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  

Day two at Mali National Park, Bamako

On my second day in Bamako (December 5th), I returned to the National Park. However, unlike the day before I spent most of my time outside the well watered botanical gardens. Instead I mostly visited the northern part which is dry bush and trees up a slope.

There were early successes. Western grey plaintain eater was seen flying from tree to tree usually in small groups.

western grey plantain eater

Another bird which was first detected in flight was Neumann's starling. This is a bird of sahel slopes and so was in classic terrain.

Neumann's starling

This was another lifer on the trip. There are isolated pockets of this species in south east Mauritania so this was good practice ahead of seeing this species there in the future.

ground squirrel

Seeing a ground squirrel is considered lucky and so it would be. I soon came across a mobile mixed flock of weavers and lavender waxbill which I followed into thick bush under a small group of tall trees. I flushed a Senegal parrot here. I had thought the botanical gardens was a more likely place to see this species.

I wasn't so lucky as to see a Mali firefinch in the mixed flock. This was a possibility as it has been seen at this site on occasions.

slopes on the north side of the national park

I climbed upwards and at one stage almost walked into a small group of stone partridge.

The woodland became generally thicker as I climbed. I saw a shikra dart away. Within a dense piece of woodland I observed my only black-spotted wood dove on the trip.

yellow-fronted canary

Standing and watching a budding tree brought dividends. Several yellow-fronted canary visited and then I saw another lifer in a scarlet-chested sunbird.

scarlet-chested sunbird 1

It was a male in full breeding plumage.

scarlet-chested sunbird 2

After nearly three hours I returned down the slopes to the botanical gardens. I returned to some of the places that had given some success the day before. In the central lawned area, a pair of senegal coucal were observed again.

senegal coucal

The large mixed flock was missing though. 

I also returned to the place at the edge of the botanical gardens which interfaces with rows of dry bush.

The day before, the water sprinklers had been switched on and many passerines had come down to drink and bathe. The sprinklers weren't on this time even though it was the same time of day. Nevertheless, I stayed at the same small pool as the day before. It had not dried up over-night.

male red-billed firefinch 1

On day one, I had seen African yellow white-eye, lavander waxbill and vitelline masked weaver there. On day two, a pair of red-billed firefinch turned up but alas no Mali firefinch.

male red-billed firefinch 2

I stayed over 45 minutes in the vain hope of its arrival.

female red-billed firefinch

A large Nile Monitor walked across the path from one part of the dry bush to another.

Out of the bush and onto the path, also came yellow-crowned gonolek and in the same place as the day before. However, this time I got reasonable photos of this very attractive bird.

two yellow-crowned gonolek

I was fortunate that one of the birds came right into the open.

yellow-crowned gonolek

Back in the main body of the gardens, I found the only green-backed camaroptera of my stay in Mali.

green-backed camaroptera 1

For such a small bird, it was very brave. It came much closer than a metre to me as I stood still while it was hopping along a small, low decorative hedge.

green-backed camaroptera 2

At one stage it was almost at my feet.

green-backed camaroptera 3

Before I finished, I made one last foray into the lower parts of the dry bush.

Here, I came across a pair of snowy-capped robin-chat but like in day one this bird continued to evade the camera. This is a shame as it is almost as attractive as yellow-crowned gonolek.

female red-billed firefinch

There were more red-billed firefinch.

As I headed down and out of the gate for the evening, I photographed a long-tailed starling which wins the prize for the noisiest bird in the gardens.

long-tailed starling

The birds seen were sufficiently different from the first day to justify my decision to bird the park again. Although safety concerns limited my options.

On December 6th, I managed to arrange a local escort while I birded the south side of the River Niger. I will blog about that next.

Day 2 at the National Park - December 5th

Stone Partridge  

Shikra  

Laughing Dove  

Black-billed Wood-Dove  

Western Plantain-eater  

Western Red-billed Hornbill  

Ring-necked Parakeet  

Senegal Parrot  

Yellow-crowned Gonolek  

Yellow-billed Shrike  

Green-backed Camaroptera (Grey-backed)  

Brown Babbler  

Snowy-crowned Robin-Chat  

Neumann's Starling  

Long-tailed Glossy Starling  

Greater Blue-eared Starling  

Pygmy Sunbird  

Scarlet-chested Sunbird  

Yellow-fronted Canary  

Vitelline Masked-Weaver  

Lavender Waxbill  

Red-cheeked Cordonbleu  

Red-billed Firefinch  

Mali National Park, Bamako

The British Foreign Office and those of many other western countries advises nothing but essential travel in southern Mali and no travel at all in the north of the country.

There are few travellers in Mali these days. From records I can see very few birders have been in recent years.

