Day 6:
- Morning, drive to Lemi. Jemma Valley.
- Afternoon, birding in Jemma Valley and then drive to the hotel in Fiche
- Morning, drive to Lemi. Jemma Valley.
- Afternoon, birding in Jemma Valley and then drive to the hotel in Fiche
Day 6: Debre Birhan to Fiche via Jemma Valley
Our target this morning will be Harwood’s Francolin, an Ethiopian endemic restricted to highland gorges cut by tributaries of the Blue Nile. The best place to look for Harwood’s Francolin is the Jemma Valley, northwest of Debre Birhan, and the birds are most easily found early in the morning, when they are at their most vocal. For that reason, we will make another early start this morning in order to arrive in the Jemma Valley shortly after dawn.
We will spend our entire morning driving to and birding in the Jemma Valley, and in addition to Harwood’s Francolin will seek out the near-endemic Erckel’s Francolin, Rüppell’s Black Chat, White-winged Cliff Chat, White-billed Starling, Swainson’s Sparrow, Red-billed Pytilia, and Yellow-rumped (or White-throated) Seedeater.
We can also expect to see many other more common and widespread species, the highlights among which might include a variety of raptors, Half-collared Kingfisher, Abyssinian Wheatear, Foxy Cisticola, Ethiopian Boubou, Cinnamon-breasted Bunting, Black-winged Red Bishop, Yellow Bishop, and Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu.
In the afternoon, we explore the nearby town of Debre Libanos and its surroundings. There, we can search for Geladas, admire the view into the steep-sided gorges to the north of the town, and
Night in Fiche at C- Lale Resort Hotel.
Friday 25 th of October 2019 and we will drive to Jemma Valley to look for birds. My Guide and Driver will come to pick me up at 7. The breakfast was, well, there was tea and toast. The rest of the food didn't look like anything I wanted to eat. So the breakfast was a quick affair and I was on the parking lot looking for birds when my Driver and Guide arrived.
There were quite a few interesting birds in the garden. I spot a Brown-rumped Seedeater sitting on a wire. No good pictures and I follow a Baglafecht Weaver for a while before I could take pictures. Crazy ISO speed and the pictures went to the garbage. There was a Yellow-crowned Canary sitting in top of a small tree and I gave it a try with the camera.
Yellow-crowned Canary
Yellow-crowned Canary
Yellow-crowned Canary
Hemprich's Hornbill
Hemprich's Hornbill
Swainson's Sparrow
eBird Report
Getva Hotel in Debre Birhan, Amara, ET Oct 25, 2019 06:54 - 07:07
Protocol: Stationary
0 kilometer(s)
Comments: 20 day Ethiopian birding tour with Flamingos Tours Ethiopia. Birding outside the hotel while waiting for my Guide and driver
7 species
Dusky Turtle Dove 2
Hemprich's Hornbill 1
Abyssinian Thrush 1
Baglafecht Weaver 1
Swainson's Sparrow 1
Brown-rumped Seedeater 5
Yellow-crowned Canary 2
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S60906276
We leave the hotel and we drive towards South for a bit until we leave the paved road and start driving towards West on a dust road. We are soon stopping to try to get a picture of a Pin-tailed Whydah sitting on a fence. Of course, the bird took off and I went back to the car.
Back in the car and I see an Egyptian Vulture sitting on top of a pole. I get out and I try to sneak up on the vulture. And the Egyptian Vulture is a very beautiful bird. We also see one Red-breasted Wheatear.
We stop to take bird pictures
We stop to take bird pictures
We continue our road trip and we are soon stopping on the road. There was a Grey Heron sitting in the reeds and the bird is scared like most of the Grey Herons are. There is a Hamerkop as well and we had 2 Egyptian Goose flying next to the road. I cannot discover any more birds and we are soon on our way again.
We continue towards Lemi on the dust road, and of course, we keep our eyes out for birds. STOP STOP STOP!! I tell the driver to stop as I see a raptor sitting on top of one of the haystacks in a field we drive by. Black and white so I thought it was an Osprey and I asked if there was any lakes nearby. My Guide told me that it was a Augur Buzzard.
I told them to wait for me while I was going to get out to try to get out in the field to get some pictures. As soon as I get out of the car I discover two Red-breasted Wheatears next to me. I take pictures very quickly as the Augur Buzzard was my target.
Grey Heron - นกกระสานวล
Red-breasted Wheatear next to the car
Augur Buzzard eating in the field
Red-breasted Wheatears next to the car
Buss passing on the dust road
Coming closer to the Augur Buzzard
And the Augur Buzzard is taking off
Red-breasted Wheatear
More busses passing on the dust road
Back in the car and we continued towards Lime and we kept our eye out for birds along the dust road. Harvest time and we pass haystacks everywhere and there are birds having a good time in the stacks. We passed pretty close to a haystack with a Cape Crow singing, or calling from the top of the stack. I really wanted pictures of the crow, the lighting was disappointing.
