12.03.2023 Madagascar - Malagasy Birds

Madagascar is a beautiful island nation just off the southeast coast of Africa. Many millions of years ago, Madagascar separated from Africa and Indi, creating a habitat of unique birds and animals and plants. The people we met were very friendly and the experience was a true adventure. If ever the opportunity presents itself, I do recommend a visit.

We were a group of 10 birders and several local guides, depending on the location we visit. The local guides were phenomenal in locating some of the rare and endemic birds. We hiked up and down steep ridges, crossed streams without bridges, traversed rice fields and spiny forests and tropical forests. We saw quite a few different reptiles and yes, we encountered leeches. Not my favorite encounter, but they can be easily removed. My favorite encounters were with the lemurs, and I will have a separate blog with pictures of these magnificent creatures. 

This was one of my favorite birds.  He is a paradise flycatcher with that striking blue eye ring and long graceful white tail. Some of my best viewing was when I ventured out on my own during the afternoon lunch time break. It is easier to see birds with fewer people, but the advantages of the group and guides is identification. But it was fun to venture out on my own to see what I could find. And I was able to observe the behavior of quite a few birds which I would have missed otherwise.

Beautiful tail feathers.

Here he is flying behind the tree. Look to the right of the trunk to see the forked tail feathers.

Let's not forget the female. Here she is at night sitting on her nest. 

 

The male paradise flycatcher sitting on a tree bench, not too hard to spot. 

The female paradise flycatcher has reddish colorations and a long tail, too. She is gorgeous in her own right! Neither the male nor female sit still too long.

The blue coua is a larger ground bird that was only easy to spot because of the eye patch. They blended in well with the forest floor and often hid behind bushes. We did see a few of these at several different place. 

Blue pigeon. Observed him eating berries in the morning. Gorgeous red eye patch.

Who is this beautiful bird? He is a Pita-like Ground Roller.  Beautiful.

Red crested coua. 

Well camouflaged on the forest bird is the nightjar. She was definitely hard to spot.

Hoopee - a very cute bird.

Red tailed tropic bird on her nest on Nosy Ve Island, just off the western coast of Madagascar.

Great Heron at Nosy Ve.

Cisticola - a common but very pleasant bird.

Olive bee-eater

Red capped coua

Subdesert mesite in the spiny forest.

Madagascar cuckoo-hawk

Red Fody

Torotoroka Scops Owl

Madagascar coucal. Now this was an adventure following this bird. He was partially hidden in the vines as I was walking along the trail. I kept trying to get a peak of him and of course a picture. Finally, I had enough pictures that I could identify him. I am sure he was happy when I finally stopped and he flew across the trail. 

Black and white robin.

Barn owl.

White browed owl seen at night.

White-faced Whistling ducks.

This is just a small sampling of the birds we saw. Sometimes I just watched and did not photograph, especially the rare red-tailed Newtonia. It was so special to watch this bird (once thought extinct) that I did not waste time setting the camera for a picture. I just watched him. It was such a tough hike to get there that I wanted to be certain I really saw them! So, this is not my photograph of the red tailed Newtonia but one downloaded from the internet.

As soon as I have the chance, my next blog should be about these fantastic animals - the lemurs. Stay tuned. They are fascinating.

This was a great trip complete with open boat ride to the island of Nosy Ve along the west coast of Madagascar, a cart ride pulled by zebus to take us to the motorboat through the water, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, hikes through spiny forests and tropical jungles, no return flight on an in-country flight back to the base in the capital city Antananarivo, challenging hikes, early mornings and nighttime birding excursions.  As I get pictures organized, I will post more. 

Until next time......