Soil Hill

  The days of regularly wintering Snow Buntings on Soil Hill are now a distant memory, even as little as 10 years ago. So it was very nice to find this very attractive male feeding away on the North Slope this morning, giving excellent close-range views, especially considering the other two birds I have personally found here were both flyovers.

  I was walking down the North Slope track when I heard a distinctive ‘pew’ call, which did indeed recall a Snow Bunting, but with just one note I figured it could have been any number of species. After a few seconds, however, I then heard a distinctive trill which can only have been a limited number of species, and my heartrate began to increase. But after a wait of around 10 minutes, it was clear that I had not heard enough to be sure, and that if it had been a Snow Bunting, it must have been a flyover which was already long gone, so I continued my walk, a little disappointed.

  Fortunately I wasn’t disappointed for long, as about twenty metres further down the slope I flushed the bird from the path in front of me. Panic ensued as I grabbed the camera for some kind of record shot, but fortunately the bird returned to the path quite quickly and carried on feeding. It stayed here for a short time, before deciding it had seen enough of the Hills lush pastures and flew off south. Although it looked to be dropping in, an hours search failed to refind it, despite the efforts of myself, DJS, JJL and DP.

  This is my 100^th species for Soil Hill in 2023, a landmark I have only previously reached in 2020 and in 2022, so not bad going at all. And this is certainly one of the Hill highlights this year, an excellent species to see. 

-Snow Bunting

Species List:
Soil Hill: Canada Goose, Common Pheasant, Feral Pigeon, Stock Dove, Common Wood Pigeon, Northern Lapwing, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, European Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Western Barn Owl, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Common Kestrel, Eurasian Magpie, Western Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Goldcrest, Eurasian Wren, Common Starling, Mistle Thrush, Common Blackbird, European Robin, European Stonechat, Dunnock, Meadow Pipit, Eurasian Chaffinch, Eurasian Bullfinch, Lesser Redpoll, European Goldfinch, Snow Bunting,

Ringstone Edge twitching Great Northern Diver

  On the night of the 17^th at around 16:30, the news came through from PD and LD that there was a Great Northern Diver on Ringstone. A brilliant find, and an excellent bonus bird for my yearlist that I had not taken into consideration. The problem? The light was already fading fast and I would have to navigate Halifax at the end of the afternoon to make it. Best decided to leave it until the morning, it was a Diver after all so not likely to be going anywhere.

  But the morning came and no news came with it. After an hour of daylight I decided I had waited long enough. The weather was too poor to work Soil Hill, so I may as well head up and check for myself. Once I reached Ringstone the strong breeze made checking difficult, but after around 10 minutes I managed to pick up the diver at the far end of the reservoir! Result.

  Sadly it spent the best part of the next few hours not cooperating. It would disappear for long periods, at one point convincing me that it had in fact gone. But then on other occasions it would show very close to the wall, offering great photo opportunities, and at one point even gave an extended flyby. It stayed the rest of the day, but had moved on by the following morning.

  It was nice to bump into PD, AT and DF all up twitching the bird, a brilliant bird for Halifax, my fourth in the Calderdale recording area. 

-Great Northern Diver

Species List:
Ringstone Edge: Mallard, Great Crested Grebe, Northern Lapwing, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Great Northern Diver, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Eurasian Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Eurasian Wren, Common Starling, Redwing, Fieldfare, European Robin, European Goldfinch,

Madagascar; Day 32 - Bombetoka Bay

  This would be our last full day in Madagascar, which is crazy to think about. It feels so long since we first arrived and went to Toliara, but now it's almost over, with just a few outstanding birds to attend to. 

  The previous day we had spoken to our guide, Andrema, and he had offered to arrange our boat visit through the Bombetoka Delta, a necessary activity to find Malagasy Sacred Ibis and Berniers Teal. His price however was absolutely astronomical, and it took us some time to negotiate it down to anything remotely resembling reasonable, which ultimately it still barely qualified as. However, he failed to confirm with us the time he had arranged, and this certainly led to complications in our morning. We called him to see what the deal was at around 07:45, at which point he decided to tell us it had been arranged for 06:30. Fantastic! Since the tide was already on its way up we had lost two hours, but Andrema told us that if we set off at 08:30, it would still be fine to see the birds.

  When we finally arrived at the mangroves, it was clear that most of the mud was already gone, but there was a single island that still had plenty of habitat and was hosting good numbers of waders. Through the flocks, we picked out hundreds of Curlew Sandpipers, quite a few Terek Sandpipers and then larger species such as Whimbrel and Greenshank. A mass of just short of 100 Crab Plovers were also roosting here, which was quite the spectacle for a bird we only saw for the first time a few weeks ago.

  In addition, there were also around 100 Lesser Flamingos feeding on the rising tide, as well as a single Greater Flamingo. A few Lesser Crested and Little Terns were also moving around and a Peregrine blasted through on one occasion scattering the waders far and wide. It looked like it may have taken something, but it was impossible to be sure. 

  Sadly we failed to find either target bird, which was extremely frustrating, especially given the price for the boat. In the end, since Andrema had screwed us over by not telling us the time, we only paid a part of the original price but it did leave a bitter taste as to what we could have seen had it actually been organised properly. Fortunately for the afternoon we spent it relaxing around the hotel, organising our photos and preparing for our long journey home after a hugely successful trip. 

