birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
Clements would.......
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A mad month in Madagascar Oct/Nov 2012 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter birdboybowley
- Start date
birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
31st October:
Halloween.....Ooohhh scary...well apparently everyone had a bit of nightmare night it seems what with noisy insects, barking dogs and people showering at 0400...! We left the hotel after scraping together a breakfast of bread, cheese and eggs and took the short journey back to Andasibe where we were reacquainted with Luc. Dawn and I decided to stay over at the Feon’ny Ala in a nice family bungalow as they had no doubles left. The little balcony was opposite the forest edge and Indris could be heard calling from within as we lugged our gear up to the room. The others stayed at Luc’s. Dawn was unfortunately still feeling like crap so she elected to stay behind and sleep.
The rest of us – after Luc’s recommendation – went to the Mantadia section of the park, a mere 17km further on...but over an hour’s drive away on a crappy road! He assured us that the remaining targets we needed could easily be gotten today (even though it was already 0900) even though we’d thought we’d stay on the Perinet side and do a day in Mantadia tomorrow. But Luc knows best.....allegedly. Before we left Luc called out the Mad Flufftail opposite his place and it showed well with Mad Munia, Mad Bulbuls, Souimanga Sunbird, Stripe-throated Jery and Common Newtonia all seen too.
We headed to the HQ to sort out tickets for the next two days and then we bumped up and down the worsening road, finally reached the park gate where we showed our tickets and then drove for another half hour to get to the trail head. We stopped near a tall stand of trees and we heard a Rand’s Warbler calling. Out we jumped and sure enough there it was! Finally got this rather dull-looking (just think Chiffy!) endemic out of the way....and we were surprised at how much we’d struggled to see this apparently common bird. We reached the parking area by the trail and wandered down into the forest and set off towards the first stakeout. Luc, for all his other faults, does know where the birds are and he whistled in a stunning Red-breasted Coua that gave us the runaround for quite a while until it finally perched up near us before running away and disappearing again. It came in from the other side of a stream where some of us saw it initially but it was hard work: typical forest birding...nightmare when someone gets onto it and then the bun-fight starts as that someone tries to get the others onto it...usually it’s just luck and you happen to see something move as it’s really hard to give precise directions as to exactly how far back the bird is! All stressful fun...apparently!
So, that was two of the three targets. Now for the last one. We searched for four hours, not seeing or hearing anything of it at all....Luc then pissed everyone off by saying that the bird is easy in the early morning and gets harder a the day goes on. We knew that, which is why we didn’t want to come here today and make a whole day of it tomorrow....not impressed – and neither was Gabs when he found out he’d be coming back early in the morning...to be honest, I too was looking forward to a stress-free penultimate day with no targets left to chase....
Anyway, we did see a cool Collared Nightjar sitting amid a bird’s-nest fern (their favoured nesting spots), Mad Cuckoo, Blue Coua, Eastern Tylas, Mad Paradise-Flys, a family party of Wedge-tailed Jerys, heard another Rand’s Warbler, Cuckoo-Roller, Long-billed Bernieria, Nelicourvi Weaver (including the only female I saw all trip), Blue Coua, Forest Fody, both parrots and heard a Mad Pygmy-Kingfisher and plenty of distant Indris. The forest in this part of the reserve seems much more primal, full of exquisite tree-ferns, epiphytic orchids and mossy vines....truly beautiful. The paths cross alot of streams that vary in the ease of crossing: Chris and I usually made our own ways across as waiting for the others who were fannying around for Luc to throw rocks in etc got boring so over one we took the short route across a long fallen tree: Chris went first and got halfway across when it snapped and crashed into the water! To give him credit he balanced very well and never fell off (annoying as I had my camera ready) and it was then actually easier to walk over. Another one was alot higher and was fun balancing across it....certainly livened up a frustrating afternoon!!
