it wasn't around at the moment. I bought some snacks for lunch & made a coffee & set back to wait. About ten minutes later it flew in & landed 50 metres away. I took some photos & moved a few metres to my left to get a better background on the Pied Crow, but it was spooked & disappeared again. Ten more minutes later & a bit of bread thrown down & it was back again. This time it was around on & off for about 30 minutes before it disappeared. At this point, I decided to ring one of the boat operators to check about trips that afternoon. I was quickly booked on a Cetacean trip going out to Grassholm, which lies about 18 miles offshore & then onto the Smalls Lighthouse, before returning. I had to pop back into St David's to pay for my boat & bus tickets, as there is very limited parking where the boats leave from. This left enough time for a proper lunch before getting the bus. The trip isn't cheap at £60 for 2.5 hours in a fast rib, but the boat handlers were good. We quickly stopped for every party of Dolphins & Porpoises seen, as well as, having the time to really enjoy Grassholm. I was also impressed when they pulled over to retrieve a floating balloon from the sea: a nasty problem which has a good track record of killing sealife which mistake them for food. Overall a great trip which I will cover in the next two Blog Posts. I couldn't justify going to Clevedon to see the Pied Crow while it was there. Hanging around in front of a cafe waiting for it to appear, then heading home would have been a waste of a day. However, the boat trip was so good it made it a great day out.

Pied Crow

Pied Crow: There are clearly no rings on its legs

Finally, will the Pied Crow get added to the British List. Personally, I don't think it has a high chance. However, while it was happy to come in if there was available food, it was nervous & easily spooked. It was never as tame or approachable as my local Jackdaws and it isn't ringed. Given the previous Western Palearctic & European records they clearly wander outside of their main range & with their presumed ability to use ships or fly, I wouldn't be surprised if the Southern European records are largely valid records. As for this record, then I guess we will have to see what the BOU think.