Walk Like an Egyptian
Despite being landlocked and at least 1/3 desert, Ethiopia still manages to be one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, with well over 800 species of bird recorded. This is partly because it's way bigger than it looks on most maps (three times the size of Germany!), and partly because it also has an extremely varied geography that keeps species isolated from each other by mountains, valleys, rivers and deserts. Thus, while most birding circuits focus mainly on the central and southern parts of Ethiopia, where most of the endemic birds are found, western Ethiopia holds an almost completely different avifauna from anywhere else in the country.
The best place to visit for seeing western Ethiopian birds is the town of Gambela, the capital of the eponymous region and apparently one of the most oppressively hot places in the country. However, it's extremely far from Addis, and is reputed to be essentially unnavigable in the rainy season, where all roads turn into mud. Instead, I opted to visit the Gibe Gorge, where the Gibe River plunges into a wide, deep valley in the Gurage Zone, at the conflicted border between the Oromia and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples regions west of Addis Ababa. The Gibe Gorge is known among birders for two things: first, as one of the most reliable spots to see Egyptian Plovers, a strange shorebird found in Sub-Saharan Africa, and as the easternmost place in Ethiopia where many birds can be found.
I had originally planned to spend only a day there, as the mostly-reliable book Where to Watch Birds in Ethiopia assured me that it was only a few hours' drive from Addis Ababa. This proved to be extremely false, however, as it was in fact a long, boring 6-hour drive from the city that would have been excruciating to do twice in a day. By the time we arrived in the town of Welkite I was glad that Mesfin had convinced me two days were necessary. We reserved rooms at a very cheap local hotel in Welkite, then continued west to the Gibe River itself, picking up the required army scout to follow me around while I birded along the way. As it happened, this particular scout (whose name I've already forgotten) did know some of the good locations for birding, so he was somewhat helpful.
We started on the eastern side of the river, where the rare and elusive Red-billed Pytilia is sometimes seen. I didn't see any pytilias, though I did see a nice flock of Euplectes birds, most of which were in their unidentifiable non-breeding plumage, but some of which I was able to ID as my lifer Black-winged Red Bishop and White-winged Widowbird. There was also a juvenile African Harrier Hawk flying overhead and some familiar smaller birds flitting around in the riverside bushes, like Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu and Tawny-flanked Prinia, but aside from that not much in the way of new birds.
What there was, on the other hand, was an extraordinarily diverse collection of butterflies and other insects. In fact, in my two-day visit the Gibe Gorge proved to have perhaps the highest insect density and diversity of any place I've ever visited, with dozens of species of butterflies seen, often so numerous that they distracted me from birding! The more I get into birding, the more I realize that I'm nearly as interested in other forms of wildlife, especially butterflies and mammals (though not nearly as good at ID!), so this was a very appreciated distraction for me.
With no Egyptian Plovers or other birds seen, we crossed to the western shore of the river, taking a muddy road through a stretch of farmland. Along the way we ran into one of my major targets for the site: a flock of Abyssinian Waxbills, an attractive near-endemic found only in western Ethiopia and a small part of South Sudan. Once we got to the river, it didn't take long to find the main target for the trip: a beautiful pair of Egyptian Plovers stalking along the water's edge. Egyptian Plovers are extremely odd birds: found in a band across Sub-Saharan Africa, they're the only members of their family (Pluvianidae), not looking much like any other kind of shorebird. They're also possibly the most attractive shorebird I've ever seen, and watching this pair walk along the river in the late afternoon light ranks very highly among my many very cool birding experiences of 2019.
There were some other good birds about, including a Western Black-headed Batis mixed in with a flock of Red-billed Firefinches and Swainson's Sparrows, a family group of Pin-tailed Whydahs, and a pair of African Pied Wagtails joining the Egyptian Plovers on the riverbank. Insect life was still quite good, including a huge Robber Fly carrying away a Painted Lady butterfly. There was also a menacing-looking Nile Crocodile sunning itself on the riverbank. On the way back up the valley, we stopped for some pictures of the view, where I also saw my lifer Snowy-browed Robin-chat and a Red-headed Weaver.
Having seen the plovers, the goal of the next day was to look for some of the Gibe Gorge's other avian specialties. Indeed, some very hard to find birds have been seen in that area besides Egyptian Plovers, including Yellow-throated Sandgrouse, Black-faced Firefinch, Exclamatory Paradise-whydah, Moustached Grass-warbler, Foxy Cisticola, and Red-billed Pytilia, although most or all of them are quite difficult to find. The sandgrouse in particular is a specialty of the area, but Mesfin told me that they're generally found in open fields during the harvest and planting season, which this was not. I still spent quite a while looking through open fields in hopes of seeing one, but unfortunately there were no sandgrice to be found.
