Birding Africa & Cape Town Pelagics Blog

Masoala: Helmet & Bernier’s Vanga again!

Birding Africa & Cape Town Pelagics — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:31:57 +0000

Birding Africa’s second Masaola extension in 2012 was again a success, with superb looks at Helmet Vanga on three occasions, and after a bit of searching, a family group of Bernier’s Vanga. We also had good view of other specials such as Madagascar Crested Ibis, Madagascar Pratincole and Red-breasted Coua. Red Ruffed Lemur was a major target and a huge highlight was watching a family group playing in the canopy above us! Even though you don’t add too many extra species compared to the main tour, it really is a privilege spending time in this remote wilderness area where the rainforest meets the sea, and it was a superb end to our tour. An especially obliging Sunset Moth, rated as one of the most striking insects in the world, was a real bonus!

See more photographs and trip reports, read the client comments and join one of our guaranteed departures in 2012.

Helmet Vanga was seen well at Masoala on this Madagascar tour with Birding Africa © Callan Cohen & Deirdre Vrancken www.birdingafrica.com

The endemic Helmet Vanga posed repeatedly and obligingly on this Birding Africa tour © Callan Cohen & Deirdre Vrancken www.birdingafrica.com

Bernier's Vanga at Masoala, one of a family group we saw with Birding Africa © Callan Cohen & Deirdre Vrancken www.birdingafrica.com

A male Bernier's Vanga, another endemic seen well at Masoala with Birding Africa © Callan Cohen & Deirdre Vrancken www.birdingafrica.com

Our lodge at Masoala © Callan Cohen & Deirdre Vrancken www.birdingafrica.com

We transferred by boat to a birding site at Masoala forest © Callan Cohen & Deirdre Vrancken www.birdingafrica.com

We watched Red-ruffed Lemurs play above us. They are endemic to Masoala © Deirdre Vrancken & Callan Cohen www.birdingafrica.com

The endemic Sunset Moth, Chrysiridia rhipheus, is a dayflying moth endemic to Madagascar. We saw it on the Masoala extension © Callan Cohen & Deirdre Vrancken www.birdingafrica.com

Madagascar Pratincole breeds at Masoala © Callan Cohen & Deirdre Vrancken www.birdingafrica.com

Cape Town day trips: 161 species in two days!

Birding Africa & Cape Town Pelagics — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:11:45 +0000

John Malloy joined Birding Africa on two day trips from Cape Town to West Coast National Park and to the Hottentots Holland. Tour leader Alastair Kilpin guided him to see 161 species in just two days! See some photographs here and read the trip report.

To enquire about day trips, please contact Marje Hemp info@birdingafrica.com or phone +27 21 531 9148.

Cape Sugarbird on a day trip from Cape Town with Birding Africa © John Malloy

West Coast National Park on a day trip from Cape Town with Birding Africa © John Malloy

Birding in the Hottentots Holland mountains © John Malloy

Large-billed Lark on a day trip from Cape Town with Birding Africa © John Malloy

Cape Batis on a day trip from Cape Town with Birding Africa © John Malloy

Niall Perrins achieves 800 in 2011

Birding Africa & Cape Town Pelagics — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:00:13 +0000

Niall Perrins saw 826 species in Southern Africa in 2011 and raised more than R130000 for White-bellied Korhaan research. Here is a quote from a recent post of Niall’s:

‘As most of you will know, I set out on 1/1/2011 to see 800 birds in Southern Africa in the calendar year. This attempt kicked off with African Wood Owl near Gorongosa at around 3 AM on the 1st January. I travelled most of the region and got to 800 on the 15th October in the panhandle of the Okavango Swamps, aptly with an Owl, being Pel’s Fishing-Owl. I wasn’t finished birding for the year, so decided to see what I could add. At 18h26 on 31/12/2011, I finally added a Red-necked Falcon in Kgalagadi, a bird that eluded me in Caprivi, Namibia and Mozambique.’ The Red-necked Falcon was Niall’s last new bird for 2011, bringing his final tally up to 826.

Cape Town Pelagics helped Niall along the way. Below are some photos from our trip on 29 October 2011 during which Niall added Sabine’s Gull, Great Shearwater and Spectacled Petrel to his year list.

Congratulations Niall on a fantastic achievement!

Niall’s website can be viewed here.

Cape Town Pelagics is a non-profit organisation that supports bird conservation and research.

