Keur Macene

Mohamed Vall and I made the long day trip to Keur Macene on Saturday. We headed towards the easiest and quickest place to reach from Nouakchott near the Senegal River.

We hoped for rainy season birds which push up north in large numbers in August and September. Ironically we chose a day when Nouakchott, which we left behind, got 40% of its annual rainfall in one day.

We were not disappointed. Even as we drove through Tiguent, only 100 kilometres south of Nouakchott, I could hearing Dideric cuckoo calling from time to time.

We didn't start birding until we turned off the main Rosso road and on to the Keur Macene road.

This new road conveniently has milestones every kilometre. Next to the one marking 25 kilometres to Keur Macene we saw our first Dideric cuckoo. Unfortunately it flew off before I could take a photo.

At 9 kilometres from Keur Macene we heard another, got out of the car and traced it.

Dideric cuckoo 1

It was constantly calling, making finding it relatively easy.

Dideric cuckoo 2

I can tell you Dideric cuckoo is common and widespread down this road in August. It mostly parasitises weavers. Away from water bodies and towns, this mostly means Vitelline masked weaver in Mauritania.

Dideric cuckoo became number 265 on my country list.

Other easily seen birds on the way down the side road were white-throated bee-eater. Three yellow-billed oxpecker on a couple of donkeys was a surprise.

woodchat shrike

While searching for that Dideric cuckoo we came across a woodchat shrike which could comfortably winter in this area. Many do winter in southern Mauritania.

We didn't bird the road outside Keur Macene intensively on the way out. We left that for the way back and what we saw will be in the next blog.

Instead we spent the morning and the beginning of the afternoon, birding the wetlands around the town of Keur Macene.

white throated bee-eater

We walked about 8 kilometres in a circular route. White throated bee-eater and blue-cheeked bee-eater were easy to see.

black-headed weaver

Black-headed weaver were very common. Though the males were in breeding plumage, nest building has only just started. In one mixed flock we observed a northern red bishop male and a couple of females.

great white egret

In the water itself three great white egret were seen early.

black-winged stilt and African jacana

In a flooded field on the other side of a road near our parked car were black-winged stilt, African jacana and glossy ibis.

yellow-crowned bishop

There was so much to look at and we had hardly left the parked car. Another look in the direction of the weavers and we could see they were also yellow-crowned bishop present.

African fish eagle

Moving our eyes back to the main water body and we could see an African fish eagle and a single white-faced whistling duck beyond the great white egret.

pied kingfisher

Finally we started the long walk round the water. An early sighting was a pied kingfisher. In the water near-by was the first of several long-tailed cormorant.  

long-tailed cormorant

A pair of Malachite kingfisher gave us good views as we walked round.

Two Malachite kingfisher

This is proving to be a relatively common bird in the south except in the driest months.

Malachite kingfisher

We observed several African mourning dove. We also heard but never saw Vinaceous dove.

African mourning dove

The locals pump out water out of the main water body to create paddy fields at this time of year. These fields have theirown birds which we didn't have time to fully investigate. Nevertheless we did pick out common tern, white-winged black tern and barn swallow overhead and cattle egret on the ground.

striated heron

Striated heron loves flooded fields. It was hard to miss them.

purple heron

Looking again at the main water body, the side areas held purple heron and a few waders though I would expect their numbers to increase over winter. The most common wader was wood sandpiper.

Abyssinian roller

Other notable birds towards the end of our circuit were Abyssinian roller and Senegal coucal.

Nile Monitor

Birds weren't the only fauna seen. Twice we came across a Nile Monitor and twice a family of warthog were observed.

Ironically, I added no new species to my country list at the wetlands despite the variety and quanity of birds present.

We searched the woodland just north of the town on the way home. Here, two more species were added. Counting the Dideric cuckoo, all three additions to the list which were found on the trip were in these woodlands.

I will blog about them next.

