Day 2 - Friday 04/09/2015: Tsaratsaotra
Up at 06:00 for an early breakfast where we met the rest of the group - and straight off to Tsaratsaotra, a small wetland reserve on the outskirts of Tana.
New birds for me here were: Dimorphic Egret, which is usually regarded as a subspecies of Egretta garzetta (Little Egret) and is misnamed as it has 3 (not two) colour morphs (white, grey and black) - at least 100 of these were breeding; Madagascar Pond Heron, of which we saw only one in non-breeding plumage - which is quite similar to Squacco Heron except that the neck streaks are much broader and bolder and the mantle colour is darker and duller; Meller's Duck (6); Madagascar Kestrel, which we also saw on most days of the trip; White-throated Rail (2); Madagascar Coucal (3); Madagascar Kingfisher; Madagascar (Olive) Bee-eater; Mascarene Martin (10); Madagascar Wagtail; Madagascar Brush-warbler; Malagasy White-eye (20) and Madagascar Mannikin (Bibfinch). The species in red were not seen again on the trip. We also encountered our first Oustalet's Chameleon here.
New birds for me here were: Dimorphic Egret, which is usually regarded as a subspecies of Egretta garzetta (Little Egret) and is misnamed as it has 3 (not two) colour morphs (white, grey and black) - at least 100 of these were breeding; Madagascar Pond Heron, of which we saw only one in non-breeding plumage - which is quite similar to Squacco Heron except that the neck streaks are much broader and bolder and the mantle colour is darker and duller; Meller's Duck (6); Madagascar Kestrel, which we also saw on most days of the trip; White-throated Rail (2); Madagascar Coucal (3); Madagascar Kingfisher; Madagascar (Olive) Bee-eater; Mascarene Martin (10); Madagascar Wagtail; Madagascar Brush-warbler; Malagasy White-eye (20) and Madagascar Mannikin (Bibfinch). The species in red were not seen again on the trip. We also encountered our first Oustalet's Chameleon here.
We then returned to the hotel for lunch. Here we found an adult Madagascar Nightjar with two fluffy juveniles on the roof and also added Madagascar Stonechat (which is usually regarded as a subspecies of Common Stonechat) and Red Fody (which was still in non-breeding plumage and so not really red).
After lunch we returned to the airport for our Air Madagascar flight to Mahajanga which was followed by a 3 hour drive to our lodge at Ankarafantsika.
After lunch we returned to the airport for our Air Madagascar flight to Mahajanga which was followed by a 3 hour drive to our lodge at Ankarafantsika.