Kakum National Park, Canopy Walkway, Accra, March 2014

This week’s trip to Accra, Ghana, was proving to be very productive. 22 life ticks had been seen on the full day off and I was still close to the forest as the second morning began, but flashes of lightning and rolls of thunder, made my heart sink. Should we venture up onto a canopy walkway during a thunderstorm I wondered, but Yow and Kalu, my driver and guide for the trip, were up and ready, so after a very early breakfast, we set out for Kakum National Park and the Canopy Walkway there.

Again, I must give credit to Kalu who was able to identify the calls and find the birds for me. Without him I would have been frustrated by small, distant birds with little to distinguish them from the other small distant birds. Just beyond the entrance we encountered a Sabine’s Puffback, our first red-crayon bird of the day.

Out on the walkway, the lifers came thick and fast with Fraser’s Sunbird, Icterine Greenbul and Speckled Tinkerbird were seen from the first platform. The walkway runs in a circle with 6 solid platforms constructed around sturdy trunks, connected by swaying, netted rope bridges. It looked a bit rickety, but it held our weight well enough. 

We were lucky to have been allowed early access, so the walkway was quiet, but as the morning progressed, it became rather busier. Apparently Mondays through Thursdays are the better days to visit as Friday, Saturday and Sunday can be very busy.

From the third platform (assuming that you are travelling in a clockwise direction) Black-capped Apalis, Violet-backed Hyliota and Yellow-browed Camaroptera were added.

We spent more time at Platform 5 which is said to be good for hawks as the day warms up and hornbills as dusk closes in. From here we added Lemon-bellied Crombec, Brown-throated Sunbird, Grey-headed and Chestnut-breasted Negritas.

Kalu does not like heights and he became very quiet for a while as a party of school kids passed through, but as soon as the platform stopped shaking and their shrieks died away, he was back pointing out Tit-Hylia, Crested Malimbe and Brown-throated Sunbird.

We decided to move on as the walkway became busier, but Kalu pulled another couple of sweet birdies for me to end our visit on a high. I was quite proud to recognise the call of the Green Hylia and Kalu called them out of the thick bush with a quick playback. We had seen them on the previous day, but my sighting had been so poor that I elected not to count them, so I was pleased to have them on the list for today. Then as we were just about to leave, Kalu suggested that if we took a little look around the reception area, we might find the stunningly gorgeous, Black Bee-eater which rounded out a morning of 21 red-crayon birds.

Bird list for Kakum National Park and the Canopy Walkway; 44

Cattle Egret 3, Black Kite 3, Blue-spotted Wood-dove (heard only) Yellowbill 1, Woodland Kingfisher 1, Black Bee-eater 2, White-throated Bee-eater 5, African Pied Hornbill 7, Naked-faced Barbet 1, Speckled Tinkerbird 5, Least Honeyguide 1, Chestnut Wattle-eye 3, Large-billed Puffback, Blue Cuckoo-Shrike 1, Black-winged Oriole 1, Velvet-mantled Drongo 5, Pied Crow 15, Lesser Striped-Swallow 6, Tit-Hylia 3, Swamp Greenbul 3, Grey Greenbul 5, Lemon-bellied Crombec 1, Wood Warbler 1, Black-capped Apalis 1, Sharpe’s Apalis 3, Yellow-browed Camaroptera 1, Rufous-crowned Eremomela 2, Green Hylia 4, Violet-backed Hyliota 1,  Little Flycatcher 3, Chestnut-winged Starling 1, Scarlet-tufted (Fraser’s) Sunbird 5, Collared Sunbird 3, Blue-throated Brown Sunbird 1, Splendid Sunbird 1, Johanna’s Sunbird 1, Crested Malimbe 1, Red-headed Malimbe 2, Yellow-mantled Weaver 5, Maxwell’s Black Weaver 1, Grosbeak Weaver 2, Grey-headed Negrita 2, Chestnut-breasted Negrita 1.

Malaria exists throughout Ghana and you are advised to take precautions. Parmaceutical precautions are not 100% effective, so the best advice is to avoid getting bitten. Use Deet and cover up. Climbing through the canopy as the sun comes up is another good way to freak out your malarial advisor.

You will need private transport. Yow and his car cost US$110 for a day’s hire plus petrol. Kalu’s fee is US$50 per day. If you stay overnight, you will also pay for their accommodation and food. Kalu can make arrangements for driver and car hire when you enlist his services.

Contact him at; kalu_afasi@yahoo.com

Visit the dedicated Africa Page for more posts from Accra, including; Aburi Botanical Gardens and Labadi BeachLagoon.

