Central lake, Nouakchott

A colleague at work tipped me off that there was a lake with reeds near the Tunisian embassy. He also said it was full with birds. 

I took the first opportunity to visit it on Friday afternoon. 

The first bit of bad news is that it is now quite disturbed as it is being redeveloped as the site for a new Senegal embassy. Sadly it looks like the only fresh water lake in the city is about to disappear. Furthermore I was asked to leave the site (very diplomatically by the way) by the authorities as it is embassy land.


All the other news is good. The site is currently still teeming with birds and I was asked to leave just as I finished my session anyway. 

It was the first time I have seen any ducks in Mauritania. 

northern pintail

 Northern pintail were  numerous.

four northern pintail

However careful looks among the ducks showed that two northern shoveller were there too.

Having looked at my set of photos of this group, I realised there was a Temminck's stint with them. These species has a stronger preferrence for fresher water than little stint and sightings of it in Nouakchott are few.

northern shoveller

This is classic habitat for spur-winged lapwing and several were dotted around the area.

spur-winged lapwing

However the site is best remembered for the sheer volume and variety of waders.

mixed waders

The picture above illustrates some of the variety. There are: ruff, sanderling, little stint, dunlin, common redshank, wood sandpiper and common sandpiper all in close proximity.

common redshank with little stint

I checked all the common redshank but couldn't find a spotted redshank among them. I was hoping for the latter species given the habitat is better than most in the city for it.

Kittlitz's plover

Among the less numerous birds were two Kittlitz's plover.

pied avocet

Two pied avocet and a Eurasian spoonbill also appeard briefly.

ruddy turnstone

Only one ruddy turnstone was seen but the terrain is not perfect for them.

white wagtail

Moving away from the main lake to the surroundings, many white wagtail were on the ground. They are arriving for the winter down here  in big numbers now.

reed beds

At the back of the lake are some thick reed beds. It is difficult to see what is in them and impossible to walk into them. However I found three common snipe and a common moorhen with perseverance. These were the first of either species I have encountered in Mauritania.

It is shame I am not allowed to visit this site again. I suspect more varied ducks in particular will arrive for the winter soon.

Mughsail in late October

I made a short trip to Khawr Rori afeter Khawr Swali on Saturday. Here I came across Bart the Birder from Belgium.

He spoke about the first three days of his two week visit to Dhofar and five excellent birds he had seen at Mughsail. I had seen none of them.

After a short time at Khawr Rori, I decided to get in the car and drive all the way across the city and out west to Mughsail. His birding had sounded so exciting there.

Well, I spotted none of his birds!

However in the end I wasn't too unhappy.

intermediate morph western reef heron

The coastal pools were no that great this time. There were plenty of western reef heron and grey heron as well as the same lone flamingo as at my last visit.

black-tailed godwit and black-winged stilt

A black-tailed godwit was the most interesting of the waders there.

I soon decided  to cross the road and go to the two inland pools.

osprey

An osprey flew overhead as I did this.

European roller

An adult European roller was darting about the fields.

northern wheatear

On the way to the second and most inland pool, I came across several wheatears. Finally one of them was a definite northern wheatear. This was another first for me in Oman and my fourth addition to the list on Saturday. Some features that mark it as northern are: strong supercilium, ear coverts darker than crown, no isolated dark alula, grey crown and a tail that reaches the ground. The last feature is new to me following research. It appears Isabelline wheatear are so short tailed that even when standing erect, their tails don't quite make it to the ground.

The back pond was previously unknown to me but thanks go to Belgian Bart for informing me about it. I spent 90 minutes there waiting for some action. Bart had seen a Baillion's crake. 

I wasn't so successful. There were fifteen or so moorhen.

female northern pintail

As some sort of compensation, I saw my first northern pintail in the country.

gadwell

There were more gadwell there too.

northern shoveller

It is becoming obvious that these khawr are going to attract many ducks and other waterfowl this winter. One of the last birds I saw before I left for the day was a northern shoveller on the main pool.