Sheraton Hotel, Lagos.

The “gardens” at the Sheraton Hotel in Lagos consist of a few ornamental shrubs, some lawn and a small sewage facility. A jogging track tours this Eden in under 300m. Much of the ground area is taken up with 2 tennis courts.

Nonetheless, this weary, beery birder managed to find a few local favourites to keep him entertained. The first birds of the morning were a small flock above the machine sheds adjacent to the gardens. I have mentioned in the past that trying to take pictures of swifts is a thankless task, but I seldom listen to myself or take my own advice. On this occasion, I was pleased to capture the spines on the tail of this Mottled Spine-tail.

I had attracted the attention of a guard and soon enough the Security Manager turned up and needed to be reassured that I was not using a video camera. A pair of Bar-breasted Firefinches hopped between a bush and the fence of the tennis court, but on-going discussions with the Security Manager prevented me getting a picture.

A Splendid Glossy starling was perched on the tennis court lights.

Beyond the razor-wired wall of the gardens is a tantalizing expanse of coarse grasses with a wooded gulley beyond.

This area is sadly out of bounds, but from where I was, I could still see a Senegal Coucal perched up on a small bush while a Tawny-flanked Prinia called just to his left.

Common Bulbuls used the razor wire as a vantage point from which to pounce on insects in the grass. 2 birds raced down to grab this dragonfly and squabble over it.

The effluent tanks used to be screened by some large casuarina trees, but these have been cut down and are being replaced by a sterile fence. A couple of the trees that did not form part of the screen are still there and were holding a Splendid Glossy Starling and a Western Grey Plantain-eater.

Bronze Munias were collecting nesting material and seemed to be building a number of nests in the same thickly leaved tree. Are Bronze Munias communal nesters? Anyone?

For the second time I was challenged about my camera and told that I would need to get permission from the Public Relations Manager before I could use it, So I packed up for the day not wishing to be hot, hung-over and interfered with anymore.

I was feeling better later on, so I tried to get permission to go for another walk in the gardens. The Duty Manager decided that I should be accompanied by the Security Manager. He got bored very quickly and passed me on to Edim, a security guard, who diligently followed me round the gardens to ensure that I only took pictures of birds. He was very good, seeming to take an interest while being quiet and unobtrusive.

I had hoped to get the picture of the Bar-breasted Firefinch that I missed this morning, but could not find them again. One nice find though was a pair of Broad-billed Rollers hawking from a lamppost on the road beyond the wall. They were horribly silhouetted and I took a while to make sure that they were not the Blue-throated Roller.

An African Thrush sat high in a palm.

A very obvious feature of the gardens are the lizards. I believe the big ones with the orange heads are Agama lizards.

As for the others, I am sorry, I don’t know.

Bird species; 16

Cattle Egret 8, Yellow-billed Kite 12, Common Kestrel 1, Red-eyed Dove 5, Laughing Dove 1, Western Grey Plantain-eater 4, Senegal Coucal 1, Mottled Spine-tail 14, Broad-billed Roller 2, Common Bulbul 12, African Thrush 3,Tawny-flanked Prinia 1, Collared Crow 5, Splendid Glossy Starling 4, Bar-breasted Firefinch 2, Bronze Mannikin 20

Mai Po, Hong Kong, HKG

It was shaping up to be a good day. The temperature in Hong Kong was a very acceptable 22C, a high tide of 2.6m was expected at a leisurely 11.00 and I was almost at Mai Po by 06.30.

Migration should be in full flight and I had my special permit confirmed. It was all set fair for a great day.

I chose to walk the approach road as I could not access my permit until the office opened at 09.00¸ but there was plenty here to keep me busy. My first steps were accompanied by the frantic calls of the Asian Koel. More melodic, was the Oriental Magpie Robin.

The road is lined with fish ponds, the first of which had been drained. It was edged with Wood Sandpipers and another wader which I tentatively identified as Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. The air above was filled with Barn Swallows and the telephone lines were festooned with Whiskered Terns. The tall grasses and reeds along the edge were filled with Yellow-bellied and Plain Prinias singing and clicking.

