Bird watching in Guinea - July 2025

OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizens visiting my web page. How hard can it be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page.

Jiffy (also jiff)

noun [in SING.] informal a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.

ORIGIN late 18th cent.: of unknown origin.

So as you understand, in a jiff pretty much depends on your internet.

So I put a “Next” button here and I hope that there isn't any problem to understand how to use that one. So just CLICK the “Next” button on your left hand side and you will be on the next page in a jiff!

Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas

Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!

Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!

Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra

Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!

คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next” ข้างบนนี้

Вы говорите по-русски? Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!

E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.

Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.

July 2025

Friday 18 ^th of July 2025 and we left Maersk Cancun and the Alport Terminal behind. They will drop me at the hotel and as the rest of the guys will not fly out until 10 o'clock tonight. So, they will stay at the hotel waiting for a few hours.

The driver drop us at the hotel

I check-in and I bring my luggage to my room. The room was very nice, but the rest of the hotel, they say it is a 5-star hotel. Well, I do not know who graded it to 5 stars, but for the price I pay I had expected much more.

No AC in common areas and it was very hot. No lights in the common areas, well, not many and they were for sure not consuming many watts. I was very disappointed! And the restaurant, our Chief Engineer had almost left the boat a couple of nights ago to go have dinner at the hotel.

We were drooling watching the pictures on internet, today, it looked like a truck stop and the buffet, had someone been up dancing in the food?

I went back to the bar to join the rest of the guys, I ordered a small bottle of soda water, 7 US Dollars for a small bottle.

The Agent will be back to pick up the guys between 4 and 5 o'clock and they will be taken to the airport. I went to the restaurant when they had left. Chocolate and whipped cream “BOMBASTIC” so it was instant disappointment when they delivered a MICRO dollop of whipped cream.

I sent the guy back to the kitchen and he was soon back at my room with a plate full of whipped cream, now we're talking!

A micro dollop of whipped cream

He brought more whipped cream

I could only finish half of it

I felt bad after half the chocolate and whipped cream and I never finished my sweets. Well, I will not look at any chocolate for many years now. It was a really stupid idea to order the chocolate and whipped cream.

Reminded me of when we were ashore in Spain, many years ago. They also had a hard time understanding the concept of whipped cream.

My car will be here tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock and we will take off looking for birds. And I think I will start in the Botanical Garden and I really hope they are open. Senegal Parrot and Timneh Parrot have been reported at the Botanical Garden, two birds I want to see.

+++++++++++++++
Saturday 19 ^th of July 2025 and I go to have my breakfast at 7 thirty, it was OK, but nothing special. I am in the reception at 8 o'clock but no sign of my driver and car. I asked in the reception and they went to check where my driver was.

I followed the staff and we walked to the parking.

No sign of my driver but there was another driver and I was very lucky. The driver spoke English and he had WIFI in the car. I spotted a group of Ring-necked Parakeets landing in a tree behind the parking when the Driver pulled out the car so I could step inside.

Ring-necked Parakeet

So, it turned out to be a good start of the day. We took off towards eBird hotspot: Conakry--Port , the same eBird hotspot I used onboard Maersk Cancun. The hotspot is just next to our jetty at the Boat Hotel.

We had to drive through the terminal to reach the area, just as we reached the gates requiring permit we turned right and we ended up at the Boat Hotel.

I was running the eBird app for 4 minutes before I turned it off again. Two Laughing Doves and one Red-eyed Dove, I had expected much more.

Red-eyed Dove

Laughing Dove

Laughing Dove

Laughing Dove

eBird hotspot: Conakry--Port turned out to be nothing more than a disappointment. But I was full of expectations when we left for the Botanical Garden. Botanical Garden is also an eBird hotspot: Jardin Botanique de Conakry

OK, here we go! Our Agent told me about my camera, be careful. Checking in to the hotel, they told me: Be careful with your camera. It seems like the General running the country is not very found of picture taking. My Driver warned me about the camera as well when we left the hotel this morning.

And reaching Jardin Botanique de Conakry, the spirit was high in the back seat, but it was soon turning in to gloom and grey, I was not allowed to take pictures. What the

I was really not happy, disappointment was the least of it. I really wanted to see the Senegal Parrot and Timneh Parrot. We turned around and next stop will be Lambandji, and we will stop to buy some refreshments on the way.

On our way to Lambandji

We stop at a Supermarket

I also need mosquito repellent as we are in a famous malaria area. I asked my Driver how many times he had have Malaria. I did not know, but he had not have had malaria since he was a child. He told me that it was almost only children that got malaria.

I spoke with one guy in East Africa and he had had it so many times, it was nothing to worry about, just go to the pharmacy.

