Madagascar; Day 29 - Benamevika

  Having missed the Red Owl the previous day, today it was absolutely our top priority to find. Unfortunately, the only real strategy that we had was to check the same roosts we had failed to find the bird in yesterday. So we set off to check the various spots, and once again we failed to find anything. Fortunately, our guide, Loukmann, had sent two other students to check other roost spots in the forest to speed up the process, and they actually did find a Red Owl. The views were extremely terrible, looking up at the silhouette of the bird inside a rotted tree, you could barely see anything but you could see enough at least. 

  With that target seen, we breathed a sigh of relief and accepted our fate of not seeing the Serpent Eagle. Fortunately, this meant we had seen eight of the ten species we had needed to find here, and remarkably we found number nine shortly after when we bumped into a small roving flock of the unassuming Grey-crowned Tetraka, a species we had somehow missed out on at all the other forest sites we had visited. The flock it was part of also had a couple of smart male Common Sunbird Asity. 

  With that sorted, we headed back to the camp to pack up and begin the long road down from the reserve. The journey took a solid nine hours, although an hour of that was spent literally digging the car out of a muddy rut that we had got it stuck into, leaving us absolutely caked in earth. We finally arrived back in the town of Antsohihy just after nightfall, exhausted but pleased that this long and difficult stretch of our itinerary was done and behind us. 

-Red Owl

-Common Sunbird-Asity

-Grey-crowned Tetraka

-Rand's Warbler

-Madagascar Harrier-Hawk

-Oustalet's Giant Chameleon

Species List:
Benamevika: White-faced Whistling Duck, Meller's Duck, Red-billed Teal, Madagascar Pochard, Madagascar Grebe, Madagascar Blue Pigeon, Blue Coua, Malagasy Coucal, Madagascar Cuckoo, Madagascar Flufftail, Common Moorhen, Madagascar Buttonquail, Western Cattle Egret, Madagascar Harrier-Hawk, Madagascar Buzzard, Red Owl, Cuckoo-roller, Pitta-like Ground Roller, Common Sunbird-Asity, Common Newtonia, Tylas Vanga, Hook-billed Vanga, Crested Drongo, Madagascar Lark, Madagascar Cisticola, Malagasy Brush Warbler, Long-billed Bernieria, Spectacled Tetraka, Grey-crowned Tetraka, Rand's Warbler, Mascarene Martin, Brown-throated Martin, Malagasy Bulbul, Malagasy White-eye, Madagascar Starling, Madagascar Magpie-Robin, Madagascar Stonechat, Souimanga Sunbird, Nelicourvi Weaver, Forest Fody, 

Madagascar; Day 28 - Benamevika

  Today would be our only full day in Benamevika, which meant we had a lot of birds that we wanted to try and see in a very short space of time. Our plan was to start early and try to do what we could to locate the Madagascar Serpent Eagle in the last place where the guides heard the bird. We set off at 05:30 and headed along the road, picking up our first target with Madagascar Partridge on the way.

  As we passed, we overlooked an area of marsh where later in the day we planned to search for Slender-billed Flufftail. However, on passing, we heard a bird calling, and our guide decided that now would be a better time to see this most difficult of species. So down we went and set up on the edge of the marsh. The bird was not especially responsive, but it sounded like it was approaching slowly. However, the whole situation turned a little bit weird when the guide walked out into the middle of the marsh and started to walk around, almost looking for the bird. He did flush it twice allowing us to get flight views. But then he chased it down and caught the bird, which we had not anticipated at all. While it was awesome to see such an elusive bird up close, it was a bit strange, and even stranger when they charged us for this service later, without ever telling us there was a cost involved.

  In addition to the flufftail, the marsh also provided us with distant views of three Malagasy Harriers, a male and two ringtails. The ringtails came much closer in the end, but the male remained always distant, which was a bit of a shame. Our other marshland target was the small Grey Emutail, a type of warbler. We put on a tape for the bird and immediately had a response from a bird nearby, which quickly came in close to inspect the visitor to its territory, followed by its partner. After getting brilliant views, we left the marsh to continue our search for the remaining targets. 

  From the marsh area it was just a short walk into the forest. On the way, next to the road, we had decent views of a pair of Pitta-like Ground-Rollers calling to each other in the vegetation. Our walk through the forest itself did not produce the Serpent Eagle, and there were not so many flocks to inspect, but the footpath did lead us down to another of the lakes in the area where there was another pair of Madagascar Pochard, and a nice confiding Madagascar Grebe. Exploring the forests on the other side of the road got us excellent views of Madagascar Blue Pigeon, as well as a showy pair of Dark Newtonia. 

  On our way back for lunch we tried to find Madagascar Snipe in a boggy area, but we failed to have even a sniff. After lunch we tried a different patch of forest completely, specifically to search for the Red Owl, as well as to try for the Serpent Eagle again. Sadly, it started to rain not long after we started, and a brilliant morning gave way to a frustrating afternoon where we were unable to find Red Owl in any of the known roosts, and the rain meant very little in the way of activity in the forest. 

Concerned by the lack of Red Owls we decided to go on a night walk to try and tape an individual in there, as insurance should we not find it in the morning. We started the walk by checking again the boggy areas of Madagascar Snipe, and at dusk in the flufftail marsh, we were rewarded with an individual displaying right over our heads. Sadly our endeavor was not rewarded with any Owls, although we had a few Madagascar Nightjars and a few Chameleons, as well as a rather dopey species of Forest Rat. 

