Chris Lansdell's Birding & Nature Diary

Return to The Gambia, Day 3, 24 January 2015 - Kotu Ponds, Bijilo & Tanji

With just one more day to kill before our up country adventure I decided to treat Belinda to a walk around the sewage ponds at Kotu. This site is a very short walk from our hotel and consists of a few rectangular settlings ponds which have variable water (and shit!) levels.
After a pair of Senegal Parrots by the roadside we entered the pond area. A walk along the left edge was furthest from the most smelly pond and the scrub and bushes along this side had a few birds too. A nice Yellow-crowned Gonolek was first up with 2 Fork-tailed Drongos, several White-billed Buffalo-weavers, a showy Senegal Coucal, familiar birds in the shape of a wintering Subalpine Warbler and a Chiffchaff, noisy Brown Babblers and then a skulking Grey-backed Cameroptera which teased me for a while before giving itself up to some great views. Waders were prominent on the ponds with c20 Black-winged Stilts, 2 Greenshank, 2 Redshank, several Wood Sandpipers and Common Sandpipers amongst the numerous Spur-winged Plovers. A Giant Kingfisher flew through as did a nice African Harrier Hawk. A flock of c60 White-faced Whistling Ducks, 2 Little Grebes and a flock of c25 Yellow Wagtails wrapped things up as Belinda almost sprinted past the smelliest pond on the way out!

Senegal Parrot

White-billed Buffalo-weaver

Yellow-crowned Gonolek

Brown Babblers

Wood Sandpiper

Black-winged Stilt

Senegal Coucal

Grey-backed Cameroptera

White-faced Whistling Ducks

An early afternoon walk south along the beach and a quick look at some scrub behind the beach at Bijilo proved to be more productive than expected with 3 lifers in the form of a Singing Cisticola, c15 African Silverbills and 2 Purple Glossy Starlings. Grey Woodpecker, Abyssinian Roller, 2 Yellow-billed Shrikes, Tawny-flanked Prinia, Reed Warbler, 3 Litttle Bee-eaters and a Black-headed Heron also added to the picture.

After photographing a few of the commoner birds around the hotel area we took a late afternoon taxi to Tanji to watch the fishing boats coming in. Along the beach were the usual culprits. Amongst the numerous Grey-headed Gulls were 2 Yellow-legged Gulls, Caspian Terns, Lesser Crested Terns, a single Sandwich Tern, Slender-billed Gulls, 4 Bar-tailed Godwits, c30 Dunlin, 4 Grey Plover and a White Wagtail. En-route from the taxi were 2 Lizard Buzzards.

Abyssinian Roller

Western Grey Plantain-eater

Bronze Mannikins

Pied Kingfisher

African Mourning Dove

Grey-headed Gull

Return to The Gambia, Day 2, 23 January 2015 - Kotu Creek, Fajara GC & Abuko NR

This morning we met Ebrima at the hotel gate at 08.00 for a chat about our forthcoming trip up country and took a walk with him to Kotu Bridge. With arrangements made for the trip starting on 25th we spent a bit of time on the bridge filling our boots with a few of the goodies here. Pied Kingfishers are always obvious here but for they were eclipsed by an extremely showy Blue-breasted Kingfisher. While feasting our eyes on this beauty my eye caught movement low down in bushes right by the bridge and soon I was watching my first new bird of the trip, a Northern Crombec. It was just a pity my camera settings were wrong so the resultant photos were pretty rubbish! A Wire-tailed Swallow posed nicely before Ebrima got onto a lovely Oriole Warbler quickly followed by Little Weaver and Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird. c15 White-faced Whistling Ducks a Caspian Tern and a Slender-billed Gull flew over while the creek also held Long-tailed Cormorant, 3 Grey Plover, Whimbrel, Greenshank and a Black Crake. In the immediate area were also Giant Kingfisher, Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu, Village Indigobird and Village Weavers.

Squacco Heron

Western Reef Heron

Northern Crombec

Blue-breasted Kingfisher

Village Weaver

Pied Kingfisher

Wire-tailed Swallow

On the short walk back towards the hotel we clocked up an array of species too - c10 Piapiac, 1 White-billed Buffalo-weaver, Lizard Buzzard, 3 Shikra, Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters, 1 Abyssinian Roller, 2 Blue-bellied Rollers and 4 Broad-billed Rollers.

Blue-bellied Roller

Piapiac

Following a tip off from Ebrima a late morning explore of the old paddyfields and mangroves just inland of the Palm Beach Hotel proved very worthwhile. It took a little finding as it was hidden in the mangroves but a kindly guide pointed us to a ramshackle hide and within seconds I'd seen up to 10 Greater Painted Snipe! Also in the area was my 2nd lifer - a solitary Hadada Ibis together with 3 Sacred Ibis and a Black Heron doing the classic 'umbrella' fishing technique. The return walk via the beach (and a drink) yielded 2 Chiffchaffs and Variable Sunbird in flowers by a cafe.

