Brufut is easily reached from most of the coastal spots and consequently well visited. I had been before but looked forward to a return. The Northern White-faced Owls weren't showing at all well but that didn't matter, neither did the fact the Verreaux's Eagle-Owls were no longer roosting here since my previous visit. We had already seen them at Bonto and were due a second visit there anyway.
We started by scanning for Sunbirds and successfully found three new ones. The Western Violet-Backeddidn't co-operate in the photo stakes but the Splendid did
as did the Copper Sunbird
I also got the chance to photograph one or two previously seen birds for my records too.
Northern Black Flycatcher
The often elusive Yellow-crowned Gonalek, a personal favourite.
and the Fork-tailed Drongo.
We'd picked up a local guide on arrival.... they do their training here before being passed for the Association... and he took us to show us a Cardinal Woodpecker nest.
Both Male
and female were very busy carving out their new home.
Much to our delight we had another visitor to the same tree.
Black Scimitarbill which I had failed to get a photo of on our previous sighting in Tendaba was this time a bit closer too.
The wonderful thing about Brufut is that there is a drinking station both for birds and birders. Ice cold Coke out of the bottle was perfection, just a shame that the drinking vessels for the birds aren't very aesthetically pleasing !
Yellow-throated Leaflove
and Lesser Honeyguide
were two new photo additions but there was one particular visitor I was anxious to see and sure enough, I got lucky!
The very apprehensive and cautious Green Turaco eventually ventured forth after hiding up the tree for quite some time!
It slipped down the tree to the plastic trough
but I have cut out the ugly bits to just leave this head shot of the bird.
A nice new water trough made out of wood wouldn't go amiss !
Happy to have got my best ever views though we decided to go and check out the roosting Long-tailed Nightjars. They must be the most photographed in the world !
There's even a shot that looks just like this one posted in the Bird Guides Hut at Kotu.
Maybe mine will replace the now rather sun bleached Mr Packham's !
Anyway, satisfied with a couple of shots we silently slipped away to leave them in peace and headed back for another cold drink . Once again we hit lucky with two new additions,
Orange-cheeked Waxbill
and Black-winged Bishop, to me looking just like the other Bishops when out of breeding plumage !
Leaving Brufut we headed down the road to Tanji Reserve where there is another cafe and drinking station on a bigger scale. Here we were rewarded with some great views of Village Indigobird
Red-bellied Paradise Flycatcher
as well as countless Weavers,Chiffchaff and Bishops.
I even took the opportunity to photograph a Laughing Dove.
I often overlook the really common species only to regret it when I get home !
With evening closing in we went off in search of Four-banded Sandgrouse in the scrubland behind the beach but much to my surprise we didn't find a single one which was a big disappointment. Last time I visited there were loads but I failed to get a photo,looks like it will have to be third time lucky.
On the beach itself viewing wasn't as good as previous visits either, The Gull roost was on the edge of the beach and not on a near sandbank as before. Consequently there was every chance of flushing them if I went too close. I left Alan and Lamin searching for an odd one out whilst I went back to a place where the Bar -tailed Godwits were feeding. They seemed happy to allow me to get pretty close and get some good photo opportunities.
It's a bird I look forward to seeing here
although we get them on our local RSPB reserve you don't get views like these !
Another rare visitor to our local reserve, or at least the river nearby, is the Osprey.
Although a rarity in the UK they are very common in The Gambia as many over winter here.
Maybe someone might know the origin of this particular one.
Anyway, with the sun fading fast we headed home. 11 new species for the list bringing the total to 229 for the trip.
We were wondering just how high we could get to !
TBC
No comments:
Post a Comment