-Crab Plover & Greater Flamingo

-Curlew Sandpiper

-Peregine Falcon

-Yellow-billed Stork

-Little Tern

-Grey Plover

-Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwit & Curlew Sandpiper

-Lesser Flamingo

-Lesser Crested Tern

Species List:
Bombetoka Bay: White-faced Whistling Duck, Greater Flamingo, Lesser Flamingo, Malagasy Palm Swift, Grey Plover, Greater Sand Plover, White-fronted Plover, Eurasian Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwit, Terek Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, Curlew Sandpiper, Crab-plover, Little Tern, Lesser Crested Tern, Yellow-billed Stork, Black Heron, Dimorphic Egret, Great Egret, Grey Heron, Humblot's Heron, Yellow-billed Kite, Peregrine Falcon, Sickle-billed Vanga, Crested Drongo, 

Madagascar; Day 31 - Ankarafantsika NP

  We met up with our guide, Andrema, at 05:15 and headed to the Ankarafantsika National Park for what would be our last full-on day of birding in Madagascar. We had only limited targets to find, but expected them to be a challenge, so were prepared to spend the full day exploring the dry forest of the park, before continuing to the city of Mahajanga, where we would end our tour. 

  We started birding the forest north of the large lake in the park. The parks most well-known target is the Schlegels Asity, but we had already seen this species in the Tsingy National Park, so decided to search for other targets here and leave the Asity in peace. Birding in this section was more limited than we expected, but did manage acceptable views of White-breasted Mesite, a nest of Madagascar Green Pigeon, plus a new Lemur species for us with frustratingly brief Mongoose Lemur.

  After breakfast at the park headquarters, we headed into the woods behind the offices. Here we had a little more success with our targets, soon finding a pair of our last Vanga species on the trip, with Van Dams Vanga. There was also our final Coua, albeit just a subspecies, with Red-capped Coua. Initially, we just had a single Coua running away, but not long after we had a confiding pair apparently building a nest next to the path. Overhead we photographed our first-ever Eleanoras Falcons, and we topped it off with brilliant views of Coquerel's Sifaka. 

  Perhaps the highlight of this time and possibly the whole day, were the multiple Giant Hognose Snakes that we found, as well as a Blonde Hognose Snake. In the end possibly three individuals of the former, each longer than a meter just by the side of the path. They seemed so docile that we were even able to touch the last individual. A Night Snake sp. was also a nice surprise, dangling from the canopy, but we could not work out the species. And of course, there were multiple species of Lizards with Cuvier's Madagascar Swift, Western Girdled Lizard and a new Day Gecko species with Madagascar Giant Day Gecko. 

  After lunch we took a boat trip around the park's lake. Here we had only one real target, the Madagascar Fish Eagle, which we managed to see easily, with a bird sat out conspicuously on a dead tree, that we were able to approach with ease. We also had nice views of an African Darter and Madagascar Jacana, as well as other common wetland species. A short search in the woods nearby produced a smart Frances Sparrowhawk. 

  By 14:30, satisfied with our day, we drove on to the city, where we rented a nice hotel for our last few nights, to spend some time actually relaxing in Madagascar and enjoying the delights of a tropical country. 

-Van Dam's Vanga

-Madagascar Fish Eagle

-Red-capped Coua

-African Darter

-Madagascar Jacana

-Frances's Sparrowhawk

-Sickle-billed Vanga

-Crested Coua

-Eleonora's Falcon

-Malagasy Paradise Flycatcher

-Coquerel's Sifaka

-Mauritian Tomb Bat

-Madagascar Giant Day Gecko

-Blonde Hognose Snake

-Giant Madagascan Hognose Snake

-Western Girdled Lizard

-African Joker

-Aspidimorpha sp.

Species List:
Ankarafantsika National Park: White-faced Whistling Duck, Malagasy Turtle Dove, Madagascar Green Pigeon, White-breasted Mesite, Crested Coua, Red-capped Coua, Malagasy Coucal, Madagascar Cuckoo, Common Moorhen, Madagascar Jacana, African Darter, Striated Heron, Squacco Heron, Malagasy Pond Heron, Western Cattle Egret, Purple Heron, Madagascar Ibis, Frances's Sparrowhawk, Yellow-billed Kite, Madagascar Fish Eagle, Madagascar Buzzard, Cuckoo-roller, Madagascar Hoopoe, Malagasy Kingfisher, Olive Bee-eater, Broad-billed Roller, Eleonora's Falcon, Madagascar Cuckooshrike, Common Newtonia, Rufous Vanga, Sickle-billed Vanga, Van Dam's Vanga, Crested Drongo, Malagasy Paradise Flycatcher, Pied Crow, Common Jery, Long-billed Bernieria, Malagasy Bulbul, Madagascar Magpie-Robin, Souimanga Sunbird, 

Madagascar; Day 30 - Ankarafantsika NP

  It was another long day of driving in prospect. We left our base in Antsohyhi at 07:00 and spent the rest of the day driving the 10 hours to Ankarafantsika National Park, the last park we would visit on our trip through Madagascar. Obviously the drive, as it has been on previous days, was long and hot and not particularly enjoyable, but we managed to get through it and finally arrived in the village adjacent to the park around 16:15, although it took us a bit of time to find a hotel, since many of the lodges seemed booked up.

  We had called a local guide, Andrema, for whom we had the contact during our drive, and he had agreed to take us out on a night walk and then again in the morning to track down the parks endemic bird species. We spent about 90 minutes exploring the forest after dark, and managed two more lemur species for our total; Golden-brown Mouse Lemur and Milne-Edwards' Sportive Lemur, which were the two species we wanted to find. In addition, we also had nice views of a perched Madagascar Nightjar and a few Chameleons and Geckos. A very enjoyable first excursion into the National Park. 

-Madagascar Nightjar

-Golden-brown Mouse Lemur

-Tufted-tailed Rat sp.

-Rhinoceros Chameleon

-Madagascar Dwarf Leaf-toed Gecko

Species List:

Ankarafantsika National Park: Madagascar Nightjar