Brufut Woods in Gambia, birds and squirrels

Saturday 4 February.

After yesterday, our visit to Abuko Nature Reserve, today Brufut Woods.

A female splendid sunbird.

An osprey flying.

A yellow-rumped tinkerbird; rare in the Gambia.

Two pied hornbills flying.

A fine-spotted woodpecker on a tree trunk in an area where there has been a fire. Red-billed firefinches not far away. A red-billed firefinch photo is here.

Buffalo weavers.

A black-winged kite flying.

A long-tailed nightjar, asleep on the ground under a bush.

We arrive at a spot where water tanks have been provided for birds during the dry season, which in the Gambia roughly coincides with the European winter and spring.

The artificial waterhole attracts brown babblers. And black-billed wood doves.

Red-eyed doves.

Then, the birds fly away, as a sun squirrel climbs the tree to the tank to drink.

After the mammalian intruder has gone away, birds come back. Including common bulbuls and black-necked weavers.

A big group of bronze mannikins.

Red-cheecked cordon-bleus drink from the forest floor tank.

Lavender waxbills and orange-cheeked waxbills.

A female pin-tailed whydah comes drinking as well.

Then, another squirrel intruder. This time, a striped ground squirrel drives the forest floor tank birds away.

A lesser honeyguide.

Back to Kotu. A sacred ibis in a palm tree near the Gambian Birdwatchers Association building.

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