MADAGASCAR: THE EIGHTH CONTINENT

10 - 28 October 2006

Leader: Josh Engel
Participants: Set Departure

Introduction

With five endemic families (we saw all five), well over 100 endemic species, and some of the world’s most remarkable mammals, Madagascar is one of the world’s premier birding and natural history destinations. Trip lists don’t rival those of the African mainland in length, but in Madagascar the cliché is true—quality over quantity. With bizarre birds like mesites, cuckoo-rollers, ground-rollers, and asities, Madagascar’s is perhaps the most unique avifauna on the planet. It is also a major center of mammalian endemism, with a remarkable five endemic families of primates. No trip to Madagascar would be complete without witnessing the diversity of lemurs; we saw 19 species of these fabulous animals on the extension and main tour including the biggest, Indri, and some of the smallest, the mouse lemurs. This trip starts with the extension to the northwest of the island, and then proceeds with a circuit of the southern half of the island, starting in the rainforest and ending in the strange spiny forest of the southwest.

October 10: After a short flight from Tana to Mahajanga, we were on our way to Ampijoroa, part of Ankarafansika National Park, where we would be based for two nights. Ampijoroa is my favorite birding site in Madagascar, so I was particularly looking forward to this part of the trip. As we neared the park entrance, I spotted a Humblot’s Heron on the lake, so we quickly piled out of the van to have scope looks at the massive bird. Soon John shouted “Lilytrotter!” and sure enough a Madagascar Jacana, one of the key birds for the area, had flown in and landed on the shore in front of us for all to admire. John was on a bit of a role, as not minutes later he ticked his 4,000th bird (and a new family at the same time), a White-headed Vanga.

We then went the rest of the way to the headquarters, where we put our luggage away, had lunch, and lounged around the campsite watching our first lemur, the charming Coquerel’s sifaka, and birds like Greater Vasa Parrot, Gray-headed Lovebird, and Madagascar Turtle-Dove. We spent the afternoon walking trails near the campsite specifically looking for Madagascar’s rarest vanga, Van Dam’s. Along the way our local guide took us by a Torotoroka Scops Owl roost, where the bird sat obligingly not more than a foot off the trail. He then took us to an area where he had found a pair of Van Dam’s Vangas building a nest not long before, and although they still weren’t easy to find we had fine looks at a pair. We also had nice looks at two more of Ampijoroa’s key species, a Red-capped Coua that ran across the trail several times, and a pair of Rufous Vangas that showed nicely at dusk.

We then sat and rested while we waited for dark. As soon as the darkness set in, our local guide immediately found our first gray mouse lemurs, and on the way back to camp we encountered several Milne-Edwards sportive lemurs, western wooly lemurs, a very close Torotoroka Scops Owl, and a group of seven roosting Common Jery huddled together for warmth. All in all, a fantastic way to start the trip.

October 11: We woke up early to begin our search for Schlegel’s Asity in a nearby area of the park. We searched and searched, finding Madagascar Green-Pigeon, Long-billed Tetraka (Greenbul), and others, but no Schlegel’s. It was starting to get warm when our local guide told us to wait and went off in search of our quarry. Eventually he started shouting from quite a distance that he had found one, and we rushed over. By the time we got there he had lost track of it, but then I heard its high-pitched call behind us, looked up, and there it was. Everyone had excellent looks at the adult male before it took off, not to be found again.
Elated, we headed back to the camp, where after a rest we went for a short walk to look for White-breasted Mesite and Coquerel’s Coua. We eventually found the coua and had nice looks as it walked alongside the trail, but the mesite was to elude us this morning.

As we were resting after lunch, some of the participants wandered around, and one came back with reports of a very close Madagascar Fish-Eagle. Everyone got up and headed over to the lake, where the beautiful eagle was standing in shallow water.

We also found Allen's Gallinule along the edge of the lake, and had additional views of Humblot's Heron and Madagascar Jacana. Before we left for our nightwalk our local guide found a wonderful mongoose lemur at the campsite. Having seen the mongoose lemur, our nightwalk then targeted the recently discovered golden-brown mouse lemur, which we saw very well, and as a bonus we saw the very localized rodent Macrotarsomys ingens.