Birding, Birdwatching, Bonkro Village, Accra, Ghana.

Bonkro Village, Accra, Ghana, March 2014

This afternoon’s visit to the West African forests was one of the most hotly anticipated trips that I have done in a long time. I was going in search of a White-necked Picathartes and had asked a local guide, Kalu Afasi, to help me. To my mind, Picathartes are birds of legend, seen only by the luckiest, most dedicated bird-spotters. They are endangered and shy, but there is a knack to finding them. They return to their nests each evening and can reliably be seen by waiting quietly for dusk within sight of the nest. It has been shown that whilst they are secretive during the day as they forage deep in the forest, they are bolder around the nest sites and one such place exists near Bonkro Village. Kalu was familiar with it and was confident that we would see the birds. The drive from Accra, had been punctuated by a couple of hours on the coastal plains near Winneba and lunch in Assin Foso before we arrived in the area in the early afternoon.

We still had a couple of hours to spare, so Kalu took me for a saunter down a side track to employ the time usefully. The forest here has been logged and logging continues, but it is growing back thickly and there were tall mature trees with a lot of low growth too.

African Emerald Cuckoo could be heard, but it would not respond to Kalu’s playback. Klaas’s Cuckoo and Black Cuckoo however, were curious enough to make a fly past in response to their respective recordings. I am not usually a fan of playback, but without it the forest would probably have given up very few sightings despite us being surrounded by songs and calls.

Pictures were very thin on the ground again and in an attempt to bring something home, I took to shooting butterflies and dragonflies that surrounded every puddle on the road. It had been raining recently and the road was very wet, so I had plenty of opportunity to catch some of the more delicate wingéd creatures of the forest.

Identifying silhouetted birds high in the trees or ones with little contrasting features in the darkness lower down was difficult and I have to acknowledge Kalu’s familiarity with size, shape and movement and his expertise in matching dull-coloured greenbuls to their calls. I had to take on trust some of his identifications as I was unable to see any distinguishing fieldmarks, but he gained my confidence quickly and easily, so we had very little occasion to argue over an identification.

When I did manage to catch a picture of a bird, the camera (which had been set to pick up as much light as possible), brought out the green which was not apparent in the Grey Longbill as we watched it.

Many of the birds gave mere glimpses with Slender-billed Greenbul, Honeyguide Greenbul and Red-tailed Greenbul staying partially hidden. Naked-faced Barbet and Velvet-mantled Drongo were clearer, but high. White-faced Woodhoopoe flashed across the road. An African Pied Hornbill sat out on a dead branch and gave a nice profile for a silhouette shot.

It was nearing Picathartes time and I kept checking with Kalu that we were good for it and he constantly reassured me that we were, so my confidence in him took a knock as we neared the stake-out site to find two birders coming the other way saying that the birds had been and gone.

We had driven on to Bonkro and enlisted the services of a guide from the village. He led us through an agricultural area of cassava, banana and cocoa before cutting into the forest on a walk that took about 25 minutes. We met the two Spanish birders just before we reached the rocky outcrop. They looked pleased with their sighting, but the birds had moved off and they had waited for an hour before giving up on seeing them again and heading out of the forest. I was worried that I might have missed them, but again I was reassured that the birds would show.

If you can picture the Millenium Falcon, having nose-dived into a jungle, you pretty much have the scene as I saw it. A large slab of rock jutted from the ground at about the same angle that an out of control spaceship would have come to rest and an earthen nest, similar to a swallow’s but bigger, hung from the underside. The approved method of White-necked Picathartes watching is simply to sit quietly and wait for the birds to return to their night roost, so I picked a comfortable looking spot and sat. After 40 minutes or so, it became clear that the spot was not as comfortable as it first appeared, but the birds did show as promised and gave a very close fly by. The guides tapped my toe and pointed into the undergrowth in the opposite direction from which I had been expecting the birds to come.

After a while, one came out for a full view while the second lagged behind in the tangles. The bolder one flew past, between us and the rock and stopped just beneath the nest. It looked back for its mate which stayed behind and seemed reluctant to come out into the open. Kalu suggested that it was un-nerved by our presence, so we moved on to allow them to settle down for the night.

I was delighted with the sighting, but getting a picture had proved a bit tricky. The light was already fading and the area was in heavy shade, so I had had to bump up the ISO rating and open the aperture as much as possible to get enough light for a decent exposure. Truth be told, as I waited for the birds to show up and the evening grew progressively darker, I would have settled for virtually anything, so I am pleased with what I managed to get.

