My first winter trip to Tuti Island

Today was my first visit to Tuti Island since the end of October, so my first chance to see what is around when there is no migration. I saw three species that I had not seen before in Sudan: a Eurasian Sparrowhawk, a couple of Red-cheeked Cordon-bleus and a couple of African Spoonbills that flew over (one in breeding plumage showing the distinctive pink legs). I have seen a few Stonechats at various locations since my last Tuti visit, but the half dozen or so that I saw today were my first on the island. The extensive orange on the underparts of the males indicated that they were all the European subspecies, rather than the Siberian form that is also know to occur here (and which is often treated as a separate species).

Stonechat, 5th February, Tuti Island

With fewer migrants to worry about, I had more time to look at some of the resident species and I was able to photograph a few that have not posed for me before. This is partly because I don't like to carry a camera with me through the more occupied areas, so I usually only get it out when I reach the northern end of the island where there are fewer people and where they are a bit more familiar with me by now.

Red-billed Hornbill, 5th February, Tuti Island

Masked Shrike, 5th February, Tuti Island

Sudan Golden Sparrow, 5th February, Tuti Island

I hadn't expected to see weavers nest building, but I suppose that in this climate they could breed at any time. Most are now in their non-breeding plumage, so presumably they adopt the breeding plumage for courtship and then lose it to allow them to get though the rest of the breeding season without attracting predators.  The fieldguides don't say anything about moult and nesting strategies, so I will have to do some research to find out a bit more about this.

Vitelline Masked Weaver building a nest, 5th February, Tuti Island

North of Juba

This morning I spent four hours birding along 15 kms of the road north from Juba. Much of the land is flooded in the rains, but now it's parched. Despite this, birds are plentiful.

Landscape 15kms north of Juba - nests are of White-browed Sparrow-Weavers Plocepasser mahali

White-browed Sparrow-Weavers

Among the first birds seen are Grey-backed Fiscals Lanius excubitoroides and Rueppell's Long-tailed Starlings Lamprotornis purpuropterus.

Rueppell's Long-tailed Starling with Grey-backed Fiscals

There are a few flooded borrow pits, which attract hordes of small birds such as weavers ploceus sp., Black-rumped Waxbills Estrilda troglodytes and Red-billed Firefinches Lagonosticta senegala.

Black-rumped Waxbills

The weavers are not in breeding plumage, but seem to include Northern and Lesser Masked P. taeniopterus and P. intermedius, as well as Black-headed and/or Vitelline Masked P. cucullatus and P. velatus.

A confusion of weavers

There are lots of doves, including Namaqua Doves Oena capensis, as well as Vinaceous Doves Streptopelia vinacea.

Vinaceous Dove

On one of the flooded pits were a flock of African Wattled Lapwings Vanellus senegallus, Sacred Ibis Threskiornis aethiopicus and African Open-billed Storks Anastomus lamelligerus.

Sacred Ibis with African Open-billed Storks

African Wattled Lapwing

I'll finish this post with a few raptors. First a pair of Wahlberg's Eagles Aquila wahlbergi, including a stunning pale phase bird.

Pale phase Wahlberg's Eagle

The other bird of the pair

Next some blurry vultures (sorry, they were miles up)....

White-headed Vulture Trigonoceps occipitalis

Rueppell's Griffon Vulture Gyps rueppellii

And last, a Black-chested Snake-Eagle Circaetus pectoralis.

Black-chested Snake-Eagle

Wintering birds at Fenti

Having seen many migrants on my previous two trips to Fenti, I was interested in finding out what hangs around for the winter. There were fewer birds present and many species had clearly just been passing through, but it was evident that many species had stayed for the winter. On my last trip I had spent a lot of time studying the Yellow Wagtails. There were far fewer on Saturday, but still around 30 birds. The commonest subspecies was M. f. feldegg. Most of the thunbergi had left, but I still saw a couple; there were also a few beema and lutea still around. More evident on this visit were the White Wagtails, some of which were already moulting into breeding plumage. There are also many along the banks of the Nile at the moment.

White Wagtail, Fenti 29th Jan 2011

African Mourning Dove - a common resident species, Fenti 29th Jan 2011

Unusual behaviour was being shown by a Common sandpiper. I have seen them at Fenti before, where they usually hang around where you expect them, which is the edge of the pools. Sandpipers will often move short distances away from water and I have seen them on the fairways. What was unusual here was this bird was feeding in the undergrowth on the edge of the fairways, moving through the leaf litter like a typical forest species. I have not seen such behaviour from a sandpiper before.

Common Sandpiper, Fenti 29th Jan 2011

Bird of the day was probably the first bird I saw when I arrived. Sitting on the top of the pavilion was a Blue Rock Thrush, which was a good bird to see.

