Sheraton Hotel, Lagos, Nov 2011

If this were to be a perfect day, it would have to be sometime next week. Next week, my exams would be over and with any luck this hangover will be gone too! I had left the big camera at home as I knew that if I brought it to Lagos, it would draw the attention of the Security Manager and I would be distracted from my revision.

As it happens, the revision was going fairly well until I noticed ripples coming from a puddle on the flat roof outside my window. Luckily I had packed the small camera and some binoculars, ‘just in case’. The bird hopped up onto the wall and showed itself to be a Shikra. This was just the distraction that I needed and I dropped my books and took myself out to the gardens for a quick once round before dusk.

In the area beyond the razor-wired wall a Double-spurred Francolin stood atop a cinder block wall. Peter told me of the francolins’ habit of burying their eggs, but leaving one above ground to remind them where the nest is. I can’t find any supporting evidence for this, but if anyone has any special knowledge of this bird, it would be interesting to know.

Peter was the security guard who had been tasked to keep an eye on the gardens and he joined me for a lap around the path that serves as a jogging track to some of the more active guests. He did not object to the camera, so I assumed that its smaller size was acceptable.

Birds stayed high and silhouetted, out of range of the Nikon, but some dragonflies stayed put just long enough to have their pictures taken. The one above is a Lucia Widow and below is a potential Red Basker, Urothemis assignata.

Bird Species; 10

Cattle Egret 2, Black Kite 4, Shikra 1, Double-spurred Francolin 1, Red-eyed Dove 2, Laughing Dove 3, Rose-ringed Parakeet 2, Western Grey Plantain-eater 4, Common Bulbul 4, Splendid Glossy Starling 1.

Sheraton Hotel, Lagos, Nigeria, LOS,

Other Lagos posts can be found at the links below;
http://redgannet.blogspot.com/2010/05/sheraton-hotel-lagos.html
http://redgannet.blogspot.com/2011/05/sheraton-hotel-in-lagos-just-one-lap.html
http://redgannet.blogspot.com/2010/04/to-pish-or-not-to-pish-dire-warnings.html

Visit the dedicated Africa Page for more posts from Nigeria, West Africa and the continent

Sheraton Hotel in Lagos; Just one lap

This post is dedicated to the beautiful Elizabeth, a security officer at the Sheraton Hotel in Lagos. She is a fine woman with many attributes, chief amongst which was the ability to gain permission for me to take photographs in the gardens of the hotel. Policy dictates that photographs may not be taken in the hotel grounds, but Elizabeth obtained permission for me to do so and even accompanied me to ensure that I didn’t get up to mischief.

Her time was precious so I had to make it quick. One lap of the gardens would not normally be enough, but even so, we managed to find a few birds. The only one that came anywhere close to sitting for a photo was an African Thrush.

From the casuarinas trees, an African Pied (Allied) Hornbill called with a whistling note that called to mind a Peregrine Falcon. They shared the casuarinas with some Common Bulbuls and Splendid Glossy Starlings. The trees visible over the wall and across the street, held Western Grey Plantain-eaters. Bronze Mannikins were tending nests with two located. Adult birds were continually flying in and out, maintaining the nests but no evidence of chicks was seen.

In the skies above, an African Palm Swift and Mottled Spinetails were scudding around, feeding. Closer to the ground a good number of dragonflies, that I suspect may be Wandering Gliders, were taking advantage of thick clouds of insects that had already taken a few nips at yours truly.

I had to look this ode up and I really hoped to find that it was called the Ninja Skimmer.

I suspected that the top and second pictures may be a female and a similar pattern on the wings of this blue individual led me to consider that he may be the male of the species.... until I saw the bottom one.

This ode was superficially similar to the first one, but the body patterns and wing markings are different enough to make me look further and to reconsider the affiliations of the blue one. I felt that I had seen them before but had to wait until I got home to check on the Africa Dragonfly website where Dirk Motshagen's photos from Port Harcourt in Nigeria suggest that the top 3 could be Lucia Widows, Palpopleura lucia. My best bet for the bottom picture at the moment is a Portia Widow, Palpopleura portia. I am still open to suggestions however if you have any experience of West African odes.

The Agama Lizards at The Sheraton in Lagos may well be the best protected lizards to be found anywhere.

Species seen; 14

Cattle Egret 15, Black Kite 15, Red-eyed Dove 6, Laughing Dove 4, Western Grey Plantain-eater 5, Mottled Spinetail 30, African Palm Swift 1, Little Swift 4, Broad-billed Roller 2, Allied Hornbill 2, Common Bulbul 12, African Thrush 8, Pied Crow 2, Bronze Mannikin 4.