Team of researchers (Esmat
-Nasir- Mubarak- Gamar) from Wildlife Research Center
made birding expedition to Dinder
National Park during the
dry season between 18th – 28th April 2011 . We arrived
late at Galagu Camp (the main camp in the Park)
in the core zone where most of animals are congregated due to food and
water abundance and the conservation measures. Group of passerines moving
around Galagu Camp near small water spots coming from tap water or
waste water from the natural refrigerator (simple costruction using natural air
for cooling). Group of cut-throated firefinch, African silverbill moving
between water hole and trees branches as well as wattled Starling, red-cheeked Cordonbleu and
Greater blue-eared Starling.
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| Cut-throated Fire finch and African silverbill having sun bath- DNP 19/4/2011 |
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| Greater blue-eared starling -DNP 19/4/2011 |
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| wattled starling in the middle(male)-DNP 19/4/2011 |
Pair of Red-throated
Bee –eater were seen on top branches of green tree near the edge of Khor Galagu (stream) beside two little Bee-eater on the
lower branches. On the opposite site of Khor Galagu there was a group of endangered
Hooded Vulture roosting on Dom tree which always found in the riverine area
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| Red-throated Bee-eater -DNP 19/4/2011 |
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| Little Bee -eater -DNP 19/4/2011 |
Mixed group of hooded vulture and
white-backed Vulture sharing a dead standing tree . Both species were uplisted
to endangered according to IUCN Red List.
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| Endangered Hooded and White-backed Vultures on the same tree- DNP 19/4/2011 |
A remarkable Long Crested Eagle
seen perched on the wooded fence of Galagu camp looking toward us. His long
crest waving with wind giving him more
attraction.
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| Long -crested eagle- DNP 19/4/2011 |
Two mist nets were erected in the bush behind
the camp looking for hiding species which sometimes hard to observe . Varied
species were caught such as Ruppell’s Starling, Greater Honeyguide, White
Headed Babbler , Northern Puffback,
Grey-backed Camaroptera , Blue-spotted Wood-dove
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| Ruppell's Starling -DNP20/4/2011 |
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| Greater Honeyguide (Male) -DNP 20/4/2011 |
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| White-headed Babbler -DNP 20/4/2011 |
|
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| Northern Puffback (male) - DNP 20/4/2011 |
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| Grey-backed Camaroptera-DNP 20/4/2011 |
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| Blue -spotted Wood-Dove- DNP 20/4/2011 |
Through our birding, noticed that most of the
mayas (wetlands) were dry out as we were in late summer and a few mayas were
deep enough to hold water for long time such as Ras Amir and Birkat Eltamaseeh.
Firstly we headed to Abdel Ghani maya which is about 1 km away from the Galagu
camp and it seems dry out expect small water hole pumped from anew underground well. Small group of
birds gathering around the water all the time as the weather is very hot during
that time of a year. European turtle Dove with mourning and laughing doves were
seen beside the migratory wood sandpiper,
black-headed heron and open bill stork . many migratory species were seen
during non-migration season living in the Park making understanding migration confused
unless we have sustainable ringing and telemetry . Small group of woolly necked
stork and cattle egret were feeding in the driest part of the maya . Hundreds of
tufted guinea fowl hiding under the shade of big trees at maya’ edges .
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| European Turtle Dove , laughing dove and Mourning Dove -DNP 21/4/2011 |
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| Wood Sandpiper- DNP 21/4/2011 |
900 old weaver nests probably
masked weaver were seen covering group of acacia nilotica at Wadd Elmatar
Farsh( Qudahat).
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| Weaver old nests -DNP 22/4/2011 |
Our next direction was Ras Amir
maya (lake) which is 14 km from Galagu camp and is the largest and deepest maya in the park . Most of our birding
concentrated in this maya due to the largest number of birds and species
richness. On the way to Ras Amir , a female Ostrich with chicks running in
front of our car on the road while the male was running in the opposite
side trying to drive us away from them.
