Saturday 10 March 2018

European bee-eater at the waste water site

It was back to my local patch today. These days this means the waste water site just north of Nouakchott.

There was some passage but no warblers yet.

The most notable passage bird was a single European bee-eater. I have only seen four in 18 months in Mauritania and all of them have been at the same place.

European bee-eater 1

It stopped briefly to catch dragonflies before continuing north.

European bee-eater 2

Once again much of the best birding came from the smaller pools to the east of the site rather than the main lake.

first yellow wagtail

There was a small of flock of yellow wagtail feeding near where the bee-eater was seen.

second yellow wagtail

This was undoubtedly a passage group as only rarely are single birds seen at the site in winter. Nouakchott is just north of its normal wintering range.

woodchat shrike

Three woodchat shike were scattered around the site outnumbering the local southern grey shrike.

white wagtail

Similarly yellow wagtail outnumbered white wagtail. This is a spring phenomenon.

Meanwhile back at the main lake, the spur-winged lapwing were even noisier and aggressive than usual.

spur-winged lapwing

The wintering common teal are now a distant memory.

common redshank

Among the waders, I observed my first common redshank this year.

wood sandpiper

The habitat is very good for wood sandpiper and they only go missing in summer.

five grey heron

Five skittish grey heron kept flying away from me.

mostly kentish plover

Common ringed plover, kentish plover and little ringed plover were on site in significant numbers.

barn swallow

As with the trip up north last weekend, barn swallow are flying through in large numbers at the moment. I also saw my first sand martin of the year and two presumably local little swift.

Mohamed Vall and I are trying our luck at Amzela tomorrow. This is the closest place with a decent number of natural trees to the south of the city. I will blog about this next.


Species seen at the waste water site on March 10th
Grey Heron  
Spur-winged Lapwing  
Kentish Plover  
Common Ringed Plover  
Little Ringed Plover  
Ruff  
Little Stint  
Wood Sandpiper  
Common Redshank  
Laughing Dove  
Namaqua Dove  
Little Swift  
Eurasian Hoopoe  
European Bee-eater  
Southern Grey Shrike  
Woodchat Shrike  
Crested Lark  
Sand Martin  
Barn Swallow  
Common Chiffchaff  
Iberian Chiffchaff  
Spectacled Warbler  
Common Redstart  
Northern Wheatear  
Western Yellow Wagtail  
White Wagtail  
House Sparrow  
Sudan Golden Sparrow  

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