A cool afternoon at the lake

The weekend before this one was very cool for late May. I normally don't bird on Friday afternoons except during mid-winter but the cool weather was too good an opportunity to pass.

So I walked out to North Nouakchott Lake where I birded in comfort for over two hours.

The birding was good. It started well with the sighting of a very late northern pintail. It has been a month since I last saw a duck at the lake.

northern pintail

I look very hard at all gulls and terns these days and have had some success with rarities. In the summer months there are less around but spotting an odd one is that much easier.

black-headed gull

However, all the gulls I identified at the lake were black-headed gull. Most looked in under average condition.

spur-winged lapwing

I spent two hours making just one circle round the lake. The weather was a rare opportunity to bird intensively. I caught the attention of the resident spur-winged lapwing on a number of occasions. They are territorial at the moment though I saw no nests.

Sudanese golden sparrow

Sudanese golden sparrow are not always present but when they are they often mix with house sparrow and other finches or weavers. It is the possibility of small numbers of these finches and weavers that makes me look at these groups intently. Last time there were a few yellow-crowned bishop which was a real surprise so far north.

barn swallow

I have little doubt that hirundine migration is late this year. It reached its maximum though Nouakchott last weekend. At the lake there were ten or so barn swallow but twice that number of sand martin.

sand martin

In the reeds I spotted a European reed warbler and in near-by bushes, two melodious warbler.

European reed warbler

There is a large dump of rubbish near one bank of reeds. I suspect the flies in the rubbish and the cover afforded by the close-by reeds is a good combination for certain types of warbler as this spot has given me several good warblers this season.

black-headed gull

As I moved round the lake I came upon one black-headed gull which is attaining some degree of summer plumage unlike the others. However its tail feathers were still not in good condition. No fully fit black-headed gull appear to stay in Nouakchott over the summer.

red-billed quelea

My care with observing the sparrow flocks paid dividends again. This time the minorty member was a red-billed quelea.

African swamphen

I wasn't particularly looking to photograph the resident African swamphen as I have done so many times in the past but when one walks out in front of me I thought I might as well do it.

We rarely get birds of prey at the lake so a marsh harrier was a big surprise. It's entrance was announced by some very loud spur-winged lapwing. They then proceeded to mob it.

arrival of marsh harrier

It was not only the first I had seen one at the lake but also the first time anywhere near the city.

marsh harrier

It didn't stay long. I presume it was migrating.

squacco heron

With my session near finished, I spotted a squacco heron. I have seen one on and off for several omnths though I have no idea whether it is the same bird. Only once have I seen two there.

Melodious warbler

On one of the last bushes on the edge of the lake I finally managed to photograph a melodious warbler at the site. It was good end to a good session.

The next day, Saturday May 20th was also a very cool day for the time of year. I took the opportunity to walk all the way out to the coast. This time, unlike the weekend before, there were many birds and the mix was different from that which I have encountered before.

List of species seen at North Nouakchott Lake on 19th May
Northern Pintail  

Little Grebe  

Cattle Egret 

Squacco Heron  

Western Marsh Harrier 

African Swamphen  

Common Moorhen  

Eurasian Coot  

Spur-winged Lapwing  

Black-headed Gull  

Speckled Pigeon  

Laughing Dove  

Little Swift  

Blue-naped Mousebird  

Woodchat Shrike  

Crested Lark  

Sand Martin  

Barn Swallow  

Red-rumped Swallow  

Common House Martin  

Melodious Warbler  

Eurasian Reed Warbler  

Spotted Flycatcher  

Western Yellow Wagtail  

House Sparrow  

Sudan Golden Sparrow  

Red-billed Quelea  

East of East Khawr

On Friday morning instead of walking to East Khawr, I started birding from there which gave me time to continue east along the coast.

curlew sandpiper preening

Unfortunately the peace and quiet of Friday morning was disturbed by the sound of gun fire. This was the first time I had heard hunters in Oman. Though it didn't last long, it did stir up the bird population.