Greater Painted Snipe

Greater Painted Snipes

Hadada Ibis

Black Heron

Broad-billed Roller

Variable Sunbird

An afternoon walk north along the beach and back via Fajara Golf Course was a bit of a failure. I couldn't locate any suitable areas for sunbirds along the Atlantic Road which was busy, dusty and not pleasant and then we couldn't shake off a hanger on across the GC who wanted money for a variety of made up reasons. He followed us all the way back to the hotel and didn't get a penny as all he'd done was ruin our walk! Apart from some Green Woodhoopoes, Brown Babblers, Western Red-billed Hornbills and a Western Grey Plainatin-eater we saw very little.

Green Woodhoopoe

Western Red-billed Hornbill

Little Egret

In the relative cool of the late afternoon we decided on a taxi ride to Abuko NR, a site I'd been to a couple of times in 2011. We were shocked to find the permit fee has gone up 10x since then and is now 400 dalhasi (about £6.20!) and even then had to fight NOT to have a crap guide follow us round! With the reserve closing at 18.00 we only had an hour and a half so it was quick walk but nonetheless we did clock up some nice views of some great birds - Violet Turaco, 2 Green Turaco, Snowy-crowned Robin Chat, 2 Giant Kingfisher, African Darter, Purple Heron, African Paradise Flycatcher, Grey Woodpecker, Black-necked Weavers, 2 African Jacana, African Harrier Hawk, c6 Fanti Saw-wings, 2 African Thrush, 2 Blackcap Babblers, Red-billed Firefinches and Bronze Mannikins.

Long-tailed Cormorant

Snowy-crowned Robin Chat

Violet Turaco

Giant Kingfisher

African Darter

Grey Woodpecker

African Paradise Flycatcher

African Harrier Hawk

Little Bee-eater

Red-billed Firefinch

Green Woodhoopoe

Return to The Gambia, Day 1, 22 January 2015 - Introduction, Kotu Creek & Casino Cycle Track

Back in early December I found a ridiculously cheap deal for a week in the Gambia with Thomas Cook (£200 pp, b&b, including flights from Gatwick!) so we were on for this completely unplanned trip. We booked the Palm Beach Hotel at Kotu Beach as this was the same hotel we'd stayed at in 2011 when we first visited the Gambia. Back then we concentrated on the coastal areas and did quite a bit of general touristy things which meant this time we were going to concentrate on places we'd not been to before including a 3 day trip 'up country'. By that I mean going inland following the Gambia River.

Back in 2011 I'd used a local bird guide for just a couple of mornings and knowing he's good I made contact with him on Facebook and we quickly agreed an itinerary and a price for a 3 day/2 night trip up country. My guide is Ebrima W Barry and I would highly recommend him to anyone needing a birding guide in the Gambia. He is good company, a great birder, a careful driver (in his comfortable 4WD) and is really dedicated to finding you the birds you want to see. He can be contacted at ebrimaeboy@yahoo.com or via his website at www.gambia-birdwatching-tour.com

Before I get onto the birding here are a few snippets of info that may prove useful for anyone visitig the Gambia based on my personal experience:

I would avoid the Palm Beach Hotel like the plague. It's position is good for on the doorstep birding but since 2011 it has gone downhill big style. The most worrying aspect being the fact that it has turned into a 'knocking shop' with old British men picking up very young Gambian girls every night in the bar/restaurant area.
The Gambia is (at the time of writing) ebola free. Despite this tourism is down 70% this year due to people being worried about it.
The constant hassling by people wanting to sell you stuff, be your guide, be your taxi driver etc is still prevalent. If you're birding and have a guide lined up just quote his name and this will help get rid of any unwanted attention from other guides.
The Gambia Birdwatching Association have registered guides and a small shelter by Kotu Bridge where they congregate. Any registered guide here should be good and once I was known to them and they knew I was being guided by Ebrima they welcomed me like one of their own. Indeed they went out of their way to find me my bogey bird at the end of the trip - read on!
I'd thoroughly recommend getting a copy of the Gosney guide to Finding Birds in the Gambia. Even if you use a guide it gives very useful info.

Having arrived late afternoon today it didn't leave too much time for birding. I just had a quick look at the mouth of Kotu Creek right by the hotel (while Belinda got me a beer!) and then took a short walk along the Casino Cycle Track in fading light. I was also out for the first time with my new Canon 7d so just took a few pictures of the local common birds while I was getting used to the settings!

Around the creek and hotel Speckled Pigeons, Laughing Doves and African Mourning Doves are common as are the ubiquitous Pied Crows. Waders in the creek always seem to include Whimbrel, Senegal Thicknee, Greenshank, Common Sandpiper and Spur-winged Plover with the common herons being Squacco Heron, Great White Egret, Grey Heron, Western Reef Heron and Sacred Ibis. Other really common birds (which I probably won't mention again!) are Black Kite, Hooded Vulture, Common Bulbul and Village Weaver. On our short stroll along the Casino Cycle Track we managed 2 Piapiac, 2 Senegal Coucal, Western Grey Plantain-eater, 4 Black-winged Stilts, Marsh Sandpiper, 2 Green Woodhoopoe, Little Bee-eater, Broad-billed Roller and Ring-necked Parakeet.