Sao Tome and Principe Part Two

Sao Tome & Principe September 2022, Part Two 

Tuesday 13th

An early start as we checked out and drove north towards the capital. We turned inland and drove up by the botanical gardens at Macambara where we had breakfast. 

We then walked up the hill, this was a much easier walk on a wide, gentle slope with fields and low scrub adjacent to the track. It was also dry and sunny so there were plenty of other things to see such as butterflies, moths, grasshoppers and various other insects and spiders.

Although the lower stretches bordered fields which had recently been rainforest, there were plenty of birds to be seen including endemics like Newton’s Sunbird, Principe Seedeater (confusingly named as it’s on both islands) and Sao Tome Prinia and Speirops. 

Principe Seedeater

Sao Tome Speirops

Sao Tome Prinia

African Emerald Cuckoos were heard calling and we enticed one out into the open. Vitelline Masked Weaver was seen several times which initially confused us as it’s not mentioned as being here but is presumably another introduction. It’s easily identified from the similar Southern Masked Weaver by reddish patches above and below the black mask.

African Emerald Cuckoo

Vitelline Masked Weaver

Up at the top of the trail at around 1,300 metres we went looking for Sao Tome Green Pigeon and saw a distant one. Our guide played a recording of the ST Scops Owl even though he’d never heard one here. Amazingly, one responded and we managed to track it down, our third one of the trip. We had lunch by the masts and then ambled downhill, stopping regularly to photograph insects. 

Acrea zetes

Acrea jodutta

Acrea niobe

Amauris sp (not previously recorded on Sao Tome) 

Mrs & Mr Spider

Variable Eggfly

Armoured Spider

New birds on the return journey included Bronze Mannikin, a flock of Yellow-billed Kites (the only raptor of the trip) and a flyover White-tailed Tropicbird. Over the course of the week we encountered quite a few of these seabirds which nest on the highest slopes and fly down to the sea to feed.

Bronze Mannikin

Yellow-billed Kites (adult & juvenile)

We drove the short distance down to the road, adding a male Pin-tailed Whydah in full breeding plumage before crossing over the road where our guest house was situated. It was a pleasant place with a large communal room and veranda looking over the valley down to the coast. Some of us had rooms a little further up the garden with our own balcony, fully equipped with table and chairs so we could have a rest before dinner. We later met up on the main veranda and watched a procession of fruit bats heading down from their roost towards the coast.

Luxury cabins at Almada Negreiros

Views down the valley from our balcony

The restaurant was just over the road and we were the only customers. Just before dinner was served there was a power cut which left the whole place in darkness. Candles were quickly lit before the generator was switched on. The meal was excellent and we sampled the local beer. As we were leaving early again tomorrow they gave us food and flasks for breakfast.

Wednesday 14th

We were up at first light even though we could have had a lie-in for a change. We met for breakfast in the main room and Laudino soon arrived bearing fresh bread rolls, ham and cheese. Once we were all packed up we headed off to the airport. We checked in and soon boarded a new 18 seater plane which left at 9am and landed on Principe about 40 minutes later. 

Our plane to Principe

Arriving over Principe

It’s a much smaller island with a population of just 8,000, most of whom live in the only town where our guest house was, a short drive along the coast.

Our guest house in Principe

We decided to go for a short walk before lunch but were held up driving to the spot by a slow-moving electioneering truck complete with sound-system and rapper on board. We could still hear it when we parked up and walked into the forest. It didn’t take long to track down some new endemics: Principe Golden Weaver and Principe Sunbird, both of which proved to be fairly common. 

Principe Golden Weaver

Principe Sunbird

We also saw Dohrn’s Thrush-Babbler which looks like a Lesser Whitethroat on steroids. Along a stream was a Malachite Kingfisher of the endemic Principe race, previously considered to be either a separate species or a race of White-bellied Kingfisher.

Dohrn's Thrush-Babbler

Continuing on, we encountered another Kingfisher, this time a smart Blue-breasted one.

Blue-breasted Kingfisher

Flying over were several Timneh Parrots, a split from African Grey Parrot which was the only lifer for me that wasn’t an endemic. 

Timneh Parrot

We arrived at a little clearing and managed to find a few perched parrots along with plenty of African Green Pigeons. We drove back into town and stopped at a little cafe for lunch which soon filled up with supporters of the main parties who were out electioneering.

In the afternoon we went to a different area, adding Velvet-mantled Drongo, Principe Speirops and Splendid Starling before heading off to another restaurant for an early dinner.

Splendid Starling

Principe Speirops

We drove out to another forest, arriving well after dark. We then had a long walk up the hillside that took the best part of two hours. It was tough going in places where trees had fallen across the path but at least it wasn’t muddy. When we reached the designated spot, our local guide began whistling in the owl. It responded almost immediately and after a few minutes the torches went on and we could see it perched up high – the recently discovered Principe Scops Owl - so recent that it doesn’t even have a scientific name yet. After a minute it flew off but Neil still hadn’t seen it so he joined the guide below who carried on calling and searching for it. It hadn’t gone far as we could hear it responding but it was proving very elusive.

