After a few days at Lampsar, we were back in the rattletrap bus and heading back to Diadiam III - for reasons not quite clear to me, we stayed in different accommodation - this time the Campement Bidiel in the centre of the village - for some ringing around the biological station at the park entrance. This entailed a brisk walk of about 1.5 km to get the nets opened in the morning, then a walk back for breakfast for 8 and back again for the next few hours, then back again when we packed up in the heat of the day.
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| From the back of the van this time. Note the securely-latched back door. |
As you might imagine, breakfast back at the lodge soon fell by the wayside (the food in Senegal was perfectly fine, but the breakfasts were generally the least interesting option, being baguette with either mango jam, hibiscus jam (delicious, highly recommended) or mystery jam plus instant coffee). The loss of the lodge breakfast was eased by discovery of a lovely lady with a kiosk at the entrance to the park, who sold coffee (also instant, but what the hell) and made omelette sandwiches on a half baguette for the princely sum of €1.30 for the whole package.
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| Coffee at the kiosk! |
The other significant flaw with ringing here was the wind. The entire
time we spent here, the wind was up and blasting by 9 at the latest.
Given sunrise is only at 7:15 and there was really no pre-dawn activity,
this left a really small window available for ringing. What about the
afternoon, I hear you ask (really!) Well, by the time the heat was out
of the day there was probably an hour, max two for ringing.
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| The harmattan kept us dusty most days |
The idea had been to put up nets in the thorn scrub near the village, but this produced next to nothing the first couple of evenings, and by that point there was little enthusiasm for traipsing round empty nets every 20 minutes, so - aside from one net aiming for nightjars and other oddities - the idea was shelved. So, I ended up doing a lot more exploring of the thorn scrub to the south of Diadiam III than I'd expected, but this was not really such a bad thing. I've never really had the chance to walk and wander at will in Africa before, so the chance to wander off, explore even a small area and see what was out there was too good to ignore.
A trek across the bleak saltflats to the east of the village took me
to another shallow pool, drying gradually out. The biggest inhabitants
were a herd of donkeys, who weren't too impressed with my presence, but
didn't go rushing off into the distance either. They just kept a wary
eye on me, presumably in case I attempted to rope one up. The usual
assortment of waders was hanging out on the mud: mainly Wood Sandpipers
and Little Stints, but a little group of Kentish Plovers trying to blend
with the sand made a nice addition. A Grey Heron lurked in the middle
of the pool, keeping itself well away from both me and an intruding
Purple Heron.
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| Kentish Plovers - a long way from Kent |
Nicest of all, an Osprey was hunkered down on the ground at the other end of the pool. After a while it got fed up with me watching it and headed off northwards. I worked my way gradually around the pool, just to see what was around. The north side was linked to a zigzag series of wet ditches, mainly banked high and thickly grown with tamarisk, but occasionally with tramped patches where animals had been crossing. The dragonfly fauna was as disappointing as before: mainly
Crocothemis erythraea and the ever-present
Ischnura senegalensis; just a lone
Orthetrum (sp.) to add variety. Part-way along the ditches I heard a whistle, then saw a man striding through the bushes towards me. To be honest I was expecting to be told that I was somewhere that I shouldn't be, but he just wanted to know the name of the village - though he also instructed me that I wasn't allowed to take photos here: on the road was OK, but not here. Smile, nod. Scratch head metaphorically and wonder why...
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| Orthetrum species - maybe just trinacria? |
As the pool was less interesting than hoped, I focused on spending the rest of my free time exploring the thorn scrub. A different route out and across each day to slice it up into new sections. It was, despite the aridity and sometimes desolate appearance, surprisingly productive. Key to finding birds seemed to be finding fruiting and, to a lesser extent, flowering shrubs, but when there were birds there were often reasonable numbers and diversity. Yes, the bulk birds were seed-eaters (Sudan Golden Sparrow mainly, and lashings of weavers and queleas) and pigeons (Mourning Collared, Namaqua and Laughing, in order of abundance), but there was plenty more to find.
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| Sudan Golden Sparrows en masse |
Little groups of Northern Red-billed Hornbills were often to be found munching the fruits of some trees, bounding up to the tops of the trees when I got too close. Palearctic migrants were spread through the scrub too: plenty of Western Olivaceous and Western Subalpine Warbler, the occasional Common Whitethroat, lots of Common Chiffchaffs and a few Western Bonelli's Warblers, one or two Common Redstarts and Woodchat Shrikes and a couple of Hoopoes. More exotic - for me - were Senegal Batis, sounding vaguely like a Great Tit, and the purring trills of Brubrus. Every so often a flash of electric blue revealed a Striped Kingfisher had been waiting patiently in the shadows. Near the cemetery (where else?) was a reliable spot to find Senegal Thick-knees and Orange-breasted Waxbills; tiny splashes of colour in an otherwise sand-and-green landscape.
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| Hoopoe. As if you didn't know that... |
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| Western Bonelli's Warbler |
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| Western Red-billed Hornbill |
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| Senegal Thick-knee |
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| Orange-breasted Waxbill |
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| ...and a whole flock of 'em |
Interestingly, there were also plenty of dragonflies in this arid area too: not just roving bluetails, but also a very pale spreadwing - maybe Lestes pallidus? - and an apparent Pseudagrion species. Neat! Possibly the nicest sightings were a couple of predators: a random Peregrine and an equally random African Wolf, which trotted past me, paused to check whether I looked like trouble, and then trotted on. Very, very cool.
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| Deciding I'm just not worth the hassle |
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| Dung beetle's gotta roll |
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| Perhaps Lestes pallidus |
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| Definitely Trithemis annulata |
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| Plain Tiger (butterfly) |
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| This is getting more tricky. A leopard tiger beetle (there's a cat theme developing) |
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| Still not adult, but already bigger than a European Mantis: African Giant Mantis |
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| Pioneer White |
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| A beautiful ichneumon-type wasp |
What ringing there was at the biological station was a little bit comme ci, comme ça. Again something of a tendency to weaver overload, but nonetheless some nice additional birds too. A patch of scrub to the east of the abandoned hotel produced a nice mix of Palearctic migrants and Afrotropical goodies - lots of Curruca warblers (including our only Westen Orphean) and Chiffchaffs, a couple of Yellow-crowned Gonoleks and some Camaropteras. Attempting to catch waders was nigh-on pointless, with isolated nets and the ever-present wind - with the exception of these:
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| Greater Painted-Snipe |
which came piling in to the swampy grassland in the early morning, from wherever they'd been munching overnight. And ringing reedbed passerines was heavily influenced by the wind and the weavers, though we did catch a British-ringed Sedge Warbler and a Common Redstart with a South African ring.
Still, whatever the ringing situation might have fallen short on, there was generally plenty going on on and around the pools, so boredom was kept fairly well at bay.
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| Yellow Wagtail action round the pools: this one looks like Spanish (iberiae)... |
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| ...while this one looks like a standard Blue-headed (flava) |
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| The flamingos were usually quite distant, but occasionally came close enough to photograph |
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| Kittlitz's Plover and Common Ringed Plover |
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| Great White Pelicans overhead were frequent, sometimes in massive flocks |
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| Little Stint |
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| Looking north across the pool to the new biological station |
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| Little Egret |
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| Western Orphean Warbler |
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| Amongst the White-faced Whistling-Ducks were usually a few Fulvous |
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| Occasional obstacle on net rounds |
