Gambian wetland birds and hyenas

7 February 2012.

After our arrival in Tendaba, we went to a wetland area, mockingly called “Tendaba airport”.

Marsh harriers, winter migrants from Europe.

Common sandpiper. Little ringed plover.

Footprints of not just birds, but also of mammals, in the mud.

Big and smaller paws of spotted hyenas, meaning that both adult and young hyenas come here. Also differently aged warthogs. And monkeys’ hand and foot prints.

Little stints flying over the water.

Redshanks walking in the water.

An African grey hornbill lands in a tree.

Pink-backed pelicans flying overhead.

So do red-rumped swallows.

A shikra; a relative of goshawks and sparrowhawks.

As it becomes dark, we hear an African scops owl call.

Bacteria in hyenas’ scent glands may be the key controllers of communication: here.