2010 - Review January - June

2010 has been an awfully quick year - here are a few of my highlights...

Above - African Penguins at Simonstown, South Africa during out New Year holiday to the Western Cape
Below - A UK tick - black-throated thrush, Newholm, North Yorkshire, January

February saw a visit to Cleveland for a very obliging ring-necked duck ~ the best and most close views I've had of the species in the UK. A great bacon sandwich was has had courtesy of CB afterwards!

March saw the arrival of a common crane at Eshott ~  a vocal bird and not popular with the territorial lapwing!

April was a month of wagtails - the possible black-headed at Cresswell was a stunner... even in the rain!

May was a busy month - the first week was spent abroad, with visits to Dubai and Mauritius.

The red-wattled lapwing was in Safa Park, Dubai - a park that had playing fields covered in hoopoe!

Mauritius was limited species-wise, we saw some really great birds ~ echo parakeet, Mauritius olive white-eye, white-tailed tropicbird.... but the enigmatic pink pigeon will never be forgotten...

May also saw the first of 10 planned annual birding weekends with the birders of my youth - Mark, John and Rob. 2010 saw us on Mull and Iona where corncrake was bird of the trip!

May produced another UK tick for me - oriental pratincole at Frampton Marsh. I saw this delightful bird with Phil on a sunny day-trip.

June was quieter than hoped-for, but a singing marsh warbler was nice...

The rest of 2010 will feature in the next post!

Resort Birding

Most of the bird species around the resort in Mauritius were introduced and of standard holiday fare - common myna were very abundant and noisy, while the bold red-whiskered bulbul (right) came a close second.

A small stream near the resort entrance was checked a couple of times per day and produced most species, including village weaver, common waxbill, nutmeg mannikin, madagascar fody, spotted dove, zebra dove, madagascar turtle dove, yellow-eyed (also known as yellow fronted) canary and the familiar house sparrow.

Of more interest was the native species. In the resort this comprised of the most common endemic - Mauritius grey white-eye - an odd white-eye without a white eye / eye ring! Very tricky to photograph (see below), they had a knack of staying just within the foliage, obscuring a clear view! This species would often be found in small parties, typically 2 - 4 birds, and were generally very active.

Mascarene martin (below) were present, and appeared to be nesting at the hotel next door. I spent a morning waded out into a tidal channel trying to get some decent shots, but this species beat me! This species reminded me a little of purple martin...

Also available were the occasional striated heron (often feeding on the stream, most commonly on the shore-line), and an occasional fly-over white-tailed tropicbird.

Above - Yellow Eyed (Fronted) Canary

Below - Village Weaver

Late afternoons were spent checking out the sea ~ walks up and down the coast produce small numbers of whimbrel, while offshore there were good numbers of common noddy and a single sooty tern was logged.

Above - Common Waxbill

Mauritius is a fantastic place... it's certainly not a place to visit for high numbers of bird species, but in terms of endemics it has some real treats and this visit may have given me my only ever chance to see pink pigeon, echo parakeet, Mauritius olive white-eye... Combined with stunning scenary, the best fish I've every tasted (and Rhum I've drank!) and very friendly locals it comes highly recommended as a holiday destination.

Final Tail

Last of the white-tailed tropicbird images to be posted... promise!

Next up... some of the birds around the resort.

Black River Echo

Our base in Mauritius was in the Bel Ombre area, located in the south-west of the island and close to the last native forested areas of Black River Gorges National Park.

The park extends over 6,754 hectares, covering about 2% of the island’s area and holds 9 species of birds, which are found only in Mauritius. So that was enough incentive to explore the area!

Armed with some of Charlie Moores trip details from a few years back we headed to the Le Petrin visitor centre and took an easy walk along the Macchabee forest ridge. Many of the introduced bird species were seen frequently along the trail including red-whiskered bulbul and rose-ringed parakeet. It was however another parakeet species that was of more interest...

It was a really hot day but the views enabled us to forget the sweat dripping...! The gorge was exceptionally deep and their were some wonderful views of waterfalls.

Above - failing miserably to photograph Mascarene Swiftlet...

In the gorge white-tailed tropicbird dominated and were a pleasure to watch, their tails were amazing!

Nearing the Macchabee viewpoint were finally heard the deep croaking call of one of our target species, and a few seconds later a pair of the endangered endemic Mauritius echo parakeet flew past. Phew! The male bird is essentially similar to rose-ringed, with the deeper call being the most reliable distinguishing feature, while female birds have a conveniently all dark bill - see the record shots in this post.

Above - male Echo Parakeet

Below - Female Echo Parakeet

While we did not manage to see any Mauritius kestrel, a single Mauritius bulbul was seen (near the Black River Gorges Viewpoint), so it was a relatively successful visit... certainly recommended for the views alone.

Ile aux Aigrettes ~ few more...

Above - Madagascar Fody - abundant on Mauritius and more colourful than the native Mauritius endemic

Below - Aldabran Giant Tortoise ~ 50 year old and 200kgs! Introduced on Ile aux Aigrettes to "naturally" graze the land. Replaced a native species that became extinct, but maintains the eco-balance.

Telfair Skink - only found un the wild on Round Island, introduced to Ile aux Aigrettes.

Tropic Tales...

A very quick post - back in UK from a rather pleasant trip to the Middle East and Mauritius. There will be more words and pictures from this trip soon... I'm heading to Mull & Iona this afternoon, where hopefully there will be some good birding to be had.

Here is a quick taster hot off the camera card: white-tailed tropicbird at Black River Gorges, Mauritius.