To join a Cape Town Pelagics trip, contact Amanda on info@capetownpelagics.com

Great Shearwater on a trip with Cape Town Pelagics, 29 October 2011 © Niall Perrins

Spectacled Petrel on a trip with Cape Town Pelagics, 29 October 2011 © Niall Perrins

Wandering Albatross on a trip with Cape Town Pelagics, 29 October 2011 © Niall Perrins

Sabine's Gull on a trip with Cape Town Pelagics, 29 October 2011 © Niall Perrins

Sooty Falcon on a Kruger birding trip!

Birding Africa & Cape Town Pelagics — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:44:43 +0000

Dennis and Alan Vollmar from the USA recently ventured out on a Birding Africa self-drive tour to South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal and Kruger National Park, where they photographed this Sooty Falcon (one of two birds) near Berg en Dal camp on the 29 November 2011.

Sooty Falcons migrate long distances from the centre of their distribution in the Middle East (where they feed on migrant passerines) to overwinter mainly around Madagascar but also in the coastal lowlands of tropical eastern South Africa and Mozambique. While Dennis and Vollmar watched this individual in Kruger, Callan and Deirdre watched another one in Madagascar!

Sooty Falcon in Kruger National Park on a Birding Africa self-drive tour © Dennis Vollmar www.birdingafrica.com

Sooty Falcon in Madagascar on a Birding Africa tour © Callan Cohen www.birdingafrica.com.

Cape Town Pelagics: Matt Eade’s pictures and highlight: Kerguelen Petrel!

Birding Africa & Cape Town Pelagics — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 06:46:49 +0000

Matt Eade of Seaford and Chris Glanfield took these photographs on the Cape Town Pelagics trip of Saturday 12th November.

The undoubted highlight of the trip was a Kerguelen Petrel, a bird not seen for many years in South African waters, which caused great excitement on board!

See the trip report by tour leader Cliff Dorse.

For more information about Cape Town Pelagics trips, please visit www.capetownpelagics.com or contact Amanda info@birdingafrica.com

Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross on a trip with Cape Town Pelagics © Matt Eade

Pintado Petrel on a trip with Cape Town Pelagics © Matt Eade

Southern Giant Petrel on a trip with Cape Town Pelagics © Matt Eade

Shy Albatross on a trip with Cape Town Pelagics © Matt Eade

Cape Town Pelagics trip reports x 6: Kerguelen Petrel & Wandering Albatross!

Birding Africa & Cape Town Pelagics — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:27:22 +0000

Wandering Albatross on a trip with Cape Town Pelagics © Niall Perrins www.niall.co.za

Read about sightings from our 6 most recent Cape Town Pelagics trips: Kerguelen Petrel; Southern Royal Albatross; Southern Right Whale and Manx Shearwater; Great-winged Petrel, Parasitic and Pomarine Jaeger; Black-bellied Storm Petrel and Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross; Spectacled Petrel and Wandering Albatross. See the trip reports on www.capetownpelagics.com

Uganda Shoebill & Gorillas in January: 3 places left!

Birding Africa & Cape Town Pelagics — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:56:45 +0000

Last minute availability: join tour-leaders Callan Cohen and Deirdre Vrancken in search of Uganda’s Shoebill & Gorillas, from 10 to 21 January 2012. For more info or to book, email info@birdingafrica.com or call +27 21 531 9148.

Shoebill flies overhead and starts display on a Birding Africa Uganda tour © Callan Cohen & Deirdre Vrancken www.birdingafrica.com

Watching Shoebill in the Lake Victoria swamps © Callan Cohen & Deirdre Vrancken www.birdingafrica.com

We’ll visit the lush afromontane rainforests of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, with optional Mountain Gorilla tracking; the savanna, lakes and forests of Queen Elizabeth National Park, which holds the 16 km wide Kyambura Gorge, home to chimpanzee; and the acacia savanna and lakes of Lake Mburo National Park. We’ll include three boat trips, one on the Kasinga channel among African Skimmers, bathing hippos and elephants; another along the shores of Lake Mburo in search of White-backed Night-Heron and African Finfoot; and a third on the swamps of Lake Victoria in search of the legendary Shoebill. This trip is filled with birds, primates and diverse East African scenery. We stay minimum 2 nights in each National park in comfortable to upper range accommodation. If you’d like to join or see the details, please contact us at info@birdingafrica.com or +27 21 531 9148.

We also offer a Uganda Specials Tour in July 2012, in search of Green-breasted Pitta, African Green Broadbill and Shoebill, with an optional extension to Rwanda’s Nyungwe Forest.

South Africa: Drakensberg tour with a great start!

Birding Africa & Cape Town Pelagics — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 19:21:32 +0000

One of our favourite places in our home country South Africa is Kruger and Drakensberg. Our recent tour there got off to a great start. Tour leader Callan Cohen shares his excitement about the first few days.