Near a small stream Luc found a small Forest Water-Snake (Bibilava infrasignatus) that bit him after a while! As we began to head back out of the forest we had at least 4 Pitta-like Ground-Rollers as of course it was nearing the 4pm exit time which is when the birds become active again annoyingly. Back at the car we had a flock of 10 Mad Blue-Pigeons fly over as Luc broke the news to Gaby.....suddenly that flock was really, really interesting! We drove back, seeing a female Paradise-Fly on the nest right next to the road, checked the owl roost but had no luck but nearer the HQ Luc showed us two fledged young Mad Long-eared Owls in the roadside trees. In the village we saw the Mad Kes pair feeding their four youngsters on the side of the post office building.
Back at the hotel Dawn was feeling a bit better and had been watching a Lined Day-Gecko (Phelsuma lineata) running around the balcony so we all decided to nip back up to the post office to watch the exodus of hundreds of Malagasy White-bellied Freetail Bats from the roof as darkness fell. Couldn’t make out any other species with them though so we returned to the hotel’s restaurant for a nice evening meal – their saffron soup is delicious! The place was heaving and we bumped into the BQ group again...the leader never even waved hello.....some people eh?
Halloween.....Ooohhh scary...well apparently everyone had a bit of nightmare night it seems what with noisy insects, barking dogs and people showering at 0400...! We left the hotel after scraping together a breakfast of bread, cheese and eggs and took the short journey back to Andasibe where we were reacquainted with Luc. Dawn and I decided to stay over at the Feon’ny Ala in a nice family bungalow as they had no doubles left. The little balcony was opposite the forest edge and Indris could be heard calling from within as we lugged our gear up to the room. The others stayed at Luc’s. Dawn was unfortunately still feeling like crap so she elected to stay behind and sleep.
The rest of us – after Luc’s recommendation – went to the Mantadia section of the park, a mere 17km further on...but over an hour’s drive away on a crappy road! He assured us that the remaining targets we needed could easily be gotten today (even though it was already 0900) even though we’d thought we’d stay on the Perinet side and do a day in Mantadia tomorrow. But Luc knows best.....allegedly. Before we left Luc called out the Mad Flufftail opposite his place and it showed well with Mad Munia, Mad Bulbuls, Souimanga Sunbird, Stripe-throated Jery and Common Newtonia all seen too.
We headed to the HQ to sort out tickets for the next two days and then we bumped up and down the worsening road, finally reached the park gate where we showed our tickets and then drove for another half hour to get to the trail head. We stopped near a tall stand of trees and we heard a Rand’s Warbler calling. Out we jumped and sure enough there it was! Finally got this rather dull-looking (just think Chiffy!) endemic out of the way....and we were surprised at how much we’d struggled to see this apparently common bird. We reached the parking area by the trail and wandered down into the forest and set off towards the first stakeout. Luc, for all his other faults, does know where the birds are and he whistled in a stunning Red-breasted Coua that gave us the runaround for quite a while until it finally perched up near us before running away and disappearing again. It came in from the other side of a stream where some of us saw it initially but it was hard work: typical forest birding...nightmare when someone gets onto it and then the bun-fight starts as that someone tries to get the others onto it...usually it’s just luck and you happen to see something move as it’s really hard to give precise directions as to exactly how far back the bird is! All stressful fun...apparently!
So, that was two of the three targets. Now for the last one. We searched for four hours, not seeing or hearing anything of it at all....Luc then pissed everyone off by saying that the bird is easy in the early morning and gets harder a the day goes on. We knew that, which is why we didn’t want to come here today and make a whole day of it tomorrow....not impressed – and neither was Gabs when he found out he’d be coming back early in the morning...to be honest, I too was looking forward to a stress-free penultimate day with no targets left to chase....