Species seen at Keur Macene wetlands on August 26th

White-faced Whistling-Duck  

Spur-winged Goose  

Long-tailed Cormorant  

Great Cormorant  

Grey Heron  

Purple Heron  

Great White Egret  

Cattle Egret  

Squacco Heron  

Striated Heron  

Glossy Ibis  

African Fish-Eagle  

Black-winged Stilt  

Spur-winged Lapwing  

African Jacana  

Common Sandpiper  

Green Sandpiper  

Wood Sandpiper  

White-winged Black Tern  

Common Tern  

Speckled Pigeon  

African Mourning Dove  

Laughing Dove  

Namaqua Dove  

Senegal Coucal  

Pallid Swift  

Malachite Kingfisher  

Pied Kingfisher  

White-throated Bee-eater  

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater  

Woodchat Shrike  

Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark  

Crested Lark  

Barn Swallow  

Beautiful Sunbird  

Black-headed Weaver  

Northern Red Bishop  

Yellow-crowned Bishop  

Thailingo

Mohamed Vall and I made our last stop along the Senegal River south west of Tekane at a place called Thailingo.  It was just 42 kilometres east of Rosso on the Boghe road.

There was a woodland with both a small lake and a bank on to the Senegal River itself. It was rich in birds.

little bee-eater

Having not seen little bee-eater in Mauritania before the weekened trip, this became the third stop where they were present.

Among the first cluster of trees was a black-crowned tchagra, another first for me in Mauritania and an indication of the good birds to come.

red-cheeked cordonbleu

Red-cheeked cordonbleu was the estrildid finch of the area.

spotted flycatcher

Spotted flycatcher and common redstart were the main representatives of wintering migrants.

However it was local residents which were the main attraction here.

Two black heron were seen at the small lake along with a little egret.

black heron

Black heron was another addition to my country list.

Both the black heron and little egret flushed at one stage only for us to spot them a while later sitting in a tree over the other side of the river in Senegal.

malachite kingfisher

Three weeks before we had spotted a malachite kingfisher in a flooded wood about 50 kilometres further east (nearer Boghe) at Dar El Barka. In very similar habitat we found another one. This time it stayed still long enough for us to photograph it.

striated heron

Likewise we had found a striated heron an hour before near Dagana. This time another gave us better views and also pictures.

Sudanese golden sparrow and black-headed weaver

Sparrows and weavers can form combined flocks. We saw one at Thailingo made up of Sudanese golden sparrow and black-headed weaver.

Senegal thick-knee

Very near-by was a Senegal thick-knee resting under a bush.

grey-backed camaroptera 1

A grey-backed camaroptera was moving around a low bush.

grey-backed camaroptera 2

Two yellow-crowned gonolek were loudly calling to each other.

All three birds: Senegal thick-knee, grey-backed camaroptera and yellow-crowned gonolek were additions to my Mauritanian list. This spot was a treasure trove of new birds.

yellow-crowned gonolek (courtesy of Mohamed Vall)

I am grateful to Mohamed Vall to be to allowed to reproduce one of his photos of the gonolek.

black-headed lapwing

As we walked back to the car, we found two black-headed lapwing. This is the tamest species of lapwing that I have ever met. It tends only to slowly walk away if you get too close.

This was our last stop on New year's Eve. On New Year's day we travelled back to Nouakchott but managed some interesting birding on the way. I will blog about that next.

Spring at Khawr Rori

It's been a couple of weeks since I last visited Khawr Rori and birds can change fast at this time of year so it was worth a call last Tuesday.

