European bee-eater at the waste water site

It was back to my local patch today. These days this means the waste water site just north of Nouakchott.

There was some passage but no warblers yet.

The most notable passage bird was a single European bee-eater. I have only seen four in 18 months in Mauritania and all of them have been at the same place.

European bee-eater 1

It stopped briefly to catch dragonflies before continuing north.

European bee-eater 2

Once again much of the best birding came from the smaller pools to the east of the site rather than the main lake.

first yellow wagtail

There was a small of flock of yellow wagtail feeding near where the bee-eater was seen.

second yellow wagtail

This was undoubtedly a passage group as only rarely are single birds seen at the site in winter. Nouakchott is just north of its normal wintering range.

woodchat shrike

Three woodchat shike were scattered around the site outnumbering the local southern grey shrike.

white wagtail

Similarly yellow wagtail outnumbered white wagtail. This is a spring phenomenon.

Meanwhile back at the main lake, the spur-winged lapwing were even noisier and aggressive than usual.

spur-winged lapwing

The wintering common teal are now a distant memory.

common redshank

Among the waders, I observed my first common redshank this year.

wood sandpiper

The habitat is very good for wood sandpiper and they only go missing in summer.

five grey heron

Five skittish grey heron kept flying away from me.

mostly kentish plover

Common ringed plover, kentish plover and little ringed plover were on site in significant numbers.

barn swallow

As with the trip up north last weekend, barn swallow are flying through in large numbers at the moment. I also saw my first sand martin of the year and two presumably local little swift.

Mohamed Vall and I are trying our luck at Amzela tomorrow. This is the closest place with a decent number of natural trees to the south of the city. I will blog about this next.

Species seen at the waste water site on March 10th

Grey Heron  

Spur-winged Lapwing  

Kentish Plover  

Common Ringed Plover  

Little Ringed Plover  

Ruff  

Little Stint  

Wood Sandpiper  

Common Redshank  

Laughing Dove  

Namaqua Dove  

Little Swift  

Eurasian Hoopoe  

European Bee-eater  

Southern Grey Shrike  

Woodchat Shrike  

Crested Lark  

Sand Martin  

Barn Swallow  

Common Chiffchaff  

Iberian Chiffchaff  

Spectacled Warbler  

Common Redstart  

Northern Wheatear  

Western Yellow Wagtail  

White Wagtail  

House Sparrow  

Sudan Golden Sparrow