Northern Bahr el Ghazal

A work field trip to Aweil and Nyamlel (about 80 kms to the NW of Aweil) gave a few brief opportunities to watch birds.  In Aweil, a second look at some glossy starlings with long tails revealed that they were indeed Long-tailed Glossy Starlings.  I saw them at dusk, so only an i.d. photo.

Long-tailed Glossy Starling

An arid floodplain near Nyamlel held a flock of African Quail-Finches and my first Black Crowned Cranes flew past in the distance (no photo).  Six doves that flew by looked very much like European Turtle Doves but again I was not able to photograph them. 

African Quail-Finch

I stayed in a pleasant compound in Nyamlel, where resident species included numerous Speckled Pigeons and Blue-naped Mousebirds.

Speckled Pigeon

Blue-naped Mousebird

Back in Aweil town, a large grove of mango trees held a roost of at least 265 Black-crowned Night-Herons and 150 plus Rose-ringed Parakeets.  In both cases these are by far the largest counts I have made of these species in South Sudan.  The mango trees also held innumerable bats.

Back in Juba, leaving the window open at night to listen for owls (I have an excellent mosquito net by the way) paid dividends when a Spotted Eagle-Owl started calling in the pre-dawn.