Well, I got two pictures that I could use.
By the time I had my ZOOM H5 Handy Recorder ready the bird was gone, so no recording. But we might get lucky to see the bird again.
Cape Crow
We continued our drive through the interesting landscape. Still dust road and it will be dust road all the way to and through the Jemma Valley. We see a lot of birds on the way, of course, most of the pictures in the garbage. But when we come to a road improvement site (They widen the road and put gravel) we see 2 interesting bird. 2 larks sitting in the heaps of gravel. The Blanford's Lark and the Thekla's Lark. The Blanford's Lark is confusing if you use eBird. I was looking for the Erlanger's Lark as the bird is named so in my book "Birds of Horn of Africa"
But the book also have the Blanford's Lark listed. And in Wikipedia they have the Erlanger’s lark - Calandrella blanfordi erlangeri. HBW have them on their web page https://www.hbw.com/species/blanfords-lark-calandrella-blanfordi:
Subspecies and Distribution
C. b. blanfordi (Shelley, 1902) – Blanford's Lark – N Eritrea and N Ethiopia.
C. b. erlangeri Neumann, 1906 – Erlanger's Lark – Ethiopian highlands.
Well, I took one of the pictures and sent to www.birdforum.net to see if anyone at the forum can help. And yet again, I had got wiser after consulting birdforum.
Thanks to Birdforum I could straight out the question mark. Erlanger’s lark is considered to be a subspecies to the Blanford's Lark.
Forum thread HERE
Forum thread HERE
Subspecies Erlanger’s lark
Blanford's Lark
Subspecies Erlanger’s lark
Blanford's Lark
Subspecies Erlanger’s lark
Blanford's Lark
Subspecies Erlanger’s lark
Thekla's Lark
Thekla's Lark
Thekla's Lark
Thekla's Lark
We leave the larks behind and I was happy with the pictures. Larks are usually very hard to zoom on for me and the pictures are usually coming out very bad. So I was in a good mood when we continued on the dust road. We were soon coming out on a table mountain with a steep side down to the Jemma Valley on our right hand side. At the end of the mountain side we have the town Lemi and from there the dust road continue on the mountain side down to the Jemma Valley.
We see a few White-billed Starling on the mountain edge and we stop. I get out of the car to try to sneak up on the birds for a few pictures. Of course, I had no luck with the very scared birds.
Approaching the table mountain
We can see that the farmer's fields are going all the way to the steep
Jemma Valley and Jemma River
Bus passing on the dust road
Looking out over Jemma Valley
Looking out over Jemma Valley
We are extremely unlucky with the White-billed Starlings. We go back to the car and take our seats. Opening the windows and we sit there looking at the starlings and it looks like they are coming closer. They are on the cliff edge when suddenly we have two White-billed Starlings landing in the haystack next to the car.
Well, I can't say that I was very happy with the pictures of the White-billed Starlings when we left. We were in the outskirts of Lemi so we reached the town in just a few minutes.
Swainson's Sparrow
Thanks to Jean FRANCOIS at birdforum for helping me confirm the identity of the Swainson's Sparrow
Forum thread HERE
Forum thread HERE
White-billed Starling
White-billed Starling
Today´s track between Debre Birhan and Lemi
eBird Report
Road between Debra Berhan And Lemi, Amara, ET Oct 25, 2019 07:25 - 10:44
Protocol: Traveling
75,67 kilometer(s)
Comments: 20 day Ethiopian birding tour with Flamingos Tours Ethiopia. Birding with my Guide
27 species
Blue-winged Goose 1
Egyptian Goose 4
White-collared Pigeon 3
Dusky Turtle Dove 2
Hamerkop 3
Grey Heron 4
Cattle Egret 10
Wattled Ibis 2
Egyptian Vulture 1
Black Kite 1
Augur Buzzard 2
African Grey Hornbill 1
Northern Fiscal X Many
Cape Crow X
Pied Crow X
Blanford's Lark 3 Erlanger s lark - Calandrella blanfordi erlangeri
Thekla's Lark 2
Barn Swallow X
White-billed Starling 4
Greater Blue-eared Starling 1
Groundscraper Thrush 3
Moorland Chat 1
Red-breasted Wheatear 3
Pin-tailed Whydah 1
Swainson's Sparrow 1
Western Yellow Wagtail 2
Cinnamon-breasted Bunting 1
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S60907923
Entering Lemi and we were looking for a place to buy fresh bread and when we had found the bakery we left to look for a place to drink tea. The town was full of garbage and a terrible stink so I was in a hurry to finish my tea and to get on the road again. The bread was OK but not as good as the bread we had bought in other parts of Ethiopia.
