First visit to Dinder National Park early dry season

On behalf of Sudanese Wildlife Society and in respond to the invitation from the Minister of  Tourism, Antiquities and Wildlife , we made  a quick trip to Dinder National Park to check the current  situation there and to prepare the place for tourism. The team mainly from Ministry of Tourism, Tourism Police, Sudanese Wildlife Society , tourist guide and prospective  investor . On ^28th December 2012 we headed towards Elgadaref to spend the night there and  to join the minister in his trip to Dinder National Park . On the way to Senar State, we passed through huge open area grown with Dura and sesame with some species of birds moving there such as black kite, pied crow, namaqua dove, Sahel paradise whydah, and some vultures soaring. The whydah looks common in that area beside shrikes wheatears, eagles and most of soaring birds soared above the hills to benefit from the warm elevated air current which make their soaring easy.

Near water canal we saw 30 great white egrets, common kestrel and cattle egrets associated with cattle and sheep. Other species include Abyssinian roller , palm dove,  and village indigo bird. Group of 30 open Bill Stork were seen near Ub Rakham village.

We took our breakfast at WCGA office at Dinder town and then left to Dinder National park but the road still very bad as it early dry season after heavy rainy season . The water scattered in the main low lands and sometimes block our normal way to DNP and need to turn a round  to get suitable road . on our turn ,we saw about 20 white headed vulture, 30 hooded vulture , 40 marabou stork aggregated around three dead cows .

Hooded and White-backed vultures -far shot- DNP 29/12/2012

 The volume of the water reflected the successful previous autumn   as water scattered every where and all wetlands were covered with water and all their extensions .The road from Elsinait to Galagu need more maintenance and only few distance fixed. Only accessible wetlands in the eastern side of Dinder River such as Musa, Ein Elshams, Abdel Ghani and Ras Amir. Khor Galagu and Dinder River still have some water blocking the the way to the western side  and need more two weeks to be ready . We made small survey in Galagu camp and I took the chance to do some birding and I observed marabou storks walking around, black kites, hooded vultures, house sparrow, namaqua dove and some yellow –billed storks flying over

Khor Galagu -DNP 30 December 2012

House Sparrow(Male) DNP - 30 December 2012

Namaqua Dove- DNP 30 December 2012

Yellow billed Stork- DNP  30 December 2012

 Then, we headed towards Abdel Ghani maya(wetland) which lies 1km away from Galagu camp and comprises from acacia nilotica and sub-merged grasses which used by herbivores such as waterbuck , reedbuck and warthog . Some bird species seen there include woolly –necked stork, cattle egret and small birds. Most Areas around the mayas were burnt to give more space for good vision and to attract animals as most of them prefer burnt areas as new grown plants always rich with nutrients . More than 1000 tufted guinea fowl were counted between Abdel Ghani and Ras Amir but all other in few numbers such as ostrich, fork-tailed drongo, great white pelican, common kestrel, grey heron , long-tailed starling, long-tailed cormorant, squacco heron and purple heron 

Tufted Guinea Fowl - DNP  30 December 2012

 

We spent one day there, and on the way back we took the road goes around Ein Elshams to check the area and we saw great white pelican, open bill stork, yellow –billed stork, marabou stork, white –faced duck  and  guinea fowl. The number of waterbirds were too low comparing with last year at the same time because birds scattered with water outside the Park.

Reconnaissance visit to Sunt forest and Um Shugaira Island

Every year I do some ringing activities in the mid January at Um Shugaira Island which is the suitable time for migratory species using the island as stop over or wintering site but this year is different. In a quick reconnaissance visit to Um Shugaira island  and Sunt forest  on 5^th January , we noticed that the White Nile water level still high and the island is still beneath water  except small area in the northern end near Elfitaihab Bridge which is covered by  acacia nilotica (Sunt trees)  with high resistance to water. Most of waterbirds used the area past years were ducks using shallow water in the western side and waders mainly in muddy area which still under water and probably till early February 2013.

At Sunt Forest also water covered  some low lands in the northern and southern edge of the forest  with many species. At the northern side ,we saw Eurasian widgeon, Northern Shovellor ,Black-tailed Godwit, Senegal thicknee, Common green shank, Marsh Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Spur-winged Plover, Common Teal, Little Stint, Little Ringed plover, white Wagtail, Garganey and whiskered Tern while the species of spur-winged plover and some small wader seen from far distance.

The sunt forest is  highly disturbed by people looking for recreation at the forest especially during the week end