Blue Rock Thrush, Fenti 29th Jan 2011

There are many species wintering at Fenti, but the big attraction will always be the migrants. Seeing a Whiskered Tern in breeding plumage last week and then the White Wagtails this week makes me think that the start of the spring cannot be far away. I think there will be a lot of interesting birds passing through here again soon.

Juba in the dry season

This is a well overdue second post from Juba, after my first in September last year. Juba is now in the grip of the dry season: dusty and hot. The skies are still full of Kites, Milvus migrans ssp., but I have yet to ascertain the mix of subspecies present. I photographed the bird below earlier today. I originally considered it to be of the nominate subspecies, Milvus migrans migrans, as it has a dark bill. However, I see that in his Atlas of Sudan’s birds, Nikolaus states that aegyptius breeding along the Red Sea coast also have black bills, and Stevenson and Fanshawe's Birds of East Africa states that immature parasiticus has a black bill. The head seems very uniform in colour for migrans, so most likely this is an immature aegyptius or parasiticus Yellow-billed Kite.

Presumed immature parasiticus or aegyptius subspecies of Yellow-billed Kite

There are still several tens of Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus present, often near the abattoir. This area also hosts a population of at least 60 Piapiacs Ptilostomus afer, a curious long-tailed crow that I was delighted to find. In Kenya, where I used to live, the species is very localised along the Ugandan border. In Juba, Piapiacs are not associated with cattle (and obviously not game animals), contra the statement in Stevenson and Fanshawe’s Birds of East Africa, which is my only reference book at present.

Piapiacs

Other typical Juba birds are African Mourning Doves Streptopelia decipiens and Grey-backed Fiscals Lanius excubitoroides.

There are a few small wetland areas immediately around the town, and of course the White Nile flows along the eastern edge. Sacred Ibis Threskiornis aethiopicus have arrived, with a total of 92 seen flying to roost by the White Nile in 30 minutes earlier this week. A small marsh 3kms out of Juba held a variety of herons today, as well as two Yellow-billed Storks Mycteria ibis, which hunted in the shallow water by shading the surface with one wing extended.

Yellow-billed Storks

Sedges along the edge were full of non-breeding plumage Bishops Euplectes sp. There were also a pair of Blue-headed Coucals Centropus monachus, Winding Cisticolas Cisticola galactotes, Zitting Cisticolas Cisticola juncidis uropygialis and Yellow Wagtails Motacilla flava (subspecies not determined).

Winding Cisticola

I’ve started to explore the burnt and parched open bushland and woodland north and east of Juba. Palearctic migrants include Common Redstarts Phoenicurus p. phoenicurus, Whinchats Saxicola rubetra, Woodchat Shrikes Lanius senator, and one Isabelline Shrike Lanius isabellinus of the subspecies isabellinus or phoenicuroides.

Woodchat Shrike

Isabelline Shrike

Residents or local migrants include Foxy Cisticola Cisticola troglodytes, Brown Babbler Turdoides plebejus, Black-headed Gonolek Laniarius erythrogaster, White-browed Sparrow-Weaver Plocepasser mahali, Speckle-fronted Weaver Sporopipes frontalis, Little Weaver Ploceus luteolus and Black-rumped Waxbill Estrilda troglodytes. Perched at intervals on tree tops are Dark Chanting-Goshawks Melierax metabatesi and Grasshopper Buzzards Butastur rufipennis.

Grasshopper Buzzard

That's a taster...more to follow.

What is the status of glossy starlings in Khartoum?

During the autumn I saw the Lesser Blue-eared Starlings reduce in number, with a single bird on October 22nd and no birds after that. This was expected, because Nikolaus describes the species as a visitor to Khartoum from late July until October (though in Cave and MacDonald, 1955, it is only listed as being found in Sennar and the Nuba Mountains!).
However, I thought the Greater Blue-eared Starling was supposed to be a resident here. They also declined in numbers and I saw my last one on October 29th (at least that is the last record in my notebooks and I may have seen them casually after this date). I saw one today beside the Blue Nile, while I was not birding. I wonder if a few hang around, but most leave. I will try and monitor them more closely and try and find a pattern. If anyone has any observations to add, they would be welcome.

Young Greater Blue-eared Starling, Blue Nile 12 Aug 2010

Blue Nile beaches

It has been a long time since my last blog entry because I have been traveling in Kenya and Zanzibar, where the birding and general wildlife were both fantastic. Today I went with my family for a picnic on the Blue Nile just south of Khartoum at a riding stables owned by the school where I work. I had been told that the lowering of the Nile would produce lovely sandy beaches, but there was little on offer for my 3 year old son when we arrived. However, the muddy beaches had plenty of shorebirds, which kept me happy. Egyptian Plovers are everyone's favourite and a real specialty of the Nile. Black-winged Stilts are much more widespread, but always nice birds to see.