Bird list for Bonkro Village; 25

Grey Kestrel 1, Blue-spotted Wood-dove (heard only), Red-chested Cuckoo (heard only), Klaas’s Cuckoo 1, Black Cuckoo 1, African Emerald Cuckoo (heard only), Mottled Spinetail 3, White-headed Woodhoopoe 2, African Pied Hornbill 4, Naked-faced Barbet 2, Hairy-breasted Barbet 1, Chestnut Wattle-eye 1, Blue Cuckoo-Shrike 1, Black-winged Oriole 1, Velvet-mantled Drongo 3, White-necked Rockfowl 2, Slender-billed Greenbul 2, Honeyguide Greenbul 2, Red-tailed Greenbul 1, Grey Greenbul 2, Sharpe’s Apalis 4, Collared Sunbird 1, Western Olive Sunbird 2, Red-headed Malimbe 2, Yellow-mantled Weaver 5.

15 life ticks were found in the vicinity of Bonkro Village bringing the day total of first sightings to 22! Preuss’s Swallow was seen en-route and would not otherwise get a mention.

The drive took us through towns and villages, each of them charming in its own unique way. The people were friendly and approachable. I am not able to place Bonkro Village exactly on a map. I didn’t drive and Google Earth resolution in the area is very low. eBird has a Hotspot locator in the general area, but I cannot guarantee its accuracy.

Malaria exists throughout Ghana and you are advised to take precautions. Pharmaceutical precautions are not 100% effective, so the best advice is to avoid getting bitten. Sitting in the forest around dusk is probably a good way to freak out your malarial advisor. Use Deet and cover up.

You will need private transport. Yow and his car cost US$110 for a day’s hire plus petrol. Kalu’s fee is US$50 per day. If you stay overnight, you will also pay for their accommodation and food. Kalu can make arrangements for driver and car hire when you enlist his services.

Contact him at; kalu_afasi@yahoo.com

Visit the dedicated Africa Page for more posts from Accra, including; Aburi BotanicalGardens and Labadi Beach Lagoon and Winneba Plains from earlier in the day

Birding, Birdwatching, Bonkro Village, Accra, Ghana.

Winneba Plains, Accra, Ghana, March 2014

This trip gave me a full day off in Accra and I had enlisted the help of a guide, Kalu Afasi, to visit the west African forests in search of a White-breasted Picathartes. The picathartes are best seen in the evening when they return to their nest under a rocky overhang, so we made best use of the morning by taking a look around the Winneba Plains, an hour and a bit (approx 80kms), to the west of Ghana’s capital city.

I should have taken more pictures to help give you an impression of the coastal savannah. I could also have taken pictures of the lifer birds that skitted in and out of the grass and scrub in response to Kalu’s calls. A few common birds were seen on the journey, including Cattle Egrets, Black-shouldered Kites and Pied Crows, but the red crayon birds began as soon as we stepped from the car with an African Moustached Warbler.

Car hire in Ghana had seemed very expensive, until it became clear that the price included a driver, in our case, Yow. Yow dropped us and drove on ahead as we birded the gravel road that led south from the main road, towards the coast. Left to my own devices, I may have ignored the cisticolas (tricky warblers of grass and scrubland) but Kalu was able to separate them by call and drew them close using playback from his phone. This brought Red-faced Cisticola, Siffling Cisticola and Singing Cisticola.

An African Pygmy Kingfisher and Wattled Lapwings were flushed as we walked while Mottled Spinetails flew above. Three species of Sunbirds included Green-headed, Splendid and Copper. Blackcap Babbler was seen as a small flock flouncing through the scrub and Blue-spotted Wood-dove and Vinaceous Dove flashed across the road.

The last of 6 lifers for the morning came in the shape of a Simple Greenbul, or Simple Leaflove if you prefer.

The only birdy picture from the morning that is worth sharing was of a White-throated Bee-eater that was found down a side track along with more Bar-breasted Fire-finches and a couple of Jacobin Cuckoos.

Bird list for Winneba Plains; 34

Black-shouldered Kite 4, Black Kite 15, Wattled Lapwing 2, Red-eyed Dove 1, Vinaceous Dove 1, Laughing Dove 4, Blue-spotted Wood-Dove 5, Western Plantain-eater 2, Pied Cuckoo 2, Mottled Spinetail 3, White-rumped Swift 4, African Palm-swift 5, African Pygmy Kingfisher 2, White-throated Bee-eater 2, Common Gonolek 3, Pied Crow 25, Simple Greenbul 3, Common Bulbul 20, Moustached Warbler 2, Red-faced Cisticola 1, Singing Cisticola 1, Siffling Cisticola 4, Blackcap Babbler 3, Whinchat 2, African Thrush 2, Purple Glossy-Starling 1, Green-headed Sunbird 1, Splendid Sunbird 1, Copper Sunbird 6, Northern Grey-headed Sparrow 2, Black-necked Weaver 1, Yellow-shouldered Widowbird 5, Bar-breasted Firefinch 12, Bronze Mannikin 3.

