From Janjanbureh Island we crossed the Gambia River and spent some time on the north bank, not far from the Senegal border. The land appeared drier and scrubbier here; indeed, we were now within range for several of the Sahel specialties. These birds breed in a narrow band between the Sahara Desert to the north and humid woodlands and forest further south. We discovered Sahel specialists like Pygmy Sunbird, Sahel Paradise-Whydah, Northern Anteater-Chat and Gosling's Bunting.
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| Sahel Paradise-Whydah |
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| Northern Anteater-Chat |
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| Gosling's Bunting |
Meanwhile, a visit to the Wassu Quarry provided one of the trip's highlights - hundreds of nesting Red-throated Bee-eaters.
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| Red-throated Bee-eaters |
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| Red-throated Bee-eater |
Extensive wetlands on the north side of the Gambia River provide habitat for another big target of ours, the Egyptian Plover. This unique species of shorebird/wader is the only member of its family (Pluvianidae). It breeds sporadically in a band across north-central Africa, just south of the Sahara Desert and north of the tropical forest, and The Gambia is a top country to look for them. The Egyptian Plover is colloquially known as the "crocodile bird" due to the legend that they will pick bits of flesh from the teeth of crocodiles, though this is not likely based in truth as nobody has ever documented this alleged behaviour. We lucked out with eight individuals on this trip, all seen exceptionally well.
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| Egyptian Plover |
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| Egyptian Plover |
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| Egyptian Plovers |
These wetlands hold many other special birds apart from the Egyptian Plovers. We discovered a small group of rare White-crowned Lapwings, a vagrant to The Gambia, while we also encountered Yellow-crowned Bishop, Black Crake, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater and Winding Cisticola. Mustapha also came through with a Verreaux's Eagle-Owl that he found on a day roost!
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| White-crowned Lapwings (with a Spur-winged Lapwing) |
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| Verreaux's Eagle-Owl |
I set up my LepiLED and sheet in the garden of our lodge in the evening in an attempt to attract moths and various insects. It was a pretty productive evening!
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| Earias cupreoviridis |
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| Archicolliuris senegalensis, a type of ground beetle |
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| Oplerclanis boisduvali |
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| Diaperasticus erythrocephalus, a type of earwig |
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| Numicia sp, a type of planthopper |
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| Philotheria descellei, a type of planthopper |
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| Stathmopoda teleozona |
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| Rhodoneura serraticornis |
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| Sagittalata sp., a type of mantisfly |
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| Cueta sp, a type of antlion |
Soon it was time to return to the south side of the river to commence the long drive westwards, back to the coast. A lunch stop at a bridge famous for its raptor diversity was productive; we found our first Western Banded Snake-Eagle as well as a male Pin-tailed Whydah.
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| Western Banded Snake-Eagle |
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| Black-winged Bishop |
Our last four nights of the trip were spent back in the coastal region at the luxurious Mandina Lodge. Mandina Lodge is nestled amongst gallery forest next to a mangrove-lined tributary of the Gambia River. Morning excursions took place by canoe along the riverine channels. In the afternoon we hiked within nearby Makasuto Forest, a mosaic of gallery forest and savannah.
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| Boating at Mandina Lodge |
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| Sunrise at Makasuto Forest |
The new birds kept coming - West African Pied Hornbill, Blue Malkoha, Gray-headed Bristlebill, Snowy-crowned Robin-Chat, Western Bluebill and Green-headed Sunbird were just a few highlights.
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| West African Pied Hornbill |
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| Snowy-crowned Robin-Chat |
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| Gray-headed Bristlebill |
We also had incredible encounters with two skittish species - Guinea Turaco and Violet Turaco.
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| Guinea Turaco |
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| Violet Turaco |
It wasn't just the birds that caught our attention at Mandina. The reptile diversity was quite good while we also enjoyed the vibrant colours of various butterflies and dragonflies.
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| Nile Monitor (Varanus niloticus) |
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| Senegambian Wall Gecko (Tarentola senegambiae) |
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| Rainbow Agama (Agama agama) |
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| Chevron-throated Dwarf Gecko (Lygodactylus gutturalis) |
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| Elegant Acraea (Rubraea egina) |
One afternoon we found a large group of Guinea Baboons. It was pretty surreal to be surrounded by them as they casually strolled by, doing baboon things!
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| Guinea Baboons (Papio papio) |
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| Guinea Baboons (Papio papio) |
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| Guinea Baboons (Papio papio) |
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| Guinea Baboon (Papio papio) |
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| Guinea Baboon (Papio papio) |
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| Guinea Baboon (Papio papio) |
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| Guinea Baboons (Papio papio) |
From our base at Mandina Lodge, we set out by bus one day to explore some other sites in the coastal region of The Gambia to "clean up" any species we hadn't seen up to this point. A dirt track near Mandina Salaam produced White-fronted Black Chat, Singing Cisticola and Orange-cheeked Waxbill.
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| Singing Cisticola |
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| Orange-cheeked Waxbills |
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| African Palm Weevil (Rhynchophorus phoenicis) |
At Kartong Wetland we marvelled at the waterbirds and found a pair of scarce White-fronted Plovers on the beach (followed by freshly-squeezed orange juice sold by an enterprising local).
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| White-fronted Plover |
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| Unidentified African reed frog (family Hyperoliidae) |
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| Blue-cheeked Bee-eater |
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| Broad Scarlet (Crocothemis erythraea) |
Lunch at Stala Adventures Lodge included fresh-caught fish, followed by a productive boat trip into Senegal waters where we found Little Tern, West African Crested Tern, Lesser Crested Tern, four species of gulls and a photogenic Goliath Heron.
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| West African Crested Tern (front left), Sandwich Tern (front right) and Caspian Terns |
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| Gray-hooded Gull |
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| Goliath Heron (with Western Reef-Heron in background) |
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| Audouin's Gull (centre) with Caspian Terns and Slender-billed Gulls |
As the sun slunk low in the sky we returned to Brufut Woods (where the trip had started), as Mustapha had intel on a roosting Long-tailed Nightjar. It was a great way to close out a phenomenal trip.
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| African Caper (Belenois creona) |
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| Long-tailed Nightjar |
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| Group photo at Brufut Woods |
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