a sign of some summer plumage in a curlew sandpiper

That population hadn't changed much since my previous visit three days before.

male marsh harrier

One change was the arrival of a male marsh harrier which my first in Oman. In the place where I had seen an exhausted bridled tern which did move for over a week was now a pile of feathers. I wonder if the marsh harrier or perhaps a cat had finished it off.

white cheeked tern at East Khawr 

Having finally seen a greater sand plover at Baleed the afternoon before, I set about looking through all the sand plovers at east Khawr. I couldn't definitely call any of them as anything but lesser sand plover.

probable lesser sand plover

I picked one out as a candidate because it looked so large against a near-by Kentish plover. However, I then noticed the residual summer plumage on the breast. In my opinion, the brown markings went too far down for a greater sand plover.

probable lesser sand plover with Kentish plover

After moving on from East Khawr, I walked down the coast. 

I had expected to be looking out seaward especially on the beach. In fact most of my attention was drawn to a fence on my left hand side though there was a curlew as well as the more obvious gulls and Kentish plover.

bridled tern

On the fence was a bridled tern in much better health than the previous one.

singing bush lark

Further down I surprised to see a singing bush lark.

crested lark

Very close-by was the much more expected crested lark.

barn swallow

Arguably the most common bird along the coastal scrub was barn swallow. I wonder if most of them were thinking whether it was necessary to cross the wide ocean to Africa or whether this would be their wintering spot. Either way, it was an obvious log jam.

rufous bush robin

Two other birds on the fence wire were rufous bush robin and spotted flycatcher. 

It has occurred to me that this fence might be a bigger migrant trap in spring. Birds are more likely to rest there having crossed the ocean. 

green sandpiper

Although I didn't walk out to east Khawr, I did walk back. One of two highlights was seeing a green sandpiper in the banana plantation. They seem to love the murky water under the banana plants.

pale crag martin

The final highlight was a pair of just fledgling pale crag martin. They were continually being fed by two adults. I also noticed how dark there are compared with the sub species in the Riyadh area.

This was an interesting end to the morning. On Saturday I visited places in central Salalah in one of the best sessions since I arrived in the country.

Birds seen on 19 Sept 2014

East Khawr 

Garganey

African sacred ibis

Glossy ibis

Eurasian spoonbill

Squacco heron

Indian pond heron

Grey heron

Purple heron

Great egret

Little egret

Western reef heron

Marsh harrier  (addition to Oman list)

Moorhen

Black winged stilt

Pacific golden plover

Common ringed plover

Kentish plover

Lesser sand plover

Black tailed godwit

Common redshank

Common greenshank

Wood sandpiper

Common sandpiper

Sanderling

Little stint

Temminck's stint

Ruff

Sooty gull

White cheeked tern

White winged black tern

European collared dove

Laughing dove

House crow

Crested lark

Graceful prinia

Common myna

Ruepells weaver

Coastal walk East of East Khawr
Laughing dove
Collared dove

Bridled tern

Rufous bush robin

Singing bush lark

Crested lark

Spotted flycatcher

Heuglins gull

Sooty gull

Common redshank
Kentish plover

Notable birds on the walk home

Green sandpiper

Pale crag martin

A glimpse of the passage

I'm back in birding mode again following my enforced break for most of late August. Today I strolled around the Rogachevo area near the Black Sea regretting among other birding things  that I had missed part of the migration season.

However, even from my two hour stroll (a glimpse) of the action, I could tell there is plenty more migration left to do.


There is no doubt that the swallows and martins are here later this year in bigger numbers. Last year they had pretty much all disappeared from my locality by September 5th. Many have left this year too but a fair few still remain. These include a nest full of house martin at Elbarr, Rogachevo where I normally take my Sunday lunch.

house martin still in nest in Rogachevo

More than half the barn swallow and house martin on Elbarr had a second brood this year and the house martin family is the last one still nesting.

barn swallow and house martin which are still here

In Rogachevo I saw local house martin, barn swallow and red rumped swallow still here. The summer may have started late but it is lingering longer than last year.

two marsh harrier - left is male, right is female or juvenile

Although I didn't see any eagles, to my great satisfaction there was a steady stream of birds of prey moving south. To my considerable surprise there was a very loose flock of marsh harrier. The big majority were male. This delighted me because when I was in Libya I saw nearly totally females and juveniles. I have not heard about it or read about it but my own experience is the sexes do different things at different times outside the breeding season. 