We moved back out of the way so we could sit down and heard another one calling behind us. After about 45 minutes the first owl relented and showed itself again, allowing Neil to even get some photos. With the long descent still ahead of us we called it a night and began the walk back down the hillside. We didn’t stop much, apart from to look at a Sao Tome Giant Tree Frog and we were pretty tired by the time we got back to the vehicle. We arrived back at our guesthouse just after midnight.

Sao Tome and Principe Part One

Sao Tome & Principe September 2022, Part 1

Four of us booked on a new tour to this pair of islands in the Gulf of Guinea with Ashanti African Tours (https://ashantiafricantours.com). Our flights were arranged by Sacha at Travel Counsellors (01603 360099).

Saturday 10th

We all met at Heathrow T2 for a 4am check-in. We were soon through all the various queues and had time for breakfast before boarding our 6am TAP flight to Lisbon. We had a couple of hours wait for our next flight to Sao Tome which took off about half an hour late.

We landed at dusk at 5.45 pm and it didn’t take long to go through arrivals: a check of our Covid vaccination pass and a few questions at passport control then we picked up our bags and were met outside by our guide and driver. We had a one-hour drive to our first hotel along a good road that was poorly lit as we sped through villages with many people hanging out by the roadside. Dinner was served on arrival while they sorted the rooms out. We were split up with two staying in the main building and two in the annex up the garden path despite us being the only guests.

Roca St Joao Guest House - the annex

Guest House main building

Sunday 11th

After a good night’s sleep, we had another early start, leaving at 5.00 in an assortment of 4x4s. It was only a thirty minute drive to the edge of a palm plantation where we had a field breakfast. We then walked up into the forested hills of Monte Carbo. The light drizzle gave way to a heavy downpour so we all donned waterproofs. Birding was initially pretty slow and there wasn’t much light but we began to see our first endemics – Sao Tome Prinia and Sao Tome Weaver, the latter behaving bizarrely like a Nuthatch.

As we got higher more birds started to appear and then there was a call of ‘ibis’ by our local guide. Two birds flew up from the ground and landed in the tops of some trees. They kept moving further away but eventually stopped, allowing us to approach and we had great views of them despite the fairly poor light. This was one of my most wanted birds so it was great to have seen it so early on in the trip. We continued climbing and eventually reached the campsite where some groups stay overnight. Our main reason for booking with Ashanti was that this itinerary didn’t include any camping and we were quite grateful for that.

Sao Tome (Dwarf Olive) Ibis

We carried on upward just for one more bird. The trail got steeper and more difficult and after a while Lynne and Neil decided not to carry on and went back to the campsite with one of the guides. Tim and I pushed on as the path got steeper and about 15 minutes later we made it to the first ridge. Our guide began whistling and soon attracted the attention of our quarry: Sao Tome (or Newton’s) Fiscal. Luckily for us it came in and landed close by, singing back at us. 

Sao Tome (Newton's) Fiscal

This is typically the lowest area it can be found and often another hour’s ascent is required to find it. Once we’d filled our boots with views, photos and videos we left it in peace and began to make our way back down. It was even slower going back down due to the steepness of the trail and we took our time before getting to the campsite where the others were, and we had an early lunch and a long rest.

resting at the campsite

During the rest period a Sao Tome Oriole came in and started singing above us. We took a different trail downwards, walking along a ridge with views over a valley to a distant waterfall. Not long after setting off we found a pair of Sao Tome Grosbeaks which had a nest nearby. By now the rain had stopped and it was a pleasant temperature so it made the long descent easier. We stopped at various intervals whenever there was something to see.

Waiting for the rain to stop

Sao Tome Weaver

Sao Tome Thrush

At the bottom of the hill we had to cross a stream which the morning’s rain had turned into a torrent. It was quite deep but with care stepping on boulders we made it across with just the odd wet boot. We still had a bit further to walk back through the plantation before we reached the vehicles. We drove back, stopping at a bridge overlooking a wetland area where we saw a few more birds. 

Volcanic plug

Birding at the bridge

It started raining again so we headed back to the hotel for an early checklist and dinner.

Monday 12th

We awoke in darkness as the power had gone off. Luckily I knew where my torch was and made it down to the car park at 5am for another visit to Monte Carmo. After breakfast we headed back up the hill, this time going up the route we came down yesterday. This meant crossing the river again and getting wet boots. As we’d got most of our target birds yesterday we spent most of the morning searching for the two missing ones: Sao Tome Scops Owl and Short-tail. After a couple of hours our guides managed to find a roosting Scops Owl. It woke up as we approached but didn’t move from its perch.