I like the tea in Ethiopia, the bagged tea Addis Tea is really good. And the traditional tea is very good if you remove 95% of the sugar. And they add cinnamon and it taste really good.
Tea time with my Driver and Guide
We finish our tea and we get back to the car. We will leave Lemi and the road start to descend down to Jemma Valley as soon as we get out of Lemi. We stop to look for birds already after having left the last house behind 3 minutes after having left the tea place behind.
We spot a couple of White-bellied Starlings and quite a few other birds sitting in the trees, but no good pictures. We continue down in to the valley and we are soon spotting a beautiful Cinnamon-breasted Bunting in a bush next to the road. I manage to get both pictures and a sound recording.
We are soon stopping to look for birds
White-billed Starling
White-billed Starling
Cinnamon-breasted Bunting or Cinnamon-breasted Rock-bunting
Cinnamon-breasted Bunting or Cinnamon-breasted Rock-bunting
Listen to the Cinnamon-breasted Bunting
Sound from www.xeno-canto.org
Remarks from the Recordist
Recorded with my ZOOM H5 Handy Recorder. High Pass Filter applied with Audacity
Sitting next to the dust road when we are driving down to Jemma Valley
We leave the Cinnamon-breasted Bunting behind descending down to the Jemma Valley towards the Jemma River at the bottom of the valley. There is a road on the mountain side, vertical steep on our left hand side and a steep on the right hand side with the table mountain on top.
A beautiful but very bumpy road. I scream STOP STOP!!! I had spotted a very beautiful bird in one of the bushes next to the road.
It was a Red-collared Widowbird and of course, the bird took off before I could get any pictures. I could see the bird in a tree down the valley but it was too far away for any pictures. DARN! That was a really nice bird and I was really hoping to see it again.
Descending down Jemma Valley
Descending down Jemma Valley
Descending down Jemma Valley
Descending down Jemma Valley
We meet a buss bound for Lemi
Stop on the way down
Stop on the way down
Stop to look at the Black-winged Red Bishop
Black-winged Red Bishop
Tawny-flanked Prinia
We reach Jemma River at the bottom of Jemma Valley. We cross a bridge and we stop at a dry tributary river and we walk across. Dry season and there is not much water in the Jemma River but it is enough to call it a river. We walk along a path and we see a lot of birds in the trees.
The lighting conditions are not very good as we have the sun on top of the sky and the birds are all in the shadows. There are a couple of the beautiful Crimson-rumped Waxbill that I tried to get pictures of. Red-cheeked Cordonbleu, Pin-tailed Whydah and two Mocking Cliff-Chats.
I concentrated on trying to get pictures of the Mocking Cliff-Chat and the Crimson-rumped Waxbills that was taking refuge in the shadow. It was darn hot in the sun, both for me and my Guide and the birds.
Bridge over Jemma River from the dry tributary river
Mocking Cliff Chat
Woolly-necked Stork and a Senegal Thick-knee
Woolly-necked Stork
Senegal Thick-knee, Egyptian Goose and a Woolly-necked Stork
Woolly-necked Stork
Jemma River
We spotted quite a few Egrets at Jemma River and two Woolly-necked Storks landed across the river while we were looking at the Egrets. Walking back towards the car we spotted a group of Sahel Bush Sparrow. But no pictures. I also spotted one African Pygmy-Kingfisher, sitting between me and the sun so the pictures was not any good. So the bird will not make it to my list of observed birds.
I got a sound recording that I can use so it was not all that bad. We were soon back at the car and we started to drive back towards Lemi.
African Pygmy-Kingfisher
African Pygmy-Kingfisher
Listen to the African Pygmy-Kingfisher
Sound from www.xeno-canto.org
Remarks from the Recordist
ZOOM H5 Handy Recorder. High Pass Filter applied with Audacity
Pictures turned out to be no good of the bird sitting in a tree along Jemma River
Start to drive up the mountain to Lemi
Driving back up on the mountain
Driving back up on the mountain
Driving back up on the mountain
Today´s track in Jemma Valley
eBird Report
Jemma Valley, Amara, ET Oct 25, 2019 11:08 - 14:55
Protocol: Traveling
53,22 kilometer(s)
Comments: 20 day Ethiopian birding tour with Flamingos Tours Ethiopia. Birding with my Guide
24 species
Egyptian Goose 2
Senegal Thick-knee 5
Spur-winged Lapwing 2
Woolly-necked Stork 2
Great White Egret 1
African Pygmy-Kingfisher 1 In Jemma Valley at the end of the bridge accross the river
Pied Kingfisher 1
Cape Crow X
Tawny-flanked Prinia 1
Common Bulbul 1
White-billed Starling 2
Mocking Cliff-Chat 2
Rüppell's Chat 4
Variable Sunbird 1
Black-winged Bishop 6
Red-collared Widowbird 1
Crimson-rumped Waxbill 9
Red-cheeked Cordonbleu 3
Pin-tailed Whydah 1
Village Indigobird 1
Sahel Bush Sparrow 2
Streaky Seedeater 1
Brown-rumped Seedeater 3
Cinnamon-breasted Bunting 1
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S60912417
We come out from Lemi and we start to drive towards Fiche and the C- Lale Resort Hotel. We drive back on the dust road we had arrived on and just outside Lemi we saw a huge bird coming flying towards us. It was the huge Lammergeier, also known as the Bearded Vulture.
