MARAKISSA AREA INCLUDING THE RIVER SIDE LODGE
We set off at our usual time of 8am and headed
south towards the Sengalise border, a couple of stops were made to buy
provisions and we arrived at 9:15am at
our birding stop.
We had only walked a hundred meters when we
bumped into two new species for the trip list in the form of, firstly, Fine
Spotted Woodpecker, a pair of them were sitting at the top of a dead branch up
in the canopy, and secondly, as we were watching the woodpeckers a levaillant’s
Cuckoo came into view just below them. Both bird species showed well enough to
be photographed. We continued our run of good when we stumbled across a Dwarf Bittern, what a great find that
was, a very rare sighting in the Gambia. The bird flew off when only half the
group had seen it, but a little later it came back and perched up for all of to
admire it, see photo below.
A Forked-tailed Drongo mobbed a Dark Chanting
Goshawk and many weavers were seen in the same tree, we added Blue-Breasted
Roller and 3 Leafloves were new for our list and a Splendid Sunbird showed
splendidly.
The grounds of the Marakissa Lodge are a haven
for birds, the owners are bird friendly and provide a wonderful lunch whilst
you sit and watch many species coming to drink at the many pools set up for
them. A track leads from the garden through a wood to a couple of large pools,
birds are everywhere. We spent the whole afternoon there, some of the group
relaxed in the shade, some took their cameras and sat quietly in some corner of
the garden and others like me went birding all over the grounds.
By 4pm we had amassed quite a list between us with
new birds for the list being: Green Crombec, Black-headed Babbler, African
Silverbill and a Barn Owl which roosts in the roof of the lodge. But star birds
for the cameras were Orange-cheeked Waxbill, Red Bishop, Gonolek and Beautiful
Sunbird. We did see other species too such as Double-spurred Francolin, Pied
Kingfisher, Long-tailed Cormorants, Western Reef Heron, Greenshank, Red-billed
Firefinch and many more.
Our second walk was short, we walked from the
lodge to a bridge where we saw our first Pearl-spotted Owlet (even though we
had heard several), we also saw Striated Heron, Leaflove, Pied Kingfisher,
Jacana and another Owlet. The heat was finally subsiding but it had fatigued
the group so by 5pm we were ready for a cool shower and a cold beer back at the
hotel.
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