On 2 February we travelled with Aladin to a couple of birding areas about 12 miles to the southeast of the international airport, starting at a former shrimp farm and then moving on to Pirang Forest later in the day. As its name implies, the former shrimp farm was a commercial venture that failed a number of years ago and is now an area of abandoned lakes that draw in a lot of wetland birds. The lakes are surrounded by low bushes on which birds perch, making the site good for bird photographers.
On the road into the shrimp farm we stopped several times to photograph interesting birds, including Rose-ringed Parakeet, Greater Blue-eared Starling and Crested Lark. We then spent a couple of hours walking along the paths between the lakes where we could get shots of waders in the lakes and passerines on the bushes.
While walking around the lakes we saw Pied and Malachite Kingfishers, Great Cormorant, Barn Swallow, Zitting Cisticola, Eurasian Whimbrel, Common and Green Sandpipers, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, Namaqua Dove and Western Reef-heron. A highlight was seeing an Osprey flying around with a large fish in its bill.
In the late morning we moved the short distance to Pirang Forest to see some woodland birds. The temperature was rising and the birds were becoming a bit more quiet but we still saw a reasonable number of birds, including Blue-spotted Wood Dove, Greater Honeyguide, Common Bulbul, Grey-backed Cameroptera, Little Greenbul and Spectacled Weaver. During our visit one of the local guides took us deep into the forest to see an African Wood Owl roosting high in the treetops.
For lunch we took a small boat to Baobab Island in the Gambia river where we ate at the Sita Joyeh Lodge. The food here was excellent and we enjoyed a relaxing break during the hottest part of the day. While there a couple of the staff took us to see an African Scops Owl roosting in the mangrove alongside the river and just a few metres away from the restaurant. Unfortunately, the bird was quite deep within the mangrove and difficult to photograph, allowing us only to get a record shot.
After lunch we visited the nearby Farasuto Forest to see the Grey Eagle Owl that Aladin knew roosted there. The owl duly appeared and we then moved on to the Farasuto Forest Community Nature Reserve (https://www.farasuto.org/), which we found to be totally deserted, making for very peaceful and undisturbed birding. We first visited the banks of the river were there were a lot of Senegal Thick-knee, along with a number of crocodiles.
The bird viewing area was obviously deserted and there was no food in the feeders nor any water in the drinking bowls, but we were very impressed by the beautifully tiles seating. Once Aladin had found some water and filled the drinking bowls the birds started to come in and we photographed Greater Honeyguide, African Paradise Flycatcher (female) and Green-headed Sunbird.
