Birding weekly 20140407

Open forest stretch along the non-perennial stream

This week I took some time to sit and listen and watch for birds down in our riparian forest. This area has a distinctly different bird species composition to the rest of the property. which makes it an excitable birding area once one gets into it. The spot I sat at and listened for a while produced several different types of Sunbirds namely two distinct to the riparian forests. The Green-Headed Sunbird (Cyanomitra verticalis) and Variable Sunbird (Cinnyris venustus). With the Foot-pod trees (Isoberliana Sp.) and West Africa species of Birdlime or Mistletoe (Angelanthus dodoneifolius) in flower the sun-birds have be rather busy of late. So much so that I have managed to find several of the sunbirds species found in the area including the Splendid Sunbird (Cynnyri cocinigastra), an unexpected new find for the Serarou list.

Green-headed Sunbird (Cyanomitra verticalis); This sunbird confines itself to the riparian forest on the property and fairly common within it. Move away from the riparian forest and you'll find mainly Scarlet-Chested (Chalcomitra senegalensis), Coppery (Cynnyris cuprea) and occasional Pygmy (Hedydipna platura) Sunbirds. Unlike the dullness of other female sunbirds, the female Green-headed sunbird resembles the male slightly with a green cap and is easily identified. The male has a iridescent green headed extending onto his chest and the back of his head.

Variable (Yellow-bellied) Sunbird (Cinnyris venustus); This sunbird took me a while to identify, baffled by, what I thought was a White-bellied sunbird. However being so far away from its distribution the bird with a white belly, purplish-green band across the breast and iridescent throat. It was only when I read that the Variable Sunbird belly colour is, well, variable in colour depending on location. The White-belly being prominent within the Dohagomy gap region. This sunbird although present is not an easy find around here.

Balck-Crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax); This was a great sighting this last week. The previous week when I had stayed out at Lake Bature, I had seen large heron like birds  flying around after dusk, one could just make out their contrasting figures in the fading light. this baffled my and started to think European Bittern (Botauras stellaris), as it is that time of year when the european migrants start heading north. This happen for both evenings I was there and thought if it were a stop over why hadn't it been a once off event. it was only when while working near the cottage at lake Bature did I get my answer. I flushed a Black-Crowned Night-heron out of its roosting spot in the trees below the dam. Clear as daylight the figure of its flight matched up to the figure of the birds that had come flying in to the dam early evening.

Other species of interest around Serarou: African Cuckoo (Cuculus clamosus)
Grasshoper buzzard (Butastur rufipennis)
Jacobin's Cukoo (Clamator jacobinus)
Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus)