Introduction. It looked
as if I would be at a loose end in Autumn 2016. Nick was going to Tanzania with
Birdquest (not something that I could afford and not high on my priority of
list of places to go, although as always it sounded more appealing after he’d
been!) and Jon didn’t have any plans. I was keen to see Yellow-headed
Picathartes and late autumn in Ghana seemed a good time and place to do so. Those
I knew had either been or were unavailable so I looked into tours. Zoothera
appeared to provide the best option, a comprehensive tour at a just about
affordable price with a room-share. The tour was likely to have more
participants that I was used to or would be comfortable with, especially for
forest birding, but life a series of compromises and I hoped to be able to wander
off on my own on occasion. That proved to be the case, the group (8 plus leader
Nick) were all keen and most with sharper eyesight than me (not hard these
days). Although I would have preferred to be with a small group of friends I
had no regrets in choosing Zoothera and would do so again under similar
circumstances. The official account of the trip, with much better photos, is at http://zootherabirding.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/ghana-winneba-lagoon-to-kakum-np.html
Sunday 23
October. Megan dropped me at Shoreham station and the London train
was on time, via Littlehampton due to engineering works. We had to change at
Gatwick due to an incident in one of the carriages arriving at Victoria 15
minutes late. The only Snowdog-not-by-the-sea was between the Brighton
platforms and the main concourse, not one of the better ones. I soon caught a
tube to Heathrow where I met Anthony and leader Nick. As Anthony and I tried to
check in we were told the plane had fewer seats than expected and there were likely
to be none left for us. Nick intervened and after an anxious wait we were
issued with boarding passes. I would have been a lot more concerned if our
first day had involved serious birding.
I met Robin & Susie and Chris & Gail in the departure lounge.
The flight was late departing and we arrived at 20:15, an hour ahead of UK. John,
who I was to be sharing with, joined us at the conveyor belt where it took ages
for our bags to appear, surprisingly my rucksack was not the last – it often is.
We were met by our Ashanti guide Paul and taken in a small coach to the Erata
Hotel, 10-15 minutes away. We had a snack meal but despite being tired it took me
two hours to get to sleep due to toothache, a crown fitted two weeks earlier
had been playing up.
Monday 24
October. Breakfast was at 05:30 when we met Ron who had arrived from
Brisbane via Dubai before us. We left hotel at 06:00 and drove for just over 2
hours through Accra and its western suburbs to Winneba Beach. There was a
selection of common waders there and I found a near adult Laughing Gull,
possibly a first for Ghana, although the tide was very high making the few
birds present rather distant and not very photogenic. We departed at 09:45 and
drove for two hours to Cape Coast where we had an early buffet lunch
overlooking the sea. We left an hour later for the shorter drive to the inappropriately
named Rainforest Lodge – none was anywhere nearby although the lodge was
perfectly adequate. It was very hot and we were not scheduled to depart before
15:30 so I wandered around outside the hotel seeing a Simple Leaflove, my first
new bird in Ghana. It was a half hour drive to the Abrafo farmbush where we
birded the road through thick secondary forest until dusk. Birds seen included African
Cuckoo-Hawk, Black Bee-eater, Melancholy Woodpecker, Vanga and Ussher’s
Flycatchers and a superb Buff-throated Sunbird although the best was saved
until after dark when Paul taped in an Akun Eagle Owl.
