Migrant Birds in Africa

See the Migrant Birds in Africa Blog which documents the progress of research into migrant birds by the BTO and RSPB at Oursi and other places south of the Sahara

Migrant Birds in Africa

See the Migrant Birds in Africa Blog reporting the progress by the RSPB & BTO in researching our migrant birds south of the Sahara, including work at Oursi.

Oursi bird counts – report to the Cambridgeshire Bird Club

As reported in earlier postings, the local Site Support Group supported by Fondation des Amis de la Nature (NATURAMA, BirdLife partner organisation in Burkina Faso) has undertaken bird counts at Lake Oursi. For the period December 2009 to June 2010, this work has been supported by the Cambridgeshire Bird Club. We have received a comprehensive report from NATURAMA about this survey work. Surveys have been undertaken on a monthly basis, with 13 transects covering the lake and the surrounding drylands. The five counts between November 2009 and March 2010 resulted in a total of 265,546 individuals counted in 53 species, among them 20 species of wader (see posting below for details). During the April count, 50 species were observed with a total of 64,974 individuals. The most numerous species were Fulvous Whistling-Duck (9033 individuals), Garganey (7138), Cattle Egret (7000), White-faced Whistling Duck (6550), Black-tailed Godwit (5494), Ruff (5221), Purple Gallinule (4961) and Spur-winged Goose (3104).

The survey work in 2009 and 2010 has allowed for an improved understanding of where the priority sites for birds are located in the area. The Site Support Group, which also runs a programme of environmental education, focused in particular on school children, will continue the survey work. A copy of the report to the CBC (in French) is available for CBC members from peterherkenrath(AT)yahoo.co.uk.

Waterbird counts at Oursi, Burkina Faso, November 2009-March 2010

With support from the Cambridgeshire Bird Club, the local bird club at Oursi and Naturama (the BirdLife partner organisation in Burkina Faso) have undertaken monthly waterbird counts at Oursi from November 2009 to March 2010. The most numerous birds were White-faced Whistling Duck (58,000 birds, with a maximum of 16,000 in February), Ruff (36,700 individuals, with peaks of 12,000 in January and 10,000 in February), Garganey (35,400, peaking at 12,600 in January), Black-tailed Godwit (33,500, with 11,700 in January), Spur-winged Goose (a total of 23,400), Fulvous Whistling Duck (18,700), Knob-billed Duck (14,100), Purple Swamp-hen (12,100), Cattle Egret (9,900), Spotted Redshank (3,800), Black-winged Stilt (2,400) and Glossy Ibis (1,650). Other species recorded in smaller numbers included 846 Grey Herons, 21 Purple Herons, 71 Squacco Herons, 62 Great and 113 Little Egrets, 101 Greenshank, 615 Wood Sandpiper, 185 Marsh Sandpiper, 107 Common Sandpiper, 43 Green Sandpiper, 12 Eurasian and 7 African Spoonbills, 107 Ringed and 89 Little Ringed Plover, 32 Common and 19 Jack Snipe, 253 Little Stint, 43 Moorhens, 9 White Storks, 111 Marsh and 6 Montagu’s Harriers.

October 2009 bird count at Oursi

Our partner bird club undertook another inventory of birds at Oursi in October 2009 (see postings on previous counts). The count included 14 transects. A total of 13,045 wetland birds in 29 species were counted. The most common waterbird was once again White-faced Whistling Duck with 7634 individuals, followed by Garganey (1470), Cattle Egret (1209), Knob-billed Duck (621), Spur-winged Goose (478), Black-winged Stilt (471), Ruff (233), Spur-winged Plover (227) and Glossy Ibis (184). Other species well-known to us include 96 Grey Heron, 94 Wood Sandpiper, our logo bird Black-tailed Godwit (26 individuals), 11 Moorhen, 7 Marsh Harrier, 6 Yellow Wagtails, 5 Ringed Plover, 5 Greenshank, 2 Little and 2 Great White Egrets and a single Jack Snipe.

In the dry areas, a total of 3711 birds in 59 species were counted. This includes some wetland birds as well. The most common species here were 1707 Red-billed Queleas, 530 Four-banded Sandgrouse, 262 Turtle Doves, 185 Cattle Egrets, 106 White-throated Bee-eaters, 102 Spur-winged Geese and 116 Grey-headed Sparrows. Also found were 10 Woodchat Shrikes, 9 Hoopoes, 9 Bonelli’s Warblers, 7 Ring-necked Parakeets, 6 Common Whitethroats, 6 Spotted Flycatchers, 3 Egyptian Vultures, 3 Northern Wheatears and 2 Melodious Warblers. The next count is planned for this month (February).

Twelve years of site support at Oursi

A BirdLife International press release from 29 January 2010 reports on 12 years of work of the site support group, the Cambridgeshire Bird Club partner club, at Lake Oursi. Read more about what the site support group has been doing and what they have achieved, with strong support from NATURAMA, the BirdLife partner organisation in Burkina Faso: http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2010/01/lake_oursi.html

Migrant ringing at Oursi, November 2009

By Rosemary Setchfield

I joined the RSPB team working on the ‘Migrants in Africa’ project in Burkina Faso in November, providing support for the ringing operations. The project, jointly run by RSPB and BTO with support from Naturama and the Ghana Wildlife Society, operates transect surveys in parallel with ringing sessions at five sites from Oursi in northern Burkina Faso southwards to the coast of Ghana. The aim of the project is to understand how Palearctic-African migrants use and move around the different vegetation zones found in West Africa.


