This week I thought I would share with you some of the bird photos I have taken from our apartment. One of the advantages of living on the second floor is that we are at treetop level with some of the larger trees and look down on the smaller. It also means that often I am looking birds in the eye where normally they would only be seen from below. This gives an unexpected and interesting perspective on the birds of the area. Our immediate area is quite green and a little oasis for the local birds, and so far, I have identified 19 species.
The Black-winged Lovebird is endemic to the woodlands and forests of the highlands of Eritrea and Ethiopia. The wooded areas of Addis allow them to continue in the city, at least for now.
Black-winged Lovebird
Most of the birds we see are naturally the most common, but almost all are new to me and many are unique to the Horn of Africa. The Dusky Turtle dove is found only in East Africa including Eritrea and Ethiopia, but the Red-eyed Dove is widespread across all of Africa south of the Sahara except the drier areas of Botswana and Namibia.
Dusky Turtle Dove
Red-eyed Dove
The Baglafecht Weaver has a remarkably disjunct distribution, with most of the population found in the Horn, but with a smaller population found in Nigeria and Cameroon in West Africa. Like many of the weavers it is a beautiful, vivid yellow colour, or at least the males are.
Baglafecht Weaver
Other birds we know from Zambia or from Sudan like the bee-eaters. Their acrobatic hawking for insects are still a joy to see. These were hawking from the electricity wires outside the front of our building. Like the Gymnogene (below) it is unusual to see these in the city centre.
Blue-breasted Bee-eater
Blue-breasted Bee-eater with bee
Of particular interest was seeing a Gymnogene on the building opposite. Gymnogenes are forest raptors that specialise in robbing nests. They have long legs that enable them to reach deep into nests in trees and holes. This one was trying to rob a Swainson’s Sparrow nest in a hole in the wall where scaffolding poles had been anchored. It is a forest and woodland bird so it was a surprise to see it in the centre of Addis.
Gymnogene - Sorry for the quality but I didn’t have time to put up a tripod and was handholding a 500 mm lens.
Swainson’s Sparrows are very common around here and I have started emptying our bread crumbs onto the small balcony and three of these sparrows are now regular visitors. Endemic to the Horn of Africa, they are almost the embodiment of the an LBJ (Little Brown Job). They are frequently joined on the balcony by Brown-rumped Seed-eaters, another LBJ but easily identified by their strong white eyebrows. They are another endemic to the Horn.
Swainson’s Sparrow
Brown-rumped Seedeater
The Wattled Ibis is another endemic to Eritrea and Ethiopia and is found only in the highlands of the region. It seems to have adapted quite well to the greener areas of the city and they fly over our building every evening. During the day they are often seen in Ghion Park, a park 10 minutes’ walk from us and right in the centre of the city. This one settled on the building opposite the room where I am typing this. I thought it looked quite neat on a building site, not at all its normal habitat of marsh and moorland.
Wattled Ibis
And finally there are Goats in the Garden. Informal urban farming perhaps.
Urban flock
So that’s enough birds for one posting. Once my status is settled and the rains stop it should be possible to get out of Addis to begin our explorations of Ethiopia.
Tomorrow, the 6th September we are going to South Africa for a week. We will be driving down from Jhb to Cape Town and will be back in Addis Abeba on the 15th.
Best wishes to all.