The road carried a little traffic, but we were still able to wander freely down the middle. I felt quite comfortable as we walked and did not feel threatened at all. Kalu made no mention of any unpleasantness in the area apart from a story about being challenged by a landowner when he strayed from the road. He saved this story for when we had strayed from the road in search of a Sulphur-breasted Bush-Shrike. We passed an area of the plains which was being developed and this may draw in some itinerant workers. It may be as well to visit in company or ask your driver to stay close.

Malaria precautions are advised for all areas of Ghana. On this itinerary, we encountered very few mosquitoes, but it would be prudent to follow the advise just the same.

Yow’s driving services and his car cost US$110 for a day’s hire plus petrol. Kalu’s fee is US$50 per day. Kalu can make arrangements for driver and car hire when you enlist his services.

Contact him at; kalu_afasi@yahoo.com

Visit the dedicated Africa Page for more posts from Accra, including; Aburi Botanical Gardens and Labadi Beach Lagoon.

Birding, Birdwatching, Winneba Plains, Accra, Ghana.

Lots of lifers in Ghana, Accra, March 2014

If you should venture into the forests of West Africa, you might want to bring a guide. I found one through Birding Pal and he showed me how absolutely incompetent I am at this bird-spotting lark. Without him, I doubt that I would have found even a third of the birds that graced my trip list. To my eyes and ears, the forest seemed empty, but Kalu Afasi was able to pull birds, as if from a hat, name them and point them out to me.

A White-necked Picathartes (Picathartes gymnocephalus) was served on a plate and a Black Bee-eater was teed up for me. More than forty other life birds were seen on this trip to Accra, Ghana and I have to give credit to Kalu for pretty much all of them.

Picathartes are birds of legend, shy and range-restricted, but a reliable site can be reached from Ghana’s capital city in an afternoon. With a whole day off in Accra, this was too good an opportunity to miss, so I contacted Kalu who suggested we visit the Winneba Plains on our way to Bonkro Village to find this odd-looking bird. After dark, we drove down to the Cape Coast and stopped overnight before calling in at Kakum National Park and the Canopy Walkway.

I do not have the time to write up at the moment, but hope to make at least 4 posts from this visit. In the meantime, if you need a guide to lead you through the avian treasures of Ghana, I can recommend Kalu and he can be reached at; kalu_afasi@yahoo.com

Once round the lagoon, Dubai, March 2014

My mission today was to test my assertion that it is possible to visit the main Dubai Hotspots and get back to the airport in time for tea. It is easily possible to do the visiting, but it seems that if you want to make it into a birdy extravaganza, you will need the wind at your back and a favourable tide.

There are 4 hotspots that make a circuit around the lagoon at Dubai, starting and finishing at the airport, but the first priority is to set your direction of travel. Clockwise, nothing else will do. By installing central reservations down all the roads, Dubai town planners saw to it that a driver will never be able to turn left, so the tour must be done with a series of right turns, thus a clockwise direction (This will make a circuit of 53kms. Anti-clockwise is tortuous and convoluted. I clocked 70kms on Google Earth, but had to miss out Ras Al Khor Mangrove Hide).

First off is Mushrif Park, just 10 minutes from the airport at Google Earth ref; 25 13 46.66N 55 27 3.24E. See this link for more details.

The gate opens at 08.00, but there is a small car park to the left of the gate and some birding can be done on the approach road. Once in the park, take the 2 km circular route that turns off to the right just after the gate. Indian Roller, Southern Grey Shrike and Grey Francolin will probably be seen; Eurasian Collared Doves, Laughing Doves and White-eared Bulbuls are almost a certainty. My lifer of the day came from here this morning in the form of a Ménétriés Warbler.

There are plenty of stopping places where you can get out and walk in the scrub, but on this occasion, I found nothing that I hadn’t already seen from the car. The circular drive ends back at the gate, but you can go round as many times as you wish.

Birds seen;

Grey Francolin 12, Shikra 1, Red-wattled Lapwing 6, Eurasian Collared-Dove 250, Laughing Dove 60, Rose-ringed Parakeet 8, Pallid Swift 6, Green Bee-eater 2, Indian Roller 3, Eurasian Hoopoe 1, Southern Grey Shrike 5, House Crow 2, Red-vented Bulbul 1, White-eared Bulbul 40, Menetries Warbler 3, Common Myna 20, Purple Sunbird 6, House Sparrow 120, Indian Silverbill 4.

