GAMBIA – a week in February

‘What a way to spend a week! Day after day of brilliant birding, from the gallery forest of Abuko where we saw Snowy-crowned Robin Chats, White-backed Night Heron and African Pygmy Kingfisher to Tanji with its Kelp and Slender-billed Gulls, Royal Terns and Golden-tailed Woodpecker.

It hadn’t started so well though, with our local guide’s news that Egyptian Plovers weren’t at their usual site due to the dry winter but a quick change of itinerary and we made it all the way to Basse. Great birds are often remembered for so many reasons, and few will forget our voyage in the MV Bath tub! Using just a stick our ‘pilot’ skilfully and quickly manoeuvred us to within feet of a Crocodile bird, offering us the best views anyone could ever have! This forced diversion also added a couple of species normally exclusive to the two week trip but few were going to complain at seeing Red-throated Bee-eater, Western Banded Snake Eagle and Marabou Stork!

The north bank road was very bird rich again, and included 3 species of Stork (Yellow-billed, White and Woolly-necked), 3 Black-crowned Cranes, Beaudouin’s Short-toed Snake Eagles, Savile’s Bustard, Lesser Kestrel, lots of Abyssinian Rollers, Collared Pratincoles, Chestnut-bellied Starling and best of all 5 African Swallow-tailed Kites! Quite simply amazing and the first Solomon had seen in Gambia for 5 years.

At Tendaba we saw African Fish Eagle, Four-banded Sandgrouse and Long-tailed Nightjar at the same water hole but our creek crawl was the best yet. In 3 hours we watched African Finfoot swimming in the middle of the channel, walking along a totally exposed mud bank and creeping through the mangroves. Added to this Goliath Heron, Woolly-necked Storks, African Blue Flycatcher and Mouse-brown Sunbird, not to mention the Pied, Malachite and Blue-breasted Kingfishers and umpteen herons it was going to be hard to beat.

Our luck just kept getting better and over the week we also saw 2 Abyssinian Ground Hornbills, more Broad-billed and Blue-bellied Rollers, Blue-cheeked, White-throated and Little Bee-eaters, Yellow-throated Longclaw, Bateleur, Brown Snake Eagle, White-faced Scops Owl, Pearl-spotted Owlet, Oriole Warbler, Green and Violet Turacos, Sacred Ibis, both Spoonbills, Green Hylia, Green Crombec, Pygmy and Beautiful Sunbirds, Arctic Skuas…….the list could go on. In fact we recorded over 270 species in a week. Hectic as this may sound there was still chance to have a swim, sit in the shade after lunch, or try the local beer. A perfect way to escape the northern winter!’ James Lidster

Bird List:

Column A = Number of tours on which this species has been recorded.

Column B = Number of days this species was seen on the last tour.

Column C = Maximum daily count for this species on the last tour.

H = Heard only

A		B	C
1	Little Grebe	1	10		Tachybaptus ruficollis
3	Great White Pelican	4	50		Pelecanus onocrotalus
3	Pink-backed Pelican	6	100		Pelecanus rufescens
1	British Storm Petrel				Hydrobates pelagicus
1	Storm Petrel sp				Hydrobates/Oceanodroma sp
3	Hamerkop	5	20		Scopus umbretta
3	Great Cormorant	2	12		Phalacrocorax carbo (lucidus)
3	Long-tailed Cormorant	6	30		Phalacrocorax africanus
3	African Darter	3	50		Anhinga rufa
2	White-backed Night Heron	1	1		Gorsachius leuconotus
3	Black-crowned Night Heron	3	10		Nycticorax nycticorax
3	Cattle Egret	8	40		Bubulcus ibis
3	Squacco Heron	5	6		Ardeola ralloides
3	Striated Heron	4	3		Butorides striatus
3	Black Egret	3	30		Egretta ardesiaca
3	Intermediate Egret	3	4		Egretta intermedia
3	Western Reef Heron	7	50		Egretta gularis
3	Little Egret	5	2		Egretta garzetta
3	Great White Egret	6	6		Egretta alba
3	Black-headed Heron	6	4		Ardea melanocephala
3	Grey Heron	7	10		Ardea cinerea
2	Goliath Heron	1	2		Ardea goliath
3	Purple Heron	1	3		Ardea purpurea
2	Woolly-necked Stork	2	5		Ciconia episcopus
1	White Stork	1	2		Ciconia ciconia
2	Marabou Stork	1	2		Leptoptilos crumeniferus
3	Yellow-billed Stork	2	8		Mycteria ibis
2	African Spoonbill	1	6		Platalea alba
2	European Spoonbill	2	3		Platalea leucorodia
1	Black-crowned Crane	1	3		Balearica pavonina
3	Spur-winged Goose	3	8		Plectropterus gambensis
1	Knob-billed Duck	1	17		Sarkidironis melanotos
3	White-faced Whistling Duck	1	100		Dendrocygna viduata
3	Sacred Ibis	1	5		Threskiornis aethiopicus
3	Osprey	5	10		Pandion haliaetus
3	African Harrier-Hawk	8	4		Polyboroides typus
3	Palm-nut Vulture	5	2		Gypohierax angolensis
3	Hooded Vulture	8	100		Necrosyrtes monachus
2	Rüppell's Vulture				Gyps rueppellii
1	Griffon Vulture				Gyps fulvus
3	White-backed Vulture	1	4		Gyps africanus
2	African Fish Eagle	2	1		Haliaeetus vocifer
3	Tawny Eagle	2	1		Aquila rapax
1	Wahlberg's Eagle	2	1		Aquila wahlbergi
3	African Hawk Eagle	1	2		Hieraaetus spilogaster
1	Booted Eagle				Hieraaetus pennatus
1	Martial Eagle				Polemaetus bellicosus
3	Long-crested Eagle	1	1		Lophaetus occipitalis
2	Bateleur	1	3		Terathopius ecaudatus
3	Brown Snake Eagle	3	3		Circaetus cinereus
2	Western Banded Snake Eagle	1	1		Circaetus cinerascens
3	Beaudouin's Short-toed Eagle	3	3		Circaetus beaudouini
3	Black Kite	1	1		Milvus migrans
3	Yellow-billed Kite	8	100		Milvus migrans parasitus
3	Grasshopper Buzzard	2	3		Butastur rufipennis
3	Black-shouldered Kite	2	3		Elanus caerulus
1	African Swallow-tailed Kite	1	5		Chelictinia riocourii
3	Montagu's Harrier	2	2		Circuc pygargus
3	Western Marsh Harrier	4	2		Circus aeruginosus
3	Dark Chanting Goshawk	5	10		Melierax metabates
2	Gabar Goshawk	2	1		Micronisus gabar
1	African Goshawk	1	1		Accipiter tachiro
3	Shikra	6	3		Accipiter badius
3	Lizard Buzzard	3	4		Kaupifalco monogrammicus
3	Lanner Falcon	5	4		Falco biarmicus
3	Red-necked Falcon	1	1		Falco chicquera
3	Grey Kestrel	6	3		Falco ardosiaceus
3	Common Kestrel	5	17		Falco tinnunculus
1	Lesser Kestrel	1	2		Falco naumanni
3	Double-spurred Francolin	4	4		Francolinus bicalcaratus
3	Ahanta Francolin	1	1	H	Francolinus ahantensis
2	Stone Partridge	2	7		Ptilopachus petrosus
3	Four-banded Sandgrouse	2	2		Pterocles quadricinctus
2	Black Crake	2	5		Amaurornis flavirostris
3	Savile's Bustard	1</