TENDABA MANGROVE CREEK
CRAWL – TANDABA FOREST – KIANG WEST NATIONAL PARK
After our breakfast we walked to the jetty and
climbed aboard our pirogue, a long flat bottomed boat that held about 15
people. We set off upriver and then crossed it to enter a channel that led us
into the mangrove swamp. The tide was high but ebbing so we hoped to see many
species on the exposed mudflat once we had travelled into the swamp.
We saw a pair of African Hobbies on the way across the river and also Little Swift, Pink-backed Pelican, Great
White Egret, Yellow-billed Black kite and several other species. As the
channel narrowed we got very close to the mangroves where we found several;
nest of the Mouse-brown Sunbird, most
of the nest had birds in attendance. there were also many Blue-breasted Kingfishers calling from on top of dead sticks.
Over the next 3 hours we discovered many
species as the terrain changed from thick mangrove to open areas of grass,
pools and mudflats. The number of bird species was amazing; we logged just
under 70 species. The highlights of the trip were; a pair of Martial Eagles at their nest, likewise with
the White-backed Night Heron, a
flock of some 20 Comb (Knob-billed)
Ducks, sheer numbers of waders, herons, egrets, pelicans, storks and later,
the birds of prey! It is a fantastic experience and one of the true spectacles
of Gambia birding.
A short mid-afternoon walk was taken by two of
us to try to relocate the Cuckoo-Shrike but we failed to do so. However we did
see a number of species including a new bird for the list: a pair of Red-winged Pytilla. There was also a
pair of Lanner Falcons perched
nicely, Yellow Penduline Tit, Northern
Puffback, Bearded Barbet, Fork-tailed Drongo and several common species.
Later in the afternoon we drove to the forest
tracks at Kiang where were walked the around the peanut fields in search of new
species. A Grasshopper Buzzard sat
nicely for us, a Tree Pipit did the
same but an African Golden Oriole
was less obliging. We added Striped
Kingfisher and African Cuckoo to
our list then we saw a couple of Four-banded
Sandgrouse in flight. A second local guide had joined us for this part of
the trip and he had good local knowledge of where to find Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, however our luck was out as we never
found one, he did flush a Black-bellied
Bustard but it flew off over the fields away from us and not one of us saw
it. WE then found not one, but two, African
Cuckoos and whilst we were following the cuckoo we found a large number of Senegal Parrots, they were coming down
to eat the peanuts that had fallen by the wayside after harvesting.
We were now losing light as the sun went down
so we drove a little deeper into the forest to a place where our guide knew
where Spotted Thick-knee and
nightjars were to be found. We only got a brief glimpse of the Thick-knee but
we had a spectacular display from the nightjars. There were two species
present, Standard-winged and Long-tailed, we even found a Standard-winged Nightjar showing its
elongated ‘standards’, they were not very long but clearly visible. During this
time we also heard Stone Partridge and
we saw a couple of Double-spurred
Francolins. It was now dark and we drove back to Tendaba very slowly along
some very bumpy tracks.
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