Bijilo Forest Park (Day 2)

 Forest Park Entrance

Little Bee-eater

 Green Vervet Monkey

Western Red Colobus Monkey

Grey-backed Camaroptera

Northern Crombec

@buramakeita

Pipiac

 Western Grey Plantain Eater

 Red-billed Hornbill

Beautiful Sunbird

Common Bulbul

 Blue Breasted Kingfisher 

Bronze Manakin

Bijilo Forest Park & Nature Trail (Monkey Park) lies in the coastal zone, next to the beach, about a five minute walk from the hotel. With over 133 bird species recorded there I booked local guide @buramakeita. Burama had been guiding for ten years and without his help I would have really struggled in the thick scrub of the forest. 

On the way to the park we stopped at what looked to be a small hectare of waste land where we picked up a number of great birds including Tawny-flanked Prinia, Grey-headed Sparrow, Red-cheeked Cordon Bleu, Green Wood Hoopoe and Long-tailed Glossy Starling.

The entry fee was 250 Dalsai (£2.20) for both of us. Within our first few seconds inside the park we picked up a Snowy-crowned Robin-chat, Yellow Crowned Gonolek, 
two Oriole Warblers and a Western Red Colobus Monkey.

As the forest opened up I managed to see my first Bee-eaters, first the common Little Bee-eaters then a Swallow tailed Bee-eater. Off shore a Caspian Tern flew north whilst I found it very interesting to watch two Northern Crombec at close quarters. These birds are very similar to our Nuthatches and were formally called Nuthatch Warblers. Another first was the stunning Red-bellied Paradise Flycatcher feeding by a watering station. Two more regular species seen were a Common Kestrel & a Peregrine. We had to work hard to see a Grey-backed Camaroptera to start with but then had extended views at close quarters. Our final bird was an Ahanta Francolin shuffling through the under growth. 

A brilliant session of birding which took my species count up to 51.