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Ghana Mega Birding Tour 28Th November to 19Th December 2017 (22 Days) Trip Report

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Ghana Mega Birding Tour 28Th November to 19Th December 2017 (22 Days) Trip Report Ghana Mega Birding Tour 28th November to 19th December 2017 (22 days) Trip Report Long-tailed hawk by Peter Candido Trip report compiled by Tour Leader: Wayne Jones Rockjumper Birding Tours View more tours to Ghana Trip Report – RBL Ghana - Mega 2017 2 Top 10 Birds 1. White-necked Rockfowl 6. Red-cheeked Wattle-eye 2. Egyptian Plover 7. Great Blue Turaco 3. Standard-winged Nightjar 8. Thick-billed Cuckoo 4. Long-tailed Hawk 9. Black Bee-eater 5. Rufous-sided Broadbill 10. Violet-backed Hyliota ___________________________________________________________________________________ Tour Summary Ghana is often described as the jewel of West Africa. It’s decent infrastructure and stable government means it’s one of the more tourist-friendly countries in that part of the world. We dabbled in a bit of culture, with visits to the World Heritage Site of Cape Coast Castle and Larabanga Mosque, and also explored the remnant rainforest patches in the south, plus the vast wilderness of Mole National Park, notching up over 430 species of birds and over 20 mammals. These included highly sought-after gems like White-necked Rockfowl, Egyptian Plover, Blue-moustached Bee-eater, Stone Partridge, Congo Serpent Eagle, White-spotted Flufftail, Yellow-billed Turaco, Red-billed Dwarf Hornbill, African Piculet, Shining-blue Kingfisher, Standard-winged Nightjar, Long-tailed Hawk and more. Senegal Parrot by Steve Gast ___________________________________________________________________________________ We kicked off our Ghanaian birding adventure at Shai Hills, not far from the capital of Accra. The morning warmed up very quickly but we managed to get in some good birding before the heat became too oppressive. The bushy forest thickets yielded Gabar Goshawk, African Green Pigeon, African Pygmy Kingfisher, African Pied and African Grey Hornbills, Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird, Double- toothed Barbet, a pair of Cardinal Woodpeckers, Senegal Parrot, Senegal Batis, White-crested Helmetshrike, Red-shouldered Cuckooshrike, Senegal Eremomela, Grey Tit-Flycatcher, Northern Black Flycatcher, Splendid Sunbird, very brief glimpses of White-crowned Cliff Chat and Pin- tailed Whydah. Over in the more open grassy areas, we found Red-necked Buzzard, Double- spurred Francolin, Common Quail, Short-winged and Croaking Cisticolas, Blue-bellied Roller, Striped Kingfisher and Plain-backed Pipit. By far the top bird of the morning was Yellow-winged Pytilia. We initially had a single male on the road and even managed to climb out the vehicle for closer looks without scaring him, and we also saw a pair later on. What a treat to see this very handsome little bird so well! Other wildlife at the reserve included Kob, Green Monkey, Olive Blue-bellied Roller by Myles McNally Baboon and a hefty Nile Monitor. Rockjumper Birding Tours View more tours to Ghana Trip Report – RBL Ghana - Mega 2017 3 At our lunch stop alongside Lake Volta, we (eventually!) enjoyed good looks at Mangrove Sunbird and also saw African Harrier-Hawk nearby. We crossed to the eastern side of the lake, where we saw White-throated Bee-eater, Broad-billed Roller, Senegal Coucal, African Hobby and a sadly brief Pied- winged Swallow among numerous Barn and Ethiopian Swallows. Continuing our journey eastward, we made an impromptu roadside stop near Juapong Square, adding three starlings to our list: Bronze-tailed, Splendid and Purple. Thanks to our afternoon birding, we arrived at Kalakpa Resource Reserve rather late and found African Scops Owl and Black- shouldered and Long-tailed Nightjars once the sun went down. We returned to Kalakpa the next morning, starting in the farm bush lining the entrance to the reserve. This edge habitat proved highly fruitful, with excellent sightings of African Thick-billed Cuckoo by Steve Gast Cuckoo-Hawk, Blue-spotted Wood Dove, Mottled Spinetail, Green Wood Hoopoe, Black Scimitarbill, Fine-spotted Woodpecker, Grey Kestrel, two Brown-necked Parrots, Yellow-billed Shrike, African Golden Oriole, Red-faced and Whistling Cisticolas, African Thrush and Orange-cheeked Waxbill. By contrast, the forest was pretty challenging, with only poor looks at Guinea Turaco, European Bee-eater and African Paradise Flycatcher. We did, however, enjoy a fly-over from a magnificent Thick-billed Cuckoo. The sight of this massive (and responsive) cuckoo flying in from quite a distance – appearing more like a medium-sized goshawk – and then languidly circling over us, earned it a spot on the top 10 birds list. The middle of the day was spent making more attempts at missed or poorly seen species (sadly, no Pied-winged Swallows and only quick looks at White-crowned Cliff Chat) before