Day 16 - Friday 18/09/2105: Perinet
Woke feeling up to about 80% recharged and had a small breakfast.
A specimen of the orchid on the right, which has a 9" spur, was sent to Charles Darwin. He predicted that a hawkmoth would be found with a 9" proboscis, that would feed on the nectar and pollinate the plant. The moth was discovered some time later and is sometimes known as Darwin's Predictor. This orchid specimen was grown in a tub at Vakona lodge and the moth (Xanthopan morganii praedicta) was found on the wall nearby.
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I felt well enough to do today’s excursion to the Indri Special Reserve at Perinet. This is indeed a special reserve, one of the few places where one can hear the loud, eery, haunting songs of the Indri, more like hump-backed whale than any other primate. And the forest is in pristine condition – more palms and pandanus and fewer figs and buttresses than other rainforests I have visited and perhaps a bit lighter and more open.
Birds were again hard work to find and none of the group’s target species were found this morning. Patrice worked hard to find me a Collared Nightjar but was unsuccessful. However I did catch up with the lovely Short-legged Ground-roller, which unlike other Ground-rollers is strictly arboreal – this was the only other species the group saw yesterday that I had not seen. The highlight of the morning was watching a family group of Indri feeding with a baby practicing climbing, clinging on to branches with one arm and moving with far less certainty from limb to limb, causing consternation in the admiring audience that it may fall.
In the afternoon Madagascar Rail was once again on the agenda, having failed to find this on 2 attempts on Day 14 and a further 2 attempts, in my absence, yesterday. Along with 4 other members of the group, Alison skipped this, favouring an afternoon off. 3 of the 4 of us (including me) who did go for it obtained a brief view of a whole bird. after a considerable amount of effort on the part of Patrice and Thiery, who created passages in the reeds for the rail to cross in such a way that we would see it.
In the past there were many large swamps in Madagascar and Madagascar Rail was a common bird. Most of these swamps have either been drained and built on or converted to rice paddy’s. This brings the few that remain under increasing pressure from visiting birders, with the result that the birds now ignore tape lures. Brian mentioned one swamp that contained more than 1000 rails that was drained, and that response to tape was previously guaranteed and fairly instantaneous. The same loss of swamp habitat is also responsible for the decline of and our failure to see Madagascar Snipe. |
Back at Vakona Lodge the evening passed as usual – dinner and bed. Below are some of the moths that visited our chalet.