The coast in mid May

Two weeks ago, Mohamed Vall and I went on to the coast having first birded the waste water site. 

The lagoons south of the fishing port had the least number of birds since I first started visiting. However they weren't without interest.

Audouin gull 1

It has become apparent to me that it is not uncommon for immature Audouin gull to over-summer near Nouakchott.

Audouin gull 2

It is a well-known phenomenon that many immature slender-billed gull over summer to the south of their breeding range from west to east.

slender-billed gull

Although some black-headed gull and a few lesser black-backed gull are doing the same, in those cases they look in poor condition. In other words it appears involuntatry for those species.Yet the Audouin gull and slender-billed gull usually look in good condition.

sanderling 1

That day there were very few waders. I had a few identification issues separating a sanderling from dunlin. For some reason there are very few dunlin here in winter. It is only really a passage bird here. The bird above and below has a particularly long bill but is a sanderling. Thanks to Bram Piot for noticing the lack of a hind toe and suggesting that all dunlin would have some black plumage blow by now.

sanderling 2

The number of black tern passing through along the coast is seemingly endless.

black tern

After finishing at the lagoons, we moved down the coast two kilomteres to the old wharf where we can bird watch 300 metres out into the ocean.

great white pelican 1

One of the best sights from the wharf was two flocks of great white pelican flying over. They breed in the Senegal River Delta and on Banc d'Arguin which are south and north of Nouakchott. Mohamed Vall says it is well known that they regularly fly between the two places.

great white pelican 2

Once again black tern were numerous around the wharf. Other terns were mostly Caspian tern and royal tern. My hopes of seeing a bridled tern were dashed again.

royal tern

A couple of lesser black-backed gull were the only gulls seen until the very end of our session. Then another gull turned up. I believe it was an Audouin gull.

probable Audouin gull

The following weekend, I visited the same spots again plus two extra water bodies on the way to coast. In contrast to this visit, the coast and the other water bodies were busy again and it was a different mix. I will blog about this soon.

Central Bay, Nouadhibou

The single largest concentration of birds on Mohamed Vall's and my trip to Nouadhibou was undoubtably at central bay. The area is just south of the airport and just north of the fish factories.

There were literally thousands of birds. Mohamed said it reminded him of Banc d'Arguin National Park.

view of central bay

There were several hundred large white headed gulls. The proportion of yellow-legged gull to lesser black-backed gull was much higher than in the Nouakchott area, hundreds of kilometres south.

Despite an intensive look at the gulls no rarities were found.

flamingo

There were nearly 100 Caspian tern present too which rested neatly adjacent to the gulls but hardly mixed with them at all.

some Caspian tern

A dozen great white pelican were a good sighting.

great white pelican

One bird was much more orange-pink than the others but it is not a pink-backed pelican which is actually a greyer bird. It bill colour didn't match either.

two great white pelican

They stayed in the bay all morning though they moved position regularly.

great white pelican

The waders were also looked at thoroughly though we regret not having a scope with us.

sanderling with a whimbrel

Little stint and common ringed plover were the most numerous waders.

bar-tailed godwit with grey plover (r)

Significant numbers of sanderling, dunlin and grey plover were present too. A few bar-tailed godwit and kentish plover were easily seen.

shoveller

The inlet provided a few duck. All were northern shoveller except one common teal.

common teal

The inlet was the only place we came across black-winged stilt as well.

red knot

The mix of waders was quite different in front of the fish factories. A single red knot was seen along with several sanderling and many ruddy turnstone.

sanderling with ruddy turnstone

However it wasn't the waders that fascinated me in the fish factory area.

ruddy turnstone

Instead it was six sand martin which kept endlessly foraging for flies. I don't know whether they will winter this far north but the track they kept flying down had among the highest fly concentration I have ever experienced in my life. Birding doesn't always take you to scenic and fragrant places.

record shot of a sand martin

Ironically, central bay had the highest number of birds seen on the trip but it was the one place when I didn't add to my country list.

There are more bays north of the airport which collectively I describe as north bay. We visited there last Monday morning. Here two birds were indeed added to the list. I will blog about there next.

Northern outskirts revisited

I walked out north out of the city again on Sunday as it was so productive on Friday. This time I walked out further too.

There was no large warbler windfall like I observed two days before. Though a small number of willow warbler were present in the short scrub.

By way of compensation I saw four adult European turtle dove in the same area. Last time there was just one juvenile mixing with local laughing dove.

European turtle dove

Just outside the city there are some bedouin camps with camels that seem to attract brown-necked raven.

brown-necked raven

Unlike Friday I walked on further into the desert.

