A brief birding stop in the morning.
Black-casqued Hornbill
This is an amazing bird!
Our transport for this leg of the trip.
The Patient Dog???
The river at Ndjole, which was very birdy &
produced a couple of key species.
Superb Sunbird.
When you get a good view this really is
a cracking species!
Highlights included:
Hartlaub's Duck, a lone individual was a surprising sighting on the river at Ndjole. Brilliant stuff! 2 African Finfoot; White-crowned Lapwing; 2 Grey Pratincole (this was a species I had long wanted to see & it didn't disappoint)! Great Blue Turaco; African Emerald Cuckoo; 2 Black Spinetail; 15+ Bates's Swift; Blue-throated Roller; Shining-blue Kingfisher; 10+ Rosy Bee-eater; 8 Piping Hornbill; 4 Black-casqued Hornbill; 2 Green-backed Woodpecker; 5 Red-fronted Parrot; Rufous-vented Paradise Flycatcher; Western Nicator; 3 White-bibbed Swallow; Black-throated Apalis; 2 Superb Subird; Blue-billed Malimbe & Black-faced Canary.
All in all a good days birding in what really was a travel day.
We all enjoyed a comfortable night in the hotel at Lambarene & did a little birding around the hotel which had a mangrove creek running through its grounds. We then went down to the main river & after a bit of a wait, boarded our motorised canoes for a three hour trip down the river. We birded all the way & made a couple of landings on large sandbars.
Pink-backed Pelican
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
At the nest next to the channel.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Birding the river.
White-crowned Lapwing.
Rock Pratincole
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Shining Blue Kingfisher.
Black-headed Bee-eater.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
White-bibbed Swallow.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Woodland Kingfisher.
A confiding individual close to the hotel.
This river is a major highway & pretty busy!
Red-headed Agamid: we weren't
the only ones waiting!
Our transport for the next leg of the journey.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Grey Pratincole.
What a bird!
Grey Pratincole.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
African Skimmer.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Rosy Bee-eater.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
What a bird!
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
White-bibbed Swallow
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
This species is declining all over Africa.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Little Tern: a common breeding species here.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Best species included:
2 African Pygmy Goose; 50+ Pink-backed Pelican; African Finfoot; 13 White-crowned Lapwing; 9 White-fronted Plover; 10 Rock Pratincole; 40+ Grey Pratincole; 60+ African Skimmer; 100 Little Tern; 10 Rosy Bee-eater & White - bibbed Swallow.
The setting for the camp.
A really idyllic spot.
It was a nice camp in great surroundings.
The staff worked hard to make us comfortable.
The view from our tent!
Not bad at all!
Keith, my roomy at this camp!
He proved to be an excellent birder & companion
for the whole trip.
Harlaub's Duck.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
A scarce & localised species.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
He proved to be an excellent birder & companion
for the whole trip.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
After settling in we went on another short boat trip along the lake & channel. We only saw a few species but they were some good ones present!
6 Hartlaub's Duck; 45 Afep Pigeon; 3 Cassin's Spinetail; 3 Shining-blue Kingfisher; Black-headed Bee-eater; c 40 Grey Parrot & 7 White-bibbed Swallow.
Vermiculated Fishing Owl
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Wonderful!
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Later that night we went on a short walk from camp & found the wonderful Vermiculated Fishing Owl!
The guys & girls birding.
On 26th August we took a short boat trip across the lake & explored an area of gallery forest & grassland, birding was quite slow but it was a lovely walk.
White-bellied Kingfisher; Blue-breasted Bee-eater; African Pied Hornbill; 60+ Grey Parrot; Icterine Greenbul; White-bearded Greenbul; White-browed Forest Flycatcher & Carmelite Sunbird.
White-bellied Kingfisher
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
White-bibbed Swallow
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Exploring the area.
Forest Elephant footprints.
We didn't see them though!
Blue-breasted Bee-eater.
Carmelite Sunbird.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
White-bellied Kingfisher; Blue-breasted Bee-eater; African Pied Hornbill; 60+ Grey Parrot; Icterine Greenbul; White-bearded Greenbul; White-browed Forest Flycatcher & Carmelite Sunbird.
Hartlaub's Duck
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
African Finfoot
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Black-casqued Hornbill
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Shining Blue Kingfisher
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
In the afternoon we enjoyed another boat trip & we saw another excellent selection of river & river forest birds. We left early on 27th August for a seven hour boat trip down to Omboue. It was a long day in he boat with little of note seen (we were going fast)! Tsam Tsam had been an excellent stay for us though, providing us with fantastic views of some key species.
The 28th August was basically a travel day but we were missing one key species: White-crested Tiger Heron! David & Glen arranged an early morning start on another boat down the Mphive Channel. By this time all of us had had enough of boats but we went & it turned out to be a great trip! We spent the rest of the day travelling by boat to Port Gentil where we did a little birding ( we scored with Loango Weaver) & then caught a flight to Libreville.
Slender-snouted Crocodile
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
White-crested Tiger Heron
The big prize & one of the birds of the entire trip.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Shining Blue Kingfisher
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
Cassin's Flycatcher
Photo courtesy of Glen Valentine.
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