Angolan Greater Flamingo www.orla-mikkelsen-artwork.dk

Wader Identification Course at Mussulo Bay,
Saturday 22 October with Michael Mills

Although you may not realise it, if you live in Luanda you have an excellent waterbird site right on your doorstep: Mussulo Bay. Mussulo is internationally recognised as an Important Bird Area, due to being a vital feeding site for large numbers of waterbirds. During Angola’s hotter months thousands of birds migrate from their Arctic breeding grounds to escape the cold and to feed on the abundance of food that places like Mussulo offers. This makes October an excellent month for birding in Mussulo. Many of the birds that visit are known as waders, and are hard to identify due to their drab plumages. But each species, with a little bit of help, can be distinguished from the other, especially by paying attention to their beak shape and feeding techniques.

On 22 October, Michael Mills will be offering an in-the-field identification course on these tricky birds. The best way to learn is to watch, so the plan is to meet at Saco dos Flamingos (just beyond the ADPP teacher’s training college past Ramiro on the road heading south) at 06h30 on 22 October and spend a few hours studying the birds through binoculars and a telescope. It gets hot, quickly, so we would restrict birding from 06h30 to 09h30 in the morning, when conditions are more pleasant.

In order to give each person individual attention, Michael is restricting the group size to 10 people. To book your spot, please email Michael on birdsangola@gmail.com. The cost will be USD 50 each. If you have a telescope, please bring it along. And your bird book.

Michael Mills (centre foreground) birding with the Angola Field Group in the Denbos. Photo courtesy Jay Blodgett

The foremost expert on birds in Angola, conservation biologist Michael Mills, invites Angola Field Group members to join him in a bird identification course, Saturday October 22nd. Michael is a professional bird watching tour guide in sub-Saharan Africa (www.birdingafrica.com) and also works on conservation projects in Angola (www.birdlife.org). In February Michael gave a presentation to the Angola Field Group, click here: “Protecting Angola’s threatened birds and their threatened habitats”. Michael also runs two websites on Angolan birds: www.birdsangola.org and www.mountmoco.org.