A round of ringing and surveys had previously taken place at Oursi in October, and I arrived in time to join the second round in the second half of November. Rains had stopped, being well into the dry season, and nights were starting to get cooler. We had four main sites for the ‘protocol’ ringing, and performed extra-curricular ringing activities when opportunities arose. Western Bonelli’s warbler was the most commonly caught European migrant during November (32 birds), followed by olivaceous wabler (15) and common whitethroat (14). Eight yellow wagtails were caught during two extra ringing sessions on the lake edge prior to evening roost. The number of turtle doves surveyed on transects crashed from 150 to 17 between October and November, although we still managed to ring seven in November. Smaller numbers of the following migrants were caught and ringed: subalpine warbler, common redstart, woodchat shrike, rufous scrub robin, northern wheatear, western orphean warbler, wryneck, European hoopoe, chiffchaff, black-eared wheatear and masked shrike. The only migrants recorded during transect surveys that were not captured during ringing sessions were one willow warbler, two barn swallows and one Montagu’s harrier. During November, just over 25% of all birds caught in Oursi were migrant species, compared with 2% at Nazinga, the southern study site in Burkina Faso.

The project is still in its early days, and the precise protocol is still being refined. Oursi appears to have been the most important of all five study sites for migrant numbers and range of species during October and November. It is interesting to note there was almost no overlap in the range of species caught and ringed in Oursi compared to elsewhere, melodious warbler being the exception. In comparison, the predominant species captured in Ghana were pied flycatcher and willow warbler, along with a few garden warblers and nightingales.

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.

Tree planting at Lake Oursi

© Image courtesy of NATURAMA

On 1 August 2008, NATURAMA (Fondation des Amis de la Nature, BirdLife Partner in Burkina Faso) started working on a reforestation project at Lake Oursi. This work is supported by Vogelbescherming Nederland (Dutch BirdLife Partner). The heads of the local authorities and representatives of the different ethnic groups at Oursi (Sonrai, Touareg and Peulh) as well as the Site Support Group (Oursi Bird Club) are participating in this important work for improving the habitat. This coincides with the celebrations in August of "The Month of the Tree" in Burkina Faso. Tree planting plays an important role in the fight against desertification in the Sahelian country and in improving bird habitats. The 10,000 trees to be planted have been reared from a tree nursery that the Oursi Site Support Group is running. For more information, see here (in French).

Oursi Conservation Plan

A new Lake Oursi Conservation Plan for the years 2008-2012 has been established, following a workshop at Oursi.


© Oursi Bird Club

The plan will address the threats to the site and will help the local community to manage the Lake Oursi ecosystems as a benefit to wildlife and local people. The Plan has been elaborated in a collaboration of the Oursi Bird Club, NATURAMA (the BirdLife Partner in Burkina Faso) and local people with financial contributions of BirdLife International, WWF, VBN, FFEM, and PLCE/BN. Financial contributions for the Plan’s implementation are still sought.

Common Crane and White Stork observed at Oursi

Photo © Oursi Bird Club

We have just heard the news that, with Common Crane, a new species has been observed at Lake Oursi by the Oursi Bird Club - please see the photo of the birds. Common Cranes are rare at the southern fringes of the Sahara. Also, a sighting of White Storks has been remarkable. Thanks to Oursi Bird Club for letting us know about this news.

Where is Lake Oursi?

The Oursi lakes are extremely remote. Measuring on a map, Oursi lies less than 200 miles from the capital of Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou, and less than 250 miles from Timbouktou in Mali. (See Google Map and a PDF Map). But getting there is a different thing. The roads are partly sand tracks and they might not be usable at all as happened recently when severe floods hit the southern fringe of the Sahara. In August 2007, a NATURAMA/BirdLife delegation got stuck at Oursi for two days because of flooding. The delegation also faced the collapse of their huts during a torrential downpour – there is no ‘western standard’ accommodation at Oursi.

Photo © Muhtari Aminu-Kano

Lake Oursi, Burkina Faso

Lake Oursi is highly threatened. One reason is the intensive land-use: over-exploitation of the natural resources through intensive livestock farming and deforestation. Other problems stem from poaching, the drying-out of the ponds and lakes, which, with climate change, is likely to happen more often in the near future, and expanding sand-dunes.


© Oursi bird Club

For many years, our partner, a Site Support Group, the Oursi Bird Club, with support from NATURAMA, has been addressing the threats (Site Support Groups are local groups looking after Important Bird Areas, a concept that has become highly successful within the BirdLife partnership around the world).

Photo © Muhtari Aminu-Kano

NATURAMA and the Oursi Bird Club have increasingly focused their attention to help people managing their environment. This is most important considering that Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries on Earth, with rural people depending heavily on natural resources.

Besides bird monitoring, environmental awareness has been raised and activities to stabilise the local ecosystems have been developed. Recently, Swedbio, an international development programme of the Swedish government, through the BirdLife network, has enabled a project at three sites in Burkina Faso that supports local communities in securing their livelihoods through sustainable natural resource use. Oursi is one of those sites. The project promotes agroforestry which secures habitats from the loss of soil from erosion and desertification as well as preventing the siltation of water bodies. In 2006, for example, a total of 1.2 km of hedges were planted at the ponds. Measures like this help the local people and the wetland-dependent birds – as well as woodland and savannah birds - at the same time.