Anyway, we did see a cool Collared Nightjar sitting amid a bird’s-nest fern (their favoured nesting spots), Mad Cuckoo, Blue Coua, Eastern Tylas, Mad Paradise-Flys, a family party of Wedge-tailed Jerys, heard another Rand’s Warbler, Cuckoo-Roller, Long-billed Bernieria, Nelicourvi Weaver (including the only female I saw all trip), Blue Coua, Forest Fody, both parrots and heard a Mad Pygmy-Kingfisher and plenty of distant Indris. The forest in this part of the reserve seems much more primal, full of exquisite tree-ferns, epiphytic orchids and mossy vines....truly beautiful. The paths cross alot of streams that vary in the ease of crossing: Chris and I usually made our own ways across as waiting for the others who were fannying around for Luc to throw rocks in etc got boring so over one we took the short route across a long fallen tree: Chris went first and got halfway across when it snapped and crashed into the water! To give him credit he balanced very well and never fell off (annoying as I had my camera ready
) and it was then actually easier to walk over. Another one was alot higher and was fun balancing across it....certainly livened up a frustrating afternoon!!Near a small stream Luc found a small Forest Water-Snake (Bibilava infrasignatus) that bit him after a while! As we began to head back out of the forest we had at least 4 Pitta-like Ground-Rollers as of course it was nearing the 4pm exit time which is when the birds become active again annoyingly. Back at the car we had a flock of 10 Mad Blue-Pigeons fly over as Luc broke the news to Gaby.....suddenly that flock was really, really interesting!
We drove back, seeing a female Paradise-Fly on the nest right next to the road, checked the owl roost but had no luck but nearer the HQ Luc showed us two fledged young Mad Long-eared Owls in the roadside trees. In the village we saw the Mad Kes pair feeding their four youngsters on the side of the post office building. Back at the hotel Dawn was feeling a bit better and had been watching a Lined Day-Gecko (Phelsuma lineata) running around the balcony so we all decided to nip back up to the post office to watch the exodus of hundreds of Malagasy White-bellied Freetail Bats from the roof as darkness fell. Couldn’t make out any other species with them though so we returned to the hotel’s restaurant for a nice evening meal – their saffron soup is delicious! The place was heaving and we bumped into the BQ group again...the leader never even waved hello.....some people eh?
birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
The spider was a fair size...and hidden on the wrong side of a tree-trunk that was bending over the path...right where you'd place your hand to swing round. Thankfully Chris noticed it first - cheers mate
birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
And here's the man and me.....
Tri-Counties Birder
AKA The Portland Naturalist
Great stuff Ads.
birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
1st November:
Up early again as we wanted to be the first into Mantadia and a Mad Nightjar was heard calling in the village above Luc’s. The gate officially doesn’t open until 0700 but it was open as we went through at 0615 so we were entering the forest earlier than we anticipated which was good. The Rand’s Warbler was calling along the road as we drove up and 2 Mad Blue-Pigeons flew over the car-parking area and a pair of Mad Starlings was perched in the trees above. Down into the forest we ventured and began the search for the last bird we needed here. As we wandered around we could hear Indri calling, and a couple of very distant Black-&-White Ruffed-Lemurs were heard too – which was as close as we came to seeing this cool mammal unfortunately. We did see a couple of Eastern Red Forest-Rats on our wanderings this morning.
We trudged the same trails as yesterday, crossing over the streams (and always making a effort to throw rocks and sticks in the water as Kev crossed) until we heard a call not too far off. We ducked and dived along the trail until we approached a wide forest stream where Luc suddenly waved us down as our target was apparently on the opposite bank.....not that any of us could see it, with or without bins!! It then ran up a dead tree and disappeared. So Luc jumped into the water and, having no alternative and getting desperate now, we all followed suit and clambered up the other side where Luc did his usual disappearing act to find the birds. We stood for a good half an hour before suddenly movement was picked up in a dry gully in front of us. The call went up: ‘Scaly Ground-Roller!’ Comments were being bandied about the vivid colour of its legs, the beautiful plumage etc....which was great except for one thing: I couldn’t bloody see it!!!!! Now starting to panic big-time....Chris getting stressed as I’m having palpitations as I just can’t get a bearing as to how far back they’re all looking. Finally, with help from Kev and moving sideways a bit I can see the fallen log and the stunning bird sitting atop it.....thank f*ck for that!! It dropped down to the ground and was joined by a second bird before they both ran up another fallen tree and disappeared. Phew!! The final ground-roller had finally been seen....and I was voted as having the best meltdown moment of the trip!
