Cape Verde Excursions

After having found all my targets on the island of Sal, I began my investigations with tour companies offering birding excursions.  It was shocking to discover that there weren't any places that offered birding on this pretty interesting island.  Then one day, I stumbled upon Cape Verde Excursions.  Their tours offered an oddly cheap 25 dollar birdwatching trek. I had to know more. 

At this point in my journey on Sal, I was more interested in information on the birds that were endemic to the island. I was willing to pay for their knowledge and experience. However, it turned out to be something even greater.  They had questions for me!  And so through a mutual meet-and-greet, we all got together and discussed how to better develop eco tourism focused on birding!  

Through this exchange, I was able to meet the wonderfully kind owner of the company and two of his employees.  And one included a Cape Verdean birder!  I had not met one local birder until this moment.  I was thrilled and curious.  So we agreed to meet for an afternoon of walk and talk while birding somewhere.  They asked me where I wanted to go.  Having seen all the birds, I asked them, "Where do YOU want to go?"  And they were thrilled by the prospect of exploring the nearby Serra Negra past the dunes along the coast. 

It was a rocky ride there.  Stark and beautiful.  But we climbed the hills to the top where we hiked along the cliffs. Our target? The breeding colony of Red-billed Tropicbirds. 

We all assembled our equipment chatting about birds etc. One of the things we spoke about was how to set up a birding festival for the island. For Cape Verde, and the island of Sal, it would be epic.  Watching them put it together in their minds was exciting.  They have no idea what a birding festival on Sal would do for so many people and birds:)  It would be a first. Representing as a volunteer for Tucson Audubon, I went over some ideas and made some comments on things they could do to start planning treks for the endemic birds.  I went over my own itinerary and told them what my target birds had been and how that would look as a day trip out with birders during a birding festival. 

Eventually, we got to the spot where we saw many Red-billed Tropicbirds flying around the nesting areas.  It was absolutely thrilling.  The wind was wicked.  If you're not careful, it will blow your birder hat off!  The winds of Sal are NO joke. 

We watched for quite some time as these birds flew over the ocean into or around their nesting sites. 

Afterwards, we stopped at the Santa Maria Water Treatment Plant to do one last birding adventure.  It's more like a natural preserve full of rarities and epic birds.  Now I hadn't seen any rarities on the island  BUT I kept my eyes open. 

This location is great for Common Qual, Spectacled Warbler, Eurasian Blackcap and many wading water birds.  We did see 3 rare Glossy Ibis, but others had reported them earlier on so they weren't anything rare in my book:)  I wanted something juicy that only we found!

Along the way, we found adult osprey with their young.  And many of the Osprey I saw on the island were banded. 

As we walked around the water treatment plant, I spotted a bright yellow buzzy bird flying into the tree!  While Cape Verde has many amazing birds, it doesn't have a lot of brightly colored birds. My brain went into overdrive.  What were they???

 

Not an endemic. Not expected. And definitely rare.  Here it was.  My unexpected rarity of the trip!  My favorite kind of surprise. At this point, Niko and myself, started eliminating possibilities.  Niko had guided in West Africa and was familiar with the birds there.  Eventually the pair came back down to the water where we were able to study them better. 

They were definitely bishops but what species?  After great study we found out that they were Yellow-crowned Bishops. Eventually, I discovered that they could be rare migrants from Senegal. I found old documentation on Cape Verdean birds and its rarity possibilities. BUT!  They could have also come across with the many Senegalese migrants living on Sal.  We'll never know, but it was exciting!

Eurasian Blackcaps are notorious little stinkers.  They do not like to come out for their pictures.  They are very much a warbler species.  You can hear them sing and spy on them bouncing around in the mesquite shadows.  And RARELY, one will come out for just a few seconds. They breed on the island of Sal as do the Spectacled Warblers. 

Towards the end of my stay, I found an amazing restaurant that served food from Guinea-Bissau.  And it was so good that I went back over and over again.  A local chef from that West African nation married a Cape Verdean woman and together they opened a small hidden restaurant in Santa Maria.  And only the locals knew about it.  My mouth is watering right now thinking about those cheap and delicious meals.  It's called Camara Camara. I'd like to extend my gratitude to Cape Verde Excursions and the owner Jonathon for a wonderful day out.  And may it be the olive branch needed to connect 2 wonderful birding worlds together!  Until next time...