What a beautiful vulture, well, vultures are my favourite bird. I like to see them as they are every beautiful and this was the most beautiful vulture I had ever seen. I was very excited when I got out of the car. Crossing the dust road and I was soon in the field.
But I had only got about 2 meters in to the field when the bird took of over the cliff edge and disappeared down in the Jemma Valley.
DARN! I was really disappointed, and the pictures was not any good so I was not so happy when we left. But we might see the bird again.
Hopefully!
Bearded Vulture
Bearded Vulture
Bearded Vulture - The bird take off when I approach
We leave Lemi behind and we are going full speed towards Fiche and it will take a few hours to get there as it is an old dust road for most of the way. We keep an eye out for birds on the way. We cross a bridge over a stream and we spot a few African Black Duck. We put the car in reverse and we go back to try to get a few pictures.
The duck is very scared and it took off before we could get any pictures. A little later we see the Pin-tailed Whydah and we stop to try to get a picture of the beautiful bird. Well, it was a waste of time to stop, the bird was too far away and the pictures was nothing but garbage.
African Black Duck
Pin-tailed Whydah
Today´s track between Lemi and Fiche
eBird Report
Dust road between Lemi and Fiche, Amara, ET Oct 25, 2019 14:56 - 17:22
Protocol: Traveling
81,9 kilometer(s)
Comments: 20 day Ethiopian birding tour with Flamingos Tours Ethiopia.
13 species
Blue-winged Goose 4
Egyptian Goose 6
African Black Duck 1
White-collared Pigeon X
Dusky Turtle Dove 1
Wattled Ibis 2
Bearded Vulture 1 Also known as the Lammergeier
Black Kite 1
Cape Crow X
Pied Crow X
Groundscraper Thrush X
Pin-tailed Whydah 1
Western Yellow Wagtail 1
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S60912470
We arrive to C- Lale Resort Hotel in Fiche around 5 o'clock in the afternoon. The hotel looked very nice, but I was kind of disappointed when I got in to my room. Well, it will be OK for one night. The restaurant was OK and the Cook was very nice. He came to my table to make sure he got the steak right.
Tea and steak with spaghetti and I was happy when I left the restaurant. Back at the room and they were soon cutting the electricity. So I had to spend the time until 6 o'clock in the morning in complete darkness in my room. And the time passed very slowly and the boredom, the boredom. Nothing to do but to stay in the bed looking out in the pitch dark.
My room at C- Lale Resort Hotel in Fiche, Ethiopia
My room at C- Lale Resort Hotel in Fiche, Ethiopia
Bathroom at C- Lale Resort Hotel in Fiche, Ethiopia
Bathroom at C- Lale Resort Hotel in Fiche, Ethiopia
Restaurant at C- Lale Resort Hotel
C- Lale Resort Hotel
C- Lale Resort Hotel
My Driver and Guide will be here to pick me up at 7 o'clock tomorrow morning and we will go to look for Vultures 30 minutes from the hotel before driving south passing through Addis Ababa. I have invited the Driver and Guide for lunch in Addis Ababa before we continue south. Will we see any vultures tomorrow? Click HERE to find out.
OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizens visiting my web page. How hard can it 
be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page.
noun [in SING.] informal a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.
ORIGIN late 18th cent.: of unknown origin.
So as you understand, in a jiff pretty much depends on your internet.
So I put a “Next” button here and I hope that there isn't any problem to understand how to use that one. So just CLICK the “Next” button on your left hand side and you will be on the next page in a jiff!
Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas
Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!
Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!
Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra
Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!
คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next”
ข้างบนนี้
Вы говорите по-русски? Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!
E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.
Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.
be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page. Jiffy (also jiff)
noun [in SING.] informal a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.
ORIGIN late 18th cent.: of unknown origin.
So as you understand, in a jiff pretty much depends on your internet.
Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaasFaites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopraSprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben! คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next”
ข้างบนนี้
Вы говорите по-русски? Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!
E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.
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