 The next stop is Pivot field (at Google Earth ref; 25 9 52.50N 55 25 50.73E. Seethis link for more details. Turn right out of Mushrif Park, turn right at roundabout, cross 2 roundabouts, turn right at next roundabout, cross roundabout, turn right at next roundabout. Turn right, go back on yourself and find gate to Pivot Field at the top.) and I found that the workers take a break for lunch and close the field to birdwatchers, so time your arrival carefully. 

Pivot Field is a grass farm and features a large pivot watering system. Birders are welcome, but cars are NOT permitted to drive on the grass. The whole site is available to the walking birder and if you can find someone with an experienced eye for a pipit, he will be very useful here. 

Crested Larks have proved easy to find as are Green Bee-eaters and Red-wattled Lapwings. Bank Mynas surprised me today and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Western Yellow Wagtails. Look out for White-tailed Lapwings as well as Social Lapwings in the winter.

Birds seen;

Grey Francolin 2, Cattle Egret 1, Red-wattled Lapwing 18, White-tailed Lapwing 2, Black-headed Gull 3, Eurasian Collared Dove 250, Laughing Dove 5, Rose-ringed Parakeet 2, Green Bee-eater 3, Eurasian Hoopoe 3, Crested Lark 10, White-eared Bulbul 8, Graceful Prinia 2, Bank Myna 60, Common Myna 25, Purple Sunbird 2, Western Yellow Wagtail 20, White Wagtail 8, Red-throated Pipit 4, House Sparrow 30,

The Mangrove Hide looks out onto the lagoon at Ra’s al-Khor (Google Earth ref; 25 11 9.19N 55 19 45.57E). See this link for more details.  There is not much of the lagoon visible, but there is plenty of water even when the tide is out, so there will be birds. Today a Common Snipe fed in the margins while Northern Pintail and Green-winged Teal rested on the dry spots. Of course the star attraction on the lagoon is the Greater Flamingo. 

They sometimes approach close to the hide, But are more likely to be seen further out in the company of herons and egrets. Waders can be seen at a distance and I was able to identify Black-tailed Godwits today, but the small stints were beyond me. A scope is available to borrow from the security guard positioned at the hide.

Birds seen;

Northern Pintail 4, Green-winged Teal 12, Greater Flamingo 60, Grey Heron 6, Great Egret 4, Little Egret 2, Western Reef-heron 4, Cattle Egret 3, Red-wattled Lapwing 2, Kentish Plover 4, Black-winged Stilt 30, Common Sandpiper 1, Black-tailed Godwit 11, Common Snipe 1, Gull-billed Tern 1, Eurasian Collared Dove 15, Laughing Dove 4, White-eared Bulbul 5, House Sparrow 20,

When the tide is right, or at feeding time, the best place to see the Greater Flamingos is at Flamingo Hide, just a short way further round the clockwise route (Google Earth ref; 25 11 31.81N 55 18 39.57E). See this link for more details. 

Hundreds of birds can be seen here when the tide is high or from 15.00 when they get a supplemental feed. A high tide is your best bet as shore birds get pushed up close to the hide too. I arrived at a very low tide today and found a couple of Curlew and a Kentish Plover.

 Apart from these, there was just mud. Oh, and more Eurasian Collared Doves (I returned later to find approximately 700 flamingos crowded around the end of the spit and managed to get some pictures. The hide was quite crowded by now and I had to kneel behind the front row and take pictures over someone’s shoulder). From here, follow signs to Al Maktoum Bridge and you will be back at the airport in no time.

Birds seen;

Greater Flamingo 700, Great Egret 1, Little Egret 1, Kentish Plover 1, Eurasian Curlew 8, Gull-billed Tern 4, Eurasian Collared Dove 25, Laughing Dove 6, White-eared Bulbul 6, Common Myna 4, House Sparrow 20.

If you are not especially birdy, Flamingo Hide is worth a visit anyway for hundreds of close up Greater Flamingos. Mushrif Park is great for a picnic. Pivot Field is strictly for the birder or turf-lover. This picture should please you whichever camp you fall into.

So the circuit itself is easy enough, but timing is important. Check Easytide, and select Al Maktoum Bridge to get a free tide prediction. Otherwise, supplemental feed is put out around 15.00 for the flamingos.

This route is best achieved in a private or hire car as taxis cannot easily (if at all) be found at any of the sites.

 http://www.ukho.gov.uk/easytide/EasyTide/index.aspx

Visit the dedicated Middle East page for more posts from Dubai.

Birding, Birdwatching , Dubai, DXB