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Red-throated Bee-eater

Red-throated Bee-eater
join us for a fantastic tour of The Gambia this November

Saturday, December 1, 2012

THE GAMBIA TOUR 2: DAY 12 - 27th NOVEMBER 2012


TUJERING ALL MORNING  -   CAPE POINT ROAD MANGROVE SWAMP AFTERNOON

Another visit to my favourite area turned up trumps once again! The open woodland at Tujering is a superb birding area but sadly the habitat is disappearing at an alarming rate. The number of mature trees is now greatly reduced and soon the area will lose them as the locals cut them down for fie wood and fence making.

Today it was still as good as ever as far as birding was concerned within the first hour we had seen 8 new species, incredible! We started with great views of a pair of Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-Weavers, they had a nest in the tree right next to where we had parked. Next we had brief views of another new species for us, a Whistling Cisticola, then we heard a Brubru calling so we made a b-line for that and along the way we found Senegal Batis, Velliot’s Barbet, Brown-backed Woodpecker and two White-fronted Black-Chats. We also had great views of Bearded Barbet, Red-winged Warbler, Melodious Warbler, Whinchat, Lavender Waxbill, Willow Warbler, Eurasian Chiffchaff and Tawny Flanked Prinia. 

Further into our walk we came across more palearctic migrants in the shape of Blackcap, Common Redstart and more Melodious Warblers. We also watched another Senegal Batis and in the same tree we found Beautiful & Splendid Sunbirds, Northern Crombec (3), Grey Woodpecker and Yellow-fronted Canary.  A couple of Double-spurred Francolin flushed from the scrub as we walked and several Little Bee-eaters sat and posed for us whilst Swallow-tailed Bee-eaters sat in the trees. In the sky during this time we saw Osprey (3), Dark Chanting Goshawk, Grey Kestrel, Beaudouin’s Snake Eagle, Pied-winged Swallows, Little & Palm Swifts, Ring-necked Parakeets and the usual hoard of Hooded Vultures. Another Whistling Cisticola sat right out in the open preening as did a Green-backed (Senegal) Eremomela, we also got brief views of Black-crowned Tchagra before we decided to head back to the bus for a rest from the heat.

We drove back to the hotel well pleased with our morning’s birding. We ate lunch down at the beach bar where Cattle Egrets come to beg for crumbs at your table, how bizarre is that?

Our afternoon outing took out the Cape just south of Banjul where you can find large areas of tidal mangrove swamps with open sandy areas and brine pools. Along the Cape Road we stopped to photograph Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters as they sat on the telephone wires looking superb in the afternoon sunlight. As we arrived at the mangrove swamp we could see a  huge flock of Caspian Terns were roosting on a sandy area together a number of gulls, herons, egrets and waders. Birds of note included: Eurasian Curlew, Marsh Sandpiper, Grey Plover, Curlew Sandpiper, Ringed Plover (30+), Gull-billed Tern (2) and a Black Heron which briefly showed us its extraordinary ‘umbrella’ fishing technique. As the light began to fade we set off back to hotel with two new species for our trip tally.

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