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Arpora Wood was in my opinion an altogether better site than Baga Hill although Baga Hill had its own merits, with certain species not found at Arpora Wood.
Arpora Wood has more Accessible open areas than Baga Hill lower down.
To find Arpora Wood, leave the Marinha Dourada Hotel gate turning right and walk to the T- junction. At the junction turn left and walk past a couple of bars and a local bus stop area until reaching a sharp left hand bend in the road. At this bend is a sign to the Cabana Nightclub on the right. Take the road on the right and walk past the club down a small shady track. This track passes an opening on the right which lets you onto some more open ground, accessible lower down from the main road.
Further on the track forks, the left hand fork taking you past a small quarry where Blue-faced Malkoha was seen and continues up the left hand side of the valley containing Arpora Woodland. Along this track are some large trees where I was informed by a Local German birder that he had seen 4 or 5 Yellow-crowned Woodpeckers early one morning.
The right hand fork will take you through a scrub area and across some farmland, with very small fenced off fields, before taking you up the right hand side of the Arpora wooded hillside. I found the open scrubby area at the lower end of the woodland to be the most productive especially in the early mornings at first light, around 6-30. Black-rumped Flamebacks and Rufous Woodpeckers were regular and my only Common Flamebacks of the trip were seen here. Bronzed Drongo and White-bellied Drongo were often encountered with the commoner Black and Ashy Drongos. White-bellied Sea Eagles were overhead displaying around their obvious nest one morning and chased off a group of House Crows, whilst other raptors similar to those of Baga Hill were seen, along with a male Pallid Harrier which was seen one evening soaring with the other raptors. |
