Ghana April 2023 Part 2: Rainforests of Ankasa Reserve

Nkulengu Rail 

The next stage of our 21-day tour of Ghana (see following blog post) was a four-night stay at Ashanti’s new lodge at the edge of the Ankasa Conservation Area, a 50,000ha rainforest reserve on the Ivory Coast boarder in the country’s south-west. We had two jeeps with drivers at our disposal here to negotiate the muddy and heavily rutted roads to reach birding sites, the first of which were a couple of pools deep in the forest. 

Ashanti's new Ankasa Lodge

The hoped-for White-crested Tiger-Heron did not materialise at the pools on our first day at Ankasa but a lovely pair of Red-fronted Antpeckers – a difficult target – on their nest did. So did a Hartlaub’s Duck unexpectedly, along with White-bellied Kingfisher.

White-bellied Kingfisher

 Other birds during the day included Blue-headed Wood-Dove, the first of many Yellow-billed Turacos, Great Blue Turaco, Thick-billed Honeyguide and Western Bearded and Yellow-bearded Greenbuls. Grey-throated Tit-Flycatcher was a welcome addition for some. A pair of Red-billed Dwarf Hornbills provided excitement when they were attacked by an immature Black Sparrowhawk. At a late afternoon stop on a ridge overlooking a forest clearing in the afternoon, Congo Serpent-Eagle showed for some, as did a mixed flock of Yellow-casqued and Black-casqued Hornbills. Mixed flocks of Black, Cassin’s and Sabine’s Spinetails were about, joined by a couple of Bates’s Swifts. 

Ankasa Forest Pond

 Nightfall on our first day at Ankasa was to provide a highlight of the trip. Nkulengu Rail was once an especially difficult species to nail but Ashanti’s team have worked out how to find the birds at their nocturnal roosts through playback of their spectacular call, so these days they are pretty much guaranteed. Our drivers and guides tracked down four birds at their roost (below and first image) which showed gloriously in the spotlight as they were buzzed by hordes of tiny insects. 

 A West African Potto spotlighted in the canopy soon after was another welcome find. Red-chested Owlet was heard here and in many other places in the Ankasa and Kakum forests. 

West African Potto

 Around the lodge, Black Bee-eaters were common and nesting in a sand mound by the restaurant. Cassin’s Flycatcher was also plentiful in the lodge grounds while Finsch’s Flycatcher Thrush (now called Finsch’s Rufous Thrush) appeared on the forest edge below the cabins and was calling fairly commonly elsewhere in the forest. 

Black Bee-eater

Cassin's Flycatcher

Our second day in the forest focused on small trails in search of skulkers. Olive Long-tailed Cuckoo showed after a chase while West African Wattle-eye was easier to spot. Rufous-winged Illadopsis took a while to nail, while Forest Robin was more co-operative. Elsewhere birds included Brown-eared Woodpecker, Shining-blue Kingfisher and White-tailed Alethe.

Rufous-winged Illadopsis

 A Nile Monitor (below) appeared on the road. 

 That evening at the lodge I found a magnificant Fraser’s Eagle-Owl perched on a low-hanging branch at the forest edge below the cabins. Others in our group had views of the bird here and elsewhere on the trip but not everyone connected with the species. 

Fraser's Eagle-Owl

 Our third day at Ankasa saw us back at the ponds, checking out a large colony of bats under a road culvert (they were an Old World Roundleaf bat, Hipposideros spp; several possible species here so ID not possible). 

Bat - Hipposideros spp

A Dwarf Bittern flushed from a pond but not much else. Along the road and tracks, birds included Blue-headed Crested Flycatcher and a trio of bristlebirds: Grey-headed, Red-tailed and Green-tailed, the latter a difficult Upper Guinea endemic to nail. Pale-breasted Illadopsis and Brown Illadopsis were seen. 

West African Batis

 Our last morning at Ankasa – Day Nine of the trip - gave us our first Copper-tailed Starlings. We then returned eastwards, our next destination being Brenu Akyinim, a much drier area of open woodland and shrubland near the coast. Here we had our first encounters with common dry country birds like Double-spurred Francolin, Vinaceous Dove, Double-toothed Barbet, Oriole Warbler, Snowy-crowned Robin-Chat and Marsh Tchagra. The highly localised Baumann’s Greenbul was neither seen nor heard; in its scrubby habitat we made do with Simple Leaflove and Black-bellied Seedcracker. In the evening we returned to the Rainforest Lodge in Jukwa for the night.

Beach at Brenu Akyinim

The morning of Day 10 had us back in the Abrafo Forest for a while, adding the smart Red-billed Helmetshrike to the list at last, while Blue Cuckoo-shrike showed well. Sunbirds included Little Green, Johanna’s and Buff-throated. We headed north a bit to the Pra River, where Rock Pratincoles perched on rocks in the fast-running stream. A large nesting colony of Preuss’s Cliff Swallow here could not be located due to extensive roadworks but we had encountered plenty of the birds in the Kakum area.

Rock Pratincoles

 Locals in a small village by the river showed us how they processed palm oil from surrounding plantations (below).