A walk near the fish market

Last Saturday, I went for a walk with a new work colleague near the coastal fish market. This was not a full blown birding session. My colleague is not a birder and birding was not the main objective.

However, there were some sightings:

• A European cuckoo was seen for the second week running in the Nouakchott area
• Many black tern are obviously migrating south. Unlike the other marsh terns, they primarily migrate along the coast
• a nice flock of little egret were earnestly flying south over the sea
• In contrast a larger flock of great white pelican were flying north. There is much movement all year of resident great white pelican moving back and forth between Banc d'Arguin and the Senegal River Delta
• Very few gulls near the lagoon.

blue-cheeked bee-eater

black tern

sanderling

dunlin

migrating little egret

black tern. Immature left

great white pelican

Laughing Dove  

Namaqua Dove  

Common Cuckoo  

Whimbrel  

Sanderling  

Dunlin 

Common Sandpiper  

Common Redshank  

Audouin's Gull  

Lesser Black-backed Gull  

Black Tern  

Royal Tern  

Great Cormorant (White-breasted)  

Great White Pelican  

Little Egret  

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater  

Crested Lark  

Barn Swallow  

Sudan Golden Sparrow  

Heavy passage and a lifer

My first birding in the Nouakchott area since returning from my summer break was at the waste water site.

It was on August 19th and was much better than expected.

• there was a large warbler passage: western Bonelli's warbler,  willow warbler, common chiffchaff, western olivaceous warbler, melodious warbler, sedge warbler, eurasian reed warbler, common grasshopper warbler, spectacled warbler
• western olivaceous warbler, western Bonelli's warbler and melodious warbler were early passage last year.
• common grasshopper warbler was a target bird. It is known to winter in West Africa and even south west Mauritania. However, it was lifer for me and number 306 on my Mauritanian list.
• Though seen by me in country before, I photographed a European cuckoo for the first time here.
• There was a good cross section of early waders including a curlew sandpiper
• A full list of species seen is at the bottom of the blog

immature chiffchaff

western bonelli's warbler

common grasshopper warbler

hepatic female common cuckoo 1

hepatic female common cuckoo 2

redshank

spur-winged lapwing and other waders

rufous bush-robin

curlew sandpiper

glossy ibis

horses

common ringed plover

blue-cheeked bee-eater

spotted flycatcher 1

spotted flycatcher 2

pied flycatcher

nightingale

North Nouakchott waste water site, Nouakchott, MR

19-Aug-2018 09:45 - 13:45

36 species

Laughing Dove  

Namaqua Dove  

Common Cuckoo  

Black-winged Stilt  

Spur-winged Lapwing  

Common Ringed Plover  

Whimbrel  

Curlew Sandpiper  

Little Stint  

Common Sandpiper  

Common Greenshank  

Wood Sandpiper  

Common Redshank  

Glossy Ibis 

Osprey  

Eurasian Hoopoe (Eurasian)  

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater  

Great Grey Shrike (Sahara)  

Woodchat Shrike  

Black-crowned Sparrow-Lark  

Crested Lark  

Barn Swallow  

Western Bonelli's Warbler  

Willow Warbler  

Common Chiffchaff  

Western Olivaceous Warbler  

Melodious Warbler  

Sedge Warbler  

Eurasian Reed Warbler 

Common Grasshopper Warbler  

Spectacled Warbler  

Spotted Flycatcher  

Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin  

Common Nightingale  

European Pied Flycatcher  

Sudan Golden Sparrow 

Around Lake Mal

On Sunday 12th August, Mohamed Vall and I headed due east out of Aleg to Lake Mal. This lake is probably the largest one in the country by the end of the rainy season. However, we had only visited it once before.

On arrival, we could see that it had got very low due to last year's poor rains though unlike Lake Jintu and Lake Aleg it may not have completely dried up.

At Lake Mal:

• Poor visibility that day
• Relatively few birds compared with records from other months
• Plenty of spur-winged goose
• Known for wintering palearctic ducks. A few garganey had already arrived. I am hopeful for ferruginous duck and possibly tufted duck in a few months
• African swamphen out in the open
• a large flock of black-tailed godwit present
• in woodland by the side there were fulvous babbler
• white throated bee-eater and blue-cheeked bee-eater around

At woodland between Aleg and Mal:

• woodland with streams partially full of water
• excellent southern rainy season habitat
• woodland kingfisher was number one target rainy season bird for the trip. Finally seen.
• African grey hornbill present too
• Apparent long-legged buzzard flying overhead (reddish tail, broad dark trailing edge, dark carpals spots)