The best supporting-cast bird seen on the walk was our best (but brief) views of a cracking Mad Crested Ibis as it walked along the sandy edge of a forest stream before taking off with surprising manoeuvrability through the trees. Others included Blue Coua, Mad Paradise-Fly, Mad Magpie-Robin, Nelicourvi Weaver, Mad Cuckoo, Common Newtonia, Common Jery and Greater Vasa Parrot. Also a single large Madagascar Girdled-Lizard (Zonosaurus madagascariensis) was seen as it climbed up some dead vegetation by a stream. Tragically, after much piss-taking, I also joined the rest of the group members on slipping and falling on my ass this morning too....dammit, nearly made the entire trip without that happening!
So, happy and relieved, we re-emerged back into the parking area, woke up Gabs and Omega and headed back out of the forest for the last time, passing the BQ group on the way – ha!! We stopped in at the Mad Long-eared Owl roost again and this time the adult was sitting back up in the pines, watching us watching him – cool! Chris and I had our usual pine-cone fight (coz we’re so grown-up) and then we set off back towards Andasibe, stopping again by the road to look at the two immature owls, one of which was showing brilliantly. Upon our return, we got some good shots of the Mad Flufftail and I went back to the room to find Dawn and as we came back out a little while later we found we’d missed breakfast somehow but Gabs came up trumps and got us some more bread and cheese. Just as we finished this, Gabs came back and excitedly told Dawn that Indris could be seen from the hotel restaurant so we dashed back across and watched the four amazing animals feeding in the trees opposite – brilliant stuff!
The others had problems of their own as Luc suddenly mentioned that they needed to vacate their rooms as they’d been booked already....so after much grumbling Gabs sorted them out rooms at the Feon’ny Ala too...albeit rooms that were right at the top of 4 flights of steps....hee hee! So, with everyone now in attendance it was time to head back to Perinet for a relaxing afternoon’s birding, the plan being to go in for a couple of hours, back for lunch, then back in again until the closing time. What could possibly go wrong?
We were soon walking back down the main path towards the trails from the HQ where we saw an impressive Green Tree-Boa (Sanzinia madagascariensis) curled up on the ground by the side of the path. Just across the first bridge we saw a couple of Eastern Grey Bamboo-Lemurs by the path and stopped by the old fishponds where there were plenty of butterflies and dragonflies for people to photograph. When it was time to move on we took the path off and up to the right, climbing the 60-odd steps to reach a higher trail. Now this is where the day went wrong for one of us. Wandering along the trail I noticed Chris wasn’t with us, but thought that he was just taking his time and photographing bits and bobs and was on his way. Time passed and he still wasn’t there so I stopped the group for a bit and watched the party of Common Brown Lemurs in the trees above the path and sent Luc off to find him.
Chris was nowhere to be seen and I knew what he’d done: somehow he never noticed us leaving (even though Bola was further away and he did!), never heard us stomping up the steep steps and when he turned around to find us all gone, he assumed we’d taken the bottom path as we had done on our first visit! He walked down this, initially thinking we were taking the piss, and then it obvious that we weren’t along it after all and then he bumped into another guide who informed that it was illegal to be in the park without a guide. Chris told him that he did have a guide, just that guide had lost him. The other guide was having none of it and walked Chris back to the HQ so they could phone Luc....but upon the arrival it turned out no-one had Luc’s number! Uh-oh...Chris was now beginning to get seriously pissed off with it all and decided to wait for us to return for lunch. Unfortunately we’d lost so much time in waiting for Luc to return with Chris that we decided it wasn’t worth going out again, then back in again as we’d run out of time. So after Luc returned and told us what had happened, a phonecall to Gaby to say we weren’t coming back out for lunch was completely misinterpreted back to us saying that Chris had said bollox to it all and was going back to the hotel....whereas in reality he’d said nothing of the sort. So, we carried on, none-the-wiser.
We checked out the Rainforest Scops and Collared Nightjar roosts but drew blanks on both but had several good views of Eastern Avahis and some close Indris that were calling loudly but annoyingly stopped just as we located them – buggers!! Luc did do well in finding a brilliant female Parson’s Chameleon (Furcifer parsonii) high up in a tree and then the jaw-dropping male soon after – what an amazing reptile, absolutely stunning, certainly the best chameleon of the trip! We took the path that winds out to the back of the park and it was along here that Kev finally caught up with the dreaded White-throated Oxylabes! Great views were had by all and Kev certainly looked relieved!! Out the back of beyond Luc played the tape and got a very distant reply from a Short-legged Ground-Roller but it never responded again, nor did Rufous-headed. We did have a green-legged stick-insect and a large green pill-bug here. Birds included Hook-billed Vanga, Red-fronted Coua, Spectacled Tetraka, Green Jery, Cuckoo-Roller, Long-billed Bernieria, Mad White-eye and a Mad Wood-Rail was briefly seen as we made our way back along this path, which Kelvin almost disappeared off of as his foot fell through some old vegetation....not good as the drop is sheer and actually pretty damn high!
Several Gravenhorst’s Mabuyas were seen along the paths and back at Green Lake we saw a few un-id’d cichlid fish swimming in it and a Lined Day-Gecko (Phelsuma lineata) by the pergola and Dawn and Kelvin finally saw an awesome Giraffe-necked Weevil as Luc found a male nearby on its favoured bush – cool stuff, although Kelvin nearly disappeared again as he almost took one backwards step too many as he photographed it!! We reluctantly began the final walk out along the main path when, just the other side of the bridge, Dawn fortuitously saw some movement out of the corner of her eye....and there was a stonking Lowland Streaked-Tenrec creeping into the bushes by the side of the path!! Wow, what a fantastic animal, tiny and coloured like a bumblebee! We waved B and Kev back to us and we all had great views as it quickly clambered through the bamboo and was gone.
So that was that, our last visit to a Madagascan National Park and it hadn’t disappointed. Dawn and Kelvin were very happy we’d re-jigged the itinerary, and so were the rest of us really as we’d caught up on all the remaining birds we’d needed. We planned a nightwalk for later and returned to the hotel to chill out for a while until dark. Dawn and I watched our ‘pet’ Lined Day-Gecko run around on the balcony and then Chris came knocking to find out what had happened....thankfully he was actually alot more chilled and calmer than I’d imagined – more so than I would’ve been!
We booked the table for dinner and went out for a nightwalk beforehand. We had excellent views of several Furry-eared Dwarf-Lemurs and a few Goodman’s Mouse-Lemurs too. Green Bright-eyed Frogs (Boophis viridis) were seen along the road with a Madagascar Jumping-Frog (Aglyptodactylus madagascariensis) seen below the bridge whilst just beyond here Kev came up trumps and found a nice young Parson’s Chameleon which pleased Chris as at least he saw one! Other chameleons seen comprised the expected Big-nosed (Calumma nasutum) and Short-horned (C. brevicorne) with a supporting cast of various crickets, glow bugs and spiders to grab our attention.
Dinner was as yummy as always and after the bills were settled we all retired to our rooms for the night only for us to be jumped by Luc demanding money which is where he came undone and any affinity we had for hum disappeared. Gabs fought our corner and we left Luc there to mull over what we were to do. As I reiterated the details to Dawn (who’d left dinner early as she still wasn’t 100%) Chris came belting down to ours to tell us of a huge moth in their shower block. So I ran back with him and got some photos (unfortunately not the Comet Moth I was hoping for) but pretty cool nonetheless! A Rainforest Scops-Owl called from the forest beyond as I returned to our room and I climbed into bed for a well-earned sleep.
