Escapes from Addis

While birding in Addis Ababa turned out to be better than expected, what I was really excited for in Ethiopia was getting out of the big city. I did just this the first chance I got: on my first full weekend in the country. The plan was to spend a day in the Ethiopian Highlands north of Addis, and a day exploring some of the better-known birding spots within the city.

Unfortunately, while birding in Ethiopia in general is much easier than in other countries, what's difficult is actually getting to the birding spots. Public transportation outside of Addis tends to be infrequent and dangerous, and more importantly many of the best birding spots are far from the nearest bus stop. Renting a car and self-driving should be out of the question for all but the most risk-loving visitors, as both rural roads and drivers in Ethiopia tend to be on the scary end of the quality spectrum, as evidenced by the dozens of horrific accidents one is liable to see along any major highway. Additionally, many sites are only accessible via a robust 4x4 vehicle. It certainly makes me miss my birding adventures in the Philippines on the back of a motorcycle.

I was left with no practical choice for my first day outing to rent a car and driver from one of the major touring outfits, a practice that has become my largest expense in an otherwise cheap country. In general I prefer to do my birding on the cheap and without guides, but in this case I didn't have much of a choice. I used Ethiopian Quadrants, a company popular with birders that seems to be more professional than some of the others. I've generally had a good relationship with them over the summer, although my one complaint is that they charge the same daily price for a short day trip and longer multi-day trips, despite the fact that the former does not include food and hotel costs for drivers, and thus is presumably less expensive for them. Nonetheless, I wasn't yet ready for a multi-day trip in my first weekend, so I gritted my teeth and shelled out the full price for a one-day expedition on Saturday, May 25. As it turned out, Asrat, my first driver, was quite friendly and knowledgeable about Ethiopia, and very much knew his birds as well. He never accompanied me on my birding walks (I assume that comes at an extra cost), but it was very useful to have a good birder along for ID confirmation.

My itinerary for Saturday was a trip to the Debre Libanos monastery a few hours' drive north of the capital city, with a few stops along the way. First was the Sululta Plain, an unassuming stretch of grassland on the plateau north of Addis. It's a popular spot for some of the more common highland endemics and other specialties, and while it wasn't as spectacularly birdy as some have found it (perhaps because the rainy season weather meant that there were plenty of wet spots for birds to spread out in) it still contained lots of good birds. 

The first birds I spotted were a few Yellow-billed Kites (often considered to be a subspecies of Black Kite) perched on a fence post and flock of endemic White-crowned Pigeons on top of a corrugated iron roof. My first lifers were a few Cape Crows foraging through trash on the ground and a small group of African Black Ducks, supposedly a rather uncommon bird in Ethiopia. Soon after I spotted one of my main targets for the day: an endemic Rouget's Rail stalking through the grass next to a small creek. It ran into the gully before I could get too close, but it's supposedly not reliably seen here so I was happy with any view at all. I also got onto a few Abyssinian Longclaws, odd endemic pipits that look more like American meadowlarks than anything else in their family. 

Rouget's Rail

Abyssinian Longclaw

Yellow-billed Kite

African Black Duck

The Sululta Plain is an interesting birding spot since it's located directly next to a large town and behind a resettlement community for some of the many internally displaced persons in Ethiopia. This means it's also very much a populated birding place, and birders often have to dodge large groups of cattle being driven past by local herders. On the weekends, it also means being followed by about a dozen local teen and preteen boys who are fascinated by why some ferenji (foreigner) is walking around with a big camera and binoculars. It's definitely impossible to be left alone, which was mostly fine as it wasn't really a safety issue, but did mean that a lot of birds got flushed by the large group of people approaching them before I could get a halfway decent picture. 

