Because of our success on the three preceding days at Masoala, we actually had no specific birds to target for the day, which meant that the pressure was very much off for the birding for the rest of the time we would be spending here at Masoala. Our guide suggested a loop trail through an area of primary forest, seeing what we would see, and for lack of any other option, we took him up on this suggestion. It had rained significantly during the night, and we were curious as to how that might affect the morning's birding.
We actually had a brilliant morning. Although the forest was not rammed with birds, we were able to find several awesome species that showed fantastically well. First was a pair of Short-legged Ground-Cuckoo, which perched nicely in the low light but in the dull conditions were not easy to photograph. Next, we bumped into a pair of Red-breasted Coua in the process of building a nest. The pair kept returning with fresh material to stuff into a small open palm, before scuttling off to go collect more.
But the bird of the morning was undoubtedly a Scaly Ground Roller that we spotted in the understorey near to the trail. We waited and the bird soon ran out onto the path, upon where it began to feed in the open completely unconcerned. We followed, but the bird was always looking away. Frustrated by this, we tried a little bit of playback, and were treated to a fantastic show of the bird, returning to the path, perching obligingly before rushing off back into cover. We have seen all of the Ground Rollers phenomenally well, they have been fantastic.
The rest of the walk passed without much incident. We had excellent views of Spectacled Tetraka, which for a second we thought might be a much rarer species but eventually decided against it. A brief Helmet Vanga was nice, especially as we watched it disembowel a Chameleon. And we were finally treated to some excellent views of Red-ruffed Lemurs, with a few individuals encountered during the morning.
In the afternoon we chilled out, and spent a bit of time in the sea. By the end of the afternoon, however, the dull clouds had rolled back in. In the evening we went for a short walk around the camp. We saw Greater Hedgehog Tenrec close to the path, but it scarpered far too quickly for a photo. There were a couple of other new geckos as well, including Spotted Fish-scale Gecko, which was a very nice surprise and bonus to our ever-growing collection of reptiles for the trip. Otherwise we saw a couple of Scott's Sportive Lemur and a Mouse Lemur sp.
Masoala National Park: Madagascar Green Pigeon, Blue Coua, Red-breasted Coua, Madagascar Ibis, Madagascar Buzzard, Broad-billed Roller, Scaly Ground Roller, Short-legged Ground Roller, Common Newtonia, Red-tailed Vanga, Helmet Vanga, Crested Drongo, Malagasy Paradise Flycatcher, Long-billed Bernieria, Spectacled Tetraka, Malagasy Bulbul, Malagasy White-eye, Common Myna, Madagascar Magpie-Robin, Souimanga Sunbird,
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