Five of us arrived in Gambia at about 3pm to be met by our guide Tijan Kanteh. We dumped our gear at the hotel and headed out to see a few birds. We'd already seen numerous Cattle Egret, Black Kite and Hooded Vulture, Mourning Dove and a Shikra plus various other birds. The first bird I managed to photograph was a Laughing Dove just before we got to the hotel.
Once we got back out the birds came thick and fast but the light was fading fast too so the photos are not the best. Pied Kingfisher...
Broad-billed Roller...
...were the best of the shots but Senegal Thick-knee, Wattled Plover, Northern Crombec, Osprey, Palm-nut Vulture and Squacco Heron all escaped the lens.
Day two gave us almost a hundred species so I'll not mention them all and just rattle on with the photos.
We started the day with a visit to some rice fields picking up Black-shouldered Kite...
...Grey Woodpecker, Bearded Barbet, Yellow-billed Shrike, Painted Snipe - it was almost too much to take in!! An oily looking trail across the path turned out to be a mass of ants.
We headed off to a nature reserve where a Red Colobus Monkey was sitting at the side of the track as we wandered in... 
...before we entered a hide overlooking a pool. A Pygmy Kingfisher sat in the shade...
...as a Palm-nut Vulture watched from above.
Squacco Heron, Striated Heron and Black-headed Heron were present round the pool too. Into the wooded area next where we picked up a Snowy-crowned Robin-chat, numerous African Thrush and a few Red-bellied Paradise Flycatcher.
A Green Turaco showed well through the scope but the camera wouldn't pick out the green bird in the foliage. A troop of Green Vervet Monkeys were foraging as we rounded a corner. It wasn't too long before we had them feeding from our hands...
A wander round the corner and we were looking at an African Harrier-hawk.
...Monitor Lizard...
...and Nile Crocodile.
...Lavender Waxbill...
...Village Weaver...
...and a couple of species of Sunbird too. There were a few compounds with captive Baboons, Antelope and some tame Hyena. Would you pet it?!!
More wild Green Vervet Monkey were hanging around waiting to be fed...
An African Pied Hornbill tried it's best to hide in the foliage...
...and to finish the day we returned to a White-faced Scops Owl site and managed to get some shots.
6 comments:
Those photo's bring back some good memories! I've got an ant trail photo just like that, looks like a great trip!
Cheers matey. Another six days to post yet!!
I am as green as green vervet with envy! You got some great photos. Is that a chick with the black crake? or an optical illusion? I wondered why you were getting a yellow fever jab! Looks like it was well worth the discomfort! Looking forward to the next posts.
Hi Bryan welcome back good to have you home,seems like you enjoyed Gambia like we will Mull in September.Really good pics and seems we are going to have some interesting foreign blogs instead of your just as interesting Mull ones,hope you avoided any illness.
Wilma - that is a chick with the adult Black Crake. It was all well worth the discomfort.
Den - it's good to be back home and I'm looking forward to getting back into the wildlife here.
Cracking posts Brian.
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