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| Female Ostrich with chicks - DNP 23/4/2011 |
Most the birds were congregated at south edges
of the maya where short grasses and floated plants covering the water surface. About 500 spur-winged goose , 200
white-faced whistling duck , 100 African Jacana while 100 grass hopper Buzzard
soaring above. African jacana preferred
this maya due to the presence of floating plant which make it easy for the
jacana to walk on the water using her long toes for balance.Also cattle egrets,
open bill storks , black –winged stilts , mourning doves, northern masked
weavers , laughing doves and spur-winged plover were there.
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| Spur-winged geese and White-faced ducks- DNP 23/4/2011 |
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| Soaring Grass Hopper Buzzard - DNP 23/4/2011 |
|
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| Ras Amir Maya covered with floating plants- DNP 23/4/2011 |
By the end of the day, we erected numbers of mist nets to catch some birds during the
night for ringing . The catching started directly after sunset by chasing birds
towards the nets . We caught some
waterbirds and we ringed only migratory species as we have limited number
of rings .Species captured were pied
King Fisher, greater painted snipe and wood
sandpiper .We did this two times chasing birds but after three hours the Park
was completely dark and our ranger started
complaining as he is responsible for our safety and we started listening
predators voices become more nearer ,then we decided to leave but nets were left opened for the whole night.
We woke up early next
morning to check our nets and to release birds as early as possible . Two nets were come down to the mud with
heavy immature African Fish Eagle tangling in the net and it may be struggled
for some time . We released the bird from the net and kept it for a period of time to make sure he can fly well.
Capturing is not hindered by predators but also the large number of bats caught
in the net and leaving the nets with big holes . Marabou storks were also slowly walking on the
dry area near the fishermen camp searching for fish scraps.
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| Esmat releasing immature fish Eagle from the mist net - DNP 24/4/2011 |
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| Immature fish eagle take off - DNP 24/4/2011 |
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| Marabou Storks- DNP 24/4/2011 |
We spent two days at Ras Amir then we headed
next morning towards the western side of Dinder River
. We stopped at Birkat Eltamaseeh which lies in the Dinder River
bed near the main road crossing he sand ground of the river by spreading
sorghum stems above the sand to prevent cars from being stuck in the sand. Remarkable hamerkops were seen on the pond’s
shores with great white egret ,
spur-winged plover , Senegal
thicknee, long –crested eagle and open bill storks. Pair of African fish eagle
looking at water body from top branches of a big tree beside the pond. Large number of animals depending on this pond
as water source in this site (preys and predators)
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| Hamerkop and Great White Egret- DNP 26/4/2011 |
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| Pair of Fish Eagle-DNP 26/4/2011 |
Small water body remains at Gererissa maya
supported by pumped water to keep animal in that side a live or to avoid animal
traveling long distance and competing in specific area but a few species of
birds were observed there such as black-headed Heron, pied crow, long-tailed
starling , little egret, mourning dove and greater blue eared starling with warthog
wallowing in the mud as he always did
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| Pied Crow - DNP 26/4/2011 |
Our next travel to Semaaya maya far from the center in the wastern side of Dinder River
but the maya was dry out except small
muddy area rich with fish . Fish eating birds were aggregated a round the mud
such as herons , storks, pelicans . Hundred of snares were found left by the
fishermen which make major threats to waterbirds probing in the mudd
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| Great white pelican competes with Marabou storks on fish- DNP 27/4/2011 |
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| Esmat and Nasir extracting snares from the ground- DNP 27/4/2011 |
On the driest part of the maya at
11 am when the sun started to become more hot , we saw varied species sharing
the narrow shade by the end of the maya . The group includes saddle- billed
stork, woolly necked stork, cattle egret, black-headed Heron and truly migrant
white stork. Group of ostrich also observed moving around.
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| Saddle-billed stork, woolly-necked stork, cattle egret, Hamerkop | | | with four ostrich |
Our camera was not so professional to capture very clear picture for far individual but it approved the presence of the species mentioned .