The loose flock as I have described it flew over the village in ones, twos and threes over the whole period I was watching often with tenor fifteen minute gaps. Does this count as a flock?     I have seen this sort of behaviour before with Eleanora's falcon on spring return in north west Libya.

one of the male marsh harrier

Another picture of the same bird is shown below, It has lost a couple of tail feathers, possibly due to shooting.

second picture of the same marsh harrier

There were other birds of prey making their way south. One that caught my eye is the bird below which I believe is a steppe buzzard. These are only really seen in Bulgaria on the Black Sea coast which is the western extremity worldwide of their passages routes. I used to see this bird on passage when I was birding in Azerbaijan too.

probable steppe buzzard

As for other passage birds there are still huge numbers of bee-eater passing though although my favourite spot of a passage today was a single thrush nightingale in the bushes alongside my walk track. Unfortunately it beat the camera but was a pleasure nevertheless.

Birds of prey at Marj

With the large numbers of small birds and I presume small mammals it is not surprise that Old Marj is a magnet for birds of prey.


I saw four types. There was a long legged buzzard which was being mobbed by two common raven who clearly didn't want it around. 

long legged buzzard at Old Marj

The bird I sighted most during the day was a female marsh harrier (see below). 

marsh harrier at Old Marj

The biggest bird of prey I saw was a common buzzard.  There are two things you should know. Common buzzard is not common in Libya despite its name though I suspect it is not as rare as many have believed. Second, it really was the biggest bird of prey I saw!  Long legged buzzard in Europe is larger than common buzzard but the north African sub species of long legged buzzard (cirtensis) is actually smaller than a common buzzard.

Finally the other bird of prey I saw was kestrel.

How many marsh harriers stay all year round?

Marsh Harrier over crop circle, Wadi Maknusah, late March. Photo by eclipsomanics  

It's been known for a long time that central and northern European marsh harriers migrate on a broad front to and from sub Saharan Africa. This is reflected in the distribution maps of guides such as the Collins Bird Guide (which I take everywhere).

Actually the migration is not uniform across the whole front. In spring 200 birds use the Straits of Gibraltar but 1000-1300 birds have been counted crossing Sicily to mainland Italy and very few over Istanbul.

Route of migrating Tunisian and Libyan marsh harriers in spring

The birds using Sicily come from Tunisia and Libya. So its fair to say that Tunisia and Libya are very important in marsh harrier migration. If you want more information, there is an excellent review of the migration paths and numbers by Nicholantonio Agostininin Ardeola 48(1) 2001,71-73 . 

Having established that Libya is a big factor in marsh harrier migration is not the end of the story. The UN winter water counts in Libya always pick up a few records of marsh harrier in several wetlands. The bird is now a confirmed wintering bird too.

But that's not the end!  I observed a family of marsh harrier all summer at the "super farm" at Jardinah south of Benghazi. Jardinah is one of about 15-200 super farms with their state-of-the-art irrigation which are scattered throughout the country especially in desert or semi-desert areas. 

I have wondered where else marsh harriers might be. Then I saw the picture (at the top) of this blog by eliptomaniacs. It was taken in another super farm, this time in the south of the country.

It was taken in late March at precisely the time when most marsh harriers cross from Sicily to mainland Italy. If it had been taken one or two weeks later it would have been proof that this bird stays the summer.

My best guess is that most of the super farms have a resident family of marsh harrier. It would make a good research project to find out. So if there are any researchers out there please consider it. I would do it myself but I have to keep reminding myself that I have a full time job and it isn't bird watching.