Hello
Iam having a one week long holiday in The Gambia, dont attend to do to much serious birding altough, staying on a small beach hotell about 30 minutes away from Banjul (the capital).
But I have seen a few birds in the hotel area and while driving around
Birds seen so far
Pink-backed Pelican
Black-headed heron
Western reef-egret
Cattle egret
Griffon vulture
Black-headed Gull
Royal tern
Speckled Pigeon (
Red-eyed Dove
Pied Kingfisher
Abyssinian Roller
Bearded barbet
Common bulbul
Copper sunbird (most recent, just saw a few ones feeding outside the window)
Pied Crow
Heuglin masked weaver
Bronze mannikin (a flock of 20-30 birds feeds outside my hotel room each morning)
I have probably missed many species as my id skills isnt very good, have seen dozzens of vultures, hawks, eagles and passerines which I havent been able to id.
These ones I have seen during my first two days here, Iam going to Abuko NF for a couple of hours on friday, hopefully the list will grow a bit then.
But the list isnt bad, I havent spend a single minute of serious birding yet and even that seen 17+ species.
Hi Hannes,
Abuko will be brilliant, try and stay more than 2 hours if possible, take it steady and you will see lots of birds, Giant Kingfisher and Verrauxs Eagle owl to name just two of the specialities.
If you need a guide, I can recommend Pa Jallow who will be outside the Senegambia hotel on most mornings, if you need his phone no. I can email you.
Brufut is an interesting place, but places like Kotu creek and the cycle track, you can do on your own, mind the bumsters!!
Bijilo is near the Senegambia hotel, but as you point out, you can see birds virtually anywhere in the Gambia.
Enjoy!!
[QUOTE=Kalispera]Hi Hannes,
Abuko will be brilliant, try and stay more than 2 hours if possible, take it steady and you will see lots of birds, Giant Kingfisher and Verrauxs Eagle owl to name just two of the specialities.
If you need a guide, I can recommend Pa Jallow who will be outside the Senegambia hotel on most mornings, if you need his phone no. I can email you.
Brufut is an interesting place, but places like Kotu creek and the cycle track, you can do on your own, mind the bumsters!!
Bijilo is near the Senegambia hotel, but as you point out, you can see birds virtually anywhere in the Gambia.
Enjoy!![/QUOTE]
Hello Kalispera,
Yes I would probably have liked Abuko very much, but I got somekind of stomache disease the last three days and spend most time in bed, but Gambia is surely a place I would like to visit again, and maybe compere that with a few days in Senegal and Guinea, Abuko will be the first place to go then. As I lived in a beach hotel in the Kotu area, there is a bit far away to go all the way to Senegambia in search of a birdguide, there was plenty of them around the hotel and they had an office next to the Kotu stream.
I didnt bird anywhere else than in the Kotu area, but there is pleny of different kinds of habitat here, mangrove, secondary forest and wetlands so you are able to see most birds which are common in The Gambia, and even some rarer one if you lucky
Birds seen on the third day in the The Gambia
Little grebe
Long-tailed cormorant
Grey heron
Squacco heron
Black heron
Little egret
Intermediate egret
Great egret
Sacred Ibis
Hadada Ibis (A true rarity here)
White-faced Whistling-duck
Palm-nut vulture
Hooded vulture
black kite
Red-necked Falcon
Double-spurred francolin
African Jacana
Senegal Thick-knee
Black-winged stilt
Greater painted-snipe
Black-headed Lapwing
Spur-winged Lapwing
Senegal wattled Lapwing
Little Ringed Plover
Grey Plover
Whimbrel
Wood sandpiper
Common redshank
Common greenshank
Grey-headed Gull
Caspian Tern
African mourning dove
Vinaceous Dove
Laughing Dove
Rose-ringed parakeet
Western Grey plantain-eater
Senegal coucal
Nothern white-faced Owl
Woodland Kingfisher
Little bee-eater
Red-billed hornbill
Brown-backed woodpecker
Grey woodpecker (Heard)
Red-chested swallow
Wire-tailed swallow
Western Oliveceous warbler
Northern black flycatcher
Beutiful sunbird
Yellow-billed shrike
Piapiac
Fork-tailed Drongo
Long-tailed Glossy starling
House sparrow
Northern Grey-headed sparrow
Village weaver
Red-cheeked Cordon-Bleu
Red-bellied firefinch
African Trush
Tawny-flanked prinia
Brown babbler