At a bend in the road are some small houses. Here were Azure-winged Magpies, Chinese Bulbuls and a Great Coucal. I arrived at the office just as it opened, obtained my pre-booked permit and set off into Mai Po proper.

Just before the entrance, a small flock of Scaly Munia were feeding on seed heads.

The Tower Hide at gei wei (managed pond) 8 was surprisingly deserted. I would have thought that the reserve would have been busy, but today was Wednesday. I guess the Hong Kong birders were saving their exertions for the weekend. The visitors who had made the effort today were shunning this hide because it looked out onto a dried area devoid, it seemed, of birds. Those in the know were favouring Hide 8 at gei wei 11 and that is where I found them. A Grey-streaked Flycatcher watched me as I approached.

About 150m from the hide, a mixed flock was gathering to roost as the approaching tide pushed them off the mudflats. There were Greenshank, Bar-tailed Godwit, Spotted Redshank and about 2000 Curlew Sandpiper. As I scanned through the flock I was able to winkle out some Red Knot, Common Redshank and a few Marsh Sandpiper.

Suddenly, they all took flight as a Peregrine Falcon streaked in from the left. It missed on the first pass and banked up over the trees on the far side of the gei wei. It flew back behind the trees out of sight of the panicked flock and then came through for a second run. It made three passes without success before stopping for a rest on a tree over-looking the roost site. The birds were obviously reluctant to settle under the gaze of the falcon and milled around for a while before deciding to roost elsewhere.

Even the egrets which would probably be a little large for a Peregrine to attack gathered together for comfort.

As the tide pushed more and more birds off the huge mudflats of Deep Bay, new arrivals began to settle, unaware of the falcon’s presence until it launched a second attempt to secure brunch. It stopped again for a rest in the same tree while the roost filled up again with unsuspecting newcomers before making a third try.

This time a Greenshank ducked under the water instead of taking to the air with the rest of the flock. Alone in the water, it was a sitting target. The falcon banked and homed in.

The Greenshank fled for the shelter of some overhanging branches by the bank and barely made it as the Peregrine extended it’s talons to made the catch. The falcon tried again and again to flush it out from the cover, but each time, it’s quarry ducked beneath the water to evade capture.

Eventually, the Peregrine became tired and gave up. It retired to it’s tree leaving the Greenshank cowering in the bank side cover.

I moved on to the popular gei wei 16/17, where I was entranced by the sight of about 2000 tightly packed Avocet. Dotted amongst them were a few Asiatic Dowitchers in their breeding colours.

On an island, Black-necked Stilts looked to be starting their nesting activities and a sandbar held Gull-billed and Caspian Terns and a single Saunder’s Gull.

From a tussock of grass appeared an old friend. On my last visit to Mai Po, I considered myself very lucky to get a fleeting glimpse of a Painted Snipe. This time, from the very same bench, I was blessed with a much better view and even managed a photo. The dowdy plumaged male looked to be collecting nesting material amongst the grass.

By now the tide had reached high, slack tide and would soon be receding to reveal the refreshed mudflats of Deep Bay. A boardwalk passes for over a kilometre out through the mangroves to a couple of hides overlooking the exposed flats.

As I reached the new hide there were still a couple of inches of water left in the mangroves. The hide was busy and there were thousands of waders and gulls over by the old hide. I began to wonder if I had chosen wisely.

From where I was, I could see 2 Osprey perched on strategically placed posts. A small tract of land just to the side of the hide was already above water and held a few Temminck’s Stint, Yellow and Grey Wagtails Common Sandpiper and a couple of Far Eastern Curlew.

The water was receding from around the hide now, beginning to reveal the mud. Then, as one, the distant birds rose as if a cloud and headed straight for us. The excitement among the birders in the hide grew as the birds approached and began to settle around us.

