The Gambia December 2022 part 2

 Afternoon of the 10th December, having traveled for 2 hours after lunch  I arrived at Farakuku Lodges and was met by Moses who took me to my lodge (Laburnham) and I settled in with having a hot shower and a cold beer, a lovely evening meal followed and a good nights sleep.

Farakunku Lodges

Menu 10th December

Dining Room

Bed time

 Breakfast was at 7.30 and Ebrima collected me and we set off at 8.30. for Tanji a fishing village and market with a lagoon good for water birds

Tanji Beach away from the village

Bar-tailed Godwits

Grey-headed Gull

Grey Heron, Western reef Egret, Caspian Terns

Osprey

Pied Crows

Slender-billed Gull

Zitting Cisticola

From the beach we ventured into the Tanji bird reserve which seemed fairly quiet but managed to see a few birds

Laughing Doves

Little Bee-eater

Little Bee-eater

Senegal Parrots

Next we went to the Lodges where there was a drinking pool, but no birds appeared in 30 minutes other than this Brown Babbler and a Village Weaver, Ebrima fell asleep and I went for a walk on my return I suggested I go back to Farakunku for a rest and we do a visit to Tujereng Woods later in the afternoon.

Brown Babbler

Village Weaver

The grasses were incredibly high compared to my previous visits and it was impossible to see any thing on uncultivated ground. Once again it was very quiet with only a few species seen

Red-winged Warbler

Rufous-crowned Roller

Variable Sunbird

African Wattled Lapwing

Western Red Hornbill

Western Red Hornbill

Yellow-breasted Apalis


Another superb meal in the evening with a couple of beers and another good nights sleep. 

12th December, once again we left at 8.15 am and traveled to Kartong - my favourite place in the Gambia. With water levels still high after the long and late wet season our walks were around the flooded sand pits and sadly more sand was being taken. However the birds didn't disappoint.

Purple Swamphen

Yellow-billed Storks and African Spoonbill

Grey Heron, African Spoonbill and Sacred Ibis

Black Egrets

Knob-billed Duck (female) with 2 White-faced Whistling Ducks

Papiac

Malachite Kingfisher

Didrics Cuckoo

Little Bee-eater

Pink-backed Pelican

Ring-necked Parakeet

Squacco Heron

Yellow-billed Shrike

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

White-fronted Plover

Yellow-billed Kite

Crested Lark

Hooded Vulture

Hooded Vultures on the beach

 

Kartong Beach looking towards Senegal

After having lunch at the beach bar rather than go to the near by forest I opted to go back to Farakunku for some rest, after an hours kip  I went to the Farakunku Tree sanctuary and watched some birds come to drink.

African Thrush

Fine-spotted Woodpecker

Green Wood-hoopoe

Black Scimitar bill

Yellow-crowned Gonolek

Another delicious meal in the evening and so off to bed.

13th December. Today we headed off to Kotu and once again with the grasses so high birds were hard to find, however we had good views of a Double-spurred Francolin, Fork-tailed Drongo and Grey-headed Woodpeckers also an odd coloured Senegal Parrot

Senegal Parrot

Grey-headed Woodpecker

Fork-tailed Drongo

Double-spurred Francolin

I was a bit reluctant when asked would I like a boat trip up the Kotu Creek but turned out to be a good decision in the end with the star bird an African Finfoot that I had not seen in The Gambia and was unlikely this far down river.

African Finfoot

Other birds seen on the boat trip were

African Wattled Lapwing

African Wattled Lapwing

Blue-breasted Kingfisher

Giant Kingfisher - Female

Giant Kingfisher - male

Great White Egret

Long-tailed Cormorant

Pied Kingfisher

Once again I felt like a bit of a rest in the heat of the day as the temperature had been around 35deg.C.

so I was taken back to Farakunku and then collected again at 4.00pm and went to the coastal pools near Tujereng. It was sad to see so much developement there but only part built buildings already falling apart. However there were some good birds.