A very enthusiastic local cowboy

The Sululta Plains

The birds clearly don't care much about the human presence though (one of the joys of birding in Ethiopia), and they were still there in great numbers. I was able to get quite close to an endemic Wattled Ibis, certainly not the most attractive bird in town but full of personality. Yellow-billed Ducks were the most common duck in the area, though rather skittish like all the waterfowl (apparently trapping of ducks and geese in Ethiopia is growing in order to support the food demands of the local Chinese community of all things). There were also many Blue-winged Geese, an endemic target for the area, while frequent LBJs were Ethiopian Cisticolas and Moorland Chats, common highland birds. 

Wattled Ibis

Yellow-billed Duck

Moorland Chat

Blue-winged Goose

It being the rainy season, I had high hopes that I would see some male widowbirds and bishops in their brilliant breeding plumage. I'm normally happy to see any new bird, regardless of sex or maturity, but the problem is females and non-breeding males in the Euplectes genus are essentially identical to each other. As it turns out, the beginning of the rainy season in late May is when males are either just starting to transition into identifiable plumage. Thus, while I saw about 30 or so birds that were definitely some kind of Euplectes, I couldn't ID any of them. Finally, I spotted some male birds that were just starting to develop some rusty-red in their wings, marking them as Fan-tailed Widowbirds. They were heavily mixed in with huge flocks of Red-billed Quelea, the most populous bird in the world. There were also a few Red-billed Oxpeckers, strange starlings that ride around on the backs of large mammals eating ticks off their hides. 

Unspectacular male Fan-tailed Widowbird

Euplectes (probably all Fan-tailed Widowbirds) mixed with Red-billed Quelea

Red-billed Queleas

Red-billed Oxpecker on an ox

On the far end of the field I heard a screaming call that was clearly some kind of lapwing. Getting closer, I realized that it was a small flock of Spot-breasted Lapwings, endemic birds I wasn't sure would be in the area as they tend to migrate to higher ground for breeding. Near the same marsh was a skulking African Snipe, as well as many other waterbirds such as Grey Herons, Sacred Ibis, and Egyptian Geese. A surprise was an African Hobby, uncommon to rare in Ethiopia, that darted overhead. 

Spot-breasted Lapwing

Grey Heron

I finished up the Sululta Plain with a nice haul of new lifers, although I was missing a couple of targets that were supposedly regular in the area, such as Thick-billed Raven and Erlanger's Lark. I later learned that the latter breeds in late May and June, and thus is shy and solitary rather than in large flocks like it is the rest of the year. 

Along the way north we stopped at a small stream crossing north of the town of Chancho to see if there was anything new. As with anywhere in Ethiopia it was full of birds, including my lifers Ethiopian Siskin, the uncommon Banded Martin, and Pied Kingfisher, the latter the most common kingfisher in Ethiopia. There were also some other typical highland birds including Moorland Chat, Groundscraper Thrush, Brown-rumped Seedeater, and White-collared Pigeon. Also typical of anywhere in Ethiopia I had a following, although this time it was only two little boys who must have lived in the area who were much less obnoxious than the Sululta crowd. 

Banded Martin

Groundscraper Thrush

White-collared Pigeon

Some kind of mullein

African Wild Cassia

Ethiopian Siskin

A very bedraggled Brown-rumped Seedeater

Pied Kingfisher

Dictophorus griseus, a very chunky grasshopper

We stopped twice more on the way to Debre Libanos, first because we spotted a small group of Spur-winged Lapwings next to a small river. It was a lifer for me, although I later found out that it's one of the commonest birds in Ethiopia during the summer months, found screaming its brains out near almost any body of water. A second stop brought us a group of vultures crouched in a field, mostly the common Hooded Vultures but also the massive, hulking Lappet-faced Vulture. Old World Vultures are a new family for me, as they're nonexistent in the Philippines and taxonomically completely different from the Turkey Vultures and Black Vultures I'm used to in the US. Ethiopia is actually somewhat of a haven for vultures, as their numbers are literally being decimated in Asia and Europe due to the irresponsible use of toxic cattle antibiotics. Fortunately for the vultures, Ethiopia has the ideal mix of a vulture-tolerant culture and the frequent open disposal of various animal remains, which makes them quite plentiful throughout the country.

