Senegal - January 2024 - Day 4 - Wassadou Camp back to Janjanbureh

We contemplated doing another boat trip for better photos of Egyptian Plover but ultimately decided against it as we wanted to see more birds for our fledgling Senegal list. Even though we were only in the country for an afternoon and a morning could we make it to 100, plus there were a few possibilities here that were less likely back in The Gambia. Birding on foot it was then!

Wassadou Camp

A certain amount of risk in this shot...

Wassadou Camp - you can see where we watched the river from.

We spent the first hour or so simply observing the river as the day began. Tons of Black-crowned Night Heron were returning to roost, a Short-toed Eagle and a Fish-Eagle were up along with a Black Kite, and a Reed Cormorant flew downriver. Once again we observed Finfoot rapidly crossing from one side to the other before disappearing underneath the overhanging vegetation. The real spectacle was the thousands up thousands of Purple Starling leaving their island roost and heading off into the surrounding area for the day.

Mick

From the camp you can walk east, parallel to the river in a strip of land boxed on the other side by the entrance track, and there is a network of footpaths here that lead back out to the main road, as well as allowing locals access to the water. We set off at perhaps 8am along the most obvious main track from the camp and were into birds straight away. The whole list is far too long to labouriously set out here, but highlights were Senegal Batis (which I contrived to miss!), an amazing tree with both African Paradise Flycatcher and African Blue Flycatcher in it, Senegal Eremomela, a small group of hard-to-see White-crested Helmetshrike, Greater Honeyguide, a dozen Brown Babbler, and a Common Redstart - this is where your autumn passage migrants can end up! Overall we recorded over 60 species in about three and a half hours which seemed decent. The full eBird list is here.

African Blue Flycatcher

White-crested Helmetshrike - almost impossible to get a clear shot!

African Paradise Flycatcher

By late morning we had to leave for the long journey back to The Gambia. We were not allowed to stop very often, but we did get Bataleur for the list as well as White-backed and Hooded Vultures and Tawny Eagle - basically big obvious birds only! We also stopped so that Yankuba could buy a chair for his mother which we strapped the roof and took with us back to The Gambia. At a small lake shortly before hitting the border which we had seen on our way the previous day but not properly looked at we added our first Little Egret, a Greenshank, and over fifty Little Swift. Once back in the Gambia later in the afternoon a stop at Bangsang Quarry was very productive. In addition to a large colony of Red-throated Bee-eater we managed to find some Gosling's Bunting coming to the pools at the bottom, as well as a group of Sahel Bush Sparrow. As we approached the bridge to Janjanbureh once again the first Blue-bellied Roller of the trip was spotted - I remember being very excited about this as it was the one we hadn't yet seen.

Red-throated Bee-eater colony

Gosling's Bunting

Sahel Bush Sparrow

Agama

Blue-bellied Roller

The birding day was over - the afternoon had mostly been spent in the car but I am glad we had done it. In the end we did get over 100 species in Senegal - just - so mission accomplished, but really it was all about that Egyptian Plover. I think the earlier in the season you go the easier they become, for instance if you went in November or December you would likely get them in the Gambia, perhaps further west even than Janjanbureh.

Long-tailed Nightjar

The birding day wasn't yet over though. At the hotel we met an old man who said he could show us Nightjars, although it wasn't exactly clear which species. I suspect his presence wasn't a complete coincidence, but nonetheless why not? So after a bit of food we jumped in the car and drove to the town and then out to the southern outskirts where we proceeded on foot with torches. Sure enough there were Long-tailed Nightjars sitting quietly under bushes and we got amazing views with the light. A couple of African Scops Owl were an added bonus.

Macro photography I assume