Westward walk in September

Last Friday afternoon I walked out to the fish market on the coast. As usual I chose a route which took me past Central Nouakchott Lake. This is not to be confused with F-Nord lake which is purely freshwater. Central Nouakchott Lake is brakish though not totally saline.

It is also in an embassy area and discrete birding is recommended or else the authorities will take an interest in you.

I tend not to linger in the area but try to pick out anything unusual quickly.

Sadly as a result of landscaping it is more saline than in the past and reed beds have died. Nevertheless it still has diversity.

pied avocet (right)

The water level is very attractive to black-winged stilt and this time there were over 30 present. A much less common bird was a pied avocet which is a related bird.

mostly black-winged stilt

All waders can swim but nearly all the ruff there were swimming last Friday. 

northern shoveller (behind)

Again while searching for the exceptional bird on site, a lone northern shoveller was an obvious one.

Mediterranean gull

There were five black-headed gull present. However there was also an exception among the gulls. It was a Mediterranean gull.

little stint

No rare waders were observed though one little stint was still not approaching winter plumage and it stood out from the others.

spur-winged lapwing

The more I watch spur-winged lapwing the more I appreciate that they are thuggish. They don't just mob larger birds but they harass small waders too.

ruff

There is a dried out section next to the main water body which held some interest. Ruff were easier to see than the long distance swimmers on the lake.

common redshank

A small number of common redshank were in the same area.

dunlin

Most dunlin seen in Nouakchott at this time of year are the short billed sub-species arctica. However a few have longer bills. The one above has a bill long enough to be alpina. Though they aren't supposed to winter as far south as West Africa. Only this sub-species gives me difficulty in separation from the similar curlew sandpiper.

curlew sandpiper

Two obvious curlew sandpiper were seen a few metres away.

blue-cheeked bee-eater

Blue-cheeked bee-eater don't need water but there always seems to be a higher concentration of them near water in Nouakchott while they are here (July-December).

Just over half an hour's further walk west, provided one isn't distracted by birds, is the fishing port.

I bird watch just south of it as it is quieter than the port itself and has a couple of good birding spots.

mostly Audouin's gull

Audouin's gull have arrived in umbers.

A few lesser black-backed gull have arrived too though a few less healthy ones stay all summer.

lesser black-backed gull (left)

I will admit, I don't get the greatest enjoyment out of gulls. However, over the past year, I have taken pleasure at seeing both Franklin's gull and kelp gull here. Given my lack of general enthusiasm, I find it difficult to understand why people go to so much effort to ring gulls. 

first year Audouin's gull

Noteably, a significant proportion of Audouin's gull that I see here are ringed. Surely we now know many of them winter in southern Mauritania. I wish more attention was paid to ringing birds like Iberian chiffchaff which nobody really knows where it goes. 

Iberian chiffchaff is supposed to pass through here and then to winter in Senegal and Western Mali. Ringing them in siginifcant numbers would help me separate them from willow warbler too.

another ringed Audouin's gull

Down at the man-made lagoon by the beach, there was some interesting activity. However constant walk-bys of the fishermen made birding tough.

little tern

As always, I look for the single birds. I saw my first little tern since returning from my summer break.

dunlin and sanderling

Dunlin and sanderling were far from singles. Large numbers are here at present.

Given the disturbance at the lagoons and my lack of time before sunset I chose to move on to the rubbish dump. This is where poor quality fish are discarded. It smells really bad but always has a good variety of birds.

black tern

This time I was rewarded with excellent and prolonged views of a flock of around 18 black tern. They were so busy eating flies over the dump or resting that they virtually ignored me.

whimbrel and common sandpiper

Other birds around the dump included the expected yellow wagtail and common sandpiper. However whimbrel was more surprising.

ruddy turnstone

Ruddy turnstone weren't so much turning over stones as small items of rubbish.

black tern (l) and dunlin (r)

As at the lagoon, there was another mixed flcok of sanderling and dunlin. It was worth holding my nose at the dump for the close views of all these species.

