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Sunday 20th of October 2019 and they called from the reception at 4 o´clock in the morning. Second call 15 minutes later. I was in the reception just before 7 and my Guide was waiting for me. We brought my luggage to the jeep and I met our driver for the next 3 weeks. I asked if we would use the same car all the time and they confirmed this. Good, I can keep my MAX in the car during the whole trip, no need to carry around the bottles. We left Radisson Blu behind and we stopped to buy water and then we stopped to buy fresh bread as they don´t have fresh bread in the Supermarket.  My jeep outside Radisson Blu
 Loading my luggage in to the jeep
 Loading my luggage in to the jeep
 A picture before we leave
 We stop to buy water
 We stop at a bakery
 We leave Addis Ababa behind
They are building new apartments just outside Addis Ababa and it is a huge area they have turned in to a construction site. New roads with 20 meters between the roads where they will build a new railway. Coming out on a toll way, huge road and freshly built and I guess there is a lot of Chinese money involved. We are driving towards Debre Zeit where we will stay overnight at Babogaya Lake Viewpoint Lodge. And we will do bird watching around the lakes at Bebre Zeit. We will stop at Chelekleka Lake and we will start birding there. We stopped at something looked more like a pond than a lake. Small dirty pond with garbage and cow shit.
And we spotted people washing their laundry in this shit, amazing. I spotted 1 Black Kite and there were several other birds. We spotted a few Spur-winged Gooses and Egyptian Gooses. They are very big and the first one we noticed. But there were several birds in the pond and we were soon spotting White-faced Whistling-Duck, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, White-backed Duck, Hottentot Teal and a Little Grebe. There were also many Spur-winged Lapwings in the area. I was in the back seat taking pictures out the window. We had a Swainson's Sparrow sitting next to the car and I got a few pictures.  Egyptian Goosed
 Spur-winged Lapwing and White-faced Whistling-Duck
  White-faced Whistling Duck / Dendrocygna viduata
 White-faced Whistling Duck and Fulvous Whistling-Duck
 White-faced Whistling Duck / Dendrocygna viduata
  Swainson's Sparrow, Passer swainsonii
 Swainson's Sparrow, Passer swainsonii
 Swainson's Sparrow, Passer swainsonii
 Swainson's Sparrow, Passer swainsonii
 Spur-winged Goose takes off
 Hotentot Teals
 White-backed Duck and a Little Grebe
 Fulvous Whistling-Duck
 Fulvous Whistling-Duck
I get out of the car to try to get some pictures of the Black Kite. The kite was flying over the pond and the bird was soaring slowly over the pond, and very low so I thought it would be easy to get some pictures. Coming out of the car and I discover three kites over the pond. I could only see them one by one from the car. I told my Guide and he pointed up to the sky and I look up. SWEET LORD!!!!!!!!! The sky was black of Kites, Hooded Vultures and Marabou Storks. But they were soaring very high up and no pictures, at least no good pictures. And the Black Kite / Yellow-billed Kite, well, I took a few pictures, but they didn´t turn out any good. I went down to the pond to see what birds there was. And there were many different birds and I took a lot of pictures. Of course, many went straight to the garbage.  Marabou Stork
    Hotentot Teals
    Wood sandpiper - นกชายเลนน้ำจืด
 Wood sandpiper - นกชายเลนน้ำจืด
 Red-eyed Dove
 Red-eyed Dove
 Red-eyed Dove
  We leave the south part of the Chelekleka Lake and we drive north for about 1km when we leave the road and drive down to the Chelekleka Lake again. We get out of the car and we see Sunbirds and African Silverbills immediately. We also spotted several Fantailed Ravens. I concentrated on the beautiful Variable Sunbird. It wa snot easy to get the Sunbird. Jumping around and the bird kept in the shadow. But when they came out in the sun I could get a few pictures. The African Silverbill was pretty much between me and the sun, so not so good.   Male Variable Sunbird or Yellow-bellied Sunbird
