Friday 31 August 2018

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  

Wednesday 29 August 2018

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 warblerwillow warblercommon chiffchaff, western olivaceous warblermelodious warblersedge warblereurasian 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 

Tuesday 28 August 2018

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  


Monday 27 August 2018

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