Birds at the Atlantic Hotel

   No need to go far to discover a wide range of birds. All you need to do is to walk around the Laico Atlantic hotel gardens at different times of day and particularly in different parts of the hotel. In fact, regular customers of the hotel ask for a room with a view, not on the beach with the noise from the evening show, but overlooking the gardens out front

…with a good many Village weavers (Ploceus culcullatus), quite similar to those from my garden in Mauritius. The male has a black beak, a dark head and a more vivid yellow that the female who has a light grey beak. They love staying on the trees close to balconies, waiting for customers to throw them some crumbs. They weave nests in the shape of a closed basket with the only hole being the opening – it’s not uncommon to see hundreds on the same tree. They don’t nest at the hotel however, and that’s for the best as they are very noisy and will strip a tree of all its leaves and shoots.

   The Common bulbul (Pycnonotus barbatus) is very common, loves the mango season when it comes into my ‘garden’ to nip at the fruit – fallen or still on the tree. It can be found in the vast majority of Africa and reproduces mostly at the end of the rainy season, laying two or three eggs in a cup-shaped and leaf carpeted nest.

   With its metallic tint, this Long tailed glossy starling (Lamprotornis caudatus) is part of the starling family. Based on the luminosity and its position relative to the sun, it goes from blue to green with more-or-less dark nuances. It can measure up to 54cms in length. I collected a few feathers (including three very long ones) and it’s strange to observe that on half of it, the colour is of a regular blue, and less metallic. It must be the side of the feather that is against the body. This bird can be very noisy when it wants to and can drown out the sound of the TV if it decides to come close to the courtyard wall. It’s also quite curious and sometimes comes up to the living room window to have a look at what’s inside. I’ve been told that if I leave the window open, it’ll come in to pay a visit.

   Mister Red billed hornbill (Tockus erythronhynchus) is also a chatty one and can reveal himself as very noisy when it chats with its partner or when it courts. With its 42cms, it’s one of the smaller Hornbills. It nests in February in the trunk of a dead tree in the mini-golf garden. The female settled there to lay her eggs, and then the hole was practically closed off, only leaving a small opening for food. When room gets a bit tight, the female demolishes the wall, gets out and rebuilds it. Then, the two parents take care of feeding the three to six chicks. It’s often perched, but you can often see it on the ground, feeding on grain, fruit, or insects.

   On occasion, it inadvertently enters the restaurant – one day, the male was certainly courting its female all around with huge flapping of wings and verbal effusions to which the female would reply. It was amusing to watch as they started to ‘speak’ and the longer it went on, the louder they got.