Ghana Day 15: Bolgotanga - Kumasi

This was a travelling day as we drove approximately 560kms back to Kumasi, but not before a very swift visit to the Tongo Hills where in just a few minutes we had great views of Gosling’s Bunting, 5 Fox Kestrels and a Rock-loving Cisticola. But it was a long driving day, although we did stop for our one and only Beaudouin’s Snake-Eagle perched on a roadside pylon and the only other new bird was a flyby Namaqua Dove. We eventually arrived at the hotel in Kumasi at 5.15pm.

Ghana Day 14: White Volta River - Tono Dam

Our destination this morning was the White Volta and its resident Egyptian Plovers, but first we had a few stops to make along the way. After negotiating the worst road of the entire tour, a back-breaking, pot-holed torturous ‘road’ we stopped in what proved to be surprisingly quiet bush country. Along the way we’d seen Greater Blue-eared Glossy Starling, a colony of White-billed Buffalo-Weavers, Yellow-billed Shrike, Rufous-crowned Roller, Yellow-billed Oxpeckers cavorting on their cattle and Northern Red-billed Hornbill. 

Yellow-billed Oxpecker

As I said, the bush country was quiet with just Viellot’s Barbet, Levaillant’s Cuckoo, and another Exclamatory Paradise-Whydah. So we moved on to the river, but a few Chestnut-bellied Starlings were seen and was one of the major target species from our time in the north of the country. And there was also West African Swallow, Village Indigobird and African Silverbill to admire as well. Walking down to the river A Lizard Buzzard posed nicely but by now everyone only had one bird on their mind. Sure enough on an exposed sandbank there were 4 magical Egyptian Plovers, resplendent in all of their glory! A species to rival the picathartes for its ‘wanted value’. 

Egyptian Plover

White-crowned Lapwing

Spur-winged Lapwing

We spent quite some time watching and photographing them and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience, taking into account our close proximity to Burkina Faso and Tongo just a stone’s throw away. Oh and the pair of White-crowned Lapwings present on the same sandbank weren’t too bad either!  In all we counted 8 Egyptian Plovers in the area but eventually we had to drag ourselves away as it was a bone-shaking 2.5 hour drive back to the hotel. We also saw African Mourning Dove, Piapiac and Red-billed Firefinch this morning as well.

Quailfinch

In the afternoon we birded the Tono Dam causeway area getting great views of a Quailfinch feeding on the ground, along with Gabar Goshawk, Speckle-fronted Weaver and a Spotted Thick-knee.

Ghana Day 13: Mole to Bolgotanga

After packing our luggage onto the coach and having breakfast we headed to the disused airstrip for a few hours birding this morning. We didn’t get anything new but had some nice looks at some previously seen species. Then we headed away from the national park and drove north through increasingly arid savannah, stopping at a small village to scope some Red-chested Swallows sat on telegraph wires. And that was the format for most of the days birding, simply stopping to check any interesting birds as we sped northwards towards Bolgatanga. 

So our frequent stops produced Grasshopper Buzzard, Lizard Buzzard, Dark Chanting Goshawk, Red-necked Falcon, Long-crested Eagle and Western Marsh Harrier. 

Lunch was taken at a nice hotel in a small town before continuing our journey. We did spend half an hour at Nasia Bridge which gives a good view of a large lake on one side and a small marsh on the other. A pair of African Pygmy Goose were star attractions here, but we also enjoyed nice looks at a male Black-headed Weaver, Black-rumped Waxbill, Yellow-crowned Bishop, flocks of Red-billed Quelea coming down to drink, and a brief Black Crake. 

There was also Great and Intermediate Egrets, Black-winged Kite, distant Spur-winged Goose, and others. 

Northern Red Bishop

Just along the road we had to stop the coach when a fabulous Exclamatory Paradise-Whydah was seen flying parallel to the road and we jumped out to get fantastic views as it flew around, well dancing in the sky would be more accurate with an extraordinary long tail – what a sight! Then it took another hour and a half to reach the Tongo Hills, a scenic area of large boulders and rocks and our arrival at 4.30pm was perfect as the heat of the day had passed. There were plenty of Gosling’s Buntings (a recent split from Cinnamon-breasted Bunting), a few White-rumped Swifts, but the 3 Fox Kestrels we found took some beating and in many people’s top 5 birds to see on the tour. But we couldn’t locate Rock-loving Cisticola so will have to return. It was just a short drive to the nearby town of Bolgatanga where we spend the next two nights.

Ghana Day 12: Mole NP

Headed to the old airstrip, one of the more famous birding sites around this vast area. In fact we spent quite some time here as the light got better and we enjoyed some nice scope views of Senegal Parrot, a singing African Moustached Warbler eventually showed well in the tall grass, a cracking male Pygmy Sunbird appeared and a Black-crowned Tchagra was seen in song flight. 

Pygmy Sunbird

Then a trio of Bearded Barbets flew into a bare tree and we thoroughly enjoyed the scope views of these charismatic birds and we finished here with a gang of noisy Brown Babblers. 

Then we walked out onto the dirt road and found Fine-spotted Woodpecker, Black-billed Wood-Dove and Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird before hopping onto the coach and driving a little way. We hadn’t got far when a pair of Black Scimitarbills were seen, prompting a hasty exit for more nice views. Then we birded around the bridge at the bottom of the road where an Oriole Warbler and Yellow-breasted Apalis appeared in the same field of view, and a gang of vociferous Green Wood-Hoopoes came in to check us out. Then we walked into the forest and had a mad few minutes with Spotted Creeper, a pair of Yellow-bellied Hyliota, a pair of White-shouldered Black Tits and Senegal Batis all came in to the owlet call. We walked up to a nearby creek, seeing a Wahlberg’s Eagle along the way, and also had African Paradise Flycatcher, African Blue Flycatcher, Brown-throated Wattle-eye and a very bold Levaillant’s Cuckoo before heading back to the lodge for a rest.

