As with the range of animals, the birdlife is inevitably very varied. About 6.5km southwest of Kwara is Gcodikwe Lagoon. This is within Moremi Reserve, but Kwara is the nearest camp to it and so makes a good base for visits here. See the more comprehensive notes in Chapter 12 about Gcodikwe, but note that within a boat ride you’ll find one of the region’s most important breeding colonies of storks, egrets, herons and spoonbills. It is at its busiest between September and November, but there are always a few birds there.
Elsewhere in Kwara you’ll find a good range of the usual species found in and around the Delta. The more common residents here include reed cormorants; darters; African and lesser jacanas; malachite, pied and giant kingfishers; pygmy geese; fish eagles and marsh harriers. Meanwhile the coucals are particularly well represented with Senegal, coppery-tailed and, (in summer) even black coucals all seen here. More unusual sightings include fulvous duck, swamp boubous, black and slaty egrets, black-crowned and white-backed night herons, and the occasional migrant osprey.
In the drier areas north of the permanent waterways, some of the commoner residents include blacksmith plover, red-billed francolins, double-banded sandgrouse, lilac-breasted rollers, yellow-billed hornbills, Meyer’s parrots, fiery-necked nightjars, palm swifts, white-rumped babblers, red-eyed and Cape turtle doves, black-crowned Tchagras, Heuglin’s robins and black-breasted snake eagles.
More unusual sightings might include western banded snake eagles, Dickinson’s kestrels (often perching on palm trees), red-necked falcons, bat hawks, swallow-tailed bee-eaters, red-billed helmet shrikes, brown-throated weavers and wattled cranes.