River Niger, Bamako

On my third day in Bamako, I visited the south bank of the River Niger in Bamako. I had organised an escort from the staff of the hotel. He was a tall and young man. The idea was that he should deter any petty criminals.

As it happens I met with nothing but friendliness from all the Malians I saw. However, it was better safe than sorry give the governmental travel warnings.

The River Niger is beautiful, tranquil and wide. There is small scale farming on the alluvial plots of land next to the river. Apparently these are all under water from July to October.

It was these that we walked through.

pied kingfisher

The birding was not fantastic but it was a way of adding to my Malian list those types of birds which require water-based habitat.

Pied kingfisher was one of the first birds seen. 

pied kingfisher hovering

And the species was seen in more places as we walked along the river bank.

the River Niger, Bamako

Dotted along the small agricultual plots at regular intervals were yellow wagtail.

 wagtail with pink legs 

First winter grey wagtail is difficult to separate from first winter yellow wagtail of the sub-species flava. The latter has the greyest and least olive or green back of all young yellow wagtail. However, this bird was a very long tail and crucially has pale pink legs.

If it is a yellow wagtail then the legs have picked up the mud from the surrounding ground. You can see the pink mud it may have picked up. I think either identification is unsafe.

common sandpiper

The water in most places was very clean except in isolated pools. Common sandpiper prefers cleaner water out of the trio of common sandpiper, wood sandpiper and green sandpiper. It was the most regularly seen of the three sandpipers.

In one place, there were a few ponds with lilies growing. True to form, an African jacana was observed.

African jacana

There was a squacco heron in the same area.

Yellow-billed kite retreat a long way south from Mauritania progressively thinning out after the rainy season. The same happens in Mali though Bamako is already further south than any part of Mauritania.

yellow-billed kite

I was not surprised that a few still remained in Bamako in early December.

After a break, we returned to the river and walked westward from the bridge this time.

The terrian was moe open and rockier. 

little egret 1

A little egret was seen. This is another bird with a close confusion species. It is more elegant and usually has more contrasting yellow feet than the very similar western reef heron. The bill is usually all grey and more slender too. Both are possible in Bamako. I put this one down as a little egret.

little egret 2

A couple of long-tailed cormorant flew by before I eventually found one resting.

long-tailed cormorant

The pool with the cormorant was good for other species too.

greenshank and wood sandpiper

As well as a large number of black-winged stilt, it was the only place I found greenshank and a wood sandpiper.

spur-winged lapwing

Spur-winged lapwing was there too. It was the only type of lapwing seen on the trip.

On December 7th, I changed hotel to be closer to the airport. I chose the Le Baobab as it had a good sized garden. It proved to be a good choice not only for its amenties but for its secure and varied birding.

I will blog about it next.

River Niger, Bamako December 6th 2017
Long-tailed Cormorant  

Little Egret  

Squacco Heron  

Striated Heron  

Black Kite (Yellow-billed)  

Black-winged Stilt  

Spur-winged Lapwing  

African Jacana  

Common Sandpiper  

Common Greenshank  

Wood Sandpiper  

Gull-billed Tern  

Laughing Dove  

African Palm-Swift  

Pied Kingfisher  

Abyssinian Roller  

Crested Lark  

Barn Swallow  

Western Yellow Wagtail
Grey wagtail  

Foum Gleita and onwards

There is a truly massive dammed lake near Mbout in Mauritania. It's called Foum Gleita and is being developed to regulate the flow of water in the region so agriculture can be better developed.

It was also just a minor detour off our route from Aleg to Selibaby last weekend. Mohamed Vall and I spent about 90 minutes there around noon last Saturday.

We parked the car close to the barrage and starting walking towards it up the river which flows down from the barrage. There is an agricultural water channel lined with reeds running parallel too.

Even on this short walk towards the barrage birding was good. A Senegal coucal was seen in the reeds. This is the first time I have seen one outside away from the Senegal River.

Black-headed lapwing

A pair of black-headed lapwing were resting under a tree. In the tree were plenty of Sudanese golden sparrow as well as red-billed quelea.

pied kingfisher (courtesy of Mohamed Vall)

Pied kingfisher are immediately in evidence near the barrage itself.

Right next to the barrage is a cave. I was really pleased to see a barn owl fly straight into it in broad daylight. It got better still. The barn owl rested inside the cave but still in public view.

barn owl

On reaching the barrage and looking over into the lake, I realised just how massive it was.

Foum Gleita

The lake would take two or three days to walk all around though the trees on the far banks looked enticing. The expanse of water itself looked surprisingly barren.

Birds were coming down to drink all the time and if we had had time we would have waited to see just how much bird diversity there was.

