Ghana Days 9-11

Wednesday 29th

We birded around the lodge for an hour while permits were being arranged for the rest of the day and saw the first grazers of the trip – Kob. We then drove around the Samole Loop where a pair of Abyssinian Ground Hornbills were feeding by the track but quickly moved into the undergrowth. We did the usual trick of playing a recording of Pearl-spotted Owlet and loads of birds came in to try and the mob this daylight assassin including Senegal Batis, Village Indigobird amid more familiar species such as Willow Warbler and Pied Flycatcher. We even enticed in a real owlet who then took the brunt of the mobbing.

Willow Warbler

Long-tailed Glossy Starling

Pearl-spotted Owlet

Yellow-crowned Gonolek

We carried on driving to Zaina waterhole where there was Beaudouin’s Snake-Eagle and Gosling’s Bunting. 

Gosling's Bunting

As the temperature soared to 40 degrees by the end of the morning, bird activity died away so we returned to the lodge for lunch and a long siesta. A single African Elephant cooled off in the waterhole below.

One of a group of Hooded Vultures that were hanging around the waterhole

In the afternoon we visited Brugbani Camp and Harabo Plains. We located some birds feeding near a burnt patch and identified Sun and Rufous-rumped Larks as well as Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark. Best of all were two Forbes’s Plovers, a much wanted wader that is mostly restricted to this region. We also saw Gambaga Flycatcher and White-fronted Black Chat. 

Forbe's Plovers

Gambaga Flycatcher

Sunlark

We remained out at dusk and saw Four-banded Sandgrouse, African Scops Owl, Northern White-faced Owl, Long-tailed and Plain Nightjars, whilst driving back we spotlighted some White-tailed Mongooses.

African Scops-Owl

Long-tailed Nightjar

Plain Nightjar

Thursday 30th

Another full day in Mole NP, visiting the airstrip area and Mognori Gallery Forest in the morning. Highlights here included Brown-rumped Bunting, Swallow-tailed Bee-eater, Dorst’s and Rufous Cisticolas and African Cuckoo-Hawk. We scanned a section of river and found a white morph African Paradise-Flycatcher while a bird swimming across the river turned into an African Finfoot.

Mognori Gallery Forest

African Paradise Flycatcher

African Grey Hornbill

African Grey Woodpecker

Another Pearl-spotted Owlet

Red-throated Bee-eater

Senegal Coucal

Lizard Buzzard

Bushbuck

In the afternoon we drove down to the waterhole. Amongst the waders were several Greater Painted-Snipe, whilst there was a good selection of herons and other water-birds. Towards dusk we headed over to the old airstrip where the star bird was a Greyish Eagle-Owl that sat on the old runway looking for prey on the ground.

Waterhole with our lodge at the top of the escarpment

Swamp Flycatcher

Wood and Green Sandpipers

Greyish Eagle-Owl

Friday 1st December

We checked out of the lodge after breakfast and made our way out of Mole NP and drove southwards. We turned off the main road towards our next stop. The road used to cross the river but now stops at the village of Daboya as the bridge was washed away in a flood. 

End of the road; people and goods are now ferried across

The ruined bridge is now a laundrette!

We met up with a local and carefully walked along a path by the river that was used as a toilet. We scoped a distant Egyptian Plover on a sandbank but after a short while two more flew in and landed very close to us giving superb views. We couldn’t spend too long here as we still had a long way to go so after giving them a good togging we walked back to the van past a tree with nesting Black-headed Herons.

Egyptian Plover

We drove back to the main road and continued south, stopping for perched Brown Snake-Eagle and Beaudouin's Snake-Eagle along the way. 

Beaudouin's Snake-Eagle

We hit Kumasi at dusk and had to drive around the north-eastern side to our hotel on the outskirts. It was another long day of mostly driving but well worth it for the views of the plovers.