Beautiful Sunbird

Beautiful Sunbird

Beautiful Butterfly what ever it is

Yellow-crowned Gonolek

Yellow-crowned Gonoleks

Intermediate Egret

Wing-tagged Hooded Vulture

Senegal Thick-knee

Western Reef Egret

Chestnut-bellied Starling

Chestnut-bellied Starlings

The Chestnut-bellied Starlings were probably my bird of the trip, not having seen them before and surprised to find a flock of about 10 in this location.

14th December Today we went to Bonto Woods and then later again to Farasutu.

Bonto woods took a bit of time getting there as the brakes of our car failed in the middle of Brikama and hit the car in front, although no damage that was noticeable Ebrima hailed down a taxi within seconds and we continued our journey (Souchi our driver for the trip got the car repaired within a couple of hours and joined us back at Bonto) We first set off to see the Verraux's Eagle Owl but it wasn't showing so we went for a walk around the woods we saw many birds and eventually the Vereaux's. 

After having lunch here we then went onto Farasutu where Hally had the key to enter the reserve and saw a few more species.

African Green Pigeon

African Green Pigeon (Bonto)

Greater Honeyguide (Farasutu)

Green-headed Sunbird (Farasutu)

Ground Squirrel (Farasutu)

Green Bulbul (Farasutu)

African Black Flycatcher

Red-bellied Flycatcher

African Pied Hornbill

Red-cheeked Cordon Bleu (Farasutu)

15th December - today my last full day. In the morning we went Camelo Corner a place I visited in the summer of 2018 unfortunately it was totally devoid of birds so we made our way to the wetlands just west of Banjul. This is a place not normally visited by bird tours but it does hold a large number of waders and sea birds.

Waders recorded Curlew Sandpiper, Kentish plover, Ringed Plover, Ruff, Sanderling, Turnstone, Oyster catcher, Marsh Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Dunlin. Terns - Caspian, Royal, Common, Gull-billed. Egrets - Black, Great, Intermediate. Gulls Grey-headed. Spoonbills and Pink-backed Pelicans

Banjul Wetlands Egrets

Banjul Wetlands Terns and Waders

Black Egrets - Umbrella Birds

Pink-backed Pelicans

African Spoonbill

African Spoonbill

More Pink-backed Pelicans

Ruff and Ringed Plover

Kentish Plover

Wood Sandpiper

The afternoon we went to Abuko Reserve, having lunch at the visitor center first we then walked to the end of the reserve where the rescue centre is. Being afternoon the reserve was quiet apart from the Green Vervet Monkeys, and several Nile Monitor Lizards. At the hide by the animal orphanage a few birds were seen but it was too dark for photos.

Green Vervet Monkey

Lavender Waxbill

Shikra

Western Plantain-eater

Nile Monitor Lizard

Friday 16th December it was time to head home, just as we were leaving Farakunku 2 Blue-bellied Rollers appeared above the dining the first I had seen on this trip.

Blue-bellied Rollers

Blue-bellied Roller

 After saying my farewells to Heather, Moses and the fabulous staff at Farakunku I still had a couple of hours before having to be at the airport so Ebrima took me to Brufut Woods. After a short walk we once again met the birding group previously seen at Tendaba who likewise were having a last minute birding stop before the airport. Here there were in the past loads of birds but once again it was quiet. However a few birds were seen the best of the bunch being the Klass's Cuckoo

Swallow-tailed Bee-eater

Vinaceous Dove

Klass's Cuckoo

Klass's Cuckoo

Klass's Cuckoo

Klass's Cuckoo

Arriving at Banjul Airport in plenty of time I spent my last Dalasis on a baguette and a couple of beers, the flight back to Gatwick departing on time.

A reasonable trip but I think due to the late and heavy wet season birds were hard to find and see compared to previous visits however I saw 218 species, 17 were new for my Gambia list bring that total to  294 of which 8 were lifers the main target Adamawa Turtle Dove, the bonus were Temminck's Courser and Chestnut-bellied Starling.

On arrival at Gatwick on time it was a big shock to leave the Gambia in 35 deg. and arrive to -7 deg.

an hours wait for luggage and scraping snow and ice off the car I got to the Premier Inn at Midnight.

A hearty breakfast in the morning I arrived back home at 10am.