Spur-winged Lapwing

Lappet-faced Vulture

Hooded Vultures

We arrived in the Debre Libanos area around lunchtime. Our lunch stop was not the monastery itself, but the famed Ethio-German Lodge and "Portuguese Bridge" (actually built by Ethiopians in the 1800s), perched on the edge of the dramatic Jemma Escarpment. These are the main spots to look out for vultures, as well as some other good highland endemic species, and to enjoy the view. The Ethio-German Hotel gets somewhat of a bad rap among tourists for having overpriced rooms with terrible service, but the platter of Ethiopian food we had for lunch was quite good, and the views were spectacular.

The Jemma Valley as seen from the Ethio-German Hotel

After lunch, I walked along the trail from the lodge to the Portuguese Bridge. The scrubby vegetation along the lip of the canyon held some good birds, including the endemic Slender-billed Starling, Slender-billed Starlings, Variable Sunbird, Brown Parisoma, many noisy but skittish endemic Rüppell's Black Chats, Little Rock Thrush, and Fan-tailed Ravens. The vantage point was also good for watching various high-flying birds, especially swifts and vultures: I had Alpine Swift, Mottled Swift, White-rumped Swift, Red-rumped Swallow, massive Bearded Vultures (aka Lammergeiers), Rüppell's Vultures, and White-backed Vultures soaring by at eye level, certainly a unique experience!

White-billed Starling (male)

White-billed Starling (female)

Variable Sunbird

Little Rock Thrush

Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu

Fan-tailed Raven

Rüppell's Vulture

Alpine Swift

Delta emarginatum, a fearsome-looking wasp

Another highlight of Debre Libanosare the troupes of the endemic Gelada Baboon, the males of which are the best Fabio mimics in the animal kingdom. I was worried I wouldn't see any at first, but saw a large group as I neared the Portuguese Bridge. Unfortunately, just as soon as I saw them a man started yelling at me telling me I had to pay 300 birr to walk across the bridge. I'd already walked a good distance along the canyon and I sure as hell wasn't going to pay $10 just to walk 50 feet across an underwhelming stone bridge, so I took that as my cue to turn around. Unfortunately that meant I wasn't able to get any good pictures of the Geladas, the "environmental guards" apparently had no problem with tourists throwing rocks at the baboons for fun, but definitely had a problem with photography. Thankfully, there was another troupe loitering in the parking lot when we were preparing to leave, including some fabulous males.

A spectacular male Gelada

Baby Geladas

In the mid-afternoon we finally arrived at Debre Libanos Monastery. The monastery itself is an impressive building, first built in the 13th century and long the second-most important monastery in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, a frequent site of pilgrimage for emperors and other Ethiopians. That all changed on February 19, 1937, when the Italian occupying troops massacred all 300 priests in the monastery, along with around 19,000 other Ethiopians, after the failed assassination of a general. The Italians never managed to fully colonize Ethiopia, despite their best attempts, but the fascists still accomplished some ghastly atrocities during their 5-year reign in the country. 

I unfortunately completely neglected to get any pictures of the church, mainly because a torrential rainstorm started as soon as I got there, trapping me inside for a solid hour and a half. Thankfully one of the local priests spoke decent English and gave me an interesting tour of the monastery's museum, which held some important relics from Ethiopian history. Once the rain stopped, I was only able to get an hour or so of birding in before it was time to return to Addis (Asrat understandably didn't want to drive back in the dark). The road to the monastery held some good birds, including a flock of Red-billed Firefinches and Village Indigobirds grazing on the ground and a Wattled Ibis and a noisy endemic Ethiopian Oriole in the top of a spreading fig tree.

