Water birds on sand south of Benghazi

I have been asking myself why haven't I seen any sanderling and very few little stint since I moved to Cyrenacia.


The answer should have been blindingly obvious. I hadn't been visiting the right habitat. None of the wetlands I have visited (except at Ras Al Tin when I met a greater sand plover) have had sand bars.

sand bar separating fresh water (on right) at Garyounis from the sea (left - not seen)

So on Tuesday I visited the beach just north of the tourist village. During the winter, the water at permanent wetland there has swollen right up to the beach.

two sanderling at Garyounis beach

I came across a mixed group of waders. There were dunlin as usual but the single most numerous species was sanderling.

Furthermore the birds were quite tame and I was able to approach quite close. I am pleased with my photographs. Two sanderling are shown above.

a flying sanderling complete with sand on its chest

There were less little stint but they were also easy to photograph even though they keep moving! The one below (left) is noticeably much smaller than its neighbouring sanderling.

little stint (left) and sanderling (right)

A close up of a little stint is shown below. This bird was particularly tame. He came within two metres of me.

close up of a little stint at Garyounis

There are always a few kentish plover at Garyounis. They are local breeders. In summer I see them running on the sandy area which is currently under water.

kentish plover at Garyounis

I didn't spend any time visiting the in-land part of the wetland but I did notice two other species without trying. I saw a grey heron near the reeds and a greenshank in another pool.

greenshank at Garyounis

mixed gulls at Garyounis

Also at Garyounis were a hundred or so gulls of different types. I saw black- backed gull as well as black-headed gull (a couple in summer plumage) , slender- billed gull, Caspian/yellow legged gull.

As reported yesterday, black backed gull is not as common here as in Tripolitania.

mixed gulls at Ganfouda

Ten kilometres down the coast from Garyounis is Ganfouda. The is where Benghazi's main rubbish tip is located. It is also the location of 25,000 gulls in winter and the main attraction for any black backed gull in Cyrenacia. However the most common gull there by far is black headed gull. Over 15,000 winter each year.

some of large number of gulls at Ganfouda

Two other species were present at Ganfouda in large numbers. There were starling and cattle egret.

sheltering cattle egret

While I was there the wind was very fierce. I came across 80 cattle egret sheltering in the scrub with their heads down! It took me six times to take a photo because the wind blurred each photo. I got a half decent shot in the end.

The last wetland wilderness in Benghazi

Would you believe I only discovered the last wetland wilderness in Benghazi on Tuesday. Juliana, Al Thama and Buduzeera have been or are bring changed into more landscaped, recreational areas. 


So it was wonderful to stumble on the coastal wilderness just east of Al Thama and west of Ain Azziana. 

wetland just east of Al Thama

As we parked the car a moorhen nonchalantly walked pass. I could tell straight away that in this area the birds were relatively tame. To me the moorhen's behaviour immediately meant that few people come this way.

golden plover, ringed plover and dunlin

There were several groups of waders. They allowed me quite close access.  There were golden plover, ringed plover, dunlin and common redshank. The latter were the only ones to bolt.

golden plover at wetland east of Al Thama

I saw at least 20 golden plover though dunlin were once again the most common wader. 

dunlin at wetland east of Al Thama

There were plenty of gulls present too. The majority were slender-billed gull but some were black-headed gull. There were also two black-backed gull which is more common in Tripolitania than in the North East.

two first winter slender billed gull with a cattle egret

A small number of the black headed gull have changed into their summer plumage.  Tuesday was the first time I had seen that this year.

black headed gull (left) in summer plumage

Blacked headed gull doesn't have a black head in winter and even in summer its only dark chocolate brown.

a hidden male teal

A final pleasant surprise was the sighting of a male teal in the low lying scrub. Then I looked more closely and found there were 20 of them sheltering and easily missed.

more teal 

Teal is the second most common wintering duck in Libya according to the UN winter counts. Only shoveler numbers are higher. Nevertheless this was the closest encounter I have had - as once again the birds here proved tamer than elsewhere.

Spoonbill steal the show at Wadi Kaam

The dynamic trio of Ibrahim, Andy and Helen visited Wadi Kaam - 130 kilometres east of Tripoli) again last Saturday. I really wish I had been with them.  They met a flock of about 30 spoonbill!


I've checked the four UN winter wetland count surveys that I have copies of and they have never reported the bird there.

close up of some of the spoonbill at Wadi Kaam by Ibrahim Madi

The flock is the average size of those who migrate and I suspect strongly that they are nearly ready to do this.

distance shot showing most of the flock by Ibrahim Madi

I featured spoonbill in my blog of September 23rd. I wrote then that about one in three of central and eastern Europe's spoonbills probably winter in Libya. Though most migratory information is of Dutch birds which mostly winter in Morocco.

Grey heron were present at Wadi Kaam too.

kingfisher at Wadi Kaam by Ibrahim Madi

Some other winter visitors are still around including the kingfisher above and the meadow pipit below.

meadow pipit at Wadi Kaam by Ibrahim Madi

Ibrahim is proving that he is a mean photographer since he got his new camera. Stonechat are common birds but very difficult to photograph because of their small size. This picture is also on the Libyan Bird Watching facebook page.

stonechat by Ibrahim Madi

Spring is starting to arrive at least if the number of barn swallow in northern Libya are taken into consideration. Simultaneously we me seeing many in Cyrenica, plenty were seen in and near Wadi Kaam.

barn swallow near Wadi Kaam in early February by Ibrahim Madi

There is a large breeding population at the Roman ruins at Leptis Magna (close to Wadi Kaam) which leave at the end of October and return in early February. This is not up to Benghazi standards when plenty over-winter but it is very short time to be away compared with most European venues.

common redstart at Leptis Magna by Ibrahim Madi

And to confirm that the passage has begun Ibrahim, Andy and Helen noticed the above common redstart at Leptis Magna.

