Friday 2 March 2012

Ethiopia 3 Extraction ticks

I've been having a bit of trouble with the internet here in Jimma so sorry for the delay in posting. I've also been into the real rural parts of Ethiopia with all that brings.
Well the Blackcap are still being caught now and again but today we caught a Reed Warbler. None of the locals had seen one before so it was nice to have one up on them for once. We have also had Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler. The latter moulting, which was nice to see, and the former not of course. 
As you can see there are plenty of un-known birds to most of us to handle. Some are breeding and many have just started to moult post breeding. 
I have had two extraction ticks. The first was a female Fruit Bat which had a baby clinging to it! Both were fine and the mother flew off carrying her charge. The other was something else. On the first net round at first light there was a BUSH BABY in the net. Anyone had one of those before! When I took it out it put it's hands, which were very soft, over its eyes. As it was frightened I let it go rather than take it back for a photo. 
The birds have great names such as Wattle-eye, Tinker-bird, Twinspot and Pygmy Kingfisher. The Little Sparrowhawk is a Little Sparrowhawk and the big one is an African Goshawk. The curved billed birds are two species of Sunbird. 









1 comment:

  1. Hello!
    Just found your blog while looking for information about ringing in Ethiopia. I'm so jealous!
    Anyway, I was wandering if you know of any other ringing teams in Ethiopia, I would love to go there (again, last time was not for ringing)!
    Ron
    Ronefrat3@gmail.com

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