Cambs Bird Club Supports Bird Monitoring at Oursi

With support from a number of donors, NATURAMA (Fondation des Amis de la Nature, BirdLife partner in Burkina Faso) has implemented a comprehensive programme of bird monitoring at Oursi for some time (see previous postings for results) but funding has now come to an end. The Council of the Cambridgeshire Bird Club has decided to bridge the gap in funding with a donation of £1,000, which will enable NATURAMA and the local Site Support Group to continue with bird monitoring while long-term solutions to funding are being sought.

Please also check out the BTO/RSPB project Out of Africa, which involves a suite of projects investigating the decline in numbers of our summer migrants. Field work is being conducted, among other sites in Western Africa, at Lake Oursi; see the BTO Out of Africa Appeal.
Migrant Birds in Africa contains a report with recent sightings and ringing results from Oursi.

Late July bird inventory of Oursi

8 Black-crowned Cranes were counted at Oursi in July. Photo: © NATURAMA

From 27-29 July 2009, NATURAMA (Fondation des Amis de la Nature, BirdLife Partner in Burkina Faso) and the Oursi Site Support Group undertook another bird count at Oursi. Three teams of two observers counted the birds using a transect method. A total of 2771 waterbirds of 27 species were recorded. Most common were White-faced Whistling Duck (848 individuals), Fulvous Whistling Duck (438), African Jacana (283), Spur-winged Goose (244), Spotted Redshank (217), Abdim’s Stork (156), Black-winged Stilt 1(34) and Spur-winged Plover (102). Other species that Cambridgeshire Bird Club members will be familiar with include Garganey, Glossy Ibis, White Stork (a surprise count of 22 birds), Grey Heron, Purple Heron, Great White Egret, Little Egret, Wood Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper and Greenshank. The observers noted that, contrary to expectations, no Black-tailed Godwits was found.

Away from the water, 61 species totalling 1546 individuals were counted. Here, Red-billed Quelea was the most common species, with 555 birds, followed by Grey-headed Sparrow (146), Buffalo Weaver (98), Grey Hornbill (90), Chestnut-backed Finch-Lark (52) and Golden Sparrow (51). 22 Ring-necked Parakeets, 18 Hoopoes, 7 Black Kites, 2 White Wagtails, 1 Crested Lark, 1 Subalpine Warbler and 1 Montagu’s Harrier besides two possible Red Kites might be of specific interest to Club members.

Conferences and meetings held at Oursi

Photo © NATURAMA
NATURAMA held a conference on climate change on May 1st at Lake Oursi. The conference took place in the framework of the National Adaptation Programme of Action of Burkina Faso under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. One of the suggested activities under the Plan relates to Lake Oursi. On May 1st and 2nd, NATURAMA held a meeting with the Oursi Site Support Group, discussing progress in the Oursi action plan. In addition, from May 2nd to May 6th, training was organised for the Site Support Group at Oursi, in monitoring the ecological status of the ecosystems, including the avifauna. The training, which was made possible through the support of the Dutch group Vogelwacht Utrecht, focused on the use of a Global Positioning System (GPS).

Bird news from Oursi

Photo © Dick Newell
On May 6th, a one-hour bird count at Lake Oursi by the Oursi bird club resulted in the observation of 716 waterbirds in 15 species. Most numerous were the following: 333 Knob-billed Ducks, 204 White-faced Whistling Ducks, 62 African Jacanas, 34 Marabou Storks and 29 Spur-winged Plover. Numbers were substantially down from the previous count in February (see posting on that), when 52,561 individuals were counted. The only migratory waterbirds this time were 4 Wood Sandpiper. According to NATURAMA (Fondation des Amis de la Nature, the BirdLife partner organisation in Burkina Faso), the low bird numbers are due to habitat degradation and the resulting lack of food, in addition to the naturally low numbers of Palearctic migrants at this time of the year. Meanwhile, in mid-June, Lake Oursi is completely dry and it will take several weeks for the rains to arrive in July/August and fill the lake again.

Project visit to Oursi

In March, Oursi was visited by members of the French Committee of IUCN, which is supervising the NATURAMA project on the Oursi Wetland Conservation Plan. The project is funded by the Small Initiatives Programme (PPI) of the French Global Environment Fund (FFEM), WWF, Vogelbescherming Nederland, the Swedish International Biodiversity Programme (SwedBio) and BirdLife International. Among others, the team checked on the status of hedges planted to stabilise wetland banks, and the community tree nursery. The project implementation was found well developed and further recommendations, including a zoning plan for Oursi, were presented.

New bird counts from Oursi

From 21-23 February, a team of local birdwatchers and members of NATURAMA (BirdLife International partner organisation in Burkina Faso) conducted another bird count at a number of sites in the region, focusing on wetland birds. At Oursi, the impressive number of 52,561 waterbirds in 35 species was recorded. The most common species were White-faced Tree-Duck (16,843 birds) and Knob-billed Goose (15,285), followed by Spur-winged Goose (8272), Fulvous Tree-Duck (7483) and Ruff (1273). Other species that also occur in Cambridgeshire include 573 Garganey, 4 Little Grebe, 31 Grey Herons, 6 Little Egrets, 510 Marsh Harriers, 154 Moorhens, 25 Little Ringed-Plover, 7 Ringed Plover, 10 Little Stint, 7 Common Snipe, 203 Black-tailed Godwit, 50 Redshank, 1 Green Sandpiper, 53 Wood Sandpiper, 52 Common Sandpiper and 171 Yellow Wagtails.

Records from Oursi

Photo © Muhtari Aminu-Kano/BirdLife International

From 18 to 28 November 2008, NATURAMA (BirdLife partner organisation in Burkina Faso) conducted a training course at Oursi, during which 157 species of birds were observed in the savannah and the dunes and at Oursi lake. The list includes many West African species, but also many Palaearctic migrants: Garganey, Little Egret, Marsh Harrier, Booted Eagle, Short-toed Eagle, Black-winged Stilt, Collared Pratincole, Little Ringed Plover, Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Knot, Little Stint, Dunlin, Ruff, Common Snipe, Great Snipe, Black-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel, Spotted Redshank, Redshank, Marsh Sandpiper, Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, White-winged Black Tern, European Turtle Dove, Yellow Wagtail, White Wagtail, Common Redstart, Northern Wheatear, Black-eared Wheatear, Great Reed Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Orphean Warbler, Subalpine Warbler, Olivaceous Warbler, Western Bonelli’s Warbler, Willow Warbler, Wood Warbler, Chiffchaff and Woodchat Shrike. Species observed that breed in western Africa and also include wintering birds from the Palaearctic include Squacco Heron, Grey Heron, Purple Heron, Glossy Ibis, Black Kite, Tawny Eagle, Moorhen and Hoopoe.

Meetings at Oursi

Photo © Naturama

In December 2008, a delegation of NATURAMA (BirdLife partner organisation in Burkina Faso) visited the Oursi Museum Hu Beero. The museum, which was opened in November 2006, documents the internationally important medieval remains at Oursi. Also in December, delegations from two other sites of ornithological importance in Burkina, Sourou Valley and Kaboré Tambi National Park, visited Oursi to discuss conservation issues and exchange experience. Both Sourou Valley in the northwest and Kaboré Tambi in the south of the country are BirdLife-identified Important Bird Areas as is Lake Oursi. Just before this meeting, members of the local Oursi group participated in the national planning meeting of NATURAMA for 2009, which took place in the town of Gorom-Gorom, close to Lake Oursi.