Gambia birds - Kotu Creek, Fajara Golf Club, Badala Pond and Abuko Nature Reserve January 2009

Gambia birds - Kotu Creek, Fajara Golf Club, Badala Pond and Abuko Nature Reserve. This years winter break was The Gambia where Kotu Creek was my local patch for two weeks. During my stay I managed to notch up around 142 species including an excursion down the road to Abuko Nature Reserve.

We decided not to stay in the Senegambia Hotel as it was rather expensive compared to others and instead opted for another recommended hotel, the Bakotu Hotel. This turned out to be a superb choice as the area at Kotu was better for birding than the Senegambia. Our hotel was right on top of Kotu Creek and Fajara Golf Club. Not only this, Badala Pond was ten minutes walking distance.

There were plenty of bird guides that could be found at Kotu Bridge. These guys were all very friendly and we quickly found out that some were clearly struggling with the id of several species. I found a good test was to get them identifying the little brown jobs especially the cisticolas.

Equipment used was Nikon D90 with Nikon 80 - 400mm VR and no teleconverter. For me, this setup along with Canons equivalent are the best all round kits for birders on the market as they are light, good quality, can be handheld and have a good photographic reach. There were few occasions when I thought it was necessary for a teleconverter. Some pictures are taken with the Canon S3 IS and the trained eye will be able to spot which ones are taken with this camera.

Bird photo pages or go to bottom of page for individual species links:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15

Abysinian Roller

Abysinian Roller - One hanging around Fajara Golf Course by the Bakotu Hotel, 1 in the Senegambia Hotel and 2 on Kololi Beach

African Grey Hornbill

African Grey Hornbill

African Grey Hornbill - 1 seen on two occasions at the Bakotu Hotel

African Jacana

African Jacana - Common on the Badala Pond and a couple at the sewage ponds

African Palm Swift

African Palm Swift - Common in all areas.

African Pied Hornbill

African Pied Hornbill

African Pied Hornbill - 2 seen at Abuko Nature Reserve.

African Silverbill

African Silverbill - 2 at Bakotu and 2 at Senegambia Hotel

African Thrush

African Thrush - Seen regularly in small numbers mainly singly anywhere with cover.

Ahanta Francolin

Ahanta Francolin - 3 at Abuko Nature Reserve

Day 1 Pied Crow Common Wattle-eye Village Weaver Green Woodhoopoe Snowy-crowned Robin-chat Day 2 Black Kite African Jacana Beautiful Sunbird Hamerkop Yellow-crowned Gonolek Long-tailed Cormorant Laughing Dove Wattled Plover Spur-winged Plover Grey-headed Gull Pied Kingfisher African Thrush Red-billed Hornbill Broad-billed Roller Little Bee-eater Red-billed Firefinch Subalpine Warbler Hooded Vulture Squacco Heron Osprey African Palm Swift Western Reef Heron Cattle Egret Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu Bronze Mannikin Black Heron Little Swift Speckled Pigeon Red-eyed Dove Ringed Plover Whimbrel Redshank Grey Plover Black-winged Stilt Senegal Thick-knee Day 3 Black-necked Weaver Grey-headed Sparrow Long-tailed Glossy Starling Yellow-billed Shrike Grey-backed Camaroptera Reed Warbler Sedge Warbler Blackcap Babbler Square-tailed Drongo Fork-tailed Drongo Wire-tailed Swallow Olivaceous Warbler Barn Swallow Oriole Warbler Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

Malachite Kingfisher Blue-bellied Roller Hoopoe Vinaceous Dove Long-tailed Nightjar Senegal Coucal Gull-billed Tern Caspian Tern Greenshank Green Sandpiper Tawny-flanked Prinia Common Sandpiper Wood Sandpiper Black Crake Double-spurred Francolin Red-necked Falcon Grey Kestrel White-faced Whistling Duck Sacred Ibis Little Grebe Abysinian Roller Day 4 Little Egret Great White Egret Purple Glossy Starling White-crowned Robin-chat Brown Babbler Bearded Barbet Western Grey Plantain-eater Blue-breasted Kingfisher Shikra Pink-backed Pelican Black-headed Plover Black-headed Heron Day 5 Piapiac Dunlin Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird White-throated Bee-eater Grey Woodpecker Willow Warbler Striated Heron Rufous-crowned Roller Variable Sunbird Northern Black Flycatcher Mottled Spinetail White-billed Buffalo-weaver Day 6 African Grey Hornbill Northern Crombec House Sparrow Hadada Ibis Day 7 Painted Snipe Northern Puffback Lizard Buzzard

Day 8 Black-crowned Night Heron Lesser Honeyguide Day 9 Common Tern Great Cormorant African Darter Barn Owl House Martin African Harrier-hawk Day 10 Pearl-spotted Owl Singing Cisticola Lavendar Waxbill Palm-nut Vulture Day 11 Sandwich Tern Great White Pelican Melodious Warbler Goliath Heron Royal Tern Day 12 - Abuko Nature Reserve Red-bellied Paradise Flycatcher Yellow-breasted Apalis Yellow-throated Leaflove Little Greenbul Fanti Saw-wing African Pied Hornbill Violet Turaco Green Turaco Giant Kingfisher Klass's Cuckoo Black-billed Wood Dove Blue-spotted Wood Dove Ahanta Francolin Grey-headed Bristlebill Day 13 Red Bishop African Silverbill Day 14 Black-shouldered Kite Whistling Cisticola Mosque Swallow Day 15 Intermediate Egret Zitting Cisticola

 

 

 

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