Village Indigobird

Red-billed Firefinch

Ethiopian Oriole

Wattled Ibis

The main birding attraction at Debre Libanos monastery is the beautiful tract of forest behind the church building (Orthodox Churches are actually one of the primary protectors of biodiversity in Ethiopia). The only issue is that the forest also serves as a latrine for the hundreds of pilgrims visiting the monastery. There are public toilet facilities at the church, but either they're too crowded and dirty, or some pilgrims just prefer to relieve themselves au naturel. Whatever the reason, it meant that I had to watch my step very, very carefully when walking in the woods, and hold my nose while I was at it.

The birding in the forest was fantastic, however. As soon as I entered the woods I heard a singing Brown Woodland Warbler, thankfully the only phylloscopus warbler found in Ethiopia in the summertime. Flocks of Montane White-eyes (not to be confused with the Mount White-eyes found in the Philippines) flitted around the tree branches and Singing Cisticolas sang from the bushes. After a bit of walking I happened upon a small group of White-rumped Babblers, endemic birds that look like laughingthrushes and sound like angry chickens. As I was taking pictures of the babblers, I noticed movement above me and saw an exquisite White-cheeked Turaco, near-endemic to Ethiopia and my first-ever turaco. Soon after I saw an endemic Banded Barbet in the same tree. On the way back down the mountain slope I saw a couple of Rüppell's Black Chats and an extremely friendly Mountain Wagtail that let me get so close I could have reached out and touched it. 

Montane White-eye

White-rumped Babbler

White-cheeked Turaco

Banded Barbet

Rüppell's Black Chat

Mountain Wagtail, apparently with an injured left foot

Common Bulbul with its lunch

Falls Acraea

We began the long drive back to Addis, stopping once for a distant Lanner Falcon, and once at river near the town of Duber that has a reputation for some good birds like Half-collared Kingfisher, Erlanger's Lark, and African Quailfinch. It was late in the day and I didn't see anything new, but it did have a large flock of Brown-throated Martins bathing along the edge of the river, and some more common highland species like Village Weaver, White-collared Pigeon, Speckled Pigeon, and the beautiful Greater Blue-eared Starling.

Brown-throated Martin

Male Village Weaver building a nest to impress the ladies

Speckled Pigeon

White-collared Pigeon

Greater Blue-eared Starling

My plan for Sunday was originally to stay in Addis and explore some local birding spots. However, the success of my trip north motivated me to do another out-of-city birding trip, this time on my own. Asrat had given me the directions for how to get to Bishoftu, a town southeast of Addis in the Rift Valley, and I set out in the morning to the bus terminal in the center of town. There's one public bus that heads to Bishoftu on an hourly basis, and it has the advantages of being very cheap (10 birr, or about 30 cents) and in good condition. The disadvantage is that its advantages make it very popular, and the bus was full to bursting by the time I got on it. It was standing room only for the entire 90-minute trip south, which I mostly spent looking at the window and trying to ignore the obnoxious Just For Laughs Gags videos on the bus TV. 

I arrived in Bishoftu in the late morning, and immediately set out looking for birds. Bishoftu (formerly known as Debre Zeit) is an air force base and popular weekend getaway for people from Addis. It's located in the volcanic lineament that ends in the spectacular Mount Zuqualla, and thus is dotted with beautiful crater lakes, many of which hold some good ecosystems. My first stop, Lake Bishoftu, turned out to be mostly sterile and held little in the way of new birdlife except for a flock of Horus Swifts, a Mocking Cliff Chat, and a menacing flock of 80 or so Marabou Storks circling high overhead. 

A bit disappointed, I headed north to the dumbbell-shaped Lake Hora, taking a tricycle to the lake's edge. The birding here proved to be excellent, with an uncommon Buff-bellied Warbler high in the treetops and a pair of Black-winged Lovebirds hiding in the bushes, and Rüppell's Weavers and Spectacled Weavers building nests. The edge of the lake held many locals enjoying a dip in the water, but also some common water birds like African Jacana, Squacco Heron, Purple Heron, Common Moorhen, Reed and Great Cormorants, and Red-knobbed Coots. There was also a mating pair of Yellow-billed Kites in the trees above me, while on the ground were many taxonomically (and otherwise) unique Hamerkop storks. 