Curlew Sandpiper and Red-necked Stint by the thousand made up the bulk of the biomass. Other abundant species included Pacific Golden Plover, Spotted and Common Redshank.

As the birders started picking through the seething mass, they began calling out what they were seeing. I caused a moment of excitement when I called a Spoon-billed Sandpiper, only for it to turn out to be a stint with a piece of mud stuck to it’s bill in a jaunty, spatulate-like manner.

Prominent among the spotters was a chap called Phil who patiently scanned with his scope calling, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Red-necked Phalarope and Kentish Plover that I might otherwise have missed. Other waders (in a tally of 31) included Terek Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone, Whimbrel, Grey Plover, Long-toed Stint, the list seemed to go on and on.

A sharp shower of rain drenched the left side of the hide and soaked my field-guide.

Although the book has stood me in good stead for 14 years and has even been used to ward off feral dogs, it’s inadequacies were brought home to me today with the vast amounts of birds at different stages of plumage . I now have a good excuse to update it.

The birds all turned to face the weather head-on as we battened down the hatches and retreated to the lee-side of the hide. By the time the rain was over, the water had ebbed far out into the bay.

A small flock of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers stayed within range to have their photos taken.

Other birders began to leave until just Phil and I were left. A grey-tailed Tattler had us holding our breath until we decided that it was not the first ever Hong Kong record of a Wandering Tattler.

As I left, Phil was still patiently scanning for a Spoon-billed Sandpiper. I returned along the boardwalk, serenaded by the strident songs of the very common Yellow-bellied Prinia and made my way back to gei wei 16/17. Phil joined me there later, hoping to get a look at the Painted Snipe. He called my attention to something in the water out to our right. The Black-winged Stilts had seen it too and were not happy about it. We realised that it was a big snake, certainly 2, maybe as much as 3 meters long and as thick as my wrist. 

The Stilts escorted it across the water flapping and fussing all the way. We speculated that the snake was interested in the stilts’ nesting progress and may have been checking to see if there were any eggs yet. This all happened a long way off and it was difficult to see what happened once the snake got on to the island. Eventually however, it returned whence it came across the water. Reinforcements in the shape of a dozen Black-faced Spoonbills arrived to watch it leave, perhaps too late to save a stilt egg.

To encourage visitors to leave the reserve, the office takes a HK$200 deposit for the laminated permit. To qualify for a refund, visitors must return the permit and leave by 17.00.

But while there was still light in the sky and birds in the air, we were reluctant to go home. We took our time along the road, exploring the fish ponds and looking for Oriental Pratincole. We flushed an Oriental Skylark which I was shocked to find required the red crayon. I am convinced that I have seen one before, and that it is a recording error, but as I am adding it to my life list now, it gets writ in red.

Previously, I have had to wait until the first subway train at 06.00 before I can get off Hong Kong Island. I found this morning that bus N122 runs every 15 minutes through the night and leaves from the first bus stop on Hennessey Road opposite Sogo. Within 10 minutes it is outside the East line and I was almost in China before 06.00.