October 12: We set off in the morning in search of White-breasted Mesite, but only after watching the large parties of Sickle-billed Vangas marauding around the campsite. The first mesites that we heard would not come out, but the next pair showed very nicely as they walked several times across the path. This bizarre family is endemic to Madagascar (we saw all three species incredibly well on this trip) and is thought to be most closely related to rails. After lunch we returned to Mahajanga where we enjoyed a peaceful evening around the pool.

October 13: This morning was our scheduled boat trip to the Betsiboka River delta in search of two highly localized endemics—Bernier’s Teal and Madagascar Sacred Ibis. Fortunately both species were easy to locate and cooperated for outstanding looks, though waist-high mud hampered any attempt to photograph them from off the boat. Terek Sandpipers proved to be very common in the river mouth as well, and a Lesser Flamingo was seen feeding on a mudflat with the ibis and teal.

October 14: Today people went sightseeing around Tana and in the evening we met the participants who did not go on the extension. We planned to leave early the next morning for Perinet.

October 15: We spent the morning driving to the rainforest, stopping at various points along the way to see Hamerkop, Dimorphic Egret, Madagascar Kingfisher, and our first Madagascar Fody and Madagascar Wagtail. After lunch at the beautiful lodge where we would be based for the next four nights, we headed out for our first sample of Malagasy rainforest birds. It turned out to be not just a sample, as it didn’t take long for us to locate our first ground-roller of the trip, a Scaly that showed unbelievably well (everyone got scope looks!) as it fed right out in the open in front of us. Already elated, we then saw a dapper black-and-white ruffed lemur feeding in a treetop just off the road. Other birds this afternoon included White-throated Rail, Madagascar Harrier-Hawk, Madagascar Spine-tailed Swift, and Forest Fody.

October 16: We started early this morning to try for some of the more difficult of the rainforest species. We began birding along the road, while the local guide went off to try to find ground-rollers. There are always lots of birds along the road there, and we started out with Nuthatch Vanga, Blue Coua, Rand’s Warbler, Madagascar Blue-Pigeon, Blue Vanga, and Chabert’s Vanga. We got word on where a Short-legged Ground-Roller had just been seen, so we immediately went for it. It was a difficult walk to get there, and the bird had stopped calling when we got there. While we waited a mixed flock came through, and we added Velvet Asity, Ward’s Flycatcher, Red-tailed Vanga, and Nelicourvi Weaver. We then switched trails, seeing Dark Newtonia and our first Tetrakas, and a short while later a very curious red-bellied lemur came down a trunk just a few meters from us before dashing off with the rest of her troop.

In the afternoon we headed the other direction from the lodge, to look specifically for roosting night birds. They didn’t disappoint, and we had fabulous looks at day-roosting Rainforest Scops Owl and Collared Nightjar. We also saw a brilliantly green Parson’s chameleon and a large group of common brown lemurs. As it was getting dark we tried calling in a Long-eared Owl—we didn’t have to wait long for the bird to fly and sit right above our heads for a minute before flying off.

October 17: We again started early along the road this morning. One of the first animals encountered was an eastern gray bamboo lemur sitting on an exposed bamboo stalk along the road that didn’t seem to mind our gawking. We located a variety of key birds, including great Madagascar Pygmy Kingfisher, a very cooperative male Red-tailed Vanga, a lovely Tylas Vanga, as well as good looks at several of the treetop warblers—Stripe-throated and Green Jery and Rand’s Warbler. We then hit the trails, where most people had a nice look at the very difficult Red-breasted Coua. We then crossed a stream to chase down a singing Pitta-like Ground-Roller. It wasn’t singing as we approached, but it didn’t take long to spot it feeding on the ground not far in front of us, and everyone had great views of this beautiful endemic. We also encountered a troop of diademed sifakas, which after stopping to check us out momentarily, and giving us great looks, disappeared into the depths of the forest. A sleeping indri that we located when we first got off the bus in the morning was still snoozing in the same place when we arrived back at the bus a couple hours later.