Hamerkop, a strange waterbird not closely related to anything else.

Yellow-billed Kites making more Yellow-billed Kites

Spectacled Weaver

Pied Kingfisher

Reed Cormorant 

Great Cormorant showing off

Red-knobbed Coot

Squacco Heron

Southern Banded Groundling

Violet Dropwing

Golden Pansy

Oreochromis sp.

The shore of Lake Hora

I had a decent lunch of tibs firfir at the restaurant on the lakeshore, then walked around a bit more in the shade before leaving. There were some good birds to be found, including a responsive Grey-backed Camaroptera and a surprise White-shouldered Black Tit, as well as a cute African Dusky Flycatcher. I saw a sunbird flying into a bush, and tried a bit of pishing to draw it out. As it turned out, some Ethiopian sunbirds are incredibly responsive to pishing, as almost instantly I had a dozen or so Beautiful Sunbirds and Variable Sunbirds swarming out of the bushes to investigate the source of the sound, the strongest pishing reaction I've ever had. 

Grey-backed Camaroptera

African Dusky Flycatcher

Beautiful Sunbird

Male Variable Sunbird

Female Variable Sunbird

My final stop of the day was to Lake Chelekleka (sometimes spelled and pronounced as Cheleleka), an ephemeral lake in a basin on the west side of Bishoftu. Chelekleka has a reputation for having some great waterbirds, including lots of ducks and Black-crowned Cranes. However, when I got off the bajaj (tuk-tuk) at the "viewpoint" others had marked, I found only a bone-dry basin of dirt with cows wandering across it. As it turns out, they really mean the "ephemeral" part, and the lake as a whole doesn't exist until the rainy season has gone on long enough to fill it. 

"Lake" Chelekleka

A bit crestfallen, I was pleased to find that the edge of the lake was nonetheless full of birds, albeit only of the terrestrial kind. New birds at the northeast viewpoint were Laughing Doves, Mourning Collared-doves, an African Pipit, and Chestnut Weavers, while there were also good looks at Red-billed Firefinches, Red-billed Queleas, and an aptly-named Beautiful Sunbird. 

Laughing Dove

African Pipit

Mourning Collared-dove

Spur-winged Lapwing

Red-billed Firefinch

Beautiful Sunbird

I decided to walk along a dirt road heading south, which had a number of good birds despite mainly going past pig farms. My favorite was a Blue-naped Mousebird, much more elegant than its cousin the Speckled Mousebird. There was also a flock of African Paradise Flycatchers, some Sacred Ibis, a Tawny-flanked Prinia, and other common birds. Some homely-looking Marabou Storks were walking along the dry lakebed.

Blue-naped Mousebird

Female African Paradise Flycatcher

Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu

Marabou Stork

The impressive Emperor Dragonfly

I stopped at a nice-looking patch of trees along the east shore of the lake, which proved to have some surprisingly good birds, including a Red-throated Wryneck, a pair of singing Ethiopian Boubous, and a surprising Black-crowned Tchagra, not usually seen in that area. Another forest patch further south held some gaudy Ethiopian Bee-eaters, a gorgeous African Pygmy Kingfisher that darted past before I could get a picture, and a pair of Western Black-headed Batis, my first of this unusual African family. As I headed towards the bus terminal just before sunset, I happened upon a beautiful Black-winged Lovebird foraging in the sunlight, the perfect end to a very good day. 

Red-throated Wryneck, a very strange-looking woodpecker

Ethiopian Boubou

Ethiopian Bee-eater

Male Western Black-headed Batis

Female Western Black-headed Batis

Black-winged Lovebird

I ended my first weekend in the country with over 100 lifers, and some of the best bird pictures I'd taken up to then (I've since taken even better!). Of course I've had many more adventures by now, but it was already clear that Ethiopia was just as good as everyone says it is, if not better.