A day driving back west towards St. Louis, with various stops along the way. There was a change of plan that saw us spending an afternoon in Djoudj as there was a better chance of seeing Arabian Bustard and lots of water birds before driving to the Ranch de Bango for our overnight stay.
Another 7.o’clock breakfast before leaving around 7.30 for Richard Toll. We spent a little while looking for an owl that had been reported in the tree in the courtyard, but no luck. We also recorded the front door from the riverside, as well as taking a last look at the Little Swifts flying round the rooftops. The van was loaded up and we began our drive towards St. Louis. We stopped at a roadside village and began searching through the trees for Little Grey Woodpecker. As we went we saw things like Western Red-billed Hornbill, Senegal Batis, Brubru, Swallows and Palm Swifts, Sudan Golden Sparrow, Mourning Dove and Abyssinian Roller, one of which decided to land close to Brenda. We spread out and after a short while, David called us over to where he had found a Little Grey Woodpecker in a tree at the back of the village. We all converged and followed it through the village as it moved from tree to tree, getting really good views.
As we made our way back to the van we were approached by a gang of children who were playing with hoops and balls. The hoops seemed to be made of hose pipe with a piece of wire looped to a piece of stick which was used to bowl the hoop along. We spent a little time letting them look through our binoculars, taking pictures and trying to chat before loading up and setting off again.
We retraced our footsteps around the airport loop where we had good views of Black-headed Lapwing, Temmink’s Courser, Ant-eater Chat, Wheatear, Blue-named Mousebird and the ever present Yellow-billed Kite. We drove along a track and parked up near a small thicket where we met up with Carlos and his Spanish group and we’re quietly taken to a gap in the hedge where we could see Spotted Thicknee roosting in the shade of bush before we carefully entered a thicket to see 9+ Long-tailed Nightjars roosting around the clearing.
We then headed to Richard Toll for lunch before driving to Doudj National Park. There was a short wait to sort out the admin and then we drove into the park, heading to the best area for the Bustards. On the long drive in we saw a variety of water birds including Pied Kingfisher, African Jacana, Marsh and Montagu’s Harrier, Squacco Heron and a very pale Grey Heron, subspecies Mauritanian Grey Heron. We also had good views of Side-striped Jackal and Golden Wolf. We stopped at a hide where we were went up the steps one ata a time to see three juvenile Barn Owls in the corner. Across the water we could see various waterfowl like Whistling Ducks and Shoveler plus Greater and Lesser Flamingos. One stop gave us Arabian Bustard and Black-crowned Cranes, a bit distant but good views in the scope. There were several Pied Kingfisher and Kentish, Kitlitz and Ringed Plover along the shore line and 2 Pelicans with an Osprey sitting on a sunken branch. Another stop saw several Short-eared Owls, which flushed and flew across the bushes. We went a little further before returning to the bridge near the entrance where we eventually saw River Prinia, Winding Cisticola and Marsh Warbler and enjoyed thousands of Whistling ducks flighting overhead. We then headed back getting good views of Golden Wolf and Warthogs along the exit track before we headed to the hotel.
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