Gambia: a week in December

 

‘It’s been many years since the last Sunbird tour to the Gambia in December but judging by the success of this year’s tour it looks set to become a firm favourite! Amazing to think in 7 days we fitted in so much, and all the time ‘back home’ it was cold, wet and miserable. Each day brought a mouth-watering selection of birds some more colourful than their names suggested while others were easier to see than they were to pronounce!

 

Our hotel on the coast was rich in bird life, and even on our first evening we squeezed nearly 40 species into an hours birding including a stunning Pearl-spotted Owlet, responding almost immediately to our local guide’s whistle, Broad-billed Rollers hawking insects and our first selection of Glossy Starlings and Sunbirds. On the first day we dragged ourselves away from breakfast, shared with Village Weavers, raucous Plantain-eaters and confiding Speckled Pigeons. Nearby Abuko was so good we made two visits recording a different selection each time. Highlights included Giant and Blue-breasted Kingfishers, dwarfing nearby Pygmy Kingfishers; Black-headed, Black-crowned Night, Squacco and Striated Herons sharing a drinking pool with Jacanas, Wattled Plovers and a more familiar Common Sandpiper.

 

The forest was even more productive and with our local guide’s legendary eyesight and hearing we were soon enjoying Eremomelas, Camaropteras, Apalis, Turacos, Bristlebills and Greenbuls. In shady glades we saw both African and Red-bellied Paradise Flycatchers, Spotted and Lesser Honeyguides and the mournful sounding Common Wattle-eyes.

 

It seemed every time we glanced skywards there were raptors on view, Hooded Vultures were common but occasionally interspersed with Palm-nut Vultures, Wahlberg’s and Tawny Eagles, Lanner Falcons, Shikras and African Harrier-Hawks. As the week progressed our raptor list continued to grow, 29 species in total, including the newly split Beaudouin’s Short-toed Eagles, allowing for comparison with a couple of wintering Short-toed Eagles; Bateleurs, Western Marsh and Montagu’s Harriers, Red-necked Falcons and Grey Kestrels, Dark Chanting Goshawks lining the roadside - it really was a raptor enthusiast’s heaven! Of course this didn’t include the owls, 4 species in total from the stately Verreaux’s Eagle Owl to a dinky White-faced Scops Owl (only visible from directly underneath and requiring a small amount of limbo-dancing to look in the scope, sure fire amusement for the locals!). We continued to bump into Pearl-spotted Owlets and having tracked down African Scops Owls at night we weren’t going to turn down the chance to see two in daylight.

 

The boat trip was a real treat, quiet mangrove creeks dotted with numerous herons including the hoped for Goliath, Great White and Intermediate Egrets side by side, diminutive Mouse-brown Sunbirds, may not be as colourful as the other six species we saw but exciting nonetheless, especially seeing their tiny nests hanging precariously above the water. Overhead were Blue-cheeked, European and White-throated Bee-eaters, a wintering Wryneck looked on from a dead branch, Ospreys drifted over, small groups of Avocet, Whimbrel and Common Sandpipers sensibly seeing out the northern winter and perhaps best of all amazing views of three White-backed Night Herons roosting just feet away. To round a pleasant mornings birding off we enjoyed Pink-backed Pelicans flying past at close range, distant African Fish Eagle on a nest and a small pod of Bottle-nosed Dolphin breaking the calm waters of the Gambia river.

 

The day of the boat trip was contending for the best of the tour, especially as it followed on from the previous days bumpy, dusty trip upriver (by minibus) and the smoothness of the boat seemed like a luxury! But there must have been a reason why we bounced and bumped our way inland? The reason, Egyptian Plover!