Central Lake on Friday 17th September

Northern Shoveller  

Black-winged Stilt  

Pied Avocet  

Spur-winged Lapwing  

Kentish Plover  

Common Ringed Plover  

Black-tailed Godwit  

Ruff  

Dunlin  

Little Stint  

Common Greenshank  

Marsh Sandpiper  

Wood Sandpiper  

Common Redshank  

Black-headed Gull  

Mediterranean Gull  

Laughing Dove  

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater  

House Sparrow  

South of fish market on Friday 15th September

Cattle Egret (Western)  

Common Ringed Plover  

Whimbrel  

Ruddy Turnstone  

Curlew Sandpiper  

Sanderling  

Dunlin  

Little Stint  

Audouin's Gull  

Yellow-legged Gull  

Lesser Black-backed Gull  

Little Tern  

Caspian Tern  

Black Tern  

Royal Tern  

Laughing Dove  

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater  

Southern Grey Shrike  

Crested Lark  

Willow Warbler  

Cricket Longtail  

Common Redstart  

Western Yellow Wagtail  

House Sparrow  

Some changes at the fishing port

My second most visied birding spot in Nouakchott is south of the fishing port where sandbanks have been made into a small artifical lagoon by the environment minstry. It is a very inexpensive but innovative way of creating some sort of natural refuse even though there are no accompanying bushes or other cover.

I was pleased to see a pied avocet there almost on my arrival.

pied avocet

It spent much of its time sleeping. I took this as an indication that it had travelled some distance very recently.

sleeping pied avocet

Terns have been very scarse in the past six weeks or so. It was good to see a couple of Caspian tern also present.

Caspian tern

The weather in Noaukchott has been calm all winter. However on Sunday it a little bit rougher on the ocean than usual though nothing fierce. This increased the number of gulls on shore. The majority were lesser black-backed gull and black-headed gull.

resting Audouin's gull

Once again I was looking for exceptions. One was a resting Audouin's gull.

Mediterranean gull

Most of the few Mediterreanean gull were first winter though a smart second winter one caught my eye. As usual they were mixing mostly with the black-headed gull. Six slender-billed gull were in the same area. I have been seeing around this number on every visit since September.

grey plover

Among the waders, grey plover have been present all winter alongside sanderling and little stint.

greenshank

Other waders have been more variable but usually included one or more greenshank.

I had not seen a curlew sandpiper at the site for over two months until Saturday.

curlew sandpiper

They are generally more easy to separate from dunlin in Mauritania than those in the Gulf. This is partly because the predominant sub-species of dunlin that passes down through West Africa is relatively short billed.

curlew sandpiper

This curlew sandpiper was unmistakable with its long legs, long bill and good views of its obviously pure white tail and rump.

crested lark

Birding the lagoon and ocean was halted for a short time when I saw a lark on a bush. Crested lark rarely sits on bushes but thekla lark does more often. Since there have been a few reports of the latter around the fishing port over the years, I investigated. A quick look at the paucity of streaking on the upper breast and the shape of the crest (peaked not fanned) and I gave up interest in this bird being other than a crested lark. I am still a little cynical about the thekla lark sightings but I would love to be proved wrong.

western reef heron

A western reef heron, two grey heron and twenty-five cattle egret in near-by scrub were the members of the heron family observed on Sunday.  Indeed I don't recall seeing any other heron species at this site since I started visiting.

great white pelican

Two great white pelican flew along the coast briefly. These are another regular observation.

gulls on the beach

Given the larger number of gulls on land than usual, I searched those on the beach thoroughly for any exceptions. I don't particularly enjoy this type of birding. I probably don't enjoy it because I have yet to find a rare gull among the many seen so far in Mauritania. A grey-hooded gull must be the most likely at this coastal setting but it hasn't happened yet.

Audouin's gull

The best I managed among the hundred or so on the beach was two Audouin's gull.

black-headed gull on the beach

Despite the sighting of the pied avocet I left the fishing port area slightly disappointed. It was made worse by my usual in-town driver not making the pick-up point. 

I elected to take the long walk home. Things have improved even since.

