Casamance trip, 11-15 October

No time for an extensive trip report, but still wanted to share a few of the highlights and a number of pictures from our recent family trip to coastal Casamance. We first spent a night in the town of Ziguinchor, then moved to the village of Diembering just north of Cap Skirring where we spent 3 nights in the excellent Akine Dyioni ecolodge, set in a perfect spot in the dunes between the village and the beach. Lots of great birds, good food, a private (well, almost) beach… what else can one wish for?
Casamance’s capital Ziguinchor is quite a birdy town: Pink-backed Pelicans are all over the place (including at least one colony near the airport), Hooded Vultures everywhere, several colonies of Yellow-billed Stork, White-breasted and Long-tailed Cormorants, and African Darters in the middle of town, and of course quite a few birds can be seen along the Casamance river (which also seems to be full of dolphins!).
The unique Palm-nut Vulture – the only frugivorous vulture species in the world – can be seen flying over the river, such as this adult with its conspicuous black-and-white plumage.
Several Wire-tailed Swallows were hanging out on the waterfront near our hotel in Ziguinchor, including this fine adult (presumably a female given the short tail streamers).
Many species reach their northernmost distribution around Diembering, which has a decent coastal forest, lagoons, dunes and good farmland – and as such a good mix of birds! Especially the forest holds a few “specials” which in Senegal are largely restricted to Casamance, such as Ahanta Francolin, African Pied Hornbill, Green Hylia, Grey-headed Bristlebill, Red-bellied Paradise-Flycatcher, Olive Sunbird, and many more.
And of course lots of other good birds, including the neat Oriole Warbler – a “lifer” that I finally managed to see, right within the lodge gardens. The latter also had Klaas’s and Diederik Cuckoos, Yellow-throated Leaflove, no less than five sunbird species (Green-headed, Beautiful, Splendid, Variable, Copper Sunbird), Brown-throated (Common) Wattle-eye, Black-necked Weaver, Blue-billed (African) Firefinch, etc.
Every visit to the fields, rice paddies and small wetlands around the lodge yielded something new: Lizard Buzzard, Grey Kestrel, Northern White-faced Owl, African Green Pigeon, West African Swallow, Short-winged Cisticola, Bronze-tailed Starling and Orange-cheeked Waxbill to name but a few. The header picture of this post shows a Northern Red Bishop displaying in one of the paddies, which also had a few Yellow-crowned Bishops. On the northern migrants front, besides the various waders, gulls and terns, there were several European Bee-eaters around, as well as Osprey, Pallid Swift, Yellow Wagtail, Northern Wheatear, Whinchat, Common Redstart, Western Olivaceous Warbler, and Willow Warbler.
This juvenile Rufous-breasted Swallow – my first in Senegal – was a nice treat one morning as I was heading out to the forest.
A flash of red amidst a flock of Village Weavers: Vieillot’s Barbet
An obliging male Fine-spotted Woodpecker was seen at Djiromaithe (near Mloump). Also here were several Blue-bellied Rollers, Northern Puffback, Yellow-mantled Widowbird and so on.
Below is one of many Hooded Vultures seen during our trip, often a few dozen together. On the beach at Diembering there were usually several of these vultures feeding on stranded fish – a behaviour that is not known from Dakar but which seems pretty typical further south along the Senegambian coast. A few White-backed Vultures were noted, while the much scarcer White-headed Vulture was seen at Djiromaithe.
We also visited the Pointe Saint-Georges, which at this time of the year involves a pleasant one-hour boat trip through a bolong and along the Casamance river. Lots of birds of course, but also several Bottlenose Dolphins swimming around the pirogue (but alas no Manatees!).
5 responses to “Casamance trip, 11-15 October”
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- March 26, 2017 -
M. Piot, Bravo pour toutes ces observations. J’aimerai bien entrer en contact avec vous pour vous envoyer mon livre sur les oiseaux de Mauritanie!
Merci beaucoup pour votre commentaire. Je vous contacterai par email – cela m’interesse bien entendu de pouvoir disposer de votre livre sur la Mauretanie! (et a propos, pour nos eventuels lecteurs: j’utilise deja parfois l’atlas en ligne http://atlasornmau.org/).
Some excellent photos there
Thank you!