The day started well, our ever efficient and friendly driver had got up at some unearthly hour to make sure he was first in the queue for the ferry, we rolled up just before 7am, skipped past the queuing traffic and jumped straight into the waiting vehicle! The short ferry crossing provided a handful of Arctic Skuas and Royal Terns and Grey-headed Gulls, while flocks of Western Reef Herons flew over. Once on the north bank, and well aware that the road would soon deteriorate, we stopped for our picnic breakfast, enjoyed  a mug of coffee and set off in earnest. The biggest problem with our plan was the birds, there were too many of them! Each time we stopped we struggled to get back in the bus and roadside stops included Brown Snake Eagle, huge Abyssinian Ground Hornbills, dazzling Yellow White-eyes, Black-headed Plovers, a singing Hoopoe, small groups of Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Larks, gorgeous Temminck’s Coursers, African Darters, Spur-winged Geese among many others. By early afternoon we were at Kaur, and with the tension mounting our local guide casually proclaimed ‘oh there’s the bird we are looking for!’ After an initial panic we needn’t have worried, we were to see 7 more, including some in the middle of the road. Seeing these dapper relatives of the Coursers is so amazing, the books really don’t do them justice. The mixture of black, white, peach and pale blue is striking enough but when see against the warm coloured earth they take some beating! An hour spent around here was never going to be long enough, but birds came thick and fast with Kittlitz’s Plovers, White-faced Whistling Ducks, Wood, Curlew and Marsh Sandpipers all adding to the spectacle. In the distance there was a small flock of Collared Pratincoles, but none as showy as the one in the same scope view as 2 Egyptians and several Spur-winged Plovers! From here we headed back to the ferry crossing at Farafenni, and witnessed at first hand GMT (Gambian Maybe Time!), after an hour’s wait we all crammed onto the ferry, and were soon heading west along the south shore towards Tendaba. If that wasn’t enough for one day, we enjoyed dinner in the open air and then set off on a night drive. Two hours later we were back at camp, tired but dreaming of the Standard-winged Nightjar (complete with Standards) that sat motionless by the roadside for 20 minutes!

 

Add to all this excitement there were Senegal Parrots, Oriole Warblers, indescribably brilliant Yellow-crowned Gonoleks and both Snowy and White-crowned Robin Chats, Sulpur-breasted Bush Shrikes, Cardinal and Buff-spotted Woodpeckers, Long-crested and African Hawk Eagles, 2 incredibly close Four-banded Sandgrouse, Malachite Kingfishers, 4 species of Roller, churring Long-tailed Nightjars, cocky Black Crakes, a brief Dwarf Bittern, a fly-over Black-bellied Bustard, Greater Painted Snipe, both Green Pigeons, Klaas’s, Levaillant’s and Diederik Cuckoos, Barbets, Cordon-blues, Firefinch……the list could go on, and on!

 

One final highlight worthy of mention was lunch on our last full day. Having enjoyed a fresh fish and chips lunch, and some refreshing beverages we were all set to enjoy a quiet hour after lunch sitting out the midday sun. Of course, birders being birders, they never really switch off and whilst searching for a possible female Northern Puffback there was suddenly a mass panic, people were running, shouting and pointing and above the commotion I could hear someone shouting ‘FRIGATEBIRD’! What happened next is all a bit of a blur, but bags were dumped, hats blown off as we all ran to view an area of open sky, and there it was an adult male Frigatebird species, closely followed by a couple of Black Kites (no-one cared if they were ‘Yellow-billed’!). It headed inland, circling briefly before carrying on its way. At the time of writing it looks to be the third Frigatebird record for the Gambia and with a breeding colony on the Cape Verde Islands, Magnificent would appear to be the most likely on range. This is, of course, an entirely unsatisfactory way to identify birds, and for the time being it will have to remain unidentified, especially as there are a couple of records of Ascension Island Frigatebird around the Gulf of West Africa (measurements and bill structure seem two of the best features for separating the two, but even these may need further work). Whatever it was it was exciting, and will be one of many memories we will take home from the Gambia, from the sandy beaches and warm seas to the friendly locals, bumpy roads and vast array of birdlife.’  James Lidster

Bird List

 

Little Grebe

1

5

 

Tachybaptus ruficollis

Pink-backed Pelican

5

50

 

Pelecanus rufescens

Frigatebird sp

1

1

 

Fregata sp

Hamerkop

5

20

 

Scopus umbretta

Great Cormorant

1

6

 

Phalacrocorax carbo (lucidus)

Long-tailed Cormorant

6

100

 

Phalacrocorax africanus

African Darter

6

6

 

Anhinga rufa

White-backed Night Heron

1

3

 

Gorsachius leuconotus

Black-crowned Night Heron

4

8

 

Nycticorax nycticorax

Cattle Egret

8

1000

 

Bubulcus ibis

Squacco Heron

6

10

 

Ardeola ralloides

Striated Heron

4

3

 

Butorides striatus

Dwarf Bittern

1

1

 

Ixobrychus sturmii

Black Egret

1

1

 

Egretta ardesiaca

Intermediate Egret

2

30

 

Egretta intermedia

Western Reef Heron

5

100

 

Egretta gularis

Little Egret

3

10

 

Egretta garzetta

Great White Egret

4

20

 