We returned to the other of the area's parks in the afternoon, targeting a couple birds and ready for a nightwalk. The local guide first took us to see one of the world's best reptiles, the incredibly well camouflaged leaf-tailed gecko. Nearby we located a singing Crossley's Babbler, after which we split up, with the group and the local guide going for a walk to look for Madagascar Crested Ibis, while I stayed and staked out a pond where they had recently been seen. Unfortunately, other than some fresh ibis droppings, there was no sign of the bird at either location. We then waited for dark, and just as dusk hit, two greater dwarf lemurs came out of the forest to feed on bananas at one of the areas hotels. It is a real treat to see these lemurs up close. The night walk then revealed more dwarf lemurs, as well as various chameleons, frogs, and geckos.

October 18: This morning our primary target was Rufous-headed Ground-Roller, the bird that adorned our 2005 catalogue and t-shirt. Our local guide took us along a trail, and as soon as he mentioned we were in the right area, one began singing across a gully. Undeterred by the minor geographical feature between us and the bird, we went down the slope, across the stream, and back up the other side. The guide was waiting for us with the bird in front of him, and after some moving around everyone got great views of this stunner. On the hike back out we located a White-throated Oxylabes sitting on a nest. We then went in search of the largest and loudest of the lemurs, the indri. They were not difficult to locate, and we were lucky enough to hear their deafening calls from right overhead, surely one of the top experiences of the trip. On the way back out we came across an unbelievably cooperative Red-fronted Coua, feeding at eyelevel just a few meters away.

In the afternoon we went back to the forest in search of the last few forest birds possible in this area, particularly Wedge-tailed Jery and Gray-crowned Tetraka. At one point we stopped for the local guide to go and check another area, and I wandered off to check the trail ahead. A short while later I found a Wedge-tailed Jery with a group of Spectacled Tetrakas, and ran back to fetch the group. As they approached, a couple of them glimpsed the jery, but I then located some very cooperative Gray-crowned Tetrakas in the same flock! Everyone had nice looks at this handsome bird. One participant had stayed back to walk along the road, and when we got back she told us about having been lucky enough to have seen a diademed sifaka run across the road.

October 19: Today was a long travel day, but it got off to a great start with a delightful pair of Madagascar Rail in a small marsh en route. We also saw our first Madagascar Swamp-Warblers in the same marsh.

October 20: Another long travel day to Ranomafana National Park. Along the way we encountered our first Alpine and Madagascar Black Swifts. We arrived in the afternoon, and went in search of some very local marsh birds. We quickly located a singing Gray Emutail, and after a bit of effort everyone saw this skulker quite well. As a bonus, while looking for the emutail a male Madagascar Partridge flushed from underfoot and was seen by all. The local guides and I then went to the very back of the marsh to try and flush Madagascar Snipe. After wading through the entire marsh, we finally flushed one that flew directly in front of the group for all to see well.

October 21: This was a morning of hiking at a high elevation rainforest, looking for a variety of difficult birds. The morning started off well, with a Rufous-headed Ground-Roller seen by some along the edge of the trail. A Cryptic Warbler proved true to its name, but I eventually located it sitting high in a dead tree, and everyone had scope looks before it disappeared. As we continued, I noticed a couple Wedge-tailed Jeries, and those led us to a fantastic mixed flock. Although we didn't add any new birds in the flock, it was great to get further good looks at birds like Ashy Cuckoo-Shrike, Red-tailed Vanga, Tylas Vanga, and Ward's Flycatcher. We eventually made it up to the ridgetop forests famous for the very rare Yellow-bellied Sunbird-Asity. We soon were hearing them, but seeing them proved difficult. We located a female that some people saw well, but it was only a short time later that everyone had great looks at a cooperative female. We also found an adult male Common Sunbird-Asity in the same area, but Brown Emutails proved frustrating, and despite hearing three different individuals singing at close range, we didn't even get a glimpse. We were nearly at the bus when we heard a strange, soft call next to us, which proved to be Yellow-browed Oxylabes. They were typically skulky, but about half the group got nice looks before they disappeared into the bush.
The afternoon was spent in another section of the park, famous for its nocturnal viewing area, which did not disappoint. Not only did we have the usual brilliant views of fanaloka (striped civet) and the utterly adorable brown mouse lemur, but a ring-tailed mongoose also came around and stayed for a while.