Bird species; 81

Little Grebe 8, Grey Heron 4, Great Egret 8, Little Egret 35, Cattle Egret 12, Chinese Pond Heron 20, Striated Heron 2, Black-crowned Night Heron 6, Black-faced Spoonbill 14, Garganey 4, Osprey 2, Black-eared Kite 2, Peregrine Falcon 2, Common Moorhen 10, Greater Painted-snipe 1, Black-winged Stilt 60, Pied Avocet 2000, Pacific Golden Plover 200, Grey Plover 3, Little Ringed Plover 3, Kentish Plover 1, Lesser Sand Plover 12, Greater Sand Plover 20, Common Snipe 2, Asiatic Dowitcher 30, Black-tailed Godwit 120, Whimbrel 6, Far Eastern Curlew 10, Spotted Redshank 200, Common Redshank 40, Marsh Sandpiper 80, Common Greenshank 40, Wood Sandpiper 50, Terek Sandpiper 150, Common Sandpiper 15, Grey-tailed Tattler 2, Ruddy Turnstone 80, Red Knot 6, Red-necked Stint 1200, Temminck’s Stint 15, Long-toed Stint 200, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper 35, Curlew Sandpiper 3000, Broad-billed Sandpiper 6, Red-necked Phalarope 2, Black-headed Gull 6, Saunder’s Gull 2, Gull-billed Tern 215, Caspian Gull 8, Whiskered Gull 50, Spotted Dove 35, Asian Koel 25, Greater Coucal 8, House Swift 1, Common Kingfisher 5, Pied Kingfisher 1, Oriental Skylark 2, Sand Martin 3, Barn Swallow 600, White Wagtail 30, Yellow Wagtail 40, Grey Wagtail 12, Red-whiskered Bulbul 8, Chinese Bulbul 150, Oriental Magpie Robin 14, Yellow-bellied Prinia 35, Plain Prinia 20, Grey-streaked Flycatcher 1, Masked Laughingthrush 15, Japanese White-eye 6, Brown Shrike 1, Long-tailed Shrike 4, Black Drongo 8, Azure-winged Magpie 15, Eurasian Magpie 12, Collared Crow 2, Crested Myna 6, Black-collared Starling25, Eurasian Tree Sparrow15, Nutmeg Mannikin 200, Black-faced Bunting 1.

Coffee-time competition

This is a special competition, open to those attending Keiran's coffee morning in aid of the RSPB.
Who can guess what birds these are? The answers are all on this website. The person who finds the most correct answers by May 1st will win a print of their choice.
Please send your answers to the e-mail address given to you at the coffee morning.

Lekki Conservation Centre, Lagos, Nigeria

Dire warnings about personal safety in Lagos, Nigeria, caused me to opt for the expensive private taxi option for a visit to Lekki Conservation Centre (Google Earth; 6 26 29N 3 32 08E). LCC is a nature reserve, surrounded by a big wall and protected by a manned security gate at the entrance. Once inside I was able to wander with confidence as my wont might take me.

Lagos is a huge city with a population of 17 million people living in low-rise accommodation. Thus land space is at a premium and it was a pleasure to find somewhere like Lekki that has been preserved despite the pressure.

My red crayon was poised for a bagful of lifers that I had targeted and my hopes were high. The first bird of the day was a Common Peafowl, or Peacock.

I could pick these out easily in the dimness of the early morning, but I was trying to delay my excursion into the palm swamp until the light improved. As it got brighter, I was better able to make out colours and found a good-sized flock of White-throated Bee-eaters in the large trees above the peacock. Still in the open area around the centre’s buildings, Common Bulbuls lived up to their name and a couple of Vieillot’s Weavers were moving in the palms.

The heat and humidity in the forest was oppressive, but I was surprised that I was not being eaten alive by mosquitoes. Whilst I detest too much heat, I will suffer it over biting insects any day.  

Very soon, close to a crocodile viewing platform, I came across the first troupe of the resident Mona Monkeys Cercopithecus mona. They appeared to be inquisitive and shy at the same time if that is possible. This guenon is common across West Africa, but this is my first sighting of them. They are charming and pretty and I am always pleased to find a new mammal that is not a rodent.

A bird hide overlooks a small open area of marsh. 2 African Jacana were calling frantically while 2 White-faced Ducks looked on nervously. I hoped that there might be a big snake upsetting them, but I could not find anything to cause their distress.
A sunbird with a green head flashed across the front of the hide. I checked my Helm field guide and noted that it was a Green-headed Sunbird.

The trail through the palm swamp is shaped like a figure-of-eight with the top loop consisting of wet palm forest and made accessible by a boardwalk. The bottom loop is drier and is accessed by a normal track that gives out on to a small area of savannah before rejoining the boardwalk.

