Thick woodland in Guidimakha

A week ago Sunday, having spent all morning and part of the afternoon in Gouraye, we headed back to our lodgings in Selibaby.

We knew we had time for another stop and we noticed that weather had clouded over. Presumably it does this every afternoon in the deepest south of Mauritania ahead of the rainy season.

The first bit of good news is that we sighted a Beaudouin's snake eagle on an electricity pylon, 10 kilometres out of Gouraye. It was instantly recognisable, like a short-toed snake eagle but with a dark brown wash on all parts.

A few kilometres later we arrived at a bridge over an apparently dry river bed. However the woodland next to it looked particularly thick.

This proved to be a very good choice of place to stop.

Gosling's bunting

Under the road bridge were several Gosling's bunting. It is highly probable that they nest there.

A much biggest nest was seen once we got into the woodland. It was a hamerkop's nest.

hamerkop's nest

We soon came across some hamerkop. However a bigger discovery was that there was water in places along the stream's bed. This made the woodland much more interesting.

four hamerkop

The small passerines: red-cheeked cordonbleu, red-billed firefinch, black-headed weaver, red-billed quelea were scattered around the wood but were most easily seen drinking.

red-cheeked cordonbleu and black-headed weaver drinking (courtesy of Mohamed Vall)

red-billed firefinch

Near the water were a small number of western plantain-eater. This was yet another addition to my country list. It is a bird usually assocaited with Savannah which gives you an indication as to how dense and wet this piece of woodland was.

western plantain eater

Yellow-crowned gonolek is another bird only found in the south of the country but not as selectively as the plantain-eaters. 

yellow-crowned gonolek

There was a second edition to my list here too. It was brown babbler. Unfortunately the group evaded my camera though Mohamed Vall got a record shot.

hoopoe

Resident African hoopoe were observed. This is ideal terrain for them.

African grey woodpecker (courtesy of Mohamed Vall)

A pair of African grey woodpecker were not easily scared by us. We had expected to see this species here when we surveyed the woodland before we went inside it. However, what we are beginning to question is why neither of us has seen any other type of woodpecker in the country.

Black-billed wood dove (courtesy of Mohamed Vall)

Another expected bird was black-billed wood dove. Indeed it looks better habitat (wettest and denser) than where we had seen them for the first time near Gouraye.

black bush robin

Of course more common birds of woodland were present such as black bush robin and namaqua dove.

We arrived back in Selibaby in the evening well satisfied.

Species seen at the woodland
Hamerkop  6

Grey Heron  1

African Collared Dove  3

Laughing Dove  11

Black-billed Wood-Dove  4

Namaqua Dove  8

Western Plantain-eater  6

Eurasian Hoopoe (African)  4

Western Red-billed Hornbill  5

Abyssinian Roller  3

African Grey Woodpecker  2

Common Kestrel  1

Ring-necked Parakeet  4

Yellow-crowned Gonolek  5

Common Bulbul  2

Willow Warbler  2

Brown Babbler  4

Long-tailed Glossy Starling  8

Gosling's Bunting  10

Northern Grey-headed Sparrow  6

Black-headed Weaver  4

Red-billed Quelea  75

Red-cheeked Cordonbleu  11

Red-billed Firefinch  8

Thailingo

Mohamed Vall and I made our last stop along the Senegal River south west of Tekane at a place called Thailingo.  It was just 42 kilometres east of Rosso on the Boghe road.

There was a woodland with both a small lake and a bank on to the Senegal River itself. It was rich in birds.

little bee-eater

Having not seen little bee-eater in Mauritania before the weekened trip, this became the third stop where they were present.

Among the first cluster of trees was a black-crowned tchagra, another first for me in Mauritania and an indication of the good birds to come.

red-cheeked cordonbleu

Red-cheeked cordonbleu was the estrildid finch of the area.

spotted flycatcher

Spotted flycatcher and common redstart were the main representatives of wintering migrants.

However it was local residents which were the main attraction here.

Two black heron were seen at the small lake along with a little egret.

black heron

Black heron was another addition to my country list.

Both the black heron and little egret flushed at one stage only for us to spot them a while later sitting in a tree over the other side of the river in Senegal.

malachite kingfisher

Three weeks before we had spotted a malachite kingfisher in a flooded wood about 50 kilometres further east (nearer Boghe) at Dar El Barka. In very similar habitat we found another one. This time it stayed still long enough for us to photograph it.

striated heron

Likewise we had found a striated heron an hour before near Dagana. This time another gave us better views and also pictures.

Sudanese golden sparrow and black-headed weaver

Sparrows and weavers can form combined flocks. We saw one at Thailingo made up of Sudanese golden sparrow and black-headed weaver.

Senegal thick-knee

Very near-by was a Senegal thick-knee resting under a bush.

grey-backed camaroptera 1

A grey-backed camaroptera was moving around a low bush.

grey-backed camaroptera 2

Two yellow-crowned gonolek were loudly calling to each other.

All three birds: Senegal thick-knee, grey-backed camaroptera and yellow-crowned gonolek were additions to my Mauritanian list. This spot was a treasure trove of new birds.

yellow-crowned gonolek (courtesy of Mohamed Vall)

I am grateful to Mohamed Vall to be to allowed to reproduce one of his photos of the gonolek.

black-headed lapwing

As we walked back to the car, we found two black-headed lapwing. This is the tamest species of lapwing that I have ever met. It tends only to slowly walk away if you get too close.

This was our last stop on New year's Eve. On New Year's day we travelled back to Nouakchott but managed some interesting birding on the way. I will blog about that next.