North Nouakchott Lake or bust

I am without private transport for the next three weeks. Unless I take a long distance minibus I am grounded in Nouakchott.

Furthermore, Noaukchott is short of public birding sites. The embassies and government buidings are mostly very green but out of bounds. The small public areas had plenty of passage birds in autumn but are thin pickings at the moment. The waste water disposal site north of the city was ruined at least temporarily by the disposal of highly contaminated waste. The salt marshes are very low outside the rainy season. Cinqueieme gardens is deemed dangerous. 

That leaves the fishing port and North Noaukchott Lake. The latter is within walking distance of my home and is excellent birding. However its not going to change every day. Nevertheless it is the lake or bust.

I visited the lake both on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.

little grebe

As ever, the sheer numbers of little grebe, common coot and common moorhen hit you as soon as you arrive.

common coot

On my last visit, all the ducks had gone so I was pleased on Friday to count 14 northern pintail. 

black-headed gull and northern pintail

I spent a lot of time once again looking through the gulls trying to find expections to the black-headed gull and Mediterranean gull.

black-headed gull 1

One exception I found was a black-headed gull starting to produce it's dark chocolate coloured head found in breeding plumage.

black-headed gull 2

This change in plumage is at least four weeks premature and is quite unusually early.

lesser black-backed gull

The other exception was a lesser black-backed gull. It was probably the same one I saw on Tuesday afternoon.

yellow wagtail

A yellow wagtail of the iberiae sub species was also seen again as on Tuesday though it was in a different place and so might be a different bird.

One important bird which wasn't seen on Friday but was on Tuesday was the dwarf bittern. A thorough search of the same area produced no sign. Though I did find a number of chiffchaff and my first bluethroat at the site for several weeks.

chiffchaff

I returned to the site on Saturday morning.

African swamphen

It is lovely to see African swamphen close up but the birds here are relatively tame and do allow this. I saw two but not a juvenile which I had seen on Friday. That juvenile was the first proof I have had that this species breeds here.

In news about other larger birds, the duck population has continued to re-bound. I saw five wigeon and one common teal in addition to Saturday's pintail. The ducks clearly have a second place which they travel to and from. It is most likely central lake which is more saline but equally as large. Unfortunately it is adjacent to three embassies and so I can't watch there.

cattle egret at the lake

On Saturday I caught up with the spotted redshank which has been seen on and off. It was with three greenshank.

wood sandpiper

Wood sandpiper and common ringed plover remain the most numerous waders.

common snipe

There have been a small number of common snipe on site all winter. I suspect there are three. 

On Saturday, I observed Sudanese golden sparrow at the lake for the first time. They seemed to be attracted to the lake to drink. This is not really a city bird and was still outnumbered by house sparrow yesterday.

male Sudanese golden sparrow

Most of the males are now in breeding plumage. I suspect breeding in Nouakchott starts soon though I have no idea yet whether they continue to breed into the rainy season (summer).

female Sudanese golden sparrow 1

This female fooled me when it flew off in a different direction to the males it was with and ended up with a flock of house sparrow.

female Sudanese golden sparrow 2

I am still getting used to the colour variations of Sudanese golden sparrow based on season and gender.

yellow backed male 1

One male got my attention. It did not have a fully chestnut back. Indeed it had a yellow rump and a mottled chestnut and yellow back. In many ways it looked how I would imagine an Arabian golden sparrow-Sudanese golden sparrow hybrid to look.

yellow backed male 2

A goolge search provided me with a similar bird labelled Sudanese golden sparrow and it was from Burkina Faso. My new working assumption is that this colour is within normal variation for a male bird.

Mederdra

Mederdra is newly opened up for traffic. The road from Tiguent to there is brand new and in good condition. It is ironic that it is in much better condition than the N2 Nouakchott to Rosso road which it meets at Tiguent. 

With the road, Mederdra is also opened up for birding too. Dr Mohamed Vall had already done some preliminary birding there and recommended it to me for Saturday. He kindly drove me there on a long day trip.

