Forty three species at the waste water site

Yesterday I went to the waste water site again. It is my "local" patch these days since the demise of F-Nord lake. The lake was pumped dry by overzealous city planners and a large fresh water magnet for birds was lost in a city in the semi-desert.

North Nouakchott waste water site does its best. Yesterday was a good day.

• No fewer than ten types of warbler were seen:
  Western Bonelli's Warbler, Willow Warbler, Common Chiffchaff, Western Olivaceous Warbler, Melodious Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Eurasian Reed Warbler, Common Grasshopper Warbler, Western Orphean Warbler, Spectacled Warbler. All are migrants.
• Other migrants included roller, nightingale, rufous bush-robin and  European turtle dove
• Three different sedge warbler were photographed near each other.
• A grasshopper warbler shown about 20 metres from where I saw one two weeks earlier
• One of the European reed warbler felt so secure it was asleep during daylight. This presumed after a long migratory flight.

melodious warbler 1

melodious warbler 2

back of European reed warbler

juvenile woodchat shrike

partially hidden spectacled warbler

crested lark

grasshopper warbler

spotted flycatcher

namaqua dove

sleepy reed warbler

now alert reed warbler

young yellow wagtail

European turtle dove

western orphean warbler 1

western orphean warbler 2

European pied flycatcher

first sedge warbler

second sedge warbler

third sedge warbler

glossy ibis

blue-cheeked bee-eater

little stint

kentish plover

Species at Waste Water site. 2nd September 2018

European Turtle Dove  

Laughing Dove  

Namaqua Dove  

Black-winged Stilt  

Spur-winged Lapwing  

Kentish Plover  

Common Ringed Plover  

Whimbrel  

Curlew Sandpiper  

Dunlin  

Little Stint  

Common Sandpiper  

Green Sandpiper  

Wood Sandpiper  

Common Redshank  

Grey Heron (Grey)  

Glossy Ibis  

Eurasian Hoopoe  

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater  

European Roller  

Great Grey Shrike (Sahara)  

Woodchat Shrike  

Crested Lark  

Sand Martin  

Barn Swallow  

Western Bonelli's Warbler  

Willow Warbler  

Common Chiffchaff  

Western Olivaceous Warbler  

Melodious Warbler  

Sedge Warbler  

Eurasian Reed Warbler  

Common Grasshopper Warbler  

Western Orphean Warbler  

Spectacled Warbler  

Spotted Flycatcher  

Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin  

Common Nightingale  

European Pied Flycatcher  

Common Redstart  

Western Yellow Wagtail  

House Sparrow  

Sudan Golden Sparrow  

Heavy passage and a lifer

My first birding in the Nouakchott area since returning from my summer break was at the waste water site.

It was on August 19th and was much better than expected.

• there was a large warbler passage: western Bonelli's warbler,  willow warbler, common chiffchaff, western olivaceous warbler, melodious warbler, sedge warbler, eurasian reed warbler, common grasshopper warbler, spectacled warbler
• western olivaceous warbler, western Bonelli's warbler and melodious warbler were early passage last year.
• common grasshopper warbler was a target bird. It is known to winter in West Africa and even south west Mauritania. However, it was lifer for me and number 306 on my Mauritanian list.
• Though seen by me in country before, I photographed a European cuckoo for the first time here.
• There was a good cross section of early waders including a curlew sandpiper
• A full list of species seen is at the bottom of the blog

immature chiffchaff

western bonelli's warbler

common grasshopper warbler

hepatic female common cuckoo 1

hepatic female common cuckoo 2

redshank

spur-winged lapwing and other waders

rufous bush-robin

curlew sandpiper

glossy ibis

horses

common ringed plover

blue-cheeked bee-eater

spotted flycatcher 1

spotted flycatcher 2

pied flycatcher

nightingale

North Nouakchott waste water site, Nouakchott, MR

19-Aug-2018 09:45 - 13:45

36 species

Laughing Dove  

Namaqua Dove  

Common Cuckoo  

Black-winged Stilt  

Spur-winged Lapwing  

Common Ringed Plover  

Whimbrel  

Curlew Sandpiper  

Little Stint  

Common Sandpiper  

Common Greenshank  

Wood Sandpiper  

Common Redshank  

Glossy Ibis 

Osprey  

Eurasian Hoopoe (Eurasian)  

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater  

Great Grey Shrike (Sahara)  

Woodchat Shrike  

Black-crowned Sparrow-Lark  

Crested Lark  

Barn Swallow  

Western Bonelli's Warbler  

Willow Warbler  

Common Chiffchaff  

Western Olivaceous Warbler  

Melodious Warbler  

Sedge Warbler  

Eurasian Reed Warbler 

Common Grasshopper Warbler  

Spectacled Warbler  

Spotted Flycatcher  

Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin  

Common Nightingale  

European Pied Flycatcher  

Sudan Golden Sparrow 

A very lucky grasshopper warbler

Over the weekend, Mansur Al Fahad told me the story about how he met up with a grasshopper warbler in Saudi Arabia.

He was visiting his family home in Zulfi on April 19th when he saw a bird unable to fly in the garden. It was exhausted.

Grasshopper warbler in the hand

He picked it up and was able to easily identify it as a grasshopper warbler.

It was also one very lucky grasshopper warbler who chose the garden of one of the very few people in the kingdom who knew what it was and could do something about its condition. After giving it water, rest and shelter, the bird eventually flew off north.

My Helms guide to  "Birds of the Middle East" doesn't show grasshopper warbler this far inland on passage (Zulfi is a farming area 200 kilometres NW of Riyadh). This is too little data to challenge the book's view that they migrate by taking coastal routes north but I will be on the look out for more in central Arabia in the passage seasons. 

The problem is that their skulking behaviour makes finding them so difficult any and everywhere.