Madagascar, 3-15 Oct 2023
Henry D. Detwiler, henry_detwiler@yahoo.com
In early October 2023 we flew from LAX to Paris, and then from Paris to Antananarivo (Tana), the capital of Madagascar. We arrived late, and noticed immediately how poorly lit the city was—this country of 29 million has a high poverty rate with a very limited infrastructure. The next day we birded the grounds of our lovely Relais de Plateaux Hotel, spotting our first Malagasy endemics like Red Fody, Madagascar Wagtail, and Madagascar Bulbul.
By the end of our 11 days we would spot about three fourths (85) of these 115 bird specialties found nowhere else but in Madagascar.
Ankarafantsika
The morning after we met our wonderful guide Rija (Cactus Tours), and flew with him to Mahajanga. From there we drove south over hot, bumpy roads to Ankarafantsika National Park, where we spent two and half days birding the dry tropical forests of northwestern Madagascar. The mornings were nice but the afternoons and evenings were brutal in the heat—it was a lesson in how our forefathers managed without air conditioning. The inside of the bungalows at Tia Asity Lodge were as hot as the outside.
The first evening we made a night hike along the forest’s edge and spotted our first mammals, over a dozen cute mouse lemurs, two fat-tailed dwarf lemurs, a mongoose lemur, and our first common brown lemur. Lemurs are a kind of primate with a pointy nose, large eyes, and a long tail, endemic to the island of Madagascar. A leaf-tailed chameleon was really interesting, as were several Oustalet’s chameleons. A tiny sleeping Madagascar Pygmy Kingfisher was a real treat. As we ate dinner on the patio, we watched a giant green day gecko catch and consume a smaller, slower, less fortunate gecko. Suzanne should have had the big gecko for dinner; instead, she was given a skinny, chewy chicken leg to gnaw on. I fared much better with a tropical lobster tail.
We made several morning hikes through the magnificent trees ranging from two to five miles—a most unwelcome challenge for my body. But our sightings were wonderful, such as Schlegel’s Asity, Blue and Hooked-bill Vangas, and Madagascar Paradise-Flycatcher. Coquerel’s Sifakas (a flashy lemur) and a giant hognose snake were great to see. We escaped some of the heat with two late-afternoon cruises on Lake Ravelobe, which turned up specialties like Madagascar Fish-Eagle, Madagascar Coucal, and Madagascar Kingfisher, even as we flushed large flocks of Squacco Herons from the reeds.
On our third day we drove back to Mahajanga, stopping at a small wetland to see Madagascar, White-fronted, and Kittlitz’s Plovers, as well as Madagascar Cisticola and Madagascar Lark. Our flight on Madagascar (Mad) Air was delayed, but we eventually made it back to the welcoming comfort of the Relais de Plateaux Hotel in Tana.
Antananarivo
After a relaxing breakfast Rija took us to a private lake in the heart of the city which was jam packed with hundreds and hundreds of White-faced Whistling Ducks, Red-billed Ducks, and Blue-billed Teal. Rija also found us a rare Malagasy Pond-Heron and several Knob-billed Ducks. Our 1:00 p.m. flight on Mad Air was delayed until 10:30 p.m., so we did some souvenir shopping in the afternoon and had a leisurely dinner. At the airport we learned that our flight to Ifaty in southwest Madagascar was now delayed indefinitely. Fortunately, it left at midnight and we finally made it to our motel at 2:45 a.m.
Ifaty
After a few hours of sleep, we were up at 5:30 for a tasty breakfast. At a private reserve we hiked through a dry tangled web of baobab trees, euphorbias, and thorny brush in search of local specialties. We heard and saw Running Coua, Stripe-throated Jerry, and Archbold’s Newtonia. The prize was a striking Long-tailed Ground-Roller. We were concerned about how much the local guide used playback—in most cases it wasn’t at all effective, and made it hard to hear the birds singing. After a fine pork lunch at our nice Le Paradisier Hotel, and dipping our toes in the Indian Ocean, we napped for a bit. In the late afternoon we returned to the spiny forest for some additional birding. It was to be a long hike for the Subdesert Mesite, so I chose to bird on my own around the jeep. Once the target was located by the local guides, Rija and Suzanne wound up racing for some distance through the thorn scrub—but she got the bird! Once the sun set we watched Madagascar Nightjars and began another night hike. A huge tree hole spider, a giant hissing cockroach, more mouse lemurs, and a Madagascar Scops Owl were some of our interesting finds.
The following day we birded a couple of salt pans, spotting elegant Black-winged Silts, hundreds of Curlew Sandpipers, and our first Greater Flamingoes. From there we drove south to Table Mountain, where our local guide lured out the recently discovered Red-shouldered Vangas, and then the range-restricted Lafresnaye’s Vangas.
Our flight back to Tana went off without a hitch that evening—a minor miracle given that the flights the day before, and the day after, were both cancelled. When we got off the plane that rainy, cloudy night we were assaulted by waves of smoke and fumes caused by charcoal cooking fires, brick kiln smoke, and exhaust. Rija said the capital has some of the worst pollution in the world; UNICEF reports one in five deaths in Madagascar is caused by pollution.