-Slender-billed Flufftail

-Grey Emutail

-Pitta-like Ground Roller

-Meller's Duck

-Madagascar Pochard

-Madagascar Grebe

-Dark Newtonia

-Malagasy Harrier

-Madagascar Partridge

-Madagascar Stonechat

-Madagascar Blue Pigeon

-Madagascar Starling

-Mascarene Martin

-Common Brown Lemur

-Malagasy Forest Rat sp.

-Six-lined Water Snake

-Phelsuma punctulata

-Malthe's Green-eared Chameleon

-Guillaumet's Side-striped Chameleon

-Heterixalus sp.

-Heterixalus sp.

-Rainbow Milkweed Locust

-Crimson Dropwing

-Jersey Cudweed

Species List:
Benamevika: White-faced Whistling Duck, Meller's Duck, Red-billed Teal, Madagascar Pochard, Madagascar Partridge, Common Quail, Madagascar Grebe, Malagasy Turtle Dove, Madagascar Blue Pigeon, Blue Coua, Malagasy Coucal, Madagascar Cuckoo, Madagascar Nightjar, Alpine Swift, Madagascar Flufftail, Slender-billed Flufftail, Common Moorhen, Madagascar Snipe, Madagascar Harrier-Hawk, Malagasy Harrier, Frances's Sparrowhawk, Madagascar Buzzard, Rainforest Scops Owl, Cuckoo-roller, Malagasy Kingfisher, Olive Bee-eater, Broad-billed Roller, Pitta-like Ground Roller, Malagasy Kestrel, Common Newtonia, Dark Newtonia, Red-tailed Vanga, Crested Drongo, Malagasy Paradise Flycatcher, Madagascar Lark, Green Jery, Madagascar Cisticola, Malagasy Brush Warbler, Madagascar Swamp Warbler, Grey Emutail, Spectacled Tetraka, Mascarene Martin, Brown-throated Martin, Malagasy Bulbul, Malagasy White-eye, Madagascar Starling, Madagascar Magpie-Robin, Madagascar Stonechat, Souimanga Sunbird, Malagasy Green Sunbird, Nelicourvi Weaver, Forest Fody, Madagascar Mannikin, Madagascar Wagtail, 

Madagascar; Day 27 - Benamevika

  Maddeningly, it was another day consisting of mostly driving. We set off from Antsohihy at 04:00 in the morning, finally arriving in the town of Belanana at 09:30. The road here was very bad in several areas, and this slowed us down significantly, although not as much as what was to follow. After a quick supply run in Belanana, we were finally on the road to Benamevika at around 10:30, and initially made good progress, at least better than we were expecting. Sadly, we soon discovered why all the trip reports warned us of this road. Between the many deep ruts, full puddles, broken bridges and crossing moving waterways, we lost a great deal of time and only finally managed to arrive at 15:00. 

  Although this obviously cost us a great deal of time, we still picked up a few bits as we drove through areas of habitat. While repairing a makeshift bridge we managed to tape in a Dark Newtonia, a bird that had frustratingly eluded us so far on this trip. Sadly all our equipment was still packed away at this point, but the bird was quite confiding and very vocal, meaning we had no qualms about the identification. Also here was a very smart Malthe's Green-eared Chameleon right by the side of the road, another new Chameleon species for our trip. Once we drove through more open habitat, we also had many nice views of Madagascar Stonechat. 

  Despite this, we still made it out birding in the afternoon, just in time to be hit by a tropical storm. We decided to first try for the Madagascar Pochard, which only occurs on a few lakes in this area, after its rediscovery following its declared extinction. The bird was surprisingly easy and showed very well. We took a trail from the road just up from the camp, through an area of forest, and then to a small watchtower on the edge of the lake. From the tower, we saw somewhere between 8 – 10 different individuals, including males and females. We were even able to watch birds displaying to each other, and small groups performed multiple flybys. Not bad for a bird considered extinct less than 20 years ago.

  Also on the lake, there were several other nice waterbirds. The Mellers Duck showed nicely on occasion and we also had a pair showing well near the campsite as we pitched our tent. Madagascar Grebe was very abundant, and there was a pair of these regularly displaying in front of the tower, offering absolutely brilliant views. Otherwise, commoner species included Red-billed Teal and White-faced Whistling Duck. Because of the rain, the forest was almost silent, but we did have a small group of Common Brown Lemur mob us as we passed. 

Absolutely exhausted, we returned to camp just after dark, had a small bite to eat and headed to bed, to prepare ourselves for the following days intense birding. 

-Malthe's Green-eared Chameleon

-Madagascar Pochard

-Madagascar Grebe

-Meller's Duck

-Madagascar Swamp Warbler

-Madagascar Buttonquail

-Madagascar Stonechat

Species List:
Benamevika: White-faced Whistling Duck, Meller's Duck, Red-billed Teal, Madagascar Pochard, Common Quail, Madagascar Grebe, Malagasy Coucal, Madagascar Cuckoo, Madagascar Nightjar, Common Moorhen, Madagascar Buttonquail, Purple Heron, Madagascar Buzzard, Olive Bee-eater, Lesser Vasa Parrot, Dark Newtonia, Madagascar Cisticola, Malagasy Brush Warbler, Madagascar Swamp Warbler, Mascarene Martin, Madagascar Stonechat, Malagasy Green Sunbird, Red Fody,