On my return to Mauritania, Mohamed Vall and I went south to Brakna province to see what effect the beginning of the Sahel rains had had on the bird life.
While Nouakchott typically gets 100 mm of rain a year. Brakna gets 200-300mm. Most rain falls in mid July to early October. Several species push up with the rains either to breed or just to disperse.
We used the Medina Hotel, Aleg as our base. We arrived in Aleg in time to do some late afternoon birding on Friday 10th August. We did not bird the lake but this time chose the western woodland.
- There were patches of water in the river bed running through the woodland but it was not yet full
- Rainy season birds were: white-throated bee-eater, blue-cheeked bee-eater, yellow-billed kite and wattled lapwing. Abyssinian roller was more numerous too but some of this species linger all year.
- No additions to my Mauritanian list were made but we enjoyed our first "southern" birding for three months.
- Barn owl was a nice find
On the morning of August 11th, we left at dawn to head further south towards Bogue.
barn owl
greater blue-eared starling
African collared dove
woodchat shrike
spur-winged lapwing
African wattled lapwing
Abyssinian roller
chestnut-backed sparrow-lark
red-billed firefinch
Aleg, west side woodland, Brakna, MR
10-Aug-2018 17:15 - 18:45
African Collared Dove
Laughing Dove
Namaqua Dove
Spur-winged Lapwing
Wattled Lapwing
Common Sandpiper
Purple Heron
Black Kite (Yellow-billed)
Barn Owl
Eurasian Hoopoe
White-throated Bee-eater
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater
Abyssinian Roller
Woodchat Shrike
Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark
Western Olivaceous Warbler
Spotted Flycatcher
Red-billed Firefinch
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