Hundreds of longboat-shaped fishing boats were moored up and there were plenty of fish on sale, some of which were extremely large.
Yet strangely, there was hardly a bird in this immediate area apart from a few house sparrow.
Moving south 150 metres down the coast, it was a different story with several locations producing a different array of birds.
The first location was a smelly rubbish dump based on partially on fish parts and broken shells but with pools surrounding it.
bar-tailed godwit
Bar-tailed godwit were patrolling the pools and some of the wet earth.
sanderling
Sanderling were there in numbers.
ruddy turnstone
Ruddy turnstone were also present.
Welsh common ringed plover 1
Common ringed plover are proving to be abundant all over west Nouakchott including near the fish market at the coast.
One of them was ringed and flagged. If I have understood the rings correctly this is a Welsh bird. I have written to the contact sending pictures and await verification.
Welsh common ringed plover 2
A young Kittlitz's plover is good evidence that this species breeds here.
juvenile Kittlitz's plover
While walking a little further down the coast to a cleaner area, a large flock of Eurasian spoonbill flew past and laso travelling south.
Eurasian spoonbill
In this place, there are three sand-banked small lagoons managed by the environment ministry which are designed to attract birds.
black tern
Black tern were certainly attracted to it.
whimbrel
Whimbrel were there.
sanderling
On a small island in one lagoon, a large number of sanderling were huddled together.
little tern
A much smaller tern was easily picked out there. Little tern is the only option.
pied avocet
I was surprised that gulls and sea-faring terns were not seen at the ocean's edge.
Counter-initutively, by scanning all around, I found a large number 500 metres inland from the lagoons. I had been looking in the wrong direction.
greater flamingo
As I walked towards the cluster of gulls and terns, three adult greater flamingo passed over.
I used a wall as a backcloth to approach the gulls so as not to spook them.
lesser black backed gull
The larger gulls were all lesser black-backed gull. One medium sized gull was a black-headed gull.
Audouin's gull
The big surprise was the presence of 14 Audouin's gull. Such a large number may be explained by a probably affinity to the fish port and market. This gull is unusally dependent on fish for its diet.
Sandwich tern and Royal tern
I am on the look out for lesser crested tern which are known to winter on the Mauritanian coast and in particular Libyan birds, a few of which are ringed.
They are known to associate with closely related sandwich tern. Well, I found several sandwich tern. However the orange-billed tern seen with them near the fish market were both the larger Royal tern.
Walikng back towards the fish market through the coast scrub turned up a small number of warblers, crest lark and an unexpected hoopoe lark.
hopooe lark
Two desert grey shrike were observed on bushes and they were of the expected elegans sub-species in contrast to the unexpected algeriensis seen the day before at Zaatar allotments.
desert grey shrike
At a small pool, my first curlew sandpiper in country was seen.
curlew sandpiper
The last new bird of the session was a shy northern wheatear.
northern wheatear
List of birds seen. New additions to my Mauritiania list are in bold.
Greater Flamingo
Grey Heron
Eurasian Spoonbill
Pied Avocet
Kittlitz's Plover
Common Ringed Plover
Whimbrel
Bar-tailed Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Curlew Sandpiper
Sanderling
Dunlin
Little Stint
Common Greenshank
Common Redshank
Black-headed Gull
Audouin's Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Little Tern
Caspian Tern
Black Tern
Royal Tern
Sandwich Tern
Laughing Dove
Southern Grey Shrike
Greater Hoopoe-Lark
Crested Lark
Willow Warbler
Western Bonelli's Warbler
Spotted Flycatcher
Pied Flycatcher
Redstart
Wheatear
House Sparrow
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