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| distant terns and an unexpected rarity at Winneba Lagoon |
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| Laughing Gull (and Whimbrel) - unfortunately very distant although also seen in flight |
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| our guide was not aware of any previous records for Ghana |
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| Malachite Kingfisher |
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| Copper Sunbird outside the Rainforest Lodge |
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| it was soon off |
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| Speckled Tinkerbird |
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| Klaas's Cuckoo |
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| Ussher's Flycatcher |
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| Akun Eagle Owl |
Tuesday 25
October. Breakfast at 05:00, left hotel at 05:30 arriving at Kakum at
06:30. It was a short walk to the start of the walkway where we stayed to
10:30. Very impressive construction and lots of activity although I usually
seemed to find myself on the wrong side of the tree. Best birds seen were a
pair of Violet-backed Hyliotas, Blue Malkoha, Brown-cheeked and White-crested
Hornbills (the latter rather fleeting), Red-rumped Tinkerbird, Fire-bellied
Woodpecker, Sharp’s Apalis, Yellow-browed Camaroptera, tiny Tit Hylia and 3 new
Weavers (Yellow-mantled, Preuss’s Golden-backed and Maxwell’s Black). The
others returned to the Lodge for lunch but I stayed on being taken around by
local guide Stephen. I would have been much happier on my own but Paul was not
keen to let me stay and quite likely there were rules prohibiting it. As it was
I saw nothing, following Stephen around a fairly well marked trail. At one
stage Stephen saw a Rufous-sided Broadbill but it flew as I was raising my
bins. Stephen was good at pointing out trees although as most were labelled I
would have been quite capable of identifying them myself had I wanted to. I had
also expected to go to the Tree House where I had intended having a sit and
wait session but wires were crossed and we went a different way. It then rained
heavily for 15 minutes but fortunately we were close to a shelter. I then
sat/birded around the HQ for two hours seeing Buff-throated Sunbird but little
else of note until the others returned at 16:00. They’d seen Magpie Mannikin in
the Rainforest Lodge garden, a new bird for me. On this occasion my missing
lunch to stay in the forest hadn’t paid off but I was undeterred. We spent the
rest of the day on the walkway, trying for Brown Nightjar at dusk – it called
in response to Paul’s recording but did not come in. On the way back to the
lodge we tried but failed to find Fraser’s Eagle Owl.
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| Kakum Canopy Walkway |
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| an impressive structure |
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| birding was only really possible from the tree platforms between the walkways |
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| the walkway itself was prone to oscillating when it was walked upon |
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| it gave a very rare eye-level view of canopy species |
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| closer leaves nicely in focus, distant Black-winged Oriole not ... |
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| fist-sized locust |
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| Pied Crow |
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| back on the walkway |
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| view out from the walkway, a few giant trees survived on a horizon that had mainly been logged |
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| looking down |
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| sunset on the Canopy Walkway |
Wednesday
26 October. Breakfast at 05:00, we left hotel at 05:30, driving to
Abrafo farmbush. Poor habitat compared to the walkway in which we tried
unsuccessfully for a few things. Failing to see a Red-cheeked Wattle-eye was an
early downer (one of my main target birds for the trip) and rather put me off the area and while I felt Paul’s
taping was more than speculative our success rate almost suggested otherwise. The main exception
was a superb White-spotted Flufftail that came in and gave excellent views despite a bit of noise/movement within the group which was generally excellent in this respect. Some of us also had just
about acceptable views of Lowland Sooty Boubou – at least there were no
features I missed on my view. A smart Cassin's Hawk Eagle flew over We drove on to a nearby river where Rock Pratincole and White-throated Blue Swallow were soon found. We returned for lunch at 13:30 and with an
hour and a half before we were due to leave I walked down the road behind the lodge.
It was hot with little shade although a brief heavy shower kept birds active, a
Red-bellied Paradise Flycatcher being my best sighting. We left at 15:30 and
tried another area of farmbush. Lots of birds but little of any interest
although Cassin’s Hawk Eagle, Black Sparrowhawk and Yellow-billed Turaco were
nice. On the way back we made another unsuccessful Fraser’s Eagle Owl attempt. Overall
a disappointing day that probably felt worse than it really was although the brief view of Lowland Sooty Boubou was my only new
bird.