Andasibe
At 8:00 a.m. we headed east to the mountainous tropical rain forests surrounding Andasibe. On a good day the 94-mile trip takes four hours due to the poor condition of the two-lane windy road and the number of slow trucks on the hills. This was not a good day, and with road construction, we did it in seven and a half hours. We took a short night hike, finding more chameleons and a superb look at a Goodman’s mouse lemur lapping up sap at eye level. An excellent bird addition was the Madagascar (Long-eared) Owl. Our dinner that night included a tasty pumpkin soup and a traditional Malagasy stew made from chicken, zebu, and greens. Zebus (also called camel cows) are used in Madagascar as work animals and for food.
Local guides are required to accompany visitors at all the national parks; ours was Nestor. We stopped along the forest-lined road of Mantadia National Park several times en route to our hiking trail, hearing Pitta-like Ground-Rollers and Rand Warblers, and spotting several new vangas. Once on the trail through the splendid primary forest, Nestor and another guide flushed a handsome Scaly Ground-Roller into view. Here we heard the haunting cries of both indris and black-and-white ruffed lemurs. At a lily-filled pond we added a number of new birds, including Malagasy Swift, Madagascar Flufftail, and the Madagascar Swamp Warbler. During the afternoon we visited a community-run park south of Andasibe. Here the guide showed us a pair of roosting Madagascar Scops Owls, a White-throated Oxylabe, and a calling Blue Coua. A highlight for me was seeing the exceedingly large Parson’s Chameleon—green and orange with a hideous warty nose.
The following morning featured a long hike at Analamazoatra National Park. A sizeable (5’) tree boa was nice to see, even if it was coiled up and asleep. We got excellent looks at a roosting Collared Nightjar and a most peculiar insect, the giraffe-necked weevil. We recorded their calls when a troop of indris began crying in a tree above us. We returned to the community park in the afternoon, and the guide found us a young tenrec, akin to the European hedgehog. The highlight, though, was when a troop of common brown lemurs came bounding our way on the forest floor, several of the mothers with babies clinging to them. We spent a final night at our lovely Mantadia Lodge and the next day drove back to Tana and caught our flight to Kenya.
White-faced Whistling-Duck
Knob-billed Duck
Blue-billed Teal
Red-billed Duck
Greater Flamingo
Little Grebe
Rock Pigeon
Malagasy Turtle-Dove
Namaqua Dove
Madagascar Green-Pigeon
Madagascar Blue-Pigeon
White-breasted Mesite
Crested Coua
Verreaux's Coua
Blue Coua
Red-capped Coua
Red-fronted Coua
Coquerel's Coua
Running Coua
Malagasy Coucal
Madagascar Cuckoo
Collared Nightjar
Madagascar Nightjar
Malagasy Swift
Malagasy Palm Swift
Madagascar Flufftail
White-throated Rail
Eurasian Moorhen
Allen's Gallinule
Black-winged Stilt
Common Ringed Plover
Madagascar Plover
Kittlitz's Plover
White-fronted Plover
Whimbrel
Eurasian Curlew
Common Sandpiper
Ruddy Turnstone
Curlew Sandpiper
Madagascar Buttonquail
Black-crowned Night Heron
Black Heron
Little Egret
Striated Heron
Squacco Heron
Malagasy Pond-Heron
Western Cattle Egret
Great Egret
Gray Heron
Purple Heron
Humblot's Heron
Madagascar Harrier-Hawk
Frances's Sparrowhawk
Henst's Goshawk
Black Kite
Madagascar Fish-Eagle
Madagascar Buzzard
Barn Owl
Madagascar Scops-Owl
Madagascar Owl
Cuckoo-roller
Madagascar Hoopoe
Malagasy Kingfisher
Madagascar Pygmy Kingfisher
Madagascar Bee-eater
Broad-billed Roller
Scaly Ground-Roller
Long-tailed Ground-Roller
Pitta-like Ground-Roller
Malagasy Kestrel
Greater Vasa Parrot
Lesser Vasa Parrot
Gray-headed Lovebird
Schlegel's Asity
Madagascar Cuckooshrike
Archbold's Newtonia
Common Newtonia
Tylas Vanga
Red-tailed Vanga
Red-shouldered Vanga
Chabert Vanga
Madagascar Blue Vanga
Hook-billed Vanga
Ward's Flycatcher
Rufous Vanga
Sickle-billed Vanga
White-headed Vanga
Lafresnaye's Vanga
Van Dam's Vanga
Crested Drongo
Malagasy Paradise-Flycatcher
Pied Crow
Madagascar Lark
Common Jery
Green Jery
Stripe-throated Jery
Madagascar Cisticola
Malagasy Brush-Warbler
Subdesert Brush-Warbler
Madagascar Swamp Warbler
White-throated Oxylabes
Long-billed Bernieria
Wedge-tailed Jery
Spectacled Tetraka
Rand's Warbler
Mascarene Martin
Malagasy Bulbul
Malagasy White-eye
Common Myna
Madagascar Starling
Madagascar Magpie-Robin
African Stonechat
Souimanga Sunbird
Malagasy Sunbird
Nelicourvi Weaver
Sakalava Weaver
Red Fody
Forest Fody
Madagascar Munia
House Sparrow
Madagascar Wagtail