I was approaching the junction where the trail crosses itself when I heard a call and was able to follow it to it’s source. The rising, chuckling call came from a Little Greenbul. It is a dark, drab bird whose only distinguishing feature is that it has no distinguishing features.
I turned left at the crossroads. The boardwalk ended and an overgrown trail continued through the drier part of the forest. I had to walk much of this section bent over and brushing through vegetation that had encroached on to the path. It made me feel very intrepid, but you don’t see much when you are bent over so.

I did find a damselfly and will endeavour to find out what it is as soon as I can. At the moment, I haven’t a clue.

Soon enough, the trail opened out and the birds became more visible. I struggle to keep my enthusiasm up in quiet forests, so I was glad to be out on the savannah where one’s horizons are greatly expanded and birds are more visible. My other two lifers of the day came almost immediately with a pair of Carmelite Sunbirds feeding in the top of one bush and a flock of Swamp Palm Bulbuls in the next one along.

This area was by far the most productive of the day with many more Common Bulbuls, Red-eyed Doves and Vieillot’s Weavers. A Splendid Sunbird flitted between bushes while a Senegal Coucal flushed from the ground and disappeared.

Looking back over the forest, an African Harrier-hawk was displaying in it’s undulating style and another bird of prey flew over, but evaded identification. A picnic area (for extreme picnickers) held me for a while as I tried to “pish” some obstinate birds from the top of a palm tree. I tried a rising, then a falling inflection, I tried to imitate the rhythm and cadence of their calls, and I even tried pishing the theme from “Match of the Day”. They eventually showed themselves and I recognised them as the Swamp Palm Bulbuls again. I turned around to continue on my way to find a centre worker watching me resignedly.
For some, the term “pishing” or “spishing” may be unfamiliar. In the world of bird-watching, we make peculiar squeaks and hisses in an effort to whet a bird’s curiosity. The bird may then approach closer to investigate where the noises are coming from and what they might mean, then the bird-watcher can get a better look at it.
In Nigeria, a similar “tssst” (usually used within restaurants and bars to attract the staff), means “Come here, I want you”. While the Nigerian tradition is to hiss discretely, the sound carries and has an attention grabbing quality. We bird-watchers tend to pish loudly and extravagantly, becoming frantic and causing any passing Nigerian to consider us extremely rude and impatient. I once found myself in embarrassing confusion with the groundsman in the hotel gardens in Abuja, Nigeria. It took some time to explain that I was trying to attract the attention of a bird and not him. He walked off, shaking his head, muttering in a rich, dark voice, “You white-men have not enough to do!”

All too soon I was back in the swamp forest. I came across a wonderful looking tree house/hide, but was disappointed to find that it was out of commission.

More Mona Monkeys played in the palms alongside the boardwalk, but I not seen many birds in the forest today. The light under the trees was very gloomy anyway, so photos would have been unsatisfactory.

I would estimate the boardwalk and trail to run for about one and a half miles altogether, but a visitor could choose to walk just the top loop and return to the centre in easily less than a mile.

Back at the car park, I was able to get a better look at a Black-crowned Crane. I had seen it earlier, but the light was too low at the time. It was approachable enough to make me think that it was used to people.
The centre is not a busy place on a Thursday morning though. I had the forest to myself and the only other visitors were some school children who were kept cooped up in the centres education room. Poor things.

Bird species; 23

Long-tailed Cormorant 1, Western Cattle Egret 10, White-faced Whistling Duck 2, Yellow-billed Kite 4, African Harrier-hawk 1, Black-crowned Crane 1, African Jacana 2, Red-eyed Dove 20, Senegal Coucal 1, White-throated Bee-eater 30, Little Green Bee-eater 2, Allied Hornbill 6, Common Bulbul 30, Little Greenbul 2, Swamp Palm Bulbul 14, African Thrush 2, Collared Sunbird 2, Green-headed Sunbird 2, Carmelite Sunbird 3, Superb Sunbird 1, Pied Crow 2, Black-necked Weaver 2, Vieillot’s Weaver 8.

Mammal species; 1

Mona Monkey 30