The area is classic Sahel and is much greener with many more trees than the terrain around Nouakchott.

No sooner had we parked the car than we spotted a striped kingfisher on a near-by tree.

striped kingfisher

This was my first lifer of the day.

spotted flycatcher

The first migrant seen was a spotted flycatcher. It was one of several observed on Saturday.

Three types of migrant warbler were later seen too. These were willow warbler, western orphean warbler and western sub-alpine warbler. The latter two may well winter there.

black bush-robin

Both black bush-robin and rufous bush-robin were present. The former can tolerate trees while the latter was only seen in the areas with low bush.

chestnut-bellied starling

Both chestnut-bellied starling and greater blue-eared starling were quite numerous especially near human habitation.

Abyssinian roller

It was good to see Abyssinian roller again. This bird was common around Jizan in Saudi Arabia which I visited a few times.

grey woodpecker

The area is sufficiently well wooded to support woodpeckers. The one we saw here was African grey woodpecker.

striped kingfisher 1

We came across three striped kingfisher in total and each one was very confiding.

striped kingfisher 2

We spent considerable time admiring these birds.

juvenile woodchat shrike

Peppered around the woodland were a few woodchat shrike. These birds are almost certainly wintering here.

Vitelline masked weaver nests

As we walked around the woodland we kept meeting mobile small groups of Sudanese golden sparrow and lesser numbers of Vitelline masked weaver. They were often mixed species and included plenty of adults in breeding plumage.

adult male Vitelline masked weaver

We broke for a late lunch at the hottest time of day before returning briefly into birding action. We moved one kilometre way to a local farm where we obtained entry permission. We didn't have much time and elected to stay in the small orchard where bushes and small trees were being watered.

This attracted large numbers of sparrows. weavers and finches as well as the two starling species.

male Sudanese golden sparrow

In one group at water, there appeared to be at least one northern grey-headed sparrow among the Sudanese golden sparrow (see towards the right in the picture below).

Mostly Sudanese golden sparrow

At times there was a mix of Sudanese golden sparrow, Vitelline masked weaver and African silverbill drinking togather. Here was an opportunity for me to compare the weavers directly with the sparrows. The bird standing upright in the water (see below) is clearly a weaver and the bird to its immediate right is too. However one can note how superficially similar it is to the Sudanese golden sparrow on the far left.

mixed birds drinking

All the flocks of sparrows seen at Amzela had yellow-orange bills whereas it appears breeding female sparrows and weavers have pink bills (as in the photo). I think this further supports my view that the flock at Amzela are roaming juveniles. I am still learning and I hope to fully understand these birds better as time goes on.

northern grey-headed sparrow

Towards the end, it was confirmed that northern grey-headed sparrow was definitely present.

cut-throat finch

Two cut-throat finch were also observed. This was the nineth and last addition to my Mauritania list on the day.

tree pipit

With all the frantic drinking activity at the pools, a lone tree pipit was nearly overlooked.

My thanks go once again for Dr Mohamed Vall for driving us such a long way and for his company while birding. I know we both enjoyed this trip immensely.

Species seen at Mederdra    M= new to my Mauritanian list, L= lifer

Speckled Pigeon  
Laughing Dove  
Namaqua Dove  
Eurasian Hoopoe  
Striped Kingfisher  M.L
White-throated Bee-eater  
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater  
Abyssinian Roller  M
Vieillot's Barbet  
Fine-spotted Woodpecker  M,L
Woodchat Shrike  
Black-crowned Sparrow-Lark  
Willow Warbler  
Western Orphean Warbler  M,L
Subalpine Warbler  
Spotted Flycatcher  
Black Scrub-Robin  M
Rufous-tailed Scrub-Robin  M
Whinchat  
Wheatear  
Chestnut-bellied Starling  M
Greater Blue-eared Starling  
Beautiful Sunbird  
Western Yellow Wagtail  
Tree Pipit  
Northern Grey-headed Sparrow  M
Sudan Golden Sparrow  
Vitelline Masked-Weaver  
Cut-throat  M
African Silverbill