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| Cassin's Hawk-Eagle |
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| nice to get a decent view of a large raptor |
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| Blue-billed Malimbe |
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| Bar-breasted Firefinches |
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| adult feeding contortionist juvenile |
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| mobile clothes store |
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| Rock Pratincoles |
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| hey, what are you looking at? |
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| Yams for sale |
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| Ethiopian Swallows |
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| enjoying the rain? |
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| rather bedraggled Northern Fiscal |
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| Yellow-billed Turacos |
Thursday 27
October. Breakfast at 05:00, left hotel at 05:30, driving to a more
forested area of farmbush at Abrafo. This was much better with good views of a intermittently displaying Rufous-sided Broadbill, Green Turaco and Chocolate-backed Kingfisher. We were headinng towards one of the trips and my main targets, the Rosy Bee-eater and crossing a rise walked down into a more open area dominated by a single large open tree. it was full of Rosy Bee-eaters. About 45 were present, a little distant but great through the scope. most of the birds in the tree were juveniles (lacking tail streamers) and adults came in to feed them. They are non-breeding visitors to Ghana and had arrived (early) three weeks ago. Interesting that the yound birds were still reliant on their parents on reaching thieir wintering quarters and so presumably had been while migrating from Nigeria. By a flooded forested pool on the way back to the lodge we saw rather photgenic African Pygmy and Blue-breasted Kingfishers from the bus, although the light was poor. We returned to the hotel at 12:00 where I skipped lunch to walk
down the road again. It was very hot and not as productive as previously. I
returned at 13:15 and we left at 13:30 to drive to the Brenu Coast Road where
we birded to 17:00 seeing a good range of species including African Hobby, Grey Kestrel, Lanner, Marsh Tchagra, sereral of the commoner waxbills and Wilson's Indigobird. We then drove on to Sekondi and
the rather basic but perfectly adequate D&A Guesthouse seeing several hundred thousand swallows roosting in what appeared to be reedbeds.
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| Rufous-sided Broadbill |
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| female Fire-bellied Woodpecker at nesthole |
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| the Rosy Bee-eater tree |
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| some of its occupants keping well hidden |
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| a superb species ... |
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| ... and one of the tour highlights |
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| on the lookout for a returning parent? |
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| two adults taking a break |
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| African Pygmy Kingfisher |
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| Blue-breasted Kingfisher |
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| Common (aka Red-headed Rock) Agama at Rainforest Lodge |
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| Little Bee-eater outside the Rainforest Lodge |
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| Red-faced Cisticola on my lunchtime walk |
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| Northern Fiscal |
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| roadside stalls |
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| male Marsh Tchagra by the Brenu Beach Road |
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| waxbills on the Brenu Beach road - from left to right Bronze Mannikin, Bar-breasted Firefinch, Black-rumped and Orange-cheeked Waxbill, Bronze Mannikin, Black-rumped and Orange-cheeked Waxbill (x3) |
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| Yellow-crowned Gonolek playing hard to see (the crown is yellower than it appears on this poor image) |
Friday 28
October. Breakfast at 05:00, left hotel at 05:30, driving to Nsuta
Forest arriving at 06:30. We walked out and back along a somewhat muddy track
until 10:30. Activity was good and we saw Palm-Nut Vulture, Great Blue Turaco, Piping and Black Dwarf Hornbills, African Piculet, Red-fronted Parrots, a flock of Red-billed Helmet-Shrikes, Finsch's Flycatcher-Thrush, Kemp's Longbill and Tessmann's Flycatcher although I was looking the wrong way when a Blue-headed Wood Dove flew across the track. apparently they were easier to see at ankasa where we were headed next. back at the bus I topped up with water and headed back down the track while the others returned for lunch. Emanuel caught me up and stayed with me, unasked
for but it was good to have him along as he knew all the calls and had much better eyesight than me. We retraced our steps but activity had dropped off although we did see a very high-flying pair of Crowned Eagles (Emanuel had heard them), more helmet-shrikes and Emanuel found a pair of Grey Longbills building a nest. The sky darkened as heavy rain clouds approached and we headed for a nearby tractor where Emanuel sheltered in its cab from 14:00-15:00, me under my umbrella, my tripod providing refuge for a toad. On the walk back we saw a pair of Olivaceous
Flycatchers, I might even have spotted them by myself. We were almost back at the road when the others
returned at 16:15. We went back down the track but activity hardly picked up, late afternoons were proving a disappointment emphasising how important it was to be in the field at dawn or soon after. We waited for dusk when Paul successful taped in a Fraser’s Eagle Owl using the calls of Akun Eagle Owl. We were back at the road at 19:00 and the
D&A Guesthouse at 20:00, a long but successful day.
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| Red-billed Helmet-Shrike |
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| one of many impressive butterflies seen in Ghanaian forests, I think it is a female Mocker or African Swallowtail |
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| Grey Longbill nest (under contruction) |
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| dark clouds approaching |
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| Emanuel didn't have an umbrella and sought shelter, wise decision ... |
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| heavy rain at Nsuta |
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| even this toad felt the need to get above ground level |
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| Fraser's Eagle Owl |