we moved on to Sakumono Lagoon. After a disappointing last few hours, the birding here was much more satisfying – if not especially unique – with species such as Striated, Squacco, Grey, Black and Purple Herons, Reed Cormorant, Common Moorhen, Black- winged Stilt, Spur-winged Lapwing, Grey and Common Ringed Plovers, Common Snipe, at least 50 Black-tailed Godwits, Marsh Sandpiper, Ruff, distant Collared Pratincole, Malachite Kingfisher, Winding and Zitting Cisticolas, Western Yellow Wagtail and four African Hobbies! And, later that evening, the apparently commonplace exercise of squeezing a bus into the queue for a toll road going in the opposite direction will not be soon forgotten! African Hobby by Steve Gast The next morning, we were up bright and early to head to Winneba Plains. A quick stop at Mankessim revealed Black-crowned Night Heron, Western Reef Heron and Slender-billed Weaver. Winneba Plains is a bit of a misnomer, as the majority of the habitat is more similar to the farm bush that we birded at Rockjumper Birding Tours View more tours to Ghana Trip Report – RBL Ghana - Mega 2017 4 Kalakpa. Nevermind though, the area was quite productive, with Black-billed Wood Dove, Lanner Falcon, Yellow-crowned Gonolek, Lesser Striped Swallow, Moustached Grass Warbler, spritely Red- winged Warbler, Whinchat, Copper Sunbird, Black-winged Red and Northern Red Bishops, Yellow- mantled Widowbird, Bar-breasted and African Firefinches, Black-rumped Waxbill and Quailfinch. As the day started to heat up, we continued to Cape Coast Castle, where we witnessed the atrocious conditions under which slaves were kept. We lunched next door, where our sea view allowed us to pick up Caspian and Royal Terns flying up and down the shore, and African Pied Wagtail on the beach below. We then moved on to Jukwa, our base for exploring the Kakum area. With a bit of time to spare in the afternoon, we checked out a patch of rainforest edge, where we had superb looks at Brown-cheeked and Piping Hornbills but little else. We spent the majority of the next day on Kakum National Park’s famous – and solidly White-crested Hornbill by Peter Candido constructed! – canopy walkway. Our morning and afternoon sessions yielded Palm-nut Vulture, a distant perched Cassin’s Hawk-Eagle, Blue Malkoha, African Emerald Cuckoo, Cassin’s Spinetail, incredible views of the normally shy White- crested Hornbill, Speckled Tinkerbird, Hairy-breasted Barbet, West African Wattle-eye, Blue Cuckooshrike, Western and Black-winged Orioles, Velvet-mantled Drongo, Slender-billed, Western Bearded and Honeyguide Greenbuls, Grey Longbill, Green and the tiny Lemon-bellied Crombecs, Green Hylia, Wood Warbler, Yellow-browed Camaroptera, Rufous-crowned Eremomela, Ashy and Ussher’s Flycatchers, Yellow-mantled, Maxwell’s Black and Preuss’s Weavers, Red-vented and Crested Malimbes, Chestnut-breasted Nigrita and a smorgasbord of sunbirds: Fraser’s, Little Green, Collared, Blue-throated Brown, Olive, Buff-throated, Tiny and Splendid! We remained on the canopy walkway until after dark. Although we came out empty-handed in the owl and nightjar stakes, we were treated to marvellous looks at a striking Pel’s Flying Squirrel and, back near the parking lot, a massive Gambian Rat. During the next day and a half, we birded remnant forest habitat and farm bush in the Kakum area, which turned up European Honey Buzzard, White-spotted Flufftail, Tambourine Dove, Blue- headed Coucal, Diederik and Klaas’s Cuckoos, Black Spinetail, gorgeous Black Bee-eater, even more beautiful Rosy Bee-eater (including a close, perched individual!), Bristle-nosed and Naked- faced Barbets, Red-rumped Tinkerbird, Little Green, Buff-spotted, Fire-bellied and diminutive Melancholy Woodpeckers, a reclusive Lowland Sooty Boubou, Plain, Golden, Spotted, Simple and Icterine Greenbuls (on one morning we had 10 greenbul species!), Fanti Saw-wing, Preuss’s Rosy Bee-eater by Steve Gast Cliff Swallow, Puvel’s Illadopsis, Finsch’s Rockjumper Birding Tours View more tours to Ghana Trip Report – RBL Ghana - Mega 2017 5 Rufous Thrush, an adult and immature White-tailed Alethe at an ant swarm, Olive-bellied Sunbird, Western Bluebill and Black-and-white Mannikin. We also had two sightings of two Rufous-sided Broadbills each, the first amazingly picked up by a guest while the birds were sitting dead-still in the mid-storey. On the second occasion, we got to observe the purring elliptical display flight of the broadbills – what a treat! We also paid a visit to the Pra River, the traditional spot for Rock Pratincole and White-bibbed Swallow. We were not disappointed on either front, enjoying great scoped views of half a dozen of one and two of the other. On our way to Nsuta Forest, where we’d be based for two nights, we stopped at a roadside pond which held a small colony of Orange, Village and Vieillot’s Weavers, as well as some Blue-billed Malimbes. We didn’t
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