Up early again as we wanted to be the first into Mantadia and a Mad Nightjar was heard calling in the village above Luc’s. The gate officially doesn’t open until 0700 but it was open as we went through at 0615 so we were entering the forest earlier than we anticipated which was good. The Rand’s Warbler was calling along the road as we drove up and 2 Mad Blue-Pigeons flew over the car-parking area and a pair of Mad Starlings was perched in the trees above. Down into the forest we ventured and began the search for the last bird we needed here. As we wandered around we could hear Indri calling, and a couple of very distant Black-&-White Ruffed-Lemurs were heard too – which was as close as we came to seeing this cool mammal unfortunately. We did see a couple of Eastern Red Forest-Rats on our wanderings this morning.
We trudged the same trails as yesterday, crossing over the streams (and always making a effort to throw rocks and sticks in the water as Kev crossed
) until we heard a call not too far off. We ducked and dived along the trail until we approached a wide forest stream where Luc suddenly waved us down as our target was apparently on the opposite bank.....not that any of us could see it, with or without bins!! It then ran up a dead tree and disappeared. So Luc jumped into the water and, having no alternative and getting desperate now, we all followed suit and clambered up the other side where Luc did his usual disappearing act to find the birds. We stood for a good half an hour before suddenly movement was picked up in a dry gully in front of us. The call went up: ‘Scaly Ground-Roller!’ Comments were being bandied about the vivid colour of its legs, the beautiful plumage etc....which was great except for one thing: I couldn’t bloody see it!!!!! Now starting to panic big-time....Chris getting stressed as I’m having palpitations as I just can’t get a bearing as to how far back they’re all looking. Finally, with help from Kev and moving sideways a bit I can see the fallen log and the stunning bird sitting atop it.....thank f*ck for that!! It dropped down to the ground and was joined by a second bird before they both ran up another fallen tree and disappeared. Phew!! The final ground-roller had finally been seen....and I was voted as having the best meltdown moment of the trip! The best supporting-cast bird seen on the walk was our best (but brief) views of a cracking Mad Crested Ibis as it walked along the sandy edge of a forest stream before taking off with surprising manoeuvrability through the trees. Others included Blue Coua, Mad Paradise-Fly, Mad Magpie-Robin, Nelicourvi Weaver, Mad Cuckoo, Common Newtonia, Common Jery and Greater Vasa Parrot. Also a single large Madagascar Girdled-Lizard (Zonosaurus madagascariensis) was seen as it climbed up some dead vegetation by a stream. Tragically, after much piss-taking, I also joined the rest of the group members on slipping and falling on my ass this morning too....dammit, nearly made the entire trip without that happening!
So, happy and relieved, we re-emerged back into the parking area, woke up Gabs and Omega and headed back out of the forest for the last time, passing the BQ group on the way – ha!! We stopped in at the Mad Long-eared Owl roost again and this time the adult was sitting back up in the pines, watching us watching him – cool! Chris and I had our usual pine-cone fight (coz we’re so grown-up) and then we set off back towards Andasibe, stopping again by the road to look at the two immature owls, one of which was showing brilliantly. Upon our return, we got some good shots of the Mad Flufftail and I went back to the room to find Dawn and as we came back out a little while later we found we’d missed breakfast somehow but Gabs came up trumps and got us some more bread and cheese. Just as we finished this, Gabs came back and excitedly told Dawn that Indris could be seen from the hotel restaurant so we dashed back across and watched the four amazing animals feeding in the trees opposite – brilliant stuff!
The others had problems of their own as Luc suddenly mentioned that they needed to vacate their rooms as they’d been booked already....so after much grumbling Gabs sorted them out rooms at the Feon’ny Ala too...albeit rooms that were right at the top of 4 flights of steps....hee hee! So, with everyone now in attendance it was time to head back to Perinet for a relaxing afternoon’s birding, the plan being to go in for a couple of hours, back for lunch, then back in again until the closing time. What could possibly go wrong?