Nevertheless, one of my non-birding ambitions is to visit every country in the world. Furthermore, I want to understand more about the birds neighbouring Mauritania so I decided to visit Bamako for four or five days.

Everyone has their own tolerance to risk. I decided, on advice, to stay within Bamako rather than visit more widely in the country.

I knew that the Botanical Gardens which is part of the National Park is secure and a birding hotspot. I chose a hotel near-by as well. It was the Hotel Azalai Dunia.

I was happy with the hotel and with the birding in the Botanical Gardens.

I was very keen to bird and after a quick shower on arrival I was off birding in the afternoon of my first day. The gardens were only a seven minute taxi ride.

I spent the first hour seeing very few birds until I discovered they were behaving like birds in the tropics. In other words there were often mixed groups moving together. You either see a lot or virtually none at all.

I came across my first large group right in the centre of the gardens where there is a lawn with surrounding trees and when the water sprinklers were on.

long-tailed glossy starling

I was attracted to go there by the loud noise some long-tailed glossy starling were making.

On the lawn, a pair of Senegal councal were grazing. They were extremely tame. They were certainly used to people.

Senegal coucal

Almost as tame as in the same place of a family group of yellow-billed shrike.

yellow-billed shrike

Common bulbul were calling regularly from the surrounding trees.

common bulbul

This was also the only place I saw greater blue-eared glossy starling on the whole trip.

greater blue-eared glossy starling

Furthermore, this was also the only time and place I observed a fork-tailed drongo. Unlike the greater blue-eared starling it was a single bird too.

fork-tailed drongo

The mixed group was completed by a flock of brown babbler. Unfortunately they escaped my camera there.

western red-billed hornbill

I eventually decided to walk on. Nex,t I chose to eat a late lunch in one of the eateries scattered around the park. This was civilised birding. I could bird intensively one minute and pop into a cafe another.

On returning to the birding, I quickly came across a pair of western red-billed hornbill. 

They can be most easily separated from northern red-billed hornbill by their black eye patches. However too many people confuse these species. It is not helped by some stock images, which are easily found using a google image search, from a western zoo. These images are labelled northern red-billed hornbill but are actually western red-billed hornbill. Despite it's name northern red-billed hornbill is found no further north than western red-billed hornbill. Rather it is the red-billed hornbill mostly of East Africa.

It was no surprise that e-bird's list of Malian birds only lists western red-billed hornbill as an option. The strange thing is that the Mauritanian list (and Mauritania is further west) allows entry of either.

I think that the Malian list is right.

African thrush 1

As I continued to walk round, I finally got my first lifer. It was African thrush.

African thrush 2

Very near-by I decided to photograph a laughing dove for the record. I suspect this may be the commonest bird in the whole city.

laughing dove

I soon bumped into some more yellow-billed shrike.

yellow-billed shrike

About half of the National Park is not the watered and tended Botanical Garden but more natural and much drier scrub and woodland.

There was some very interesting bird activity where the two zones meet. It was when the water sprinklers were put on at the edge of the gardens.

In one spot this action attracted in many passerines from the drier zone to drink and to bathe.

Vitelline masked weaver

All I had to do at one place was to stand still and watch passerines come to a small puddle. Some of the first in were Vitelline masked weaver.

pale eyed weaver

A small number of the weavers had pale eyes and were not identified at the time. I will discuss this and their subquent identification in a later blog.

lavender waxbill, African yellow white-eye and a red-cheeked cordonbleu

At one stage it got hectic. I added two more lifers in a matter of minutes. These were lavender waxbill and African yellow white-eye.

Even before the water was turned off, the small passerines had been and gone. The frenetic activity was over in about 20-30 minutes.

After this I made my first move into the drier hinterland. It was not only drier but more inclined. The slopes are quite steep in places.

tawny-flanked prinia

New birds here included tawny-flanked prinia and pygmy sunbird as well as a starling I didn't identify at the time. However, as with the weaver all became clear later.

pygmy sunbird

As it was getting darker I headed back to the Botanical Gardens one last time.

brown babbler

Here I finally got the opportunity to photograph brown babbler. However, I also added Bearded Barbet to the day list and saw two dark chanting goshawk fly over. Snowy-crowned robin-chat became a lifer as a pair ventured into the edge of the gardens from the bush as the day darkened.

It had been a good afternoon. Given the unknown security situation and the lack of too many options, I chose to visited the park a second time the next day. I had hardly entered the dry half of the park on the first afternoon.

This turned out to be a very good decision. I will blog about this next.