We had to wait for a few minutes before the Supermarket opened. We bought juice, water and mosquito repellent and we were soon on our way to Lambandji again. We drove through the night life area on our way. The houses and shops looked better in this area, and there was a lot of houses under construction.

We reached the water front, but no water was to be seen as it was low water. And the birds disappeared with the high water.

Laughing Dove

Whimbrel

The first bird we see is as no surprise, a Laughing Dove. My Driver turned out to be golden, he spotted one green bird. I could not see the bird and after a few minutes my Driver thought I was crazy. But I managed to spot the bird, one Blue-cheeked Bee-eater.

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, lifer # 1606 for me and the first lifer for today. we were looking out over the fields and my driver told me that there was one “BIG” bird in the field. Again, took me quite some time to see the bird, one Whimbrel.

We continue and I am soon spotting one Pied Kingfisher sitting on a pole, too far away. We tried to get closer and I discover a second Pied Kingfisher sitting on another pole. This pole is closer to the dirt road and I got a picture.

Driving along the dirt road

Driving along the dirt road keeping our eyes out for birds

Pied Kingfisher

Whimbrel

Western Reef-Heron (Dark Morph)

Reed Cormorant

Listen to the Woodland Kingfisher

Sound from www.xeno-canto.org

Remarks from the Recordist

Recorded with my mobile phone using my JBL microphone with the Merlin app. High Pass Filter applied with Audacity.

Mystery bird. Uploaded to xeno-canto and eBird to see if anyone can help me with the ID

Thanks to RafaelMatias at www.birdforum.net for the ID

I get a recording of one Mystery Bird that I hopesomeone at xeno-canto and eBird can ID. I have posted the recording and I will see if I get any response.

We continue along the dirt road, the road is very poor at some spots so we are hardly making it. We stop when we spot one Red-eyed Dove and a few seconds later my Driver discovered one Striated Heron. Of course, takes long time for me to discover the bird.

The heron looks exactly like the Striated Herons we see in Asia. I had reported them as Heron sp. but I checked the eBird and Striated Heron was an option.

So, I reported them as Striated Herons.

Red-eyed Dove

Striated Heron

Red-eyed Dove

Village Weaver

Thanks to RafaelMatias at www.birdforum.net for the ID

Driving along the dirt road

Village Weaver

Thanks to RafaelMatias at www.birdforum.net for the ID

Male Black-headed Weaver

Our Hero looking for birds in Conakry

We drive for a few meters when we stop again, one Blue-cheeked Bee-eater sitting on top of a small tree/ bush singing away. The bird turns quiet as soon as I start my recording. I get a few pictures of the bird, but none of them are any good.

Finally, I manage to get a recording of the Blue-cheeked Bee-eater that I can use.

Two recordings, the first a Mystery Bird, but the Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, a lifer with both picture and a sound recording.

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

Our Hero looking for birds in Conakry

Listen to the Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

Sound from www.xeno-canto.org

Remarks from the Recordist

Recorded with my mobile phone using my JBL microphone with the Merlin app. High Pass Filter applied with Audacity.

One lone bird sitting on top of a small tree/ bush. Sometimes joined by a second bird.

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

Female Black-headed Weaver

There were a lot of weavers in the area, Village Weaver “LIFER” #1606 and Black-headed Weaver “LIFER” #1607. So I was quite happy when we left. Well, the road turned in to an area where we did not want to take the chance. For sure, we did not want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere.

So, I turned off my eBird app and we took off towards the airport, eBird hotspot: Conakry Gbessia International Airport We had to cross Conakry to reach the airport on the east side of the peninsula.

The roads were lined with people selling vegetable and all kind of stuff, so it was an interesting drive through the city.

Driving through Conakry

Driving through Conakry

The airport was surrounded by a grey concrete was so I cannot understand how this had become an eBird hotspot. We tried to get down to the water front, we came to an area where they built new houses and there were mudflats, but no birds. Well, a group of Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters.

Two Laughing Doves and one swallow that I could not ID. We decided to call it a day and we drove to Aquarium, a Lebanese restaurant. It was a nice restaurant, but there was no Lebanese food. The owner was from Lebanon.

I asked for Baklava, and they did not have any Baklava. But he pointed to the cheese cake when I asked for a Lebanese speciality.
- Cheese cake? Are you serious?
- We also have chocolate cake and fruit salad
- Any of those that are a Lebanese speciality?

The steak was good, but I wanted to eat Lebanese food. We drove back to the hotel and I spent the rest of the afternoon deleting poor pictures that I had taken during the day.

I was very happy with my Driver and the car and I booked him for the remaining days and we will leave at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning again.

Today, three new “LIFERS”
1) Blue-cheeked Bee-eater
2) Black-headed Weaver
3) Village Weaver

There willhopefully be many more “LIFERS” for me at tomorrow's birding adventure.

Click HERE to find out if I see any birds.

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