We stopped in a wooded area midway down the valley wall, and almost immediately spotted a Foxy Cisticola in some thick shrubbery. The cisticolas are found in an area of east-central Africa that's mainly difficult for birders to access, so it was nice to see this here as I'd missed it in the Jemma Valley, the most popular place to see it. A bit further up the road, I heard a Blue-headed Coucal booming away in a field, and eventually was able to get a good view of it- my first coucal in Ethiopia. There was also a pair of Red-shouldered Cuckooshrikes in a tall-ish tree, only the second time I'd seen one, and a beautiful Black-billed Barbet further away.
The insect life was, once again, fantastic and diverse, particularly on the butterfly front:
At the bottom of the gorge, we crossed the river and I spent some time walking along a poorly-maintained farmer's path with our scout. I managed to see some new western specialty birds, including a White-winged Widowbird, a couple Pale Flycatchers, and my personal favorite, a Moustached Grass Warbler, probably the easternmost population of that bird in Africa. There were some Abdim's Storks on an island in the river, a Wire-tailed Swallow perched on top of a tree, and a spectacular male Pin-tailed Whydah perched at eye level. The insect life was, once again, also spectacular!
On the way back up the gorge, we stopped a couple more times to look for some of the local specialty birds. I didn't see anything new bird-wise, although I did see many more Abyssinian Waxbills and another beautiful Pin-tailed Whydah. There were, of course, lots more bugs for a last-minute addition to my trip list. Overall the weekend was a reminder of how much life there is to explore beyond just birds- and certainly worth paying attention to!
The best place to visit for seeing western Ethiopian birds is the town of Gambela, the capital of the eponymous region and apparently one of the most oppressively hot places in the country. However, it's extremely far from Addis, and is reputed to be essentially unnavigable in the rainy season, where all roads turn into mud. Instead, I opted to visit the Gibe Gorge, where the Gibe River plunges into a wide, deep valley in the Gurage Zone, at the conflicted border between the Oromia and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples regions west of Addis Ababa. The Gibe Gorge is known among birders for two things: first, as one of the most reliable spots to see Egyptian Plovers, a strange shorebird found in Sub-Saharan Africa, and as the easternmost place in Ethiopia where many birds can be found.
I had originally planned to spend only a day there, as the mostly-reliable book Where to Watch Birds in Ethiopia assured me that it was only a few hours' drive from Addis Ababa. This proved to be extremely false, however, as it was in fact a long, boring 6-hour drive from the city that would have been excruciating to do twice in a day. By the time we arrived in the town of Welkite I was glad that Mesfin had convinced me two days were necessary. We reserved rooms at a very cheap local hotel in Welkite, then continued west to the Gibe River itself, picking up the required army scout to follow me around while I birded along the way. As it happened, this particular scout (whose name I've already forgotten) did know some of the good locations for birding, so he was somewhat helpful.
We started on the eastern side of the river, where the rare and elusive Red-billed Pytilia is sometimes seen. I didn't see any pytilias, though I did see a nice flock of Euplectes birds, most of which were in their unidentifiable non-breeding plumage, but some of which I was able to ID as my lifer Black-winged Red Bishop and White-winged Widowbird. There was also a juvenile African Harrier Hawk flying overhead and some familiar smaller birds flitting around in the riverside bushes, like Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu and Tawny-flanked Prinia, but aside from that not much in the way of new birds.
What there was, on the other hand, was an extraordinarily diverse collection of butterflies and other insects. In fact, in my two-day visit the Gibe Gorge proved to have perhaps the highest insect density and diversity of any place I've ever visited, with dozens of species of butterflies seen, often so numerous that they distracted me from birding! The more I get into birding, the more I realize that I'm nearly as interested in other forms of wildlife, especially butterflies and mammals (though not nearly as good at ID!), so this was a very appreciated distraction for me.
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| Red-cheeked Cordon-bleus |
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| Desert Orange Tip (Colotis evagore) |
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| Acraea pseudegina |
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| Hawaiian Beetroot Webworm Moth- a bit weird to see a moth in Ethiopia that I can also find in my backyard in Virginia. |
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| African Babul Blue (Azanus jesous) |
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| Some kind of cursèd Geometrid moth |
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| Jigsaw (Dysgonia torrida) |
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| Butterberry (Hoslundia opposita), a bush that proved extremely popular with the insect life... |
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| ...including this strange net-winged beetle (Lycus sp.) |
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| Some kind of blister beetle (Mylabrini sp.) |
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| Some kind of dung beetle |
With no Egyptian Plovers or other birds seen, we crossed to the western shore of the river, taking a muddy road through a stretch of farmland. Along the way we ran into one of my major targets for the site: a flock of Abyssinian Waxbills, an attractive near-endemic found only in western Ethiopia and a small part of South Sudan. Once we got to the river, it didn't take long to find the main target for the trip: a beautiful pair of Egyptian Plovers stalking along the water's edge. Egyptian Plovers are extremely odd birds: found in a band across Sub-Saharan Africa, they're the only members of their family (Pluvianidae), not looking much like any other kind of shorebird. They're also possibly the most attractive shorebird I've ever seen, and watching this pair walk along the river in the late afternoon light ranks very highly among my many very cool birding experiences of 2019.
