CAPE VERDE ISLANDS – Endemics & Seabirds of some remote Atlantic islands

PRICE INFORMATION

Birdquest Inclusions: Our tour prices include surface transportation, accommodations, meals and entrance fees.

We also include all tipping for accommodation/restaurant staff.

We also include the following flights: Santiago-São Nicolau-Santiago and Santiago-Fogo-Santiago.

Deposit: 20% of the total tour price. Our office will let you know what deposit amount is due, in order to confirm your booking, following receipt of your online booking form.

TO BOOK THIS TOUR: Click here (you will need the tour dates)

The single supplement will not apply if you indicate on booking that you prefer to share a room and there is a room-mate of the same sex available.

This tour is priced in Euros. Amounts shown in other currencies are indicative.

Air Travel To & From The Tour: Our in-house IATA ticket agency will be pleased to arrange your air travel on request, or you may arrange this yourself if you prefer.

CAPE VERDE ISLANDS BIRDING TOUR: DETAILED ITINERARY

Cape Verde Islands: Day 1  The tour begins this afternoon on the island of Santiago, where we will stay for three nights at Praia.

(Most international flights to Praia route via Lisbon in Portugal.)

Cape Verde Islands: Days 2-3  Santiago is the largest of the islands and is certainly the most developed and prosperous. Praia, the small capital city of the Cape Verde Islands, is situated at the southeastern end of Santiago. As with all the islands, the inhabitants are a ‘Creole’ mixture of Portuguese and West African, but here African influences are strongest. Living standards are very low in the islands, but Santiago is blessed with more rainfall than most and has numerous small farms and plantations. The better-watered valleys of the island, with their comparatively luxuriant vegetation, are the habitat beloved of Grey-headed Kingfisher and the endemic Cape Verde Warbler. We will also encounter our first Iago Sparrows, a pretty endemic that was once lumped with the Rufous Sparrows of mainland Africa. In addition, these areas hold Spectacled Warbler, Eurasian Blackcap, Brown-necked Raven, Common Waxbill and Spanish Sparrow.

Overhead we should see the endemic Cape Verde Swift, whilst the scenically spectacular and very rugged mountains of the interior, which are reminiscent of mountain ranges in the more arid areas of the African mainland, harbour the endemic Cape Verde Buzzard, the endemic Alexander’s Kestrel (sometimes split from Common), the distinctive Cape Verde race of the Rock Dove and Helmeted Guineafowl. We will stay out until dusk in order to try and see the endemic Cape Verde Owl (sometimes split from Western Barn Owl).

Although there are few wetlands on Santiago, Bourne’s (or Cape Verde) Heron (sometimes split from Purple, and very different in appearance) is restricted to the island and Western Cattle Egrets are local residents. The heron is nowadays much easier to find than it once was, thanks to the construction of new reservoirs.

The endemic Cape Verde Falcon (sometimes split from Peregrine) is now either very rare or already extinct. (An additional endemic landbird species, the Cape Verde Kite, is now thought to be extinct, and indeed the pure population may have been extinct for some time, the current theory being that the more recently surviving birds were a hybrid population produced by interbreeding with migrant Black Kites.)

Some parts of the island are very arid and hold such species as Cream-coloured Courser, Black-crowned Sparrow-Lark and Bar-tailed Lark. At a small lagoon, we should find Grey Heron, Little Egret and Common Moorhen, plus a selection of migrant waders including Black-winged Stilt, Common Ringed, Kentish and Grey (or Black-bellied) Plovers, Sanderling, Little Stint, Wood, Common and Curlew Sandpipers, Eurasian Whimbrel, Common Greenshank and Ruddy Turnstone.

Nearctic vagrant shorebirds turn up here on a regular basis and vagrant herons, such as Black Heron and Intermediate Egret, have also occurred. Consequently, we shall be on the lookout for rarities.

Cape Verde Islands: Day 4  This morning we will take a flight to the island of São Nicolau. From the airport, we will travel through the rugged interior of the island until we reach the picturesque little harbour at Tarrafal where we will stay for three nights. We will have some opportunity for birding on the island later today.

Cape Verde Islands: Days 5-6  The beautiful island of São Nicolau is typical of the northern Cape Verdes, being a land of rugged, rocky ridges with steep, partly terraced hillsides and tiny villages. Here we will have opportunities to watch the aptly named Neglected Kestrel (sometimes split from Common and surely deserving of full species status owing to its remarkable morphological differences), which is fairly common. Virtually lacking sexual dimorphism in its plumage, neglectus has noticeably short wings and tail, giving it an appearance and hunting style very close to that of Seychelles or Mauritius Kestrels rather than Common.

Along the coastline, we are likely to see some Yellow-legged Gulls of the form atlantis, while Fea’s (or Cape Verde) Petrels and Boyd’s Shearwaters regularly pass by the island’s headlands. The western part of the island is a good place for Helmeted Guineafowl.

During our stay at Tarrafal, we will make a boat trip in search of seabirds and that most isolated of all the Cape Verdean endemics, the rare Raso Lark. From São Nicolau we will sail eastwards towards the small and remote island of Raso. Most Cape Verde tubenose species are only very sparsely distributed at sea, ranging over huge areas, but we should see plenty of Cape Verde Shearwaters and small numbers of Boyd’s Shearwaters and Fea’s (or Cape Verde) Petrels.

We may also see Bulwer’s Petrel, Cape Verde Storm Petrel and White-faced Storm Petrel. Flying fish are frequently to be seen and there is a good chance that we will encounter some dolphins.

After about two hours we will reach the ornithologically famous island of Raso (or Razo), which lies between São Nicolau and São Vicente. Here on this small uninhabited island, approximately 2.5 km in diameter, lives the entire world population of the little known Raso Lark – probably around 1000 individuals according to the latest study. In addition to the famous lark, which is unusual in showing marked sexual dimorphism, Raso possesses several pairs of breeding Western Ospreys and an important seabird colony. Boyd’s and Cape Verde Shearwaters, Cape Verde Storm Petrel, Brown Booby and Red-billed Tropicbirds all nest here, protected by the sheer inaccessibility of this remote island.

Please note that we have two full days (three nights) on São Nicolau deliberately so that we have two windows for the Raso pelagic in case of windy weather on the first full day. Unlike Fogo, where the waters are more sheltered by the volcano, Razo is exposed to the wind.

Cape Verde Islands: Day 7  This morning we will take a flight back to Santiago and an onward short flight to the island of Fogo for a two nights stay.

Cape Verde Islands: Day 8  Our main reason to come to the spectacular island of Fogo, which is in effect a volcano rising from the sea (the highest point on the island is 2829m or 9281ft above sea-level), is to make a pelagic boat trip offshore in search of Cape Verde Storm Petrel, which is far more reliable here than off São Nicolau.

We are also sure to have good views of Fea’s (or Cape Verde) Petrels and Cape Verde Shearwaters, and other species, such as Boyd’s Shearwater and Bulwer’s Petrel, are also possible.

If we have time, we will drive up the mountain road to the caldera of the extinct volcano to admire the other-worldly landscapes.

Cape Verde Islands: Day 9  This morning we will return by air to Santiago, where our Cape Verde Islands birding tour ends at Praia airport.