To try and condense our itinerary and gain a few days at later sites, today we would try to ambitiously cover a few sites, hopefully not missing any of our targets. To accomplish this we left our lodging at Reserva Reniala at 04:00 and drove an hour south to the upland scrub site of La Table. Fortunately, our success the previous day meant we only had three targets to see here. However, seeing them all could be difficult, as we only had at most three hours to do it, so we recruited a local guide to help out.
Fortunately, we made swift progress with our birding. We
arrived just before sunrise and quickly picked up the calls of Lafresnayes
Vanga. Although distant, we eventually spotted the bird perched distantly atop
one of the tallest trees on site. Verrauxs Coua was a bit more challenging, as
we heard the birds first but then lost them, although only for a short while.
Soon we had fantastic views of a bird perched right in front of us.
Our final target was perhaps the most important, the
Red-shouldered Vanga. It can only be seen here on our itinerary. We heard a
bird but it took a while to track down and even longer for it to show at all well.
In the end, we did see the bird very well, but at that crucial moment the camera
wouldn’t focus and the resulting photos were a little blurred. A frustrating
encounter, but ultimately we did see the bird well and with all three targets
wrapped up by 08:00, we had good time to make tracks for our next destination.
The only additional new bird besides our three targets was a couple of
Madagascar Larks that showed quite nicely.
Our destination late in the morning was the harbour in
Toliara, where we would get the boat to Anakoa where we would spend the
afternoon and the night. As we were driving into Toliara we passed a small
wetland area and opted to spend 20 minutes having a look. It was worth it as we
found Malagasy Swamp Warbler, Madagascar Cisticola and Malagasy Kingfisher all
here, all of which were new birds for us. There was also a nice selection of
waders including many Kitlitzs Plover and a single Three-banded Plover.
Because of our success in the morning, we arrived at the
‘Anakoa Transfer’ around 09:00, perfect timing to catch the boat which would
take us across the delta to the small beachfront town where we would bird the
afternoon. Once we arrived there we checked in to Chez Emilie hotel on the
seafront and had a bite to eat, before commissioning a boat across to the small
island of Nosy Ve. Here we would spend most of the afternoon looking at the
island's colony of Red-tailed Tropicbirds and hoping for some nice waders.
The tropicbirds were fantastic. Having never seen one before
I was surprised by how big they were, and it was spectacular to see them flying
around directly overhead. We even found a bird sitting on a nest right next to
the boardwalk path. The colony was not as large as I was expecting but at a
rough estimate I would say we saw around 30 Tropicbirds.
The wader front was excellent. Although numbers were limited, there was a decent diversity on offer including Turnstone, Grey Plover,
Bar-tailed Godwit and Whimbrel. But the undoubted highlight on this front, was
a distant flock of Crab Plovers roosting on a small sandbank. Having dipped
this species in Oman, the one bird apparently it was impossible to dip on that trip, it was
good to set the record straight. It would have been nice to see them closer on
the deck, but they only remained distant in the haze. Fortunately, we did have a
nice flyby after about half an hour, when four birds flew past reasonably
close, in the company of a Bar-tailed Godwit.
We returned to the mainland at around 15:30, and spent the next
hour relaxing/searching for Litoral Rock Thrush, the only Madagascar endemic
found in this region that we needed to find. We managed to get a female coming
close right to our room, and although it showed well we failed to get a photo.
Fortunately, we also found a young male in a neighboring hotel garden who
perched very nicely. And with that wrapped up, we spent the evening in the Chez
Emile bar, having a few drinks and watching the sunset over the Strait of
Mozambique, ready for another day of birding tomorrow.
La Table: Namaqua Dove, Verreaux's Coua, Running Coua, Malagasy Coucal, Olive Bee-eater, Malagasy Kestrel, Common Newtonia, Red-shouldered Vanga, Chabert Vanga, Lafresnaye's Vanga, Crested Drongo, Pied Crow, Madagascar Lark, Common Jery, Subdesert Brush Warbler, Madagascar Magpie-Robin, Souimanga Sunbird, Sakalava Weaver,
Toliara: Namaqua Dove, Malagasy Coucal, Black-winged Stilt, Common Ringed Plover, Three-banded Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Kittlitz's Plover, Common Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, Dimorphic Egret, Malagasy Kingfisher, Olive Bee-eater, Crested Drongo, Madagascar Cisticola, Madagascar Swamp Warbler, Common Myna, Sakalava Weaver,
Nosy Ve: Grey Plover, Common Ringed Plover, White-fronted Plover, Eurasian Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwit, Common Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Crab-plover, Red-tailed Tropicbird, Dimorphic Egret, Pied Crow, Madagascar Cisticola, Common Myna,
Anakao: Namaqua Dove, Malagasy Coucal, Madagascar Hoopoe, Olive Bee-eater, Malagasy Kestrel, Subdesert Brush Warbler, Common Myna, Littoral Rock Thrush,
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