We had planned a peaceful, relaxing day at this stage in our holiday but there’s only so much sunbathing one can take so I rang Mass and asked him if he would be able to take us on a short evening excursion. I left the choice of location up to him and he took us to Bund Road and Camaloo Corner. We headed towards the coast near Banjul and shortly after crossing Denton Bridge we saw an Osprey flying along carrying a fish in it’s talons. Bund Road was not the most picturesque location. The landward side of the road was littered with burnt out cars while the seaward side was strewn with shipwrecks. The shipwrecks provided excellent perching posts for seabirds however and the first wreck we came to held about 30 Pink-backed Pelicans, 2 Yellow-billed Storks, Oystercatchers, lots of Grey headed Gulls, a single Curlew Sandpiper, Turnstones, Green Sandpiper and Ringed Plover.
We carried on driving and then parked near the fish processing plant and walked out to the end of the jetty. There were lots of wooden posts sticking up out of the water and there was a bird perched on every one of them. They included Intermediate, Little and Western Reef Egrets as well as Sandwich, Royal and Caspian Terns. Walking back along the jetty, we scanned a tiny island and could make out 7 Sacred Ibis perched on a bush there. We were driving back along the road when Mass abruptly asked Lamin, our driver, to stop the car. There was a small flock of Avocets flying over. They landed on the sea nearby and paddled around like ducks. A small flock of Dunlin also flew over. Other birds seen at Bund Road include Yellow Wagtail, Long tailed Cormorant, Pied Kingfisher, Gull billed Tern, Grey Heron and Great White Egret.
From Bund Road, Mass took us to a place called Camaloo Corner which was an area of mud flats and Mangroves littered with large piles of dead fish and oyster shells. Mass seemed disappointed because the tide was in and we couldn’t walk out onto the flats so we didn’t spend long there. Birds seen included Black shouldered Kite, Common Sandpiper, Northern Black Flycatcher, Red Bishop, Senegal Parrot and a migrant Woodchat Shrike.
On the way back to our hotel, Lamin parked the car outside the Palma Rima Hotel as it was starting to get dark. Last time we stopped here it was to see Pearl Spotted Owlet Owl. This time it was to catch a glimpse of the nightjars which hunt over the waster ground behind the hotel. There were other birdwatchers there with a local guide who looked familiar. I think he was one of the guides listed at http://www.bsc.gm/guides.htm. He pointed to something on the ground about 5 metres from where we stood. It was a Long-tailed Nightjar and we watched it for about 5 minutes as it took off and landed repeatedly, the patches on it’s wings flashing like little white flags in the darkness. We saw at least one more Long-tailed Nightjar in the area but no Standard-winged Nightjars. It was the wrong time of year for them and Mass said that they were becoming increasingly uncommon.
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