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Black-crowned Night Herons Nycticorax nycticorax

Malanville, north Benin
Sudan-Guinea Savanna

Photo: Agnès Gianotti

The following records are largely unconfirmed and published for interest only in Bulletins of the African Bird Club.

In January 2007, a pale-morph Booted Eagle Hieraaetus pennatus was observed in savanna woodland north of Kountori, Atacora, on 23rd. A Shining-blue Kingfisher Alcedo quadribrachys was noted on the stream below Tanougou waterfalls, Pendjari National Park, on 27th.

Belated reports from August-October 2003 include the following. A Dwarf Bittern Ixobrychus sturmii flew over the university at Calavi on 4 August, one was at the Kota waterfalls on 9 October, and several were near Malanville on the shores of the River Niger on 11-13 October. An Ahanta Francolin Francolinus ahantensis was seen between the villages of Hlagba Dénou and Démé on 16 September. Lesser Moorhen Gallinula angulata was seen a few times near Malanville on 11-13 October. A few Caspian Terns Sterna caspia were at Djacquot beach on 27 August and two were at Ouidah on 24 October. Rosy Bee-eater Merops malimbicus was found to be common near the village of Lokoli. Two Speckled Tinkerbirds Pogoniulus scolopaceus were observed in the southern part of the forest of Lokoli on 8 September, and one in the northern part on 30 September.

Other records from Lokoli include a Red-winged Warbler Heliolais erythropterus, a pair of Buff-throated Apalises Apalis rufogularis on 2 October, a Red-bellied Paradise Flycatcher Terpsiphone rufiventer on 26 September, and a male Buff-throated Sunbird Chalcomitra adelberti seen well on 1 September. A male Marsh Tchagra Tchagra minuta with a begging juvenile Black Cuckoo Cuculus clamosus was observed near Lokoli on 3 September. Grosbeak Weavers Amblyospiza albifrons were seen a few times at Lokoli and a small flock was at the edge of the forest near Démé. Two Grey-headed Negrofinches Nigrita canicapillus were near Lokoli on 25 September.

More belated reports include African Openbill Storks Anastomus lamelligerus, found to be common in and around Cotonou and Ganvié in October 2004, a Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni seen in Cotonou on 20 March 1999, a Purple Swamphen Porphyrio porphyrio at Bymin, near Porto Novo, also in March 1999, and a Fire-crested Alethe Alethe diademata, apparently the first for Benin, recorded on 27 March 1999.

A belated report was received of a Dunlin Calidris alpina at Guézin marshes, near the Togolese border in the south, on 6 February 2003; this is the second (and possibly the first certain) record for Benin, following an unsubstantiated and rather odd claim of an exceptional 26 birds at the same locality in 1996.

A male Parasitic Weaver Anomalospiza imberbis, a first record for Benin, was observed by Patrick Claffey on 1 July 2002 along the main Cotonou-Lomé road, 9 km east of the Mono River in south Benin.

Additions to the Benin list in 2001 include Yellow-whiskered Greenbul Andropadus latirostris, mist-netted in Pobé forest, c3 km from the border with Nigeria, on 23 March and 1 June, Western Bearded Greenbul Criniger barbatus caught on 29 September, and White-browed Forest-Flycatcher Fraseria cinerascens trapped on 30 March, 13 April and 15 September.

A Red-thighed Sparrowhawk Accipiter erythropus, a species for which there are few records in Benin, was mist-netted and photographed in Niaouli forest, 60 km from Cotonou, on 5 October 2000. It did not have any white spots on the tail and its wings measured 174 mm. According to the literature, these measurements only accord with the female of the race zenkeri. This race, however, is only known to occur in the Lower Guinea forest block, westwards to south Cameroon.

A record from 1999 concerns two Grey Pratincoles Glareola cinerea on the beach in front of the Sheraton Hotel, Cotonou.

Last page update 5th November 2007