October 22: We started this morning with one bird in mind: Brown Mesite. After a bit of searching, one responded to playback, and we hurried off in search of the singing bird. We came to the area where we heard it, played the tape again, and it sang back from very close range. Pretty soon we were all watching a pair of Brown Mesites foraging on the ground, in the open, no more than a few meters in front of us. Elated, we then went to go and check out the region's bamboo lemurs. On the way, we all had beautiful views of an adult male Common Sunbird-Asity and very nice looks at a group of red-fronted brown lemurs, including scope looks at a baby. We then found a very close group of the extremely rare greater bamboo lemur, and a few minutes later we were all looking at a single golden bamboo lemur, which was first discovered in the 1980s.

Back along the road, we tracked down a singing Forest Rock-Thrush for great views. After lunch, we traveled to our next hotel, where those lucky enough to be sitting out enjoying a cold drink in the evening watched a Marsh Owl fly across the adjacent lake.

October 23: Today was a long travel, made slightly longer by an adventure with a flat tire. Upon reaching our hotel in the spectacular scenery of Isalo National Park, we located Benson's Rock Thrush and got our first taste of western Madagascar birds, such as Madagascar Hoopoe. A Torotoroka Scops Owl responded to the tape in the evening, but wouldn't come out. We did have very nice looks at our first Madagascar Nightjar, and one participant lucked out by finding a White-browed Owl sitting above his bungalow as he returned early from dinner.

October 24: This morning was our morning of birding the dry deciduous forests of Zombitse National Park. It took us no time at all to locate two of the key species. Straightaway we heard a party of Appert's Tetrakas, a species only known from this park. The local guide went around to try to flush them towards us, and as we waited Diane noticed a Giant Coua in a bare tree directly above us. We all had great looks at this appropriately named species, and moments later the Tetrakas came out and we all had very nice looks at the skulkers. The next target was Coquerel’s Coua, which proved a little more furtive than its larger cousin that we had seen earlier, but we still managed very nice looks, and a few minutes later we watched a pair of the lovely Crested Couas foraging in bare tree. We were tantalized by distant calling Madagascar Crested Ibis, but other than fresh droppings (again!) we found no sign of the bird itself. We also saw massive Oustalet's chameleons--surely one of the non-birding highlights of the tour--and some beautifully patterned Standing's day geckos.

After a break we went for another walk, targeting Verreaux's sifaka. On the way to their territory we heard a Rufous Vanga singing, and a pair responded very strongly to playback so everyone enjoyed very nice scope looks at this handsome vanga. The sifakas here are not well habituated to people and were elusive with only a few of the participants getting brief looks.
In the afternoon we arrived at our hotel to find the grounds crawling with Sakalava Weavers, and after a rest we walked around the scrub outside the hotel, where we found Subdesert Brush-Warbler, Green-capped Coua, and Madagascar Buttonquail. We made it back to the hotel to enjoy cold beers and a beautiful sunset over the Mozambique Channel.

October 25: This morning was our scheduled boat trip to Nosy Ve and Anakao. We awoke to a very calm day, and after a failed attempt to locate Madagascar Sandgrouse we were off to the island of Nosy Ve. Upon arrival we immediately located our first target of the morning, Crab Plover. A flock of eleven was resting on the beach with a flock of Great Crested, Lesser Crested, and Common Terns. Humblot's Herons were on the shore, White-fronted Plovers were on the beach, and we caught our first glimpses of Red-tailed Tropicbirds flying overhead. After going for a swim in the crystal clear water, we hopped back in the boat to the other side of the island where we got to see the tropicbirds on the ground. There were still many young, some quite young, with adults actively flying around.