Bamako Botanical Gardens  December 4th 2017
Dark Chanting-Goshawk  

Laughing Dove  

Senegal Coucal  

Western Red-billed Hornbill  

Abyssinian Roller  

Bearded Barbet  

Ring-necked Parakeet  

Yellow-crowned Gonolek  

Yellow-billed Shrike  

Fork-tailed Drongo  

Tawny-flanked Prinia  

Senegal Eremomela  

African Yellow White-eye  

Brown Babbler  

Snowy-crowned Robin-Chat  

African Thrush  

Neumann's Starling  

Long-tailed Glossy Starling  

Greater Blue-eared Starling  

Pygmy Sunbird  

Beautiful Sunbird  

Vitelline Masked-Weaver  

Heuglin's Masked-Weaver  

Lavender Waxbill 

Red-cheeked Cordonbleu  

More wintering at the waste water site

The very day before I flew out to Bamako, Mali I had one last birding session in the Nouakchott area. I went to my most regular spot which is the waste water site just north of the city.

The highlight was undoubtedly a great spotted cuckoo but try as I might I couldn't get a picture. I saw it twice and then not again. There is so much cover at the site that birds can lose themselves if they choose not to flush.

With the exception of this bird, a common redstart and some blue-cheeked bee-eater the other birds could stay all winter in this area.

female sardinian warbler 1

Sardinian warbler is one of those species that can winter here. On the last visit, I photographed male birds. This time I made the effort to seek out females.

sardinian warbler 2

Of all the warblers regularly visiting the waste water site, this one spends the most time near or on the ground.

sardinian warbler 3

There were quite a few chiffchaff around. However, the big problem is working out which ones are common chiffchaff and which ones are Iberian chiffchaff. As best as I could tell there were about equal numbers of both.

possible Iberian chiffchaff 1

As always I was looking for slightly longer wings, a long supercilium with a yellow front end, pale belly with yellower hues underneath and paler legs as well as no greyness on the head or back for an Iberian chiffchaff.

possible Iberian chiffchaff 2

The strength of the supercilium on the featured bird is best seen in the bottom picture as well as the paler belly.

possible Iberian chiffchaff 3

As I mentioned earlier in the blog, there were common redstart on site. Nouakchott is very slightly north of their wintering range.

common redstart

The situation is slightly different with yellow wagtail. A few of sub-species iberiae will stay.

male yellow wagtail (iberiae) 1

They breed the furthest south of all the yellow wagtail that pass through amd on average probably winter the furthest north. In otherwords they are leap-frogged by the other sub-species.

male yellow wagtail (iberiae 2)

The beginning of December last year was when all the summer breeding and migrant blue-cheeked bee-eater disappeared. I fully expect to see none on site when I next visit.

blue-cheeked bee-eater

Both house sparrow and Sudanese golden sparrow were present. They mix to a certain extent too.

male Sudanese golden sparrow

The only shrike I am likely to see at this time of year is southern grey shrike.

southern grey shrike

Once again I didn't visit the main water body until an hour or more into the session. There is much that can be missed if one goes directly there. This is not just a water site.

little ringed plover

Little ringed plover are not commonly seen compared with ringed plover in the Noaukchott area.

dunlin

All the dunlin are now in full winter plumage.

greenshank and ruff

Of the larger waders, ruff in particular like this place.

ruff

There have consistantly been ducks here for the past two months. Once again this was true.The bad news is that I could find but one species.

Eurasian teal 

The slightly better news is that there were sixteen of them.

Eurasian teal take flight

Mauritania has much less bird shooting than any of the Gulf countries I have birded in. Yet these birds were still easily flushed. I suspect this is learned behaviour from elsewhere in their life cycles.

Eurasian teal in the air

I was feeling slightly jaded after birding so much in the Nouakchott area recently without variation and with the passage almost gone.

That all changed within a couple of days. I flew out to Bamako, Mali on December 4th. Despite the security issues there, I added eight birds to my life list and also good practice at identifiying birds I could find (but haven't so far) in southern Mauritania.

My next series of blogs will look my birding in Mali.

Waste water site December 3rd

Eurasian Teal  

Spur-winged Lapwing  

Common Ringed Plover  

Little Ringed Plover  

Ruff  

Little Stint  

Common Snipe  

Green Sandpiper  

Common Greenshank  

Wood Sandpiper  

Laughing Dove  

Namaqua Dove  

Great Spotted Cuckoo  

Eurasian Hoopoe  

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater  

Common Kestrel (Common)  

Southern Grey Shrike  

Crested Lark  

Common Chiffchaff  

Iberian Chiffchaff      

Sardinian Warbler  

Spectacled Warbler  

Common Redstart  

Northern Wheatear  

Western Yellow Wagtail 

White Wagtail 

House Sparrow

Sudan Golden Sparrow