Tern roosts and Palearctic waders on the Keta and Songor lagoons

Royal, sandwich, common, black and roseate terns; spotted redshank, black-tailed godwit, curlew sandpiper, little stint, avocet; white-faced whistling ducks. Volta Region & Ada, Greater Accra, Ghana.

Best time: 1 Sep – 31 Oct (September to October). Where: Songor Lagoon – Ada Foah and the salt pans, Keta Lagoon – Anloga to Keta shore, Sakumono Lagoon, Tema (Ghana). Time of day: Terns gather on the sandflats from about 90 minutes before sunset until dark and lift again at first light.

• You can go on your own
• Free
• Binoculars essential
• Sound 4/5

Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.

When is the best time?

Peak: 1 Sep – 31 Oct. September–October: post-breeding tern roosts of 50,000+ on Songor; waders build through the autumn and stay to March

Active from 15 Aug to 15 Apr (August to April) in a typical year.

Time of day

Terns gather on the sandflats from about 90 minutes before sunset until dark and lift again at first light; waders feed by tide on the lagoon edges and salt pans

• Roost break-up: first light → 1 h after sunrise
• Terns settling: 90 min before sunset → 20 min after last light

Depends on the tide: best around low tide. Check local tide tables.

What will you hear?

The rasping, screaming mass of a tern roost settling at dusk, spotted redshank 'chu-it' and godwit chatter across the pans, and whistling ducks passing overhead at night.

Binoculars?

Binoculars essential. Tern roosts and wader flocks are on flats and pan bunds 100–500 m off; binoculars needed, a scope for roseate terns.

Where to go

• Songor Lagoon – Ada Foah and the salt pans — Ramsar site; the tern roosts sit on the flats and pan bunds near the mouth of the Volta. Access by road from Ada Foah, boat trips from the estuary. Map
• Keta Lagoon – Anloga to Keta shore — Ghana's most important waterbird wetland; the causeway and the fishing villages give access to the flats. Map
• Sakumono Lagoon, Tema — Small Ramsar site squeezed by the city; convenient from Accra for waders and terns at low water. Map
• Densu Delta – Panbros salt pans — West of Accra; wader and tern roost on the pan bunds. Map

How to go on your own, and what it costs

All public: tro-tro from Accra to Ada Foah for Songor (walk or motorbike taxi to the salt pans), or to Keta/Anloga for the Keta lagoon causeway and shore. No ticket, no guide needed; salt-pan workers will tell you which pans the terns are using.

Cost: Free; boat hire on the Volta estuary at Ada is negotiable, check current prices.

Field-recording notes

Terns are the target: the roosts are the largest on the Gulf of Guinea coast and the roseate terns among them are European breeders that have been ringed and, historically, trapped here. Keep well back from a settling roost — one flush at dusk costs the birds the night. Salt-pan bunds give a clean approach to a roost on a still evening but the surf line is never far, so pick the pans furthest from the beach. Fishing canoes with outboards run along the shore from first light; fishermen and salt workers are curious and friendly, and the Wildlife Division has a site office at Ada. The lagoons are tidal only near the mouths; ask locally rather than trusting tide tables.

Sources

• Songor Ramsar Site – BirdLife IBA factsheet
• Keta Lagoon Ramsar Site – Key Biodiversity Areas
• Ghana Wildlife Society

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More: all spectacles in Ghana · bird migration hotspots · Ghana in September · Ghana in October