Wingspan Bird Tours latest News: THE GAMBIA 2013 - DAY 13

Tujering

Yesterday took its toll on the group, it was very hot and humid, everyone (including me) was very hot and tired, so when we got back to the hotel last night we made a group decision to have a half day off today and in fact two of the group took the whole day off.

A Variable Sunbird (male not particularly well marked)

Tujering is an area of savannah woodland, I use the term woodland loosely, as the only trees were in small clumps or stand alone. This is all due to heavy harvesting for firewood by the local people, there is a great deal of young secondary growth and some clear areas where tree planting has been attempted. Despite this it is one of my favourite coastal sites and is full of birds.

At times it felt as though I was birding in the Western Europe or maybe in Southern Spain because the number of migrants found here was very high. The small trees and shrubs held many Willow Warblers and a few Eurasian Chiffchaffs and our first sighting was of a Common Redstart! We went on to see: Melodious Warbler, Olivaceous Warbler, Woodchat Shrike, Whinchat, Garden Warbler and a very nice Wryneck.

A White-fronted Black-Chat - you can just make out the white patch between the eyes, this bird refused to turn around

We were here to see African species and a cuckoo sighting proved to be a rare Red-chested Cuckoo, distant views were had but we had no doubt, what a great find. Some of the group also had good views of Klaas’ Cuckoo but others just saw it in flight.

A Black-crowned Tchagra we saw half a dozen of these this morning

One of our main target species was the White-fronted Black-Chat and after abrief search we saw a pair of them extremely well sitting on top of a young tree, what a nice bird! Our search continued for woodpeckers and in one clump of trees we waited for them but only found: Senegal Batis, White-shouldered Black-Tit, Black-crowned Tchagra, Swallow-tailed Bee-eater, Little Bee-eater and in the sky over a period of an hour we saw 4 Ospreys.

Swallow-tailed Bee-eater

It was now getting very warm so we spent more time in the shelter of the trees but continued to watch as the birds kept on appearing: Rufous-crowned Roller, Common Whitethroat, Red-winged Warbler, Tawny-flanked Prinia, Lavender & Orange-cheeked Waxbills and finally a Cardinal Woodpecker. Whilst we were watching the Cardinal a Wryneck appeared, how fantastic. A few sunbirds were also noted and our last species of the morning was seen just as we were getting back onto the bus, another Western Palaeartic migrant, a Garden Warbler.

We called it a day at that point and left the area for the 30 minute drive back to the hotel. From then on we all split up and had a leisurely afternoon in the hotel grounds. Some when swimming, others went to bed after lunch and others just strolled around taking pictures, how very nice!

I took a walk around the grounds with Trish at 4pm for an hour. we saw 23 species and had great views of Gonolek, Brown Babbler, Yellow-billed Shrike, Shikra, Northern Black Flycatcher, Beautiful Sunbird and lots of doves and common species.

PICTURES OF SOME GARDEN BIRDS TAKEN THIS AFTERNOON