After enjoying the tropicbirds, we took the short boat ride to the nearby mainland where we quickly located the localized Littoral Rock-Thrush, and then were on our way back to Tulear. Upon arriving, we were transferred to ox carts for the ride over the mudflats back to the bus, but our birding wasn't done yet. I spotted Saunder's Tern from the ox cart, and everyone got to experience the joy of a lifer seen from this unique mode of transportation.

October 26: We started the morning again looking for Madagascar Sandgrouse, which a couple of other birders had seen arrive the previous morning at a watering hole at 6:30. Creatures of habit that they are, I heard their call promptly at 6:30, and we watched as a pair flew directly towards us, landing on a patch of bare dirt just 20 meters in front of us, where they sat until after we left them. We then went to La Table, famous as the location were the discovery of Red-shouldered Vanga took place about 10 years ago. We met our local guide there, who had staked out not only a Red-shouldered Vanga nest, but a Verreaux's Coua nest as well. We had great views of male and female Red-shouldered Vangas, both on the nest and off, and we saw Verreaux's Coua on the nest and then had very nice looks at one in a bare treetop just as we arrived back at the bus. We also got lucky with a couple bonus birds in this area. As we were watching the coua on its nest, a Lafresnaye's Vanga started calling, and eventually sat in a treetop for all to see. Then on the way back to the bus the local guide found a pair of Running Couas along the track, and they were uncharacteristically cooperative providing everyone with excellent looks at this beautiful coua.

We stopped several times on the drive north to look at the tidal flats. Among the first birds we encountered there was a flock of six Lesser Flamingoes. A variety of waders were also present, including Greater Sandplover, Common Ringed Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit, and Black-bellied Plover, as well as Humblot's and Gray Herons, White-faced Whistling Duck, and Caspian Tern.

That afternoon we had our first experience with the spiny forest, a bizarre and unique ecosystem full of baobobs, octopus trees, and fantastic birds. Having seen many of the area's specialties already, we had a short list of target species. At the top of the list were the region's two real megas, Long-tailed Ground-Roller and Subdesert Mesite. We went for the ground-roller first, and the local guides took us directly to the right place. It wasn't entirely cooperative, but we all had nice flight looks. Another individual a little while later performed better and we watched it running on the ground. While walking around looking for the ground-roller, we found two other of the areas specialties, Archbold's Newtonia and Thamnornis Warbler. We got great views of both, seeing the rufous around the eye of the newtonia and the green wings and tail of Thamnornis. On our way back to the bus one of the local guides shouted to us that he had found a mesite, and we hurried over to find the bird sitting in a tree immobile. We had great scope looks, and after a serious session of photo taking, we headed back to the bus.

October 27: This morning we set off to look for Sickle-billed Vanga. It took us all of two minutes, as when we arrived at the local guide's house there was a pair in his yard. We all enjoyed wonderful looks at this large vanga, then went to a nearby site for Madagascar Plover. We quickly located this attractive plover, including a female sitting on a nest. After this success we birded along the road looking for Banded Kestrel. We never did find the kestrel, but we saw lots of Madagascar Kestrels, Madagascar Harrier-Hawk, Madagascar Buzzard, Madagascar Green-Pigeon, and a couple more Sickle-billed Vangas.
We spent the afternoon at a nearby lake, where we saw a variety of shorebirds, including Black-winged Stilt, Common Greenshank, Kittlitz's Plover, and Curlew Sandpiper, plus Hottentot Teal, Little Grebe, and a variety of waders. We also enjoyed watching large flocks of Gray-headed Lovebirds feeding on the seeding marsh grasses.

October 28: The final day of the trip, we headed back to Tana in the morning. Upon arrival, we went to a lake in Tana with a large heronry that hosts Madagascar Pond Heron, Black Egret, Common Squacco Heron, Dimorphic Egret, Black-crowned Night-Heron, and Cattle Egret. We also added African Openbill, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, and Comb Duck to the trip list. It was a great conclusion to a fabulous trip.