Lake Mal

white-throated bee-eater

black-tailed godwit

garganey

spur-winged goose

african swamphen with bar-tailed godwit

great grey shrike (sahara)

fulvous babbler

Woodland, midway between Aleg and Lake Mal

first African grey hornbill

second African grey hornbill

long-legged buzzard 1

long-legged buzzard 2

woodland kingfisher 1

woodland kingfisher 2

Lake Mal, Brakna, MR

12-Aug-2018 09:00 - 11:15

White-faced Whistling-Duck  

Spur-winged Goose  

Garganey  

Laughing Dove  

Namaqua Dove  

African Swamphen  

Black-winged Stilt  

Spur-winged Lapwing  

Black-tailed Godwit  

Common Sandpiper  

Spotted Redshank  

Cattle Egret  

Eurasian Hoopoe  

White-throated Bee-eater  

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater  

Abyssinian Roller  

Great Grey Shrike (Sahara)  

Woodchat Shrike  

Pied Crow  

Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark  

Black Scrub-Robin  

Chestnut-bellied Starling  

Greater Blue-eared Starling  

Northern Grey-headed Sparrow  

Sudan Golden Sparrow  

Woodland, midway Aleg-Lake Mal, Brakna, MR

12-Aug-2018 11:45 - 13:30

Laughing Dove  

Namaqua Dove  

Long-legged Buzzard  

Eurasian Hoopoe  

African Grey Hornbill  

Woodland Kingfisher  

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater  

Woodchat Shrike  

Pied Crow  

Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark  

Western Olivaceous Warbler  

Black Scrub-Robin  

Greater Blue-eared Starling  

Beautiful Sunbird  

Northern Grey-headed Sparrow  

Sudan Golden Sparrow  

Towards Kaedi

After Bogue on the morning of Saturday 11th August, Mohamed Vall and I pressed on eastward to the very outskirts of Kaedi. We diverted from the main road twice towards the banks of the Senegal River. These were at Mbhane, Gorgol and Mbagne, Brakna. Both places were new to us and both had habitats similar to each other. However, both had less cover next to the river and less wetland (ie none) compared with several sites we already know between Rosso and Bogue.

• Mbagne and Mhbane were seemingly sites with less potential compared with others next to the river further west or indeed much further east (Gouraye). The banks of the river near Kaedi will not make it into our list of top hotspots in Mauritania.
• Grey-headed kingfisher was the best rainy season bird. Both of us had only seen one other before in Mauritania.
• A large blue-cheeked bee-eater colony was active in the sand cliffs at Mbagne.
• A potentially good site in Mbagne was private and only seen over a fence.
• Having said all this, a newcomer to Mauritania would have been very happy with the representative list of southern resident birds and early palearctic migrants. I suspect we would have enjoyed the places more with just one new bird. It's getting tough now 305 has been achieved.

Having reached the edge of Kaedi we had to rush back the way we came to reach our hotel in Aleg before nightfall.

Forest, SE of Bogue

African mourning dove

long-tailed glossy starling

greater blue-eared starling

Mbagne

black-headed lapwing

chestnut-bellied starling

black-bush robin

unidentified skink

Senegal thick-knee

Vieillot's barbet

red-billed quelea

probably rock agama

pied kingfisher

female little weaver

white-rumped seed-eater

grey-headed kingfisher

Forest, SE of Bogue, Brakna, MR

11-Aug-2018 11:00 - 11:30

African Mourning Dove  

Namaqua Dove  

Black Scrub-Robin  

Long-tailed Glossy Starling  

Chestnut-bellied Starling  

Greater Blue-eared Starling  

Northern Grey-headed Sparrow  

Sudan Golden Sparrow  

White-billed Buffalo-Weaver  

Black-headed Weaver  

Northern Red Bishop  

Mbagne, Brakna, MR

11-Aug-2018 15:00 - 16:30
White-faced Whistling Duck

Senegal Thick-knee  

Spur-winged Lapwing  

Black-headed Lapwing  

Cattle Egret  

Grey-headed Kingfisher  

Pied Kingfisher  

White-throated Bee-eater  

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater  

Abyssinian Roller
Vieillot's Barbet 

Lanner Falcon  

Woodchat Shrike  

Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark  

Barn Swallow  

Western Olivaceous Warbler  

Melodious Warbler  

Tawny-flanked Prinia  

Black Scrub-Robin  

Chestnut-bellied Starling  

Greater Blue-eared Starling  

Beautiful Sunbird  

Northern Grey-headed Sparrow  

Sudan Golden Sparrow  

Little Weaver  

Black-headed Weaver  

Red-billed Quelea 

Northern Red Bishop  

Red-cheeked Cordonbleu