Ethiopia - Day 4 (10/03/20) - Ankober Escarpment and Debre Birhan

Our target bird today was Ankober Serin, a rather non-descript finch restricted to a handful of locations in northern Ethiopia. Unfortunately, one of the best sites for it and the one we tried today (Gemessa Gedel) is often fog bound and so it proved today with visibility down to about 10 metres as we pulled over on the edge of escarpment. Floundering around in the fog proved pointless with nothing more than a couple of Moorland Chats for our efforts. A change of tactics was needed so we decided to see if we could locate the source of the twittering we could hear on the opposite of the road. Despite sounding fairly close, we had to descend a long way down a steep slope before locating a large flock of Black-headed Siskins and Yellow Bishops. Even though we were lower down, the fog was still rolling in and out hampering viewing but eventually it cleared sufficiently, allowing us to confirm that the small brown finches we kept seeing with the bishops were Streaky Seedeaters rather than the target bird. By now Dad was suffering from stomach cramps and was feeling pretty rough, making the climb back up to the Landcruiser something of an ordeal.  With the escarpment still cloaked in fog, we gave it up as a bad job and continued along the road to just beyond a tunnel where a very large troop of Gelada Baboons was sat on the wall along the side of the road waiting for handouts from passing cars.

We returned to the hotel where Dad spent the afternoon in bed feeling sorry for himself. Abel suggested that Mum and I go out with him late afternoon to an area of grassland not far from the edge of town where the following birds were noted: five Red-breasted Wheatear, two Common Fiscal, two Pied Wheatear, three Moorland Chat, 23 Yellow Bishops, 100+ Black-headed Siskin, two Abyssinian Longclaw, five Wattled Ibis, 24 Red-throated Pipit, two Isabelline Wheatear, two Erlanger's Lark and a female Ortolan Bunting. 

Gelada Baboon, Ankober Escarpment, Ethiopia

Abyssinian Longclaw, Grassland behind Debre Birhan, Ethiopia

Red-breasted Wheatear, Grassland behind Debre Birhan, Ethiopia