Systematic Bird, Mammal, and Reptile Lists

BIRDS (Endemics in bold, regional endemics in italics; H indicates heard only)

1	Little Grebe	Tachybaptus ruficollis
2	Madagascar Little Grebe	Tachybaptus pelzelnii
3	Red-tailed Tropicbird	Phaethon rubricauda
4	African Darter	Anhinga melanogaster
5	Grey Heron	Ardea cinerea
6	Humblot's Heron	Ardea humbloti
7	Purple Heron	Ardea purpurea
8	Great Egret	Ardea alba
9	Black Heron	Egretta ardesiaca
10	Dimorphic Egret	Egretta dimorpha
11	Common Squacco Heron	Ardeola ralloides
12	Madagascar Pond-Heron	Ardeola idae
13	Cattle Egret	Bubulcus ibis
14	Striated (Green-backed ) Heron	Butorides striatus
15	Black-crowned Night-Heron	Nycticorax nycticorax
16	Hamerkop	Scopus umbretta
17	Yellow-billed Stork	Mycteria ibis
18	African Openbill	Anastomus lamelligerus
19	Madagascar Sacred Ibis	Threskiornis bernieri
20	Madagascar Crested Ibis (H)	Lophotibis cristata
21	Lesser Flamingo	Phoenicopterus minor
22	Fulvous Whistling-Duck	Dendrocygna bicolor
23	White-faced Whistling-Duck	Dendrocygna viduata
24	Comb Duck	Sarkidiornis melanotos
25	Bernier's Teal	Anas bernieri
26	Red-billed Teal	Anas erythrorhyncha
27	Hottentot Teal	Anas hottentota
28	Yellow-billed Kite	Milvus aegyotus
29	Madagascar Fish-Eagle	Haliaeetus vociferoides
30	Madagascar Harrier-Hawk	Polyboroides radiatus
31	Frances' Goshawk	Accipiter francesii
32	Madagascar Buzzard	Buteo brachypterus
33	Madagascar Kestrel	Falco newtoni
34	Madagascar Partridge	Margaroperdix madagascarensis
35	White-breasted Mesite	Mesitornis variegata
36	Brown Mesite	Mesitornis unicolor
37	Subdesert Mesite	Monias benschi
38	Madagascar Buttonquail	Turnix nigricollis
39	Madagascar Flufftail (H)	Sarothrura insularis
40	Madagascar Wood-Rail	Canirallus kioloides
41	Madagascar Rail	Rallus madagascariensis
42	White-throated Rail	Dryolimnas cuvieri
43	Allen's Gallinule	Porphyrio alleni
44	Common Moorhen	Gallinula chloropus
45	Madagascar Jacana	Actophilornis albinucha
46	Greater Painted-snipe	Rostratula benghalensis
47	Crab Plover	Dromas ardeola
48	Black-winged Stilt	Himantopus himantopus
49	Black-bellied (Grey) Plover	Pluvialis squatarola
50	Common Ringed Plover	Charadrius hiaticula
51	Madagascar Plover	Charadrius thoracicus
52	Kittlitz's Plover	Charadrius pecuarius
53	Three-banded Plover	Charadrius tricollaris
54	White-fronted Plover	Charadrius marginatus
55	Greater Sandplover	Charadrius leschenaultii
56	Madagascar Snipe	Gallinago macrodactyla
57	Bar-tailed Godwit	Limosa lapponica
58	Whimbrel	Numenius phaeopus
59	Common Greenshank	Tringa nebularia
60	Terek Sandpiper	Xenus cinereus
61	Common Sandpiper	Actitis hypoleucos
62	Ruddy Turnstone	Arenaria interpres
63	Sanderling	Calidris alba
64	Curlew Sandpiper	Calidris ferruginea
65	Caspian Tern	Sterna caspia
66	Lesser Crested Tern	Sterna bengalensis
67	Great Crested Tern	Sterna bergii
68	Common Tern	Sterna hirundo
69	Saunders' Tern	Sterna saundersi
70	Madagascar