 Male Variable Sunbird or Yellow-bellied Sunbird
 Male Variable Sunbird or Yellow-bellied Sunbird
 Female Variable Sunbird or Yellow-bellied Sunbird
 Male Variable Sunbird or Yellow-bellied Sunbird
 Male Variable Sunbird or Yellow-bellied Sunbird
 My Guide and I walk down to the waterfront using a path the farmers using to get down to get water with their horses and wagon. Our driver leave to park the car. We see an old tree at the end of the “horse and wagon” track. It is a terrible smell walking down towards the water front There was one Grey Heron sitting in the tree down at the water, and several Fan-tailed Ravens in the same tree. A perfect photo opportunity.  Grey Heron - นกกระสานวล
 Fan-tailed Raven
 Beautiful Northern Red Bishops
 Yellow-billed Stork
 Yellow-billed Stork
 Marabou Stork
 Knob-billed Duck and White-faced Whistling-Duck
 Our hero
I continue along the water and I am lucky to have a Black Kite (Yellow-billed Kite) stopping to drink water just in front of me. I got closer STEP by STEP and the bird was looking around. I was very close to the bird when it finally dared to drink. The bird drank two times before leaving and I was very happy to have been offered to see this from front row. Not often this happens. I got more pictures of the Fan-tailed Raven and the Pied Crow.  Yellow-billed Kite
 Yellow-billed Kite
 Yellow-billed Kite
 Yellow-billed Kite
 Yellow-billed Kite
 Yellow-billed Kite
 Yellow-billed Kite
 Yellow-billed Kite
 Yellow-billed Kite
 Yellow-billed Kite
 Fan-tailed Raven
 Fan-tailed Raven
 Fan-tailed Raven
 Pied Crow
 Pied Crow
 Pied Crow
 Pied Crow
 Pied Crow
  Yellow Wagtail
 Pied Crow
 Pied Crow
 Fan-tailed Raven
 Knob-billed Duck
Walking back to the service patch for the horse wagon to get down to the water to fetch water and I spotted Knob-billed Ducks, White-faced Whistling-Duck and 2 Black Herons on a small pile of mud 50 meters out in the water. A little too far away for any good pictures, but I could see the Black Herons with their orange feet. I never got any good pictures of the Red-billed Firefinch, but I got pictures of the Grey Heron and a Black Kite sitting in the tree.   Grey Heron - นกกระสานวล
 Grey Heron - นกกระสานวล
 Grey Heron - นกกระสานวล
 Grey Heron - นกกระสานวล
 Grey Heron - นกกระสานวล
 Grey Heron - นกกระสานวล
 View over the Chelekleka Lake
 Coming to get water
 Coming to get water
 Coming to get water
 Getting water
 Yellow-billed Kite
 Yellow-billed Kite
 Yellow-billed Kite
 We stop to have a look at the wetland
 Walk through the farmland to reach the wetland
We get back in to the car and we leave for Hora Lake. We make a stop on the way to have one more look at the Chelekleka Lake and it is more like a wetland where we stop. We can see 2 Plain Martin and that´s it. We can see a few Common Cranes as well. But they are too far away and in a few weeks’ time the area will be full of Common Cranes. It will look like Lake Hornborgare in Sweden with thousands of cranes spending the winter here. We walk along the farm fields and we are soon giving up and get back to the car. We drive to Hora Lake and the lake seems to be a popular recreational area. Camping and there are boats for rent. I get out of the car and I see 3 Pied Kingfisher sitting on the boats for rent. I have seen many Pied Kingfisher and they have always been very scared. But theses Kingfishers was not scared and they were just sitting there so I could get pictures. The Pied Kingfisher, just black and white, but maybe the most beautiful Kingfisher.  Pied Kingfisher, Ceryle rudis, นกกะเต็นปักหลัก
 Pied Kingfisher
 Pied Kingfisher
 Pied Kingfisher
 Pied Kingfisher
  Great Cormorant / Storskarv
 Great Cormorant / Storskarv
  Northern Fiscal
 Juvenile Northern Fiscal
 Speckled Mousebird, Colius striatus
