A very early 03:15 start for the arduous journey from Fiche to the lip of the Jemma Valley, much of it on dirt roads. This is the place to see the endemic Harwood’s Francolin although a dawn start is essential to stand a good chance of seeing this elusive species. Fortunately, the local people have woken up to the potential of making money from birders by being on hand to guide people to the most likely areas and help locate the target species. This worked a treat with first a party of six Harwood’s Francolins scurrying up a rocky hillside as the sun came up and then three Erckel’s Francolins below us. Other birds seen in this area included: two Abyssinian Black Wheatear, 28 White-billed Starling, 10 Black-winged Lovebird, three White-winged Cliff-chat and singles of Ruppell's Black Chat, Eurasian Wryneck, Black-crowned Tchagra, Tawny-flanked Prinia, Long-billed Pipit and Ortolan Bunting.
We then descended into the valley itself stopping by some tall cliffs on the left-hand side of the road where we saw a small troop of Gelada Baboons and had good views of a smart Fox Kestrel and a little further down in an arable field were three Abyssinian Ground Hornbill. Rather than stop at the Jemma River, we carried on a few kilometres to the Lomi River where a narrow trail on the left-hand side of the road gave good views of the thicket-lined watercourse. The star birds here were undoubtedly a party of six Red-billed Pytilias(one of the more difficult Ethiopian endemics to see) and the rather underwhelming Yellow-rumped Seedeater(another endemic) plus two Barka Indigobird, two African Silverbill, three Black-billed Barbet, six Common Waxbill and a Three-banded Plover.
Back at the Jemma River we enlisted the help of some local kids who said they’d seen Egyptian Plover along the river recently. To be honest, I wasn’t at all surprised when we drew a blank though a good selection of birds here included: a male Barka Indigobird, ten Senegal Thick-knee, three Wooly-necked Stork, three Spur-winged Plover, four African Spoonbill, three Little Bee-eater and singles of Peregrine Falcon, Western Opsrey, Giant Kingfisher and Squacco Heron.
With a longish drive ahead of us back to Fiche, we made fewer stops than on the way out, the best of which were a few kilometres before the town of Muke Turi where a short grassy field beside the road held both Thekla and the endemic Erlanger’s Lark, Red-breasted Wheatear and several Red-throated Pipits and a bit further on where a marshy area produced: 11 Blue-winged Goose, seven Spot-breasted Lapwing, 29 Western Cattle Egret, three Yellow-billed Duck, ten Wattled Ibis and 25 Yellow Bishop.
A second night in the uninspiring C-Lale Resort Hotel in Fiche.
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| Harwood's Francolin (endemic), Jemma Valley, Ethiopia |
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| Erckel's Francolin, Jemma Valley, Ethiopia |
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| Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, Jemma Valley, Ethiopia |
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| Red-billed Pytilia (endemic), Jemma Valley, Ethiopia |
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