Passage here we come.

The surveys of Um Afain

Um Afain is a remote coastal wetland which had only been surveyed once before I went there last Friday. It is vast and because it is so far east its bird life has something in common with the Nile delta.


The previous survey was by the UN wetland winter counters in late January 2006. Remarkably they found pied kingfisher and little bittern. The latter has since been found at other wetlands in the Benghazi area and the former at Ain Al Ghezala which is a larger wetland a little further east of Um Afain (and closer to Tobruk).


I went in search of pied kingfisher!  I didn't find it but I did find a vast fresh wetland with huge reed beds as well as a big variety of habitats (and plenty of good birds). 

the main fresh water section of Um Afain

The reed beds offer protection from the elements and people. However I was still very surprised to see 3 wintering purple heron. This bird rarely winters north of the Sahara. Most of these can be found in the Nile delta.

 

purple heron at Um Afain photographed last Friday

Purple heron had not been seen in the previous survey. However given the large size of the wetland many species could be missed. I walked round it for five hours and still failed to visit more than half of the perimeter.

second view of purple heron at Um Afain

great egret in the middle of the complex

Another bird which I can add to the local species list is great egret. I saw six of them.

little egret at Um Hafain

I stayed until just before sunset and it looks like the herons and egrets are more in the open then. A hour before sunset a large flock of little egret appeared in the main lake.

grey heron at Um Hafain

Several grey heron were seen. It is the one heron/egret seen in the previous survey though they of course saw little bittern which eluded me. 

cormorant at Um Afain

There were also several cormorant around.

vast reed beds at Um Afain

Given the vast reed beds present it is not surprising we both saw reed warbler and I saw reed bunting too. This bird has very few records mostly near Benghazi. 

marsh harrier at Um Afain

Several marsh harrier were patrolling all day. This is ideal terrain for them. 

Darting over the reeds and tamerisk I saw many barn swallow, crag martin and three house martin. Crag martin is a known resident bird in this part of Libya. House martin was probably on passage. The barn swallow status is more questionable. It is resident in parts of north east Libya - notably around Benghazi but I have seen barn swallow in other places this week such as in-land meadows which are clearly on passage. My instinct is that some of the birds I saw were resident and some were on passage but I can't prove it.

water logged land - another of the habitats at Um Afain

The waterlogged land held some common snipe and green sandpiper.


I have put a list of the species found in the two surveys below. I am sure its still quite incomplete. I will certainly go back there to help fill it out.

Species seen at Um Afain	Late Jan 2006 by UN	Early Feb 2011 by me
Great cormorant	x	x
Little bittern	x
Great egret		x
Little egret		x
Purple heron		x
Grey heron	x	x
Moorhen	x	x
Water rail	x
Dunlin	x
Snipe	x	x
Redshank	x	x
Green sandpiper		x
Pied kingfisher	x
Kingfisher	x	x
Marsh harrier	x	x
Meadow pipit	x	x
Barn swallow		x
House martin		x
Crag martin		x
White wagtail	x	x
Robin	x	x
Stonechat	x	x
Reed warbler	x	x
Chiffchaff	x	x
Starling	x	x
Reed bunting		x

Separating yellow legged gull and Caspian gull is a mug's game

One of the most confused pictures of the UN winter wetland surveys over the last few years has been its counts of yellow-legged gull and Caspian gull.

They always find a hundred or so yellow-legged gull at Farwa in the far north west of the country and only few more as you travel eastward for 800 kilometres all the way to the coast south of Benghazi. There and further east in (Cyrenacia) the numbers are considerable but fluctuate wildly. 

It appears that the fluctuations are mainly due to two factors. One is the difficulty in separating yellow-legged gull and Caspian gull. The second is whether the UN winter count visits the wetlands east of Derna. If they visit the far east overall numbers are higher.

yellow legged gull or Caspian gull

I came across about 80 gulls at a rubbish dump just off the main Derna to Tobruk road. I have to admit I still can't separate the two species.

For example the bird above is unstreaked on the head like a Caspian gull but it has light eyes like all yellow- legged gull and which only 25% of Caspian gull have. Furthermore I have a good enough picture of another gull to tell it too has light eyes. That is only a one in eight chance of this happening if the birds are Caspian gull.

 gulls at the dump

On the other hand the red on the bill in both birds is clearly restricted to the low mandible. This is a feature of a Caspian gull. The wings also look very long another feature of a Caspian gull. For once I really can't tell. I admit temporary defeat!

gulls in the air near Derna to Tobruk road

The rubbish dump had other, less intriguing inhabitants. There were plenty of starling and a couple of common raven (which really is common on the Jebel Akhdar and here).

raven and starlings

I really like the way cattle egret get stuck into rubbish! They are a guarenteed bird of dumps in most of Libya.

cattle egret

Other species were stonechat, black redstart, and white wagtail which relish the insect life around.  Soon they will depart and the passage is around the corner.