However we didn't have time. Even so a Gosling's bunting appeared and it was both an addition to my country list and a lifer.

gosling's bunting

Other drinking birds that we did have time to see were common sandpiper, Sudanese golden sparrow and yellow wagtail. A very interesting and plain looking pipit flew off before I could identify it. Some times the birds get away.

western red-billed hornbill

I still check all red-billed hornbill because northern red-billed hornbill is possible in Mauritania. Yet everyone I have seen so far has been western red-billed hornbill. My understanding is the easiest way to tell them apart is the orbital eye ring which is dark in the western bird but pale yellow or pink in the northern bird. Northern red-billed hornbill is mostly a bird of East Africa and as far as I can see has "normal" range which only just sneeks into the south east corner of the country. Nevertheless range maps aren't brilliantly accurate for some species in Mauritania so any visit towards the east could yield this other hornbill. 

another pied kingfisher

After visiting the barrage we investigated downstream more thoroughly though the temperature and time were major constraints.

great white egret

Several little egret were in the river or in near-by trees. I checked all the larger egrets too but found only great white egret. Once again intermediate egret was nowhere to be seen.

greater blue-eared starling

The greater blue-eared starling above caused a few identifaction headaches. The eye colour of this bird is usually pale yellow. However, having consulted with an expert from The Gambia, I am told they can occasionally be this dark and that the most fitting alternative bronze-tailed starling would have a noticeably shorter tail.

Viellot's barbet

Other notable birds included a Viellot's barbet.

woodchat shrike (courtesy of Mohamed Vall)

Almost everywhere in Mauritania at the moment the wave of migrant woodchat shrike continues.

Despite our two stops at Lake Jintu and at Foum Gleita, we made such good time last Saturday on our journey to Selibaby that we had time for two short stops in woodland just north of the town.

The first stop was not as good as we had hoped. We think it was because with chose a place with only one main type of tree.

chestnut-backed sparrow-lark

Nevertheless it was still good to met up with chestnut-backed sparrow-lark which is only present in the far south of the country.

northern grey-headed sparrow

The same can be said about northern grey-headed sparrow though it has a wider variety of habitats.

speckle-fronted weaver

Our first and only speckle-fronted weaver of the trip were seen in one of the woods.

Sudanese golden sparrow

They formed mixed flocks with Sudanese golden sparrow in places. However the best birds were a mobile small group of tawny-flanked prinia. This was yet another addition to my country list and the last of the day.

western red-billed hornbill

It became increasingly obvious that western red-billed hornbill is a very common bird in Guidimakha province.

After Saturday's long jounrney from Aleg we were all set up for the jewel of the trip which was to be a full day on Sunday  in the Gouraye area. This proved to be excellent birding. We saw 64 species within walking distance of the town alone. The next two blogs recount what we saw.

Species seen at Foum Gleita

Grey Heron  4

Great White Egret  4

Little Egret  8

Squacco Heron  1

Black-crowned Night-Heron  2

Common Sandpiper  2

Gull-billed Tern  2

Caspian Tern  1

White-winged Black Tern  2

Whiskered Tern  1

Laughing Dove  8

Namaqua Dove  9

Senegal Coucal  3

Barn Owl  1

Blue-naped Mousebird  8

African Grey Hornbill  3

Western Red-billed Hornbill  8

Pied Kingfisher  9

Green Bee-eater  4

Vieillot's Barbet  1

Black-crowned Sparrow-Lark  12

Barn Swallow  10   

Northern Crombec  1

Willow Warbler  2

Black Scrub-Robin  4

Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin  1

White-crowned Wheatear  1

Western Yellow Wagtail  13

Gosling's Bunting  1

Northern Grey-headed Sparrow  4

Sudan Golden Sparrow  40

Red-billed Quelea  60

Red-cheeked Cordonbleu  14

Another kingfisher in central Arabia?

White throated kingfisher now breeds along Wadi hanifah near Al Hayer even though the literature is a bit behind with the news. Common kingfisher is a regular winter visitor.  However, pied kingfisher is described as only a vagrant to central Arabia in the Helms guide to the birds of Middle East.

perching pied kingfisher at Kharj fish farm

Pied kingfisher is a common bird along the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in Iraq to the north and it is a bird which can wander in winter.

pied kingfisher diving for food

So I wasn't totally surprised in a conversation about kingfishers with Abdullah Amrou when he told me he had photographed a pied kingfisher in central Arabia on January 21st this year.

He found it at Al Kharj special fish farm. This farm is 45 kilometres south of Al Hayer and about 65 kilometres south of Riyadh. 

pied kingfisher flying

We don't know whether this bird was a "vagrant" or just as likely the start of more regular winter visits which may eventually lead to colonisation. It will be interesting to see over the next decade.

pied kingfisher taking off at the fish farm

It appears to me that the habitat around wadi Hanifah would suit the bird.

pied kingfisher perching again

Incidentally I got my own first picture of a white throated kingfisher near Al Hayer on Friday. I was told it was notoriously difficult to see it settle but it behaved very well for me. It sat for minutes on a cross beam of one of the industrial water sprinklers on the edge of a fodder field. 

white throated kingfisher

There were some other very interesting (and attractive) birds near-by which I will blog about soon.