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| Abyssinian Waxbill |
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| Egyptian Plover |
There were some other good birds about, including a Western Black-headed Batis mixed in with a flock of Red-billed Firefinches and Swainson's Sparrows, a family group of Pin-tailed Whydahs, and a pair of African Pied Wagtails joining the Egyptian Plovers on the riverbank. Insect life was still quite good, including a huge Robber Fly carrying away a Painted Lady butterfly. There was also a menacing-looking Nile Crocodile sunning itself on the riverbank. On the way back up the valley, we stopped for some pictures of the view, where I also saw my lifer Snowy-browed Robin-chat and a Red-headed Weaver.
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| Red-headed Weaver |
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| Red-billed Firefinch |
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| Blue Cascader (Zygonyx natalensis) |
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| Nile Crocodile |
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| Belonogaster sp. |
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| Painted Lady |
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| Massive robber-fly (Asilinae sp.) |
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| Robber-fly with a Painted Lady |
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| Lophyra neglecta |
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| The view over the Gibe Gorge- probably at its most attractive during the rainy season. |
Having seen the plovers, the goal of the next day was to look for some of the Gibe Gorge's other avian specialties. Indeed, some very hard to find birds have been seen in that area besides Egyptian Plovers, including Yellow-throated Sandgrouse, Black-faced Firefinch, Exclamatory Paradise-whydah, Moustached Grass-warbler, Foxy Cisticola, and Red-billed Pytilia, although most or all of them are quite difficult to find. The sandgrouse in particular is a specialty of the area, but Mesfin told me that they're generally found in open fields during the harvest and planting season, which this was not. I still spent quite a while looking through open fields in hopes of seeing one, but unfortunately there were no sandgrice to be found.
We stopped in a wooded area midway down the valley wall, and almost immediately spotted a Foxy Cisticola in some thick shrubbery. The cisticolas are found in an area of east-central Africa that's mainly difficult for birders to access, so it was nice to see this here as I'd missed it in the Jemma Valley, the most popular place to see it. A bit further up the road, I heard a Blue-headed Coucal booming away in a field, and eventually was able to get a good view of it- my first coucal in Ethiopia. There was also a pair of Red-shouldered Cuckooshrikes in a tall-ish tree, only the second time I'd seen one, and a beautiful Black-billed Barbet further away.
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| Foxy Cisticola |
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| Blue-headed Coucal |
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| Black-shouldered Cuckooshrike |
The insect life was, once again, fantastic and diverse, particularly on the butterfly front:
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| Leptotes sp., which annoying hasn't been IDed yet |
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| Brown Playboy (Deudorix antalus), one of the biggest lycaenids I've ever seen |
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| Round-winged Orange Tip (Colotis euippe) |
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| Black-striped Hairtail (Anthene amarah) |
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| Cupidopsis jobates |
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| Yellow Pansy (Junonia hierta) |
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| African Caper (Belenois creona) |
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| Mating Noctuid moths of some kind |
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| Dung beetle (Chalconotus sp.) |
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| The view at the bottom of the gorge |
At the bottom of the gorge, we crossed the river and I spent some time walking along a poorly-maintained farmer's path with our scout. I managed to see some new western specialty birds, including a White-winged Widowbird, a couple Pale Flycatchers, and my personal favorite, a Moustached Grass Warbler, probably the easternmost population of that bird in Africa. There were some Abdim's Storks on an island in the river, a Wire-tailed Swallow perched on top of a tree, and a spectacular male Pin-tailed Whydah perched at eye level. The insect life was, once again, also spectacular!
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| Pale Flycatcher |
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| White-winged Widowbird |
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 |
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| Moustached Grass Warbler |
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| Abdim's Storks |
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| Pin-tailed Whydah |
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| Wire-tailed Swallow |
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| Another beautiful firefly-type beetle (Lycostomus sp.) |
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| African Joker (Byblia avantara) |
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| Veined Top (Colotis vesta) |
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| Some kind of whiplash rove beetle (Paederus sp.) |
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| Some kind of leaf beetle (Ootheca sp.) |
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| A beautiful spider wasp (Pompilidae sp.) |
On the way back up the gorge, we stopped a couple more times to look for some of the local specialty birds. I didn't see anything new bird-wise, although I did see many more Abyssinian Waxbills and another beautiful Pin-tailed Whydah. There were, of course, lots more bugs for a last-minute addition to my trip list. Overall the weekend was a reminder of how much life there is to explore beyond just birds- and certainly worth paying attention to!
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| Pin-tailed Whydah |
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| Golden Pansy (Junonia chorimene) |
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| Colotis euippe I think |
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| Natal Babul Blue (Azanus natalensis) |
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| Darker Commodore (Precis antilope) |
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| Some kind of Geometrid moth |
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