Wednesday 20 November 2002

Annotated bird list for family compound in Festac Town, Lagos, Nigeria



This is a list of the species seen in, and flying over, a small "compound" on 21 Road Extension, Festac Town, Lagos, Nigeria, between 9 and 18 November 2002. Festac Town was established in 1977 for the international Festival of Arts and Crafts, and the exhibition site is nearby. The town now has approaching 100,000 inhabitants and is situated to the W of central Lagos about 2 miles from the coast. The compound is located not far from the northern edge of the town, about half a mile from surrounding open marshes and lagoons.

Species which were only seen overhead are marked with an asterisk *.

1. Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) * - small numbers occasionally seen passing low overhead; common resident around rubbish dumps in the town
2. African Open-billed Stork (Anastomus lamelligerus) * - singles occasionally seen passing high overhead, most commonly early or late in the day, though also at midday; regularly seen soaring over lagoons to the north
3. Black Kite (Milvus migrans) * - small numbers very commonly observed overhead, up to three frequently in sight soaring high about the town
4. Shikra (Accipiter badius) * - single overhead on a couple of occasions
5. Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) * - singles very commonly observed overhead - soaring, hovering and hunting
6. Laughing Dove (Streptopelia senegalensis) - common resident, up to three birds consorting on house rooves and song regularly heard
7. Little Swift (Apus affinis) * - small flocks very regularly observed overhead
8. African Palm Swift (Cypsiurus parvus) * - small flocks very regularly observed overhead
9. Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) * - small flocks irregularly observed overhead, usually with other hirundines
10. Common House Martin (Delichon urbica) * - occsionally observed high overhead, with other hirundines
11. African Pied Wagtail (Motacilla aguimp) - single seen low over houses
12. Common Bulbul (Pycnonotus barbatus) - very common and prominent yard resident - one or more usually within earshot at all times!
13. Yellow White-eye (Zosterops senegalensis) - single once searching for insect prey in small lime tree in yard
14. Variable Sunbird (Cinnyris venustus) - most conspicuous yard resident, with a male frequently in song from any elevated perch, particularly the house aerial and those of the neighbours, whilst female seen skulking in the lime tree
15. Pied Crow (Corvus albus) * - small numbers seen irregularly overhead
16. Black-necked Weaver (Ploceus nigricollis)- a pair and possibly others seen daily lurking in the top-most branches of the yard mango tree [NB - Borrow and Demey do not list gardens in the habitats for this species]
17. Bronze Mannikin (Lonchura cuculllata) - small flocks regularly seen passing briskly and noisily low over the roof-tops

Other species seen locally which are probably regular over the garden included:

18. White-faced Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna viduata) - small flocks seen over nearby marshes and lagoons
19. Feral Pigeon (Columba livia) - these are resident along the nearby high street (21 Road)
20. African Pied Hornbill (Tockus fasciatus) - seen elsewhere in the town
21. Ethiopean Swallow (Hirundo aethiopica) - small flocks seen elsewhere in the town
22. Northern Grey-headed Sparrow (Passer griseus) - common inhabitant of most residential areas
23. Slender-billed weaver (Ploceus pelzelni) - an individual was seen in a neighbour's garden (202 road)
24. Splendid Glossy Starling (Lamprotornis splendidus) - individuals seen in nearby housing areas

Other heron, egret and ibis species were also seen over neighbouring marshes and the town and I expect that at least 10 species in this group are probably regular over the garden.

Monday 29 July 2002

Survey of breeding birds in woods around Whippendell Wood, Watford, Herts, UK (2002)

The following is a personal survey by means of dawn visits to the Whippendell Wood area W of Watford, Herts, UK in May/June 2002

Dates and times

11 May 5.25 – 7.50am (145 minutes)

25 May 4.25 – 6.30am (125 minutes)

1 June 5.25 – 7.45am (140 minutes)

4 June 4.05 – 6.30am (145 minutes)

8 June 4.05 – 6.35am (150 minutes)

Area covered

Survey covered all wooded parts of Whippendell Wood and Jacotts Hill area (c. 1.5 miles x 1.5 miles, or 580 hectares) (map), i.e. the region bounded by:

* North: Redhall Lane, Fire Tree Lane and Grove Mill Lane (but including wooded area in Westwood Quarry as far as M25)

* West: Sarratt Road (but excluding the residential area around Redheath)

* South: Little Green Lane and Rousebarn Lane

* East: Grand Union Canal, but including wooded areas on east bank at the west end of Cassiobury Park

i.e. including Whippendell Wood, Lees Wood, Cartpath Wood, Birch Spring, Harrocks Wood, Merlin's Wood, Merlin's Spring, Newland's Spring, Round Newland's Spring, Dell Wood, Waterdell Spring, Thick Spring, Long Newland's Spring, unnamed isolated wood NW of junction of Rouse Barn and Little Green Lane and all of wood on West Herts Gold Course, and alongside Grand Union Canal (following terminology of Watford Street A-Z atlas by Geographers' A-Z Map Company Ltd.)

The true area covered was very close to one square mile, and comprised almost entirely woodland of one sort or another.

Coverage

There may have been some double-counting due to mobile birds moving (e.g. tit flocks and woodpeckers) but most records refer to territorial males in song and the overall counts will in most cases be underestimates due to birds not singing and areas missed. For example, noticeably fewer singing Blackbirds and Robins were recorded from 2 hours after sunrise on June visits.

KEY:

Bold - Numbers are totals of territorial (singing) males, family parties or discrete locations were birds making other calls were heard (i.e. approximate number of territories)*

Normal - Numbers are total individuals seen/heard*

Blue - less than "average"

Red - more than "average"

Green - much more than "average"

Shaded - noteworthy (others can be excluded in many cases due to small sample size)

* Normalisation in lower table is simply achieved by dividing totals by total number of territories/individuals in each region






Regions


Species
Canal Jacotts Golf course Whippendell Waterdell Harrocks Lees

Total 333 176 118 343 163 60 134
Wren 188 50 19 11 50 29 8 21
Robin 155 23 22 13 47 27 11 12
Blackbird 141 21 23 12 43 19 5 18
Wood Pigeon 126 24 29 9 38 11 2 13
Song Thrush 96 24 16 4 33 9 2 8
Chaffinch 70 16 10 7 14 6 6 11
Blackcap 62 15 7 5 16 9 3 7
Great Tit 57 8 7 14 14 8 2 4
Blue Tit 56 16 5 11 10 4 2 8
Carrion Crow 47 13 5 3 5 16 2 3
Goldcrest 42 9 2 1 20 6 2 2
Jackdaw 41 25 2 5 2 1 4 2
Great Spotted Woodpecker 31 4 4 6 10 4 1 2
Coal Tit 30 1 1 2 12 1 3 10
Mallard 26 20 1 1 4 0 0 0
Magpie 19 3 6 5 2 3 0 0
Starling 18 16 0 2 0 0 0 0
Chiffchaff 13 2 1 1 4 1 1 3
Stock Dove 11 9 0 0 2 0 0 0
Hedge Sparrow 10 3 4 0 0 1 1 1
Mistle Thrush 6 2 0 0 2 0 1 1
Long-tailed Tit 7 1 1 2 2 0 1 0
Treecreeper 7 1 1 0 3 2 0 0
Green Woodpecker 6 1 2 0 1 0 1 1
Tawny Owl 8 1 1 0 4 1 0 1
Jay 9 4 3 0 1 0 0 1
Skylark 4 0 0 1 0 2 1 0
Common Whitethroat 4 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
Grey Heron 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 1
Swift 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0
Marsh Tit 3 1 0 0 1 0 1 0
Pheasant 3 0 0 0 1 2 0 0
Goldfinch 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Sparrowhawk 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 1
Canada Goose 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Moorhen 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Greenfinch 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
Nuthatch 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Collared Dove 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cuckoo 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Cormorant 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Common Tern 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Garden Warbler 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Swallow 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Rook 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Barn Owl 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 1328 333 176 118 343 163 60 134









Mammals







Muntjac deer 8 1 0 0 3 0 4 0
Pipistrelle bat 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Red fox 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

Normalised totals (in order to reveal trends in distribution across different parts of the wood).






