Towards Kaedi

After Bogue on the morning of Saturday 11th August, Mohamed Vall and I pressed on eastward to the very outskirts of Kaedi. We diverted from the main road twice towards the banks of the Senegal River. These were at Mbhane, Gorgol and Mbagne, Brakna. Both places were new to us and both had habitats similar to each other. However, both had less cover next to the river and less wetland (ie none) compared with several sites we already know between Rosso and Bogue.

• Mbagne and Mhbane were seemingly sites with less potential compared with others next to the river further west or indeed much further east (Gouraye). The banks of the river near Kaedi will not make it into our list of top hotspots in Mauritania.
• Grey-headed kingfisher was the best rainy season bird. Both of us had only seen one other before in Mauritania.
• A large blue-cheeked bee-eater colony was active in the sand cliffs at Mbagne.
• A potentially good site in Mbagne was private and only seen over a fence.
• Having said all this, a newcomer to Mauritania would have been very happy with the representative list of southern resident birds and early palearctic migrants. I suspect we would have enjoyed the places more with just one new bird. It's getting tough now 305 has been achieved.

Having reached the edge of Kaedi we had to rush back the way we came to reach our hotel in Aleg before nightfall.

Forest, SE of Bogue

African mourning dove

long-tailed glossy starling

greater blue-eared starling

Mbagne

black-headed lapwing

chestnut-bellied starling

black-bush robin

unidentified skink

Senegal thick-knee

Vieillot's barbet

red-billed quelea

probably rock agama

pied kingfisher

female little weaver

white-rumped seed-eater

grey-headed kingfisher

Forest, SE of Bogue, Brakna, MR

11-Aug-2018 11:00 - 11:30

African Mourning Dove  

Namaqua Dove  

Black Scrub-Robin  

Long-tailed Glossy Starling  

Chestnut-bellied Starling  

Greater Blue-eared Starling  

Northern Grey-headed Sparrow  

Sudan Golden Sparrow  

White-billed Buffalo-Weaver  

Black-headed Weaver  

Northern Red Bishop  

Mbagne, Brakna, MR

11-Aug-2018 15:00 - 16:30
White-faced Whistling Duck

Senegal Thick-knee  

Spur-winged Lapwing  

Black-headed Lapwing  

Cattle Egret  

Grey-headed Kingfisher  

Pied Kingfisher  

White-throated Bee-eater  

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater  

Abyssinian Roller
Vieillot's Barbet 

Lanner Falcon  

Woodchat Shrike  

Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark  

Barn Swallow  

Western Olivaceous Warbler  

Melodious Warbler  

Tawny-flanked Prinia  

Black Scrub-Robin  

Chestnut-bellied Starling  

Greater Blue-eared Starling  

Beautiful Sunbird  

Northern Grey-headed Sparrow  

Sudan Golden Sparrow  

Little Weaver  

Black-headed Weaver  

Red-billed Quelea 

Northern Red Bishop  

Red-cheeked Cordonbleu