Egretta alba

Black-headed Heron

3

20

 

Ardea melanocephala

Grey Heron

6

20

 

Ardea cinerea

Goliath Heron

2

2

 

Ardea goliath

Purple Heron

1

10

 

Ardea purpurea

Woolly-necked Stork

1

5

 

Ciconia episcopus

Marabou Stork

1

20

 

Leptoptilos crumeniferus

Yellow-billed Stork

3

11

 

Mycteria ibis

African Spoonbill

2

3

 

Platalea alba

Black-crowned Crane

2

2

 

Balearica pavonina

Greater Flamingo

1

1

 

Phoenicopterus ruber

Knob-billed Duck

1

4

 

Sarkidiornis melanotos

Spur-winged Goose

3

3

 

Plectropterus gambensis

White-faced Whistling Duck

3

50

 

Dendrocygna viduata

Sacred Ibis

3

2

 

Threskiornis aethiopicus

Osprey

4

10

 

Pandion haliaetus

African Harrier-Hawk

8

4

 

Polyboroides typus

Palm-nut Vulture

5

6

 

Gypohierax angolensis

Hooded Vulture

8

100

 

Necrosyrtes monachus

Rüppell’s Vulture

1

2

 

Gyps rueppellii

White-backed Vulture

3

10

 

Gyps africanus

African Fish Eagle

1

2

 

Haliaeetus vocifer

Tawny Eagle

2

2

 

Aquila rapax

Wahlberg's Eagle

3

2

 

Aquila wahlbergi

African Hawk Eagle

1

5

 

Hieraaetus spilogaster

Long-crested Eagle

2

2

 

Lophaetus occipitalis

Bateleur

1

3

 

Terathopius ecaudatus

Brown Snake Eagle

2

1

 

Circaetus cinereus

Beaudouin's Short-toed Eagle

3

3

 

Circaetus beaudouini

Short-toed Eagle

1

2

 

Cicaetus gallicus

Black Kite

3

100

 

Milvus migrans

'Yellow-billed'' Kite

8

300

 

Milvus migrans parasitus

Grasshopper Buzzard

2

7

 

Butastur rufipennis

Black-shouldered Kite

5

2

 

Elanus caerulus

Montagu's Harrier

1

3

 

Circuc pygargus

Western Marsh Harrier

5

5

 

Circus aeruginosus

Dark Chanting Goshawk

5

10

 

Melierax metabates

Shikra

6

4

 

Accipiter badius

Lizard Buzzard

3

5

 

Kaupifalco monogrammicus

Lanner Falcon

5

2

 

Falco biarmicus

African Hobby

2

1

 

Falco cuvierii

Red-necked Falcon

2

2

 

Falco chicquera

Grey Kestrel

5

4

 

Falco ardosiaceus

Common Kestrel

3

3

 

Falco tinnunculus

Double-spurred Francolin

5

6

 

Francolinus bicalcaratus

Four-banded Sandgrouse

2

2

 

Pterocles quadricinctus

Black Crake

1

3

 

Amaurornis flavirostris

Black-bellied Bustard

1

1

 

Eupodotis melanogaster

Greater Painted-Snipe

1

1

 

Rostratula benghalensis

African Jacana

5

3

 

Actophilornis africanus

Egyptian Plover

1

8

 

Pluvianus aegyptius

Temminck's Courser

1

2

 

Cursorius temminckii

Collared Pratincole

1

20

 

Glareola pratincola

Spotted Thick-Knee

1

2

 

Burhinus capensis

Senegal Thick-Knee

5

50

 

Burhinus senegalensis

Black-headed Plover

2

6

 

Vanellus tectus

Spur-winged Plover

4

50

 

Vanellua spinosus

Wattled Plover

8

30

 

Vanellus senegallus

Grey Plover

2

6

 

Pluvialis squatarola

Little Ringed Plover

2

2

 

Charadrius dubius

Ringed Plover

2

10

 

Charadrius hiaticula

Kittlitz's Plover

1

44

 

Charadrius pecuarius

Whimbrel

5

16

 

Numenius phaeopus

Black-tailed Godwit

2

1

 

Limosa limosa

Bar-tailed Godwit

1

15

 

Limosa lapponica

Common Greenshank

5

10

 

Tringa nebularia

Marsh Sandpiper

2

1

 

Tringa stagnatilis

Green Sandpiper

4

4

 

Tringa ochropus

Wood Sandpiper

2

2

 

Tringa glareola

Redshank

4

2

 

Tringa totanus