We were soon walking back down the main path towards the trails from the HQ where we saw an impressive Green Tree-Boa (Sanzinia madagascariensis) curled up on the ground by the side of the path. Just across the first bridge we saw a couple of Eastern Grey Bamboo-Lemurs by the path and stopped by the old fishponds where there were plenty of butterflies and dragonflies for people to photograph. When it was time to move on we took the path off and up to the right, climbing the 60-odd steps to reach a higher trail. Now this is where the day went wrong for one of us. Wandering along the trail I noticed Chris wasn’t with us, but thought that he was just taking his time and photographing bits and bobs and was on his way. Time passed and he still wasn’t there so I stopped the group for a bit and watched the party of Common Brown Lemurs in the trees above the path and sent Luc off to find him.
Chris was nowhere to be seen and I knew what he’d done: somehow he never noticed us leaving (even though Bola was further away and he did!), never heard us stomping up the steep steps and when he turned around to find us all gone, he assumed we’d taken the bottom path as we had done on our first visit! He walked down this, initially thinking we were taking the piss, and then it obvious that we weren’t along it after all and then he bumped into another guide who informed that it was illegal to be in the park without a guide. Chris told him that he did have a guide, just that guide had lost him. The other guide was having none of it and walked Chris back to the HQ so they could phone Luc....but upon the arrival it turned out no-one had Luc’s number! Uh-oh...Chris was now beginning to get seriously pissed off with it all and decided to wait for us to return for lunch. Unfortunately we’d lost so much time in waiting for Luc to return with Chris that we decided it wasn’t worth going out again, then back in again as we’d run out of time. So after Luc returned and told us what had happened, a phonecall to Gaby to say we weren’t coming back out for lunch was completely misinterpreted back to us saying that Chris had said bollox to it all and was going back to the hotel....whereas in reality he’d said nothing of the sort. So, we carried on, none-the-wiser.
We checked out the Rainforest Scops and Collared Nightjar roosts but drew blanks on both but had several good views of Eastern Avahis and some close Indris that were calling loudly but annoyingly stopped just as we located them – buggers!! Luc did do well in finding a brilliant female Parson’s Chameleon (Furcifer parsonii) high up in a tree and then the jaw-dropping male soon after – what an amazing reptile, absolutely stunning, certainly the best chameleon of the trip! We took the path that winds out to the back of the park and it was along here that Kev finally caught up with the dreaded White-throated Oxylabes! Great views were had by all and Kev certainly looked relieved!! Out the back of beyond Luc played the tape and got a very distant reply from a Short-legged Ground-Roller but it never responded again, nor did Rufous-headed. We did have a green-legged stick-insect and a large green pill-bug here. Birds included Hook-billed Vanga, Red-fronted Coua, Spectacled Tetraka, Green Jery, Cuckoo-Roller, Long-billed Bernieria, Mad White-eye and a Mad Wood-Rail was briefly seen as we made our way back along this path, which Kelvin almost disappeared off of as his foot fell through some old vegetation....not good as the drop is sheer and actually pretty damn high!
Several Gravenhorst’s Mabuyas were seen along the paths and back at Green Lake we saw a few un-id’d cichlid fish swimming in it and a Lined Day-Gecko (Phelsuma lineata) by the pergola and Dawn and Kelvin finally saw an awesome Giraffe-necked Weevil as Luc found a male nearby on its favoured bush – cool stuff, although Kelvin nearly disappeared again as he almost took one backwards step too many as he photographed it!! We reluctantly began the final walk out along the main path when, just the other side of the bridge, Dawn fortuitously saw some movement out of the corner of her eye....and there was a stonking Lowland Streaked-Tenrec creeping into the bushes by the side of the path!! Wow, what a fantastic animal, tiny and coloured like a bumblebee! We waved B and Kev back to us and we all had great views as it quickly clambered through the bamboo and was gone.
So that was that, our last visit to a Madagascan National Park and it hadn’t disappointed. Dawn and Kelvin were very happy we’d re-jigged the itinerary, and so were the rest of us really as we’d caught up on all the remaining birds we’d needed. We planned a nightwalk for later and returned to the hotel to chill out for a while until dark. Dawn and I watched our ‘pet’ Lined Day-Gecko run around on the balcony and then Chris came knocking to find out what had happened....thankfully he was actually alot more chilled and calmer than I’d imagined – more so than I would’ve been!
