KOTU CREEK – RICE FIELDS – CASINO CYCLE TRACK –
SEWAGE WORKS AND BIJILO FOREST
Our first full day began at 7am with breakfast
on the terrace and an early start as we left the hotel at 7:30am for the short
trip to the Kotu Creek. It was a lovely temperature with a good breeze, perfect
for birding. We stopped on the bridge that overlooks the creek, it was low tide
so an expanse of exposed mud-flat could be seen to east of the bridge. There
were many birds there, the usual Wattled
& Spur-winged Plovers, Senegal
Thick-knee, a single Redshank, likewise a Common Ringed Plover. Grey Heron, Western Reef Egret, Striated Heron,
Long-tailed Cormorant, Grey Plover, Whimbrel and Common Sandpiper. The Pied Kingfishers posed well for the cameras
and entertained us as they dived into the stream catching fish.
A walk along the ‘Casino Cycle Track’ produced
a good number of species as we passed a number of flooded rice fields and
thickets. Red-billed Hornbills, Senegal Coucal, Grey-Plantain Eaters,
White-billed Buffalo Weavers, Green Wood-hoopoes and Yellow-billed Shrikes were
all seen well. The Beautiful Sunbird, Bronze Mannikin, Red-billed Firefinch
were a little harder to photograph. Several open pools of water held
White-faced Whistling Ducks, Squacco Herons, Purple Heron, Great White Egret
and an African Darter.
We retraced our steps back to the bridge and
then turned onto a small track that took us into the rice fields to the east,
we passed close to the mangrove swamp where we found a small party of Little Bee-eaters, these colourful
little darlings allowed close approach if you were willing to get your feet
wet, which two of the group were more than happy to do! We watched a pair of
the iridescent Long-tailed Glossy
Starlings feeding young in the hole in a palm tree, we also ‘scoped’ a Grey Kestrel and a Red-necked Falcon flew over us being chased by Pied Crows.
Next we walked up the sewerage works which sits
above the rice fields?? The filter beds are a mass of flowering yellow lilies,
a bit too overgrown these days, but we did manage to see some birds. A throng
of Little Swifts and a few Palm Swifts were coming down to drink and a number
of waders joined the masses of Cattle Egrets in lily beds. We saw Common &
Wood Sandpiper, Black-winged Stilt, Squacco heron, White-faced Whistling Duck
but no African Jacanas were on show.
The heat was now intense so we walked back to
the bus and drove back to the hotel for a long siesta. We re-emerged at 4pm and
visited the Forest at Bijilo for the rest of the daylight hours.
The forest walk has a nice hide near the
entrance, we crept into the hide had a nice surprise as a dozen or so birds
were bathing and drinking in the small pool. A flock of Black-capped Babblers,
a few Black-necked Weavers and several red-billed Fire Finches were joined by Bronze
Mannikins around the pool edge. To our great delight a pair of Snowy-crowned
Robin-chats perched nearby, the male was in full song giving all the mimicry it
could muster.
Many Green Vervet Monkeys littered the path
hoping for tit-bits and a few Red Colobus monkeys sat upo high in the trees, we
also saw a Monitor Lizard, Sun Squirrel and many butterflies. Back to the birds
spent some time watching Swallowtail Bee-eaters, Little Bee-eaters and a single
White-throated Bee-eater. A couple of Yellow-crowned (Common) Gonoleks showed
well as did Brown Babbler, Common Bubul, Palm-nut Vulture and Blue-bellied
Roller. A Grey-backed Cameroptera proved elusive for most of the group but some
of us saw it. The best bird was the Ahanta Francolin, we found two of them
walking noiselessly through the undergrowth, it was our guide Modou who first
got on to them, what a great find they were.
The light began to fade so we turned around and
walked through the forest back to the bus, we were back at the hotel for 7pm,
tired but well pleased with our first full day, we now had 80 species in the
bag (and most of them were photographed).
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