With just a Bateleur seen over lunch we headed back into the National Park at 3.15pm and hadn’t really gone far before a superb White-breasted Cuckooshrike was spotted from the coach. After a bit of a wait we walked up the hillside and had close views of a pair as they tried to hide in a large tree. What a great bird!  There was also a Martial Eagle overhead. Moving on and a White-fronted Black-Chat was next up, a much-wanted lifer for yours truly. 

White-fronted Black Chat

Along the sandy track we were driving along there was Double-spurred Francolin, Stone Partridge and a few Four-banded Sandgrouse, with Swallow-tailed Bee-eater also new. Our local guides checked a few open areas for the elusive Forbes’s Plover without luck, but we did see Lesser Blue-eared Glossy Starling and a pair of Abyssinian Ground Hornbills. Upon reaching the same area as yesterday afternoon we were all amazed to find 5 Forbes’s Plovers right out in the very same area we had traipsed around yesterday. 

Forbes's Plovers

What a bird and one we’d almost given up on seeing. We were definitely on a roll and tried our luck with White-throated Francolin. After a tense game where the bird just kept calling just out of sight and as we walked closer it retreated further away, but eventually we had 2 views of it crossing the sandy track in front of us. 

Standard-winged Nightjar

Then with the sun setting it was night-bird time and what a result as we found 2 Standard-winged Nightjars, 13 Long-tailed Nightjars and 4 Greyish Eagle-Owls during our drive back through Mole National Park. Wow!

Ghana Day 11: Mole NP

After our usual 5am breakfast we set off into Mole National Park in our coach along the Samole Loop, complete with an armed guard. We drove down from the escarpment our lodge is situated on and into the bush country where bird activity was high – how delightful..!! The first bird of the day was party of three Stone Partridge sitting on the track in front of the coach, and not a bad way to begin. A little further along a female Abyssinian Ground Hornbill was seen perched in a tree, looking rather cumbersome. Our first walk of the morning was fascinating with birds everywhere and right in front of us we saw Bush Petronia, Little Weaver, Northern Puffback, a group of Senegal Eremomela, Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu, and a Willow Warbler. We followed a sandy track towards some taller trees where a Brown-throated Wattle-eye performed well, Northern Black Flycatcher was perched at the top of a tree and a pair of Oriole Warblers were seen by everyone. I think we were all amazed at the sheer numbers of Red-throated Bee-eaters here, as they were literally everywhere and we enjoyed great views of them. 

Red-throated Bee-eater

A flock of White-throated Bee-eaters were also seen flying overhead. We then drove a little further before walking again and this time we saw a cracking Violet Turaco perched in a bare tree, Beautiful Sunbird, Malachite Kingfisher, Hadada Ibis, and a singing Yellow-fronted Canary. Another short drive and we saw Callithrix Monkey and our first Kob from the coach before spending some time from a viewing platform overlooking a pool and marshy area. Our first Helmeted Guineafowl were seen on the walk in,  along with a pair of Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-Weavers. The trees around the platform held Red-shouldered Cuckoo-Shrike, Brubru, Swamp Flycatcher, brief African Blue Flycatcher, and a bright African Golden Oriole. 

Swamp Flycatcher

We walked around the side of the marsh seeing Senegal Thick-Knee, more Hadada Ibis, African Wattled Lapwings, and flyover Bateleur and White-backed Vultures. Then we drove on to a shady area to look for firefinches, with just a few of the group seeing Black-Bellied Firefinch. There was also Hamerkop, Double-spurred Francolin, Senegal Batis, Wire-tailed Swallow and a Lead-coloured Flycatcher in the surrounding area.

So by now it was almost 10.30am and exceedingly hot so we drove back to the lodge to freshen up and cool down. There’s a great viewpoint at the lodge where you can look down on a large water hole and some scanning from here turned up a nice variety of birds with Grey-headed Kingfisher posing nicely and Anthony spotted a perched White-headed Vulture. There was also a Woolly-necked Stork, Black-headed Weaver, Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird, and flyover Martial Eagle and African Hawk-Eagle as well.

The view from our lodge at Mole NP

The afternoon session proved to be a mixed bag as we headed to an open area to look for Forbes’s Plover, which failed to materialise. We were a bit preoccupied with the Tsetse Flies but our new head nets did prove to be useful. However, there were several Sun Larks present to provide our first tick of the afternoon. It was then that we experienced a freaky tropical storm that came out of nowhere, turned the sky black very quickly, had gale force winds and driving rain, thunder & lightning – the works. So that put paid to any ‘nightjarring’ here and we drove off. Luckily the storm passed and we headed to another open area, arriving at the perfect time as it had just got dark. We found 2 Long-tailed Nightjars, an African Scops-Owl and a Scrub Hare, but the biggest surprise was a Common Buttonquail spotlighted from the coach. Just what it was doing here out in the open I haven’t a clue but we were thankful that our luck was changing! It was just a shame the calling Northern White-faced Scops-Owl failed to show. Driving back to the lodge there were 2 different Greyish Eagle-Owls and a White-tailed Mongoose. Other animals seen today were Common Warthog, Olive Baboon and a Waterbuck.