Suzanne’s month in Ghana – bad photos of birds, plus a few extras…

I think David was mildly impressed by how well thumbed my Birds of Western Africa book was when I got back. Mostly I was just thinking about what I might see next time when I take David back there but I did see a few things and some of them are even one up on David! They’re not in any particular order…

Laughing Dove in Accra

African Pied Wagtail at Axim 

Cattle Egret at the Botanical Gardens, Accra 

African Wattled Lapwing at the Botanical Gardens in Accra – I got attacked by ants for these shots…   

Cattle Egret at the Botanical Gardens in Accra  

The first of many. Pin-tailed Whydah in Osino 

Northern Grey-headed Sparrow at the project site in Adabaze 

Yellow-mantled Widowbird at The Sabre Trust’s long term project site 

Firefinch sp. at Cape Three Points – can’t decide which one! 

Bronze Mannikin at Cape Three Points   

Woodland Kingfisher at Cape Three Points 

Another Pin-tailed Whydah at Cape Three Points   

Water Thick-knee at Cape Three Points  

Plantain Eater at Cape Three Points  

Sunbird sp. at Cape Three Points – I think Copper but David wasn’t convinced 

Vieillot’s Black Weaver at Cape Three Points  

Orange-cheeked Waxbill at Cape Three Points  

Common Bulbul at Cape Three Points  

Definitely a Copper Sunbird at Cape Three Points  

Black-necked Weaver at Cape Three Points  

Senegal Coucal at Cape Three Points  

Very distant African Green Pigeon at Cape Three Points  

African Pied Hornbill at Cape Three Points 

Do you see why I was oh so smitten with Cape Three Points. It was heaven. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend the Ecolodge we stayed at, which is run by Akwasi and Ketty. Their website is http://www.escape3points.com. They are interested in the local birds and butterflies and would love someone to go out and do a three week project surveying and photographing their birds to give their guests an idea of what they can expect to see during their stay. Does anyone know someone who might be interested??? It’s a cracking spot. The rainforest comes right down to the beach so there is a great variety of birds just on their land. I didn’t stray too far and was thrilled with what I found in just a day and a half.

 

Bats at Wli waterfalls rudely awoken for the tourists’ satisfaction… Mind you, it was quite a spectacle and the noise was unreal.

Lizards in various locations  

I really couldn’t hold myself still enough to get a focussed photograph of this Scorpian 

Finally, Mona Monkeys at Tafi Atome

Suzanne’s month in Ghana – moths and butterflies

I couldn’t begin to count the amount of time I spent waiting for the butterflies in Ghana to land and be nice to me but they just wouldn’t. They were everywhere but these are the only ones I managed to get… Once again, apologies for the quality, the Lumix does what I need but not much else!

     I was actually really excited to see two pairs of butterflies breeding as I’ve never seen it before. I have to say it does seem to take a remarkably long time to do the deed though. I felt like a bit of a gooseberry after a while!

 

Next are my moths. As you’ll see, most of them were taken in the same location, which was the toilets of the Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary. I saw significantly more moths than monkeys and I’m rather ashamed to admit that one of the girls actually had to throw me out of the toilet once she realised the error she had made in inviting me into her cubical to take some photos. They were beautiful though…