A walk round Buduzeera

Some of you may recall I posted about Buduzeera park in June. It's a large land-locked lake filled with semi-fresh water (part salty) and surrounded by a well landscaped area. There are tall reeds all round the edges of the lake. There are also holiday chalets and a children's playground.


The lake is so large and the reeds so impenetrable that the landscape makes it  not only a good place for birds but also almost impossible to see most of them!


In June the most obvious feature was the large colony of breeding cattle egret - near the entrance and right next to a loud busy main road!

great egret going for a walk, Buduzeera 

Some cattle egret were around. Mostly they were walking on the lawns surrounding the lake. Scattered all round the lake at the side of reeds were single grey heron at fairly regular intervals. There was more evidence that large numbers of great egret have now arrived in the country. I snapped another one nonchalantly walking up a path. 

This bird is yet another missing from the Collin's guide distribution map for Libya.In fact the book claims the closest birds are in Sinai and Tunisia which are both 1250 kilometres away.

juvenile cormorant, Buduzeera

I didn't bring my scope and I saw one bird a long, long way away in the reeds. I identified it my taking a large number of photos and blowing them up when I got back, hoping one or two would be in focus. It turned out to be a juvenile cormorant. This is the first time I have ever identified a bird this way. The technique beat my binoculars. Cormorant had been one of my guesses but not the leading contender!

Although the juvenile was probably on its own, it has nothing to worry about. The lake is teeming with fish.  

spotted flycatcher, Buduzeera

The passage is nowhere near over in Libya. Some birds stay a while before carrying on their southward journey. There are plenty of spotted flycatcher still about.

willow warbler, Buduzeera

I was chasing fruitlessly around for a picture of the local resident African reed warbler which I could hear and occasionally glimpse. By way of compensation,  I chanced upon an amenable willow warbler which is still on passage.

another view of a willow warbler

The area also had the "usual" resident house sparrow and great grey shrike. They were mostly up among the holiday home area. However there was one bird I would have loved to have photographed but it alluded me. A European robin had arrived for the winter. This beautiful bird reminds me of home. Hopefully I'll snap one in the coming weeks.