We booked the table for dinner and went out for a nightwalk beforehand. We had excellent views of several Furry-eared Dwarf-Lemurs and a few Goodman’s Mouse-Lemurs too. Green Bright-eyed Frogs (Boophis viridis) were seen along the road with a Madagascar Jumping-Frog (Aglyptodactylus madagascariensis) seen below the bridge whilst just beyond here Kev came up trumps and found a nice young Parson’s Chameleon which pleased Chris as at least he saw one! Other chameleons seen comprised the expected Big-nosed (Calumma nasutum) and Short-horned (C. brevicorne) with a supporting cast of various crickets, glow bugs and spiders to grab our attention.
Dinner was as yummy as always and after the bills were settled we all retired to our rooms for the night only for us to be jumped by Luc demanding money which is where he came undone and any affinity we had for hum disappeared. Gabs fought our corner and we left Luc there to mull over what we were to do. As I reiterated the details to Dawn (who’d left dinner early as she still wasn’t 100%) Chris came belting down to ours to tell us of a huge moth in their shower block. So I ran back with him and got some photos (unfortunately not the Comet Moth I was hoping for) but pretty cool nonetheless! A Rainforest Scops-Owl called from the forest beyond as I returned to our room and I climbed into bed for a well-earned sleep.
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birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
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kittykat23uk
Well-known member
Nice stuff, FWIW we did have our very brief view of scaly ground roller probably around 10.00 am ish I would guess, and that was quite close to the start of the trail at the far end of Mantadia (I'm guessing- we drove past quite a few of the "non-wildlifey" trails and we certainly didn't explore as deep into Mantadia as you obviously did). So it's definitely possible to see them there later in the day. Didn't really get a good view like you though.
It's nice that you were able to get back to Andasibe so that Kelvin and Dawn could get the Indri (no diademed sifaka?). If you recall that was one of the key sites that I wanted to do and the main reason why I decided against joining you guys!
I'd be interested to know at what point you decided to ditch the plans to go to Kirindy and Berenty
It's nice that you were able to get back to Andasibe so that Kelvin and Dawn could get the Indri (no diademed sifaka?). If you recall that was one of the key sites that I wanted to do and the main reason why I decided against joining you guys!
I'd be interested to know at what point you decided to ditch the plans to go to Kirindy and Berenty
Ficedula
velico ergo sum
hawkmoth = Xanthopan morgani
Ficedula
velico ergo sum
birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
Cheers Fic - any other herp re-id's for me?
birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
Nice stuff, FWIW we did have our very brief view of scaly ground roller probably around 10.00 am ish I would guess, and that was quite close to the start of the trail at the far end of Mantadia (I'm guessing- we drove past quite a few of the "non-wildlifey" trails and we certainly didn't explore as deep into Mantadia as you obviously did). So it's definitely possible to see them there later in the day. Didn't really get a good view like you though.
It's nice that you were able to get back to Andasibe so that Kelvin and Dawn could get the Indri (no diademed sifaka?). If you recall that was one of the key sites that I wanted to do and the main reason why I decided against joining you guys!
I'd be interested to know at what point you decided to ditch the plans to go to Kirindy and Berenty
We ditched Berenty the first time we left Andasibe as it was impossible to do in our time-frame, regardless of what Eugene had said in his emails! Once we got back south Kirindy was ditched as Gabs reckoned it was two days along the coast road from Tulear and about two days back across to Tana (although I've since read someone did that drive in 8hrs.....). So that was that really, the trip just evolved on the move and as the birds in the southern areas are all pretty straightforward we made up more time by leaving some sites earlier than planned.
Andasibe wasn't back onthe itinerary for definite until the day you all came out at the airport as we couldn't sort out any flights to the Masoala that fit in with our plans so the only place to get the missing coua and groundroller was to go back.
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