There are two distinct birding areas. There is the main expanse of water approached through a gate off the main road. There is also the north west corner with its reed beds and trees. This is reached straight off the main road. Both were birded on Tuesday.

malachite kingfisher

In the north west corner, one of the malachite kingfisher was on display seemingly fearless and not realising that it was classified as a vagrant in this country until very recently.

clamorous reed warbler 1

Close by in the reeds, clamorous reed warbler were easily seen. At this time of year, warblers often become braver as they seek to impress females.

clamorous reed warbler 2

A few wintering species are still present including common snipe.

common snipe 1

This preening bird gave me an opportunity to see the tail feather configuration. I wish I could be that lucky with the pin-tailed snipe that winter in Oman. It has always been assumed, mostly by geography that there are no Swinhoe's snipe among them. Seeing these tail feathers is a sure fire way of recognising one.

common snipe 2

A sign of passage was a masked shrike in a tree in the same corner of the khawr. Though a very small number winter in Dhofar, such as one in winter 2014-15 at Ayn Hamran and one in winter 2015-16 at Ayn Razat, no one has seen one at Khawr Rori. 

masked shrike on passage

Earlier I had visited the main part of the khawr. An african spoonbill had been reported there a month before but not since. Unfortunately I only found out about it two days before my visit. it was worth a look anyway.

two European spoonbill

I found three European spoonbill but even on close inspection I couldn't make them into African.

great cormorant

A single great cormorant and a single intermediate egret added interest from that part of the khawr.

intermediate egret

There were very few gulls to be seen. They were mostly young slender-billed gull which will over-summer.

black-tailed godwit

Wader levels are down too. All the black-tailed godwit are now in breeding plumage and presumably they will be gone soon.

greater flamingo

January's irruption of lesser flamingo here has long since gone. Twenty or so greater flamingo are present.

red-knobbed coot

In the open water, three red-knobbed coot were gathered together. Khawr Rori is still the best place in Oman to find this species.

Arabian cobra's head

It was not just coot that were swimming. An Arabian cobra was around too. It swam surprisingly fast and made it to a reed island and was lost.

Arabian cobra along the bank

This was my first Arabian cobra in Oman. It is usually a very shy creature.

Whistle stops around Salalah

Two Saturdays ago, I birded for a second day with Jolynn Van Duffelen. We only had the morning so we made whistle stop tours to birding sites near the city (of Salalah).

We picked out some of Jolynn's target species.

Early on at Raysut lagoons, we were lucky enough to see a large group of white stork drop in before moving on presumably to the rubbish dump where they often stay the day in winter.

white stork 1

They didn't stay long and started to thin out after about 10 minutes.

white stork 2

If you look very closely at the above picture, they are ruddy shelduck on the far bank. They have been around all winter but they certainly don't visit this far south most winters.

Jolynn was interested in glossy ibis and they were readily seen at the lagoons.

Pallas's gull

A beautiful Pallas's gull in summer plumage stood out among the resting gulls and terns.

tufted duck and garganey

At the inland end of the lagoons, tufted duck were among the waterfowl. This species doesn't usually arrive until at least November and doesn't stay long either before heading north.

tufted duck

I suggested we head to Ayn Razat to find Bruce's green pigeon which Jolynn had not seen before. However on arrival we managed to find the masked shrike which has wintered there first. One wintered at Ayn Hamran the year before. The vast majority though are passage birds.

masked shrike

Bruce's green pigeon was soon picked out though they can be surprisingly well camouflaged despite their bright colours.

Bruce's green pigeon

Our last stop was the reed beds ar Khawr Rori to look for malachite kingfisher. That day the area was very disturbed by an unusual visit of a herd of cattle. They were eating through a huge amount of the reed. Cattle are rarely brought down from the mountains.

I believe this disturbance contributed to our inability to find a malachite kingfisher.

Khawr Rori reed bed

Three days later I went again, this time on my own. The place was quiet and the cattle had gone seemingly without any further inroads into the reeds.

As luck would have it I found not one but two malachite kingfisher seeing them both at the same moment. No one yet knows whether they are a pair.

Malachite kingfisher

I managed some video of one of them. Please note this video is best viewed without enlargement. The resolution is not meant for full screen.

I am sure Jolynn would have loved to have seen this bird but birding has no certainties! I believe she enjoyed the trip nonetheless.