Regions


Species
Canal Jacotts Golf course Whippendell Waterdell Harrocks Lees

Total 333 176 118 343 163 60 134
Barn Owl 1 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Wren 188 1.0575 0.7626 0.6585 1.0297 1.2568 0.9418 1.1070
Robin 155 0.5900 1.0710 0.9439 1.1740 1.4192 1.5708 0.7673
Hedge Sparrow 10 1.1928 3.0182 0.0000 0.0000 0.8147 2.2133 0.9910
Treecreeper 7 0.5680 1.0779 0.0000 1.6593 2.3278 0.0000 0.0000
Blackbird 141 0.5922 1.2308 0.9578 1.1807 1.0979 0.7849 1.2652
Song Thrush 96 0.9940 1.2576 0.4689 1.3309 0.7638 0.4611 0.8259
Mistle Thrush 6 1.3253 0.0000 0.0000 1.2906 0.0000 3.6889 1.6517
Blackcap 62 0.9619 0.8519 0.9076 0.9992 1.1827 1.0710 1.1189
Garden Warbler 1 3.9760 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Chiffchaff 13 0.6117 0.5804 0.8657 1.1913 0.6267 1.7026 2.2870
Goldcrest 42 0.8520 0.3593 0.2680 1.8437 1.1639 1.0540 0.4719
Common Whitethroat 4 0.9940 0.0000 2.8136 0.0000 2.0368 0.0000 2.4776
Great Tit 57 0.5580 0.9266 2.7642 0.9509 1.1435 0.7766 0.6955
Blue Tit 56 1.1360 0.6737 2.2107 0.6914 0.5819 0.7905 1.4158
Coal Tit 30 0.1325 0.2515 0.7503 1.5487 0.2716 2.2133 3.3035
Long-tailed Tit 7 0.5680 1.0779 3.2155 1.1062 0.0000 3.1619 0.0000
Marsh Tit 3 1.3253 0.0000 0.0000 1.2906 0.0000 7.3778 0.0000
Chaffinch 70 0.9088 1.0779 1.1254 0.7743 0.6983 1.8971 1.5574
Pheasant 3 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 1.2906 5.4315 0.0000 0.0000
Grey Heron 4 2.9820 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 2.4776
Cormorant 1 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 3.8717 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Canada Goose 2 3.9760 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Mallard 26 3.0585 0.2902 0.4329 0.5956 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Moorhen 2 3.9760 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Sparrowhawk 3 0.0000 5.0303 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 3.3035
Common Tern 1 3.9760 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Tawny Owl 8 0.5680 0.0000 0.0000 2.2124 1.1639 0.0000 1.4158
Wood Pigeon 126 0.7573 1.7367 0.8039 1.1677 0.7113 0.3513 1.0225
Stock Dove 11 3.2531 0.0000 0.0000 0.7039 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Collared Dove 1 3.9760 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Great Spotted Woodpecker 31 0.5130 0.9736 2.1782 1.2489 1.0513 0.7140 0.6394
Green Woodpecker 6 0.6627 2.5152 0.0000 0.6453 0.0000 3.6889 1.6517
Nuthatch 2 0.0000 0.0000 5.6271 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 4.9552
Swift 4 3.9760 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Swallow 1 0.0000 0.0000 11.2542 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Cuckoo 1 0.0000 7.5455 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Skylark 4 0.0000 0.0000 2.8136 0.0000 4.0736 5.5333 0.0000
Carrion Crow 47 1.0998 0.8027 0.7184 0.4119 2.7735 0.9418 0.6326
Jackdaw 41 2.4244 0.3681 1.3725 0.1889 0.1987 2.1593 0.4834
Rook 1 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 3.8717 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Magpie 19 0.6278 2.3828 2.9616 0.4075 1.2864 0.0000 0.0000
Jay 9 1.7671 2.5152 0.0000 0.4302 0.0000 0.0000 1.1012
Starling 18 3.5343 0.0000 1.2505 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Goldfinch 3 3.9760 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Greenfinch 2 1.9880 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 4.9552
Totals 1328 69.4127 38.3775 47.3628 35.1079 32.0757 43.0943 43.0143









Mammals







Muntjac 1 0.4970 0.0000 0.0000 1.4519 0.0000 11.0667 0.0000
Bat 1 3.9760 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Fox 1 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 9.9104