  Eastern Cattle Egret / นกยางควาย
  Pied Kingfisher
 Pied Kingfisher
 Pied Kingfisher
 Today´s track at Debre Zeit
We finish the birding at the lakes in Debre Zeit. We drive to our lodge for the night, the Babogaya Lake Viewpoint Lodge. Just a few minutes’ drive from the Hora Lake. I can´t say that I was pleasantly surprised when I stepped in to the compound at the Babogaya Lake Viewpoint Lodge. The room, well, I was not looking forward to get to bed later on in the night. And the restaurant, well, the view from the terrace was nice and I was told by my Guide that there would be plenty birds in the bushes.   My room
 The room
 I have had much better food
 The lake
 The compound
 The compound
I had a look around in the garden for birds. We will go to look for birds at a wetland and tonight, after dark we will go to have a look for Jackals. But I had some time to spend looking for birds in the garden before we left. I spotted the Hamerkop, first time I see this bird. But we saw the huge nest before we saw the bird. There are also Egyptian Gooses scouting the area for a nest site. And the gooses love to build their nest on top of the Hamerkop nests and the Hamerkop can get upset with the gooses.  Hamerkop nest
 Hamerkop nest
 Hamerkop nest
 View over the crater
 Scarlet-chested Sunbird
 Rüppell's Weaver
 Today´s track at Babogaya Lake Viewpoint Lodge
We leave Babogaya Lake Viewpoint Lodge and we drive north along the dust road for a few minutes before we stop. We have reached a wet land and we get out to see if we can see any birds. The first bird we see is a beautiful Northern Red Bishop, but not any good pictures. I ran in to the Red-cheeked Cordonbleu. First time ever for me that I see the Red-cheeked Cordonbleu, I could not believe my eyes, it is a very very beautiful bird. And the bird was not scared so I could come pretty close to the bird. We spotted a couple of Reichenow's Seedeaters as well. We see one Intermediate Egret looking for food out in the wetland, too far away for any pictures.  Dust road along the wet land
 We stop on the dust road
 Northern Red Bishop
 Red-cheeked Cordonbleu, Uraeginthus bengalus
 Red-cheeked Cordonbleu, Uraeginthus bengalus
 Red-cheeked Cordonbleu, Uraeginthus bengalus
 Red-billed Duck family
 Female Northern Red Bishop or Orange Bishop
 Male Northern Red Bishop or Orange Bishop
 Male Northern Red Bishop or Orange Bishop
  Bus passing on the dust road
 Bus passing on the dust road
 Black crowned crane flying over the wet land
 Black crowned crane
We see a beautiful crane flying over the wet land. But it was very far away. We start to walk along the wet land leaving the dust road behind. We see an Ortolan Bunting and a couple of Erlanger's lark - Calandrella blanfordi erlangeri. We also spotted a beautiful Isabelline Wheatear. Our target is the Quailfinch, a very beautiful bird that is very shy. The bird are looking for food at the water edge and as it is black and white it is very hard to see in the mud. But I was lucky and I managed to see the bird, and I got a picture of the bird. Good enough for the bird to make it to my list of observed birds.  Walking along the wet land looking for the Quailfinch
 Isabelline Wheatear
 Another bus pass on the dust road
 Erlanger's lark - Calandrella blanfordi erlangeri
 Quailfinch
 Quailfinch
 Quailfinch
 Quailfinch
 Quailfinch
  Dusky Turtle Dove
 Dusky Turtle Dove
 Today´s track at Wetland, North of Debre Zeit lake area, Ethiopia
We drive back to the lodge where we spend time until it is getting dark. We get back in to the car and we go for a drive to look for jackals. We drive around checking out the country side but we don´t see any jackals, only a mongoose. Back at the lodge and I go to bed with my alarm set to go off at 4 o´clock in the morning. We have a long drive tomorrow to reach Awash National Park. Click HERE to find out if we see any birds in the Awash National Park.
    
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