Good news this morning – the vanproblem had been fixed and it stood waiting outside ready to take us to more
birding destinations. They could have given it a bit of a wash and valet while
repairing though. We had arranged the night before to have breakfast at 6am
(GMT) but it wasn’t a great surprise when we began to tuck into the delightful
omelette and bread at 6.40 (Ghana Maybe Time). The chef had to be called from
his bed to get here even at that time. We headed further South for an hour to
get to the forest, and turned down a track where we started birding the
surrounding forest straight away. This site is notable for Capuchin’s Babbler,
but fires recently had destroyed a lot of the low vegetation they like to
forage in, so seeing them was pretty nigh impossible. No problem for other good
birds though, with a Red-shouldered Cuckoo-shrike being the first bird we
picked up. Then we had probably the bird of the morning, with a pair of
Red-billed Helmet Shrikes, perching (not too closely unfortunately) then making
short hops to nearby branches. As we walked the dusty track, it was obvious
that there had been good snake activity earlier, with at least half a dozen
distinctive tracks of different sizes and patterns across. We did try the
likely area for the Babblers, but as suspected, it was bare from the fire, so
nowhere for them to hide. This was a good spot though, kicked off by a couple
of Guinea Turacos flying up to trees also containing African Green Pigeons. A
Little Green Woodpecker was most obliging, sitting out on a bare branch for
some time, with a Black-winged Oriole and African Pied Hornbill as backdrop. A
pair of Black-and-white Flycatchers flew over, with a much closer yet briefer
Red-billed Helmet Shrike nearby. Another great find was a Pangolin, unerringly
nosing around the high thin branches of one of the taller trees, although it
was mainly in the cover of the leaves. We slowly made our way along the track
checking each side for signs of life, which became quieter as the morning
progressed. Notable birds during this time were a stunning Western Nicator out
in the open briefly, and Fraser’s Forest Flycatcher singing from the tangle. A
very strange bird was White-crested Hornbill. Stunning and distinctive in
flight, one flew across the track a couple of times before clinging to the
dense foliage and out of sight each time it landed.
Following some excellent lunch inKumasi (spiced chicken, fried plantain and beans for those asking), we
eventually managed to crawl our way out of what is a sprawl of a town, with
attendant traffic and general mayhem. We had visited the Yellow-headed Picathartes site (White-necked
Rockfowl, the official name, doesn’t seem to give credence to this enigmatic
and rather strange bird) during our last trip here, and had barely half
reasonable views of them, so a return just had to be made. As before, we were
required to have a guide from the village to accompany us for the princely sum
of £5 per person. With another group here already, our guide ran ahead to find
which of the two locations they were at. This turned out to be the more
guaranteed one, but the other offered much closer and less obscured views of
the birds when they make an appearance. So we took a punt and aimed for the
less guaranteed group of rocks, hoping for a chance of better images. The
standard time for the birds to come in to the nesting site is around 5.30pm. We
arrived there before 5, with the trek of around 35 minutes to here seeming
shorter than we remembered. 5.30 came and went, and 10 minutes later the guide
decided the birds had probably gone to the more popular rocks, so we trudged at
some pace to get there. This isn’t easy considering it is further than the
first, hot, humid, and has some climbing involved. The former group was just
leaving when we arrived, with the welcome, if not unexpected, news that the
birds were there. They were indeed, and we spent another 20 minutes or so
watching them on the rocks, entering the scene and even one perched just behind
us until it was almost dark and time to go. The long walk back to the village
(and air conditioned van) and shirts wet with sweat was made a whole lot easier
by the thoughts of what we had just seen.
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