Sao Tome Scops Owl

We had better, repeat views of some species such as Giant Weaver, Giant Sunbird and ST Grosbeak. There were plenty of calling Orioles but we didn’t see any more. We elected not to climb up to the campsite and had lunch a bit lower down. Here we heard another Scops Owl which flew in and landed just above us. As some groups miss this bird we were fortunate to have seen two individuals so well.

Another ST Scops Owl

After lunch we spent more time looking for the Short-tail. We heard one but it disappeared before we could see it and there were no further sounds or sightings on the way down.

Sao Tome Paradise-Flycatcher

Multi-legged critter

We crossed the stream for one final time, wishing that we had been advised to bring wellies. We left our cut walking sticks for the next group and jumped in the cars and headed back to the bridge. 

Stick resting place

We spent an hour there, seeing Malachite Kingfisher, various herons and some of us even saw another endemic – Sao Tome White-eye. 

Malachite Kingfisher (ST race)

We drove back to the hotel early as we had to pack our stuff up for tomorrow’s departure. The power had now been restored so we called the log and had dinner. As we walked back to the annex we heard an odd bird call as it flew over which we later identified as a Band-rumped Petrel.

Aug 28th-Sep 3rd: Migrants at Brent Reservoir

I spent the whole week just birding at Brent as there wasn’t a lot else going on around London. The Wood Sand ended its 16 day spell on the Bank Holiday Monday, leaving overnight with several Green Sands. The remaining Green and Common Sands stayed all week with up to five Lapwings while the number of Snipe increased during the week to reach four.

The late breeding Common Terns also stayed all week as there is still a juvenile that hasn’t yet started flying. In most years, they’ve all gone before the end of August. Despite working the hedges all week I couldn’t find any Spot Flys – they seem to be well down in number this year across the country. Aside from checking for migrants I did spend one morning working on a conservation task with a couple of other Brent birders. There’s a small stream which flows down the side of Woodfield Park and to cross it there’s two railway sleepers. With the lack of rain the stream had silted up and the flow was going around the sleepers so we had a muddy job to do clearing out the silt.

We managed to clear all the silt out under the sleepers and a bit downstream so the water flows underneath. There’s probably a bit more to be done further along the stream but we managed to complete our task.

The Brent crew

And so on to the Autumn Bird Count. We pick a day in each migration season to count all the migrants and see how many species we can record in total. We usually get a good turnout as it’s quite a social event as well so this year’s event was on Saturday 3rd. I typically start pre-dawn to listen out for owls and I left home at 5.10 in plenty of time. However despite checking out the best areas while it was still dark the local Tawnies kept quiet.

I headed over towards North Marsh to check out the corvid roost but heard Jackdaw before I got there so instead I went straight to the hide. Sometimes we get roosting waders and terns which fly off at first light so it’s always worth checking early. Today wasn’t that day and there were just the regular four waders and Common Tern. I did find a pair of Wigeon though which were our first this autumn.

Pair of Wigeon

Once I caught up on all the water-birds I headed back out, this time to the dump to see if there was any visible migration. It’s been a really slow start to the vis-mig season this year, probably because of the high temperatures. Needless to say there was nothing moving this morning so when I received a message about a Little Owl that had just been found I went over to have a look. Unfortunately it had dropped down out of view but at least it was on the day list. I wandered back over the playing fields and bumped into a Wheatear, my first here this year and another good one for the day.

Distant Wheatear on the playing fields

With other birders arriving and spreading out across the area it didn’t take too long for more good birds to be found. On the dump there was a Whinchat and Spotted Flycatcher. I was back in the hide when a passerine dropped in and landed on the reeds in front of us – another Whinchat. Simon had found a possible Pied Flycatcher on the North Bank so I went straight along to look for it. I saw it briefly perched up before it went out the back. He also had two Spot Flys there which I was more interested in as I still needed it for my London Year List. A minute later one popped up and became Number 178, my last easy bird of the year.

Meanwhile, back to the Birdcount – we were doing well but still needed a few common birds and some more migrants so I created a target list. I went for a walk along the North Bank down to the dam and added a Lesser Whitethroat. I also saw a possible Sedge Warbler where there’d been one earlier in the week but it was totally silhouetted so couldn’t nail it. We never did find one. 

Raptors started getting up late in the morning and we managed five species between us including a flock of 12 Common Buzzards and four separate Red Kites along with Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and Peregrine. We often get Hobby on these counts but couldn't find one today.

By now it was early afternoon and I wanted to get home to watch the finals of The Hundred so took the path along the south side of the reservoir in the hope of adding something different. I often get Chaffinch there but didn’t today and it was another common bird we missed. Now back home watching the cricket, I popped out between the innings and finally got one of my local Collared Doves and with a couple of late additions (Water Rail and Little Egret) we took our total to 79 species, tying the all time record set in 2014. I finished the day on 68 species which is one of my highest counts. It would have been more but I forgot to look for Shoveler when I was in North Marsh!