I couldn't understand why the bird density seemd to increase rather than decrease.

speckled pigeon

A speckled pigeon was an unexpected sight.

speckled pigeon and ringed plover

Then seeing it with a flock of ringed plover in the desert was stranger still. Then a whimbrel flew by.

All became clear when I moved further into the desert. Over a sandy ridge I could see that there was a lake which had remained out of sight until then.

lake in the desert

A small flock of greater flamingo were present along with plenty of waders.

pied crow

Some pied crow were at the water. This is my first sighting of this species in the Nouakchott area.

blue-cheeked bee-eater

Blue-cheeked bee-eater are omnipresent in the Nouakchott area where they are resident.

curlew sandpiper 1

When I see waders I have learned over the years to look for exceptions. One curlew sandpiper was given special attention.

curlew sandpiper 2

It's supercilium was unusually strong and there was a hint of a second one. The bill was slightly more decurved than normal.

curlew sandpiper 3

However it was not broad-billed sandpiper which would be a major rarity this far west.

great white pelican

I was just beginning to accept there would be no new additions to my Muaritianian list when a flock of great white pelican flew over head. This was the 95th bird on the list.

This made my walk back more pleasant.

white-crowned wheatear

As I reached the first house back in the city, which is still under construction I noticed a white-crowned wheatear on the top.

The mangroves north of Al Shuqiaq

Last Thursday's main plan was to head out of Jizan north to the mangroves which are further north from Al Shuqiaq. The main target bird was collared kingfisher.

 

As I have recently blogged we stopped on the way a couple of times at a wadi and in fodder fields where birds as interesting as Arabian golden sparrow, sociable lapwing and singing bush lark were found. However by late morning we arrived at the mangroves.

collared kingfisher

The good news is that we managed to see several collared kingfisher. It took us nearly 2 hours to find the first one but after that (and once we knew its call) we saw 5 more! Like the collared kingfisher I saw on a trip to the south pacific, they like sitting in the shade of trees next to the mangroves.

Pink backed pelican

The whole area was teeming with a wide diversity of bird life. Before we meet up with the kingfisher we birded a mangrove area just north of Al Shuqaiq (we only saw kingfishers in mangroves over 25 kilometres north of the town).

At this first area of mangroves, we observed a large group of pink backed pelican. And then across the bay from the main group Lou spotted a real bonus to the trip. Among some pinked backed pelican on the far side in the distance, his spotting scope picked up a great white pelican.

Great white pelican with three pink backed pelican

This is not at all common in Saudi Arabia and it was a welcome and surprising addition to my Saudi list.

dark and white morph western reef egret

Further up the coast near the collared kingfisher the range of birds was greater.  

There were plenty of herons - mostly western reef heron but also a lesser number of grey heron and squacco heron, and at least one purple heron.

We were on the look out for Goliath heron which is resident in the area but none were seen.

Eurasian spoonbill

Eurasian spoonbill are also resident here.

Juvenile Eurasian spoonbill

The main flock we saw contained several young birds.

common redshank

The waders were many and varied although we didn't give them as much attention as we could have since time was at a premium. Nevertheless common redshank, common greenshank, common sandpiper, Terek sandpiper, green sandpiper, dunlin, little stint and at least one curlew sandpiper were easily seen.

crab plover

Crab plover was quite abundant too, sharing the same diet apparently as the collared kingfisher.

whimbrel

Both whimbrel and curlew were also present.

Brown booby were seen by using a spotting scope on a small rocky outcrop out to sea alongside some more pink backed pelican. These were the first brown booby I had seen in Saudi Arabia and so was another addition to my country list.

Birds of prey were not very diverse. There were of course lots of black kite and yellow billed kite around as in most of the Tihama (coastal SW Saudi Arabia). However the hoped-for dark chanting goshawk wasn't seen and sooty falcon is still away wintering in Madagascar. 

osprey

Osprey were in evidence though. This one was perched finishing off a fish dinner.

ortolan bunting

There weren't too many passerines. Notable exceptions included this solitary ortolan bunting on the edge of the mangroves. Near-by we strangely saw a hoopoe lark.

There was also a single black crowned sparrow lark where we had originally parked the car.

black crowned sparrowlark

All in all I would certainly recommend the mangroves north of Al Shuqiaq among the top 10 places to visit when birding in Saudi Arabia. Though some people have said that al Birk further up the coast is even better. 

However al Birk is too far for a day trip based out of Jizan and it is difficult to see what else it would offer other than perhaps a greater chance to see Goliath heron.