Ghana Day 17: Atewa Forest and Ridge

This was the day of the big hike up to Atewa ridge, a walk of around 3 miles uphill. This turned out to be one of our best day’s birding of the entire tour as the forest, especially once we reached the ridge at around 740m, as we found quite a few new birds as well as some special species we’d seen earlier in the tour. It was a relatively gentle uphill walk and we began with Cameroon Sombre Greenbul before reaching the ‘quarter way’ point where rather surprisingly we found a pair of Blue-moustached Bee-eaters this low down the hill. And what a superb bird, showing amazingly close to begin with before relocating into the higher tree above us. 

Blue-moustached Bee-eater

We then struggled to see Black-capped and Brown Illadopsis, with only Chris seeing the former species and nobody getting on the latter. A White-tailed Ant-Thrush showed briefly before we reached the top, where a superb Little Grey Flycatcher posed along the track. 

Little Grey Flycatcher

The forest was very good up here with some huge trees and dense lower understorey where Golden-backed Weavers, Rufous-crowned Eremomela were present and we all saw a Pale-breasted Illadopsis quite well. A Crowned Eagle flew over but we only heard a Many-coloured Bush-Shrike and Olive Long-tailed Cuckoo. At lunch Ron found a flock with Little Green Woodpecker and Narina Trogon, although the rest of us searched we couldn’t relocate the same flock. However we did find a couple other flocks with Little Green Woodpecker, Purple-throated Cuckooshrike and Rufous Flycatcher Thrush being the best birds. Walking back took several hours but along the way we had nice looks at Olive Long-tailed Cuckoo, Sharpe’s Apalis, Lemon-bellied Crombec, Chestnut-capped Flycatcher, Black-capped Apalis and a West African (formerly Bioko) Batis. 

Black-shouldered Nightjar

Upon reaching the coach we only had a short wait until dusk, when we spotlighted a superb Black-shouldered Nightjar that perched on a stump right next to the track. What a great way to end a fantastic day.

Ghana Day 16: Bobiri Forest - Atewa

We spent a few hours back in Bobiri Forest this morning and found the birding to be really, really slow. There wasn’t much bird activity and only a few ‘old friends’ calling, however our morning was saved as we drove out when a Forest Wood-Hoopoe was found. We had great views of it through the scope, calling repeatedly from the top of a bare tree. The only other birds of note were a Cassin’s Honeybird, Sharpe’s Apalis, Chestnut-capped Flycatcher, Red-vented Malimbe and Yellow-mantled Weaver with a few other previously seen species also seen. We also heard a Brown Illadopsis here.

We had a 2.5 hour drive to lunch and then visited the nearby Atewa farmbush where several Viellot’s Black Weavers, Black-and-white Mannikin, Tit-Hylia, Square-tailed Saw-wing, Red-fronted Parrot, African Emerald Cuckoo, Klaas’s Cuckoo, White-throated and Black Bee-eaters, Chestnut-breasted and White-breasted Nigritas, and best of all a Lemon-bellied Crombec were seen.

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.