Premières photographies du Râle d’Olivier

The Sakalava Rail Amaurornis olivieri is one of the least-known birds in Africa.It is endemic to Madagascar where it is known from three widely separated localities in the Sakalava country of the western lowlands.It is considered globally threatened, in the category Critically Endangered. It was first described in 1929 from an undated specimen obtained at Antsalova, near Maintirano.
In late October 2002 Iain Robertson set out from Mahajunga in north-west Madagascar, accompanied by Sama Zefania from BirdLife International (Madagascar), to survey wetland habitats in the hope of finding the species. After five weeks in the field Iain reached the small village of Bejofo Antanandava, Besalampy district, on 29 November 2002. Vincente and Iain eventually found a villager who not only recognised the illustration of the bird but also said that he could show them the bird ! The site was the Lac Ampandra, a short distance from the village. On reaching the lake they hired a dugout canoe from a fisherman and paddled across the lake towards the Phragmites beds. As they approached the reeds, in a shaded inlet covered with floating vegetation, there was an adult Sakalava Rail. They finally observed two adults and a pair with two chicks. Iain did the first-ever photographs of this species, and the first detailed observations since 1962.