 Egyptian Plover, Blue Nile 21 Jan 2011

Black-winged Stilt, Blue Nile 21 Jan 2011

Many of the typical waders are more for the serious birder, being similar in shape, brown and quite difficult to identify without experience. In the photo below the yellow leg colour separates Temminck's Stint from the similar, but black-legged, Little Stint. Marsh Sandpiper can be easily confused with the larger Greenshank, but the photos below show the fine delicate bill of the Marsh Sandpiper compared with the thick, slightly upturned bill of the Common Greenshank. Other species included Curlew Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, and Ruff.

Little stint (left) and Temminck's Stint (right), Blue Nile 21 Jan 2011

Marsh Sandpiper, Blue Nile 21 Jan 2011

Common Greenshank, Blue Nile Jan 2011

Common Sandpiper, Blue Nile 21 Jan 2011

Ruff, Blue Nile Jan 2011

There were several plovers present including Common Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Kittlitz's Plover and Spur-winged Plover (or lapwing).

Kittlitz's Plover, Blue Nile Jan 2011

Little Ringed Plover, Blue Nile Jan 2011

There were also several species of tern flying up and down the river. Most common were Whiskered Tern and Gull-billed Tern, but White-winged Black and Caspian Terns were also around. I was surprised to see that some of the Whiskered terns are already showing their breeding plumage. Another surprise was a Gull-billed Tern that chased a much larger Caspian Tern up and down the river for several minutes to try and take the fish it was carrying. This is common amongst terns, but it is usually the larger species that takes food from the smaller one.

Summer plumaged Whiskered Tern, Blue Nile Jan 2011

Winter plumaged Whiskered Tern, Blue Nile Jan 2011

Gull-billed Tern chasing a Caspian Tern with food, Blue Nile Jan 2011

Alwaha Farm

On Friday I made a visit to Alwaha Farm just south east of Khartoum. I was very fortunate to have operations manager Tarig Kheir to show me around plus his son Mustafa, who has an interest in birds and wildlife.  Alwaha is a large state-of-the-art farm that is at the forefront of developing agriculture in Sudan. One reason for my visit was to try and identify the species of bird that has been decimating their sorghum crop. There were a number of species eating from the heads of the sorghum, but it was no surprise to find the dreaded Red-billed Quelea as the main culprit. This is by far the biggest bird pest in Africa and it has been proposed as the commonest species in the world.

Red Bishop eating sorghum, 3rd December 2010, Alwaha Farm

As soon as we arrived I was impressed with the numbers of birds here. Unlike the Quelea, most of them are welcome here as they are predators of invertebrate pests. Many insect-eaters were present such as Siberian Stonechats, Crested Larks and Yellow Wagtails. Most noticeable, however, were the large numbers of raptors, including several species that I had not seen previously in the country and one (Beaudouin's Snake Eagle) that was a new species for me. Eurasian Griffon Vulture was the first vulture I had seen in Sudan, and is apparently quite a rarity; other species that I had not seen here previously were Pallid Harrier, Greater spotted Eagle and Eurasian Kestrel.

Beaudouin's Snake Eagle, 3rd December 2010, Alwaha Farm

Pallid Harrier, 3rd December 2010, Alwaha Farm

Other raptor species present included Yellow-billed Kite, Black-shouldered Kite, Western Marsh Harrier, Steppe Eagle, Short-toed Snake-Eagle, and Lanner Falcon. Eleven raptor species in one day at one location is very unusual.

Lanner Falcon, 3rd December 2010, Alwaha Farm

Western Marsh Harrier, 3rd December 2010, Alwaha Farm

Black-shouldered Kite, 3rd December 2010, Alwaha Farm

Also notable were the large numbers of Storks in the area. I have seen many Abdim's Storks around Khartoum, but here they were joined by good numbers of migrant White Storks and Black Storks.  

Abdim's Stork , 3rd December 2010, Alwaha Farm

Black Stork, 3rd December 2010, Alwaha Farm

 Several thousand Demoiselle Cranes were feeding in fields before taking off and heading on south. Another great find for me was a Northern Carmine Bee-eater, which was a second new species for me. There were also many other interesting migrant and resident passerine species.

Demoiselle Crane, 3rd December 2010, Alwaha Farm

Northern Carmine Bee-eater, 3rd December 2010, Alwaha Farm

All in all, this one one of the best mornings of birding that I have had in the country. In previous posts I have wondered about the relative lack of migrants on Tuti Island and hypothesised that it is due to them stopping off in other areas along the Nile. The numbers of birds at Alwaha makes me realise that this is probably the case. Alwaha is not open to the public, but I would imagine that other agricultural areas would also house good numbers of birds.