First I found that West Nouakchott pools, en route home, had not dried up since the end of the rainy season (four months ago) as I had presummed. These salty pools were full of waders and will be well worth more prolonged looks especially with a scope in the coming weeks.

common redshank and other waders

Things improved more dramatically when I went to North Nouakchott lake mid-week after work. I will blog about what I saw next.

Central Salalah

Saturday was overall one of my best days birding in Oman. In part it was because the terrain was new to me but also because it was so varied.

I visited three different places all within very easy walking distance of each other. I started out at Wadi Salalah which has water, moved on to Khawr Salalah which I believe is fed by wadi Salalah's water and then on to the city's main park.

A full list of birds seen is at the bottom of the blog. 

glossy ibis and others

Wadi Salalah was an excellent start. Once again glossy ibis, ruff and garganey were present as seems common on coastal fresh waters at the moment. However there was a much wider cast than that.

Wadi Salalah

Garganey was not the only duck.

garganey

There were two northern shoveller too.

northern shoveller

In among a group of black winged stilt were two of their relatives: pied avocet.

pied avocet

The waders were varied. Most notable was a group of five broad-billed sandpiper still partly in summer plumage.

broad billed sandpiper

The split supercilium on this bird was pleasingly captured in the picture below.

broad billed sandpiper feeding

Near-by in an even shallower area were two citrine wagtail.

citrine wagtail profile

These first year birds have no trace of yellow.

citrine wagtail

I moved on from the wadi to the Khawr which is a designated bird sanctuary. However although I didn't visit all the Khawr, the part I saw was arguably not as exciting as the rest of the day.

grey headed kingfisher

A grey headed kingfisher en route was interesting enough. The end of the Khawr next to the sea had an average cross section of waders and gulls.

whimbrel

A whimbrel on the sand bar separating the Khawr from the sea was the most eventful bird there.

Salalah Park

The park was my last stop-off and in contrast to the Khawr it exceeded any expectations I might have. The lawns were scattered with yellow wagtail which had evaded me until then in Oman.

yellow wagtail

Two golden oriole, one male and one female kept tantalising me with their fleeting appearances out of the tall trees. They refused to stay still long enough to photograph.

hoopoe

Hoopoe seem very comfortable in the park.

common sandpiper

Once again I found a gardened area with flocks of common sandpiper. I am getting use to it as a parkland bird.

shining sunbird

A single male shining sunbird attracted my attention. He was in serious moult.

scaly breasted munia

Two very good birds were observed just before I left the park. Two flocks of scaly-breasted munia were seen. This is a lifer bird for me.

Daurian shrike

Almost the last bird in the park was a Daurian shrike. Until Saturday all my red-tailed shrike had been Turkestan shrike and I was beginning to wonder if Daurian shrike came to this part of the Arabian peninsula.

bonelli's eagle

Finally as I walked into the city centre I looked up at two birds of prey right over the main shopping centre. One was a kestrel and the other a Bonelli's eagle.

Birds seen in central Salalah 20 Sept 2014

W= at Wadi Salalah, K= Khawr Salalah, P= in the park, C= while walking in the city. Bold means it is an addition to my Oman list

Northern shoveller W

Garganey W

Glossy ibis W

Squacco heron W, K

Grey heron K

Little egret W

Kestrel C

Moorhen W

Black winged stilt W,K

Pied avocet W

Pacific golden plover K

Common ringed plover W

Kentish plover K

Common snipe W

Black tailed godwit W

Whimbrel K

Common redshank W,K

Common sandpiper W,K,P

Temminck's stint W

Broad billed sandpiper W

Ruff W,K

Ruddy turnstone K

Sooty gull K

Gull billed tern W

White winged tern W

Whiskered tern W

White cheeked tern W, K

Collared dove P

Laughing dove K,P

Rose ringed parakeet P

Hoopoe P

Grey headed kingfisher K,P

Golden Oriole P

Daurian shrike P

House crow P

White spectacled bulbul P

Crested lark K

Graceful prinia P

Abyssinian white eye P

Common myna P

Tristram's starling P

Rufous bush robin P

Shining sunbird P

Ruepells weaver P

Scaly breasted munia P

Citrine wagtail W

Yellow wagtail P