Our October Kruger Drakensberg tour got off to a great start: we had a two-night stay in the mountainous Golden Gate National Park, with endemic Southern Bald Ibis and Black Wildebeest, Lammergeier and Lanner just overhead, and went on a day trip up to the very end of South Africa’s highest road, where we had close views of Drakensberg Rockjumper backed by kilometre-high cliffs, with spring flowers including Giant Blue Scilla.

For more details about this or other South Africa tours, please contact Callan Cohen or Marje Hemp at info@birdingafrica.com.

Birding on the Sentinel for Drakensberg Rockjumper © Callan Cohen www.birdingafrica.com

Giant Blue Scilla at the Sentinel © Callan Cohen www.birdingafrica.com

Spectacled Petrel and Wandering Albatross highlights of a Cape Town Pelagics trip

Birding Africa & Cape Town Pelagics — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 17:51:56 +0000

Spectacled Petrel and Wandering Albatross were highlights of the Cape Town Pelagics trip on 29 October 2011, helping Niall Perrins raise money for White-bellied Korhaan research. See the full trip report here.

Cape Town Pelagics is a non-profit organisation that supports bird conservation and research.

To join a Cape Town Pelagics trip, contact Amanda on info@capetownpelagics.com

Madagascar highlights: 1-16 November 2011

Birding Africa & Cape Town Pelagics — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 11:54:23 +0000

Our Group, after Callan spotted the Madagascar Harrier, on a Birding Africa tour to Madagascar © Callan Cohen & Deirdre Vrancken www.birdingafrica.com

Callan and Deirdre are back from two months tour leading in Madagascar. Here are some of top birds and experiences voted by participants of the second tour, from 1-16 November 2011. For the full list, please click here.

The itinerary included the eastern rainforest sites of Andasibe-Mantadia and Ranomafana National Parks, the western dry deciduous forest and Lac Ravelobe of Ankarafantsika National Park, the south western transitional forest of Zombitse National Park, the spiny desert at Ifaty, the coral rag scrub near Tulear and the sacred island of Nosy Ve, breeding site of Red-tailed Tropicbirds.

Top birds:
1. Madagascar Flufftail (as we sat on the steep forest floor at Mantadia, it encircled us repeatedly and almost walked over someone’s foot!)
2. Common Sunbird-Asity (at Ranomafana, eye-level views of a male feeding)
3. Scaly Ground Roller (at Mantadia, a pair posed for us in the open on a sandbank along the river)
4. Pitta-like Ground Roller (seen several times on the trail!)
5. Collared nightjar roosting (well worth the climb at Andasibe!)
6. Velvet Asity (a male posed obligingly for our cameras)
7. Rufous-headed Ground Roller
8. Madagascar Buttonquail (we must have watched and photographed them for over 20 minutes as they fed in circles along a trail at Ranomafana)
9. Cuckoo-Roller (what an acrobatic flight and haunting call!)

Top experiences:
1. We walked up the steep ridge, breathed heavily and there appeared Madagascar Flufftail: almost walking over someone’s foot!
2. Faint rustling sounds in the undergrowth: Madagascar Buttonquail! Oblivious from our presence, it fed at leisure on the forest floor, turning its body and changing directions, making the typical feeding circles. We watched it for at least 20 minutes at about 3 meter from us.
3. Leaftailed Gecko. Ask Dale and Helen about the sharp stick!
4. Swimming in the cristal clear waters at Nosy Ve with all the birds in hand – just before another (hot) birding group trailed by…
5. Ringtailed lemurs – so well-habituated we could watch their natural antics at length.
6. Everyone was just so kind and patient – thank you!
7. Milne-Edwards Sifakas display at Ranomafana while we were watching the Yellow-bellied Sunbird-Asity.
8. The chameleon Furcifer balteatus, with its huge two rostral appendages and zebra-like colouration, caused much excitement at Ranomafana when awaiting our pool-side lunch. Probably the most impressive chameleon of the trip!

Diademed Sifaka -a family group of this second largest lemur posed above us at Mantadia © Deirdre Vrancken & Callan Cohen www.birdingafrica.com

The impressive Furcifer balteatus chameleon caused much excitement during our pool-side lunch at Ranomafana © Callan Cohen & Deirdre Vrancken

Baobab (Adansonia), Balsa wood (Givotia) and Octopus trees (Didiera) in Madagascar's spiny forest © Callan Cohen & Deirdre Vrancken www.birdingafrica.com

Eastern Woolly Lemur (Avahi laniger) - four cuddled up a their daytime roost at the base of a bird's-nest fern (Asplenium) © Deirdre Vrancken & Callan Cohen