Mali Firefinch. A photo of the first live observation for Senegal of this south-west Mali/south-east Senegal endemic. Dindefelo, 2011. © Jose Maria Fernandez-Garcia.
This blog and associated web pages grew out of a desire to exchange information on sightings of birds and occasionally other fauna in Senegal and interesting places to see birds, fulfilling a gap for resident and visiting birders.
Whilst there are many admirable biodiversity projects in Senegal, there remains rather little easily accessible, published information on the “what, where, when, how many?”. These form, whether as simple trip lists or more rigorous sampling programmes, the basics of state of the nation reports on biodiversity and the information that wildlife tourists, with their contribution to local economies, need.
Short-biled dowicher, Gandiol (St. Louis) October 2012. A first for both Senegal and Africa discovered by a visiting birder. © Alexander Hiley
The Blog is skewed towards Dakar, particularly Technopole and Ngor, which provide the best birding within Dakar ville.
How to become involved and contact
The blog, since its inception in 2011, has found a small audience that contributes sightings and a means to meet up for birding. If you are resident in or visiting Dakar and have an interest in birds get in touch through Birdingpal portal, or leave a message in the comments at the bottom of this page. Advice is always available and contributions to the blog or of your trip reports are most welcome.
The authors
Bram Piot is a birder with a keen interest in African birds, which he’s had the privilege of discovering mainly during his work travels throughout the continent. Since February 2015, he lives in Dakar from where he hopes to gradually explore Senegal and further contribute to the knowledge of its avifauna.
Simon Cavaillès is an ornithologist with a long standing interest in Senegal and especially the Delta du Saloum, where he undertook his masters and has returned many times.
Paul Robinson wrote most of the blog posts prior to 2015 while living in Dakar. Paul is now back in the UK but remains an invaluable reference on Senegal’s birds.
Senegal Wildlife 
After arriving in Dakar 6 months ago, my interest in birds and birding has re-awoken. I am very happy to have found some enthousiastic birders and ornithologists. Bram thank you for introducing me to this blog. Keep up the good work. Theo
Excellent resource! Thank you for making this available
Hi, I left a comment on the most recent blog (my French is atrocious). I am new to the wonderful world of ospreys and have been checking in on various nest cams; mainly Loch Arkaig. Now that migration has started, I’m trying to find spotters/observers in West Africa (or Portugal or Spain) just to request on the off chance (long shot) if someone sees osprey (Blue JH4) to let me know. That would be Lachlan of Loch Arkaig. His many fans would appreciate it! If you yourself do not watch ospreys, do you know anyone who does in the areas I mention?
Many thanks.
Hi Lisa,
Not sure whether you received my reply to your original note (in French) – so just in case: the few resident birders in Senegal as well as many visiting birders usually pay attention to Osprey and other species that often have colour rings, and especially at the Langue de Barbarie (near St Louis) or at the Somone lagoon there’s a chance that your bird will be spotted. Last year I had HH4 here at Dakar Technopole, so you never know maybe JH4 will show up.
By the way, I’m trying to get a response for JA8 which I believe should be Scottish, but despite several reminders I have not heard back from R. Dennis. The bird was seen on 28/4/17 at Ngor, Dakar.
Best regards,
Bram
Bonjour,
Je suis JP Thelliez, ornithologue amateur depuis 6 ans, membre et bénévole à Nature Midi Pyrénées à Toulouse,
J’arrive à Dakar le 18 janvier 2018 à 2h00 du matin.
Je cherche un ornithologue qui accepterai de me guider la journée du 18 janvier dans 1 ou 2 endroits proche de Dakar pour observer les oiseaux ensemble.
Bien sur je paierai pour le carburant et le repas du midi, merci.
Cordialement
JP Thelliez
Bonjour,
Merci pour la prise de contact. Malheureusement vous serez a Dakar en semaine, et comme je travaille je ne pourrai pas faire de sortie avec vous. Par contre je vous conseille de prendre contact avec l’equipe d’Ornitourisme, http://ornitourisme-sn.com/, qui devraient pouvoir organiser quelque chose, moyennant paiement du guide, transport etc. Vous trouverez le contact de Nathalie Coly sur leur site web et vous pouvez lui dire que je vous ai recommande de les contacter.
Bram
Bonjour,
Merci pour votre réponse et conseil.
Cordialement
JP
Hi Bram, could you contact me by mail about arctic and common terns in your region in relation to cr ringing in the Netherlands?
Highly appreciated, Henk
Bonjour
Je fais un peu d’ ornitho au Sénégal
d ou je reviens aujourd hui.
J ai vu une sterne huppée sur la.petite Côte. Je voulais savoir si
il y avait de.nombreuses obs de cette espèce que j ai vu pour la première fois ..après. plusieurs années d obs dans le.coin.
Merci pour votre reponse.
Sinon j ai aussi observe le.loriot doré dans le.golf de Saly et il y a aussi du Grand duc.de Verreaux dedans…entre autres…
C.Tivollier Founex/Vd suisse
Bonjour,
Merci pour votre message et pour ces observations. La Sterne huppee serait une premiere pour le pays, car c’est une espece plutot d’Afrique orientale qui n’a jamais encore ete signalee en Afrique de l’Ouest. Avez-vous pu en faire une photo? Celle-ci serait necessaire pour confirmer l’identification car cette espece peut facilement etre confondue avec la Sterne royale africaine voire avec la Sterne voyageuse.
J’etais moi-meme a Saly et la Somone la semaine passee et n’ai pas pu visiter le golf (j’ai tout de meme entendu des Ibis hagedash a cote) mais apparemment c’est un bon site pour l’observation des oiseaux. Peut-on y entrer librement?
Bram (anciennement dans le Pays de Gex, je connais bien Founex!)
Bonjour,
Juste pour signaler l’observation d’un chevalier à pattes jaunes au technopole le 8/02/2018 qui se tenait en compagnie d’un groupe de stagnatile (photo de retour en France) . Encore présent les 2 roussets.
Également, nous avons observé au moins un individu de pririt à collier sur une île du saloum au sud du delta en face de djiffer. Quel est son statut au nord de la Gambie ?
Merci,
Jérémy dupuy et elisa daviaud
Bonjour,
Toutes mes excuses ce n’est que maintenant que je vois votre message. Et merci pour le signalement du Chevalier a pattes jaunes: on a eu la chance de le revoir quelques jours plus tard. Le Pririt a collier est connu du sud du delta du Saloum, p.ex. autour de Toubacouta. Par contre je ne l’ai jamais vu dans la partie nord du delta, donc votre observation est bien sur interessante.
Bram
Thanks for hosting this blog. I’m traveling to Senegal for 3 weeks in late July and would like to bird Dakar, and make perhaps one trip either to St. Louis or Kaolack (Sine Saloum). I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal in the late 1980s, and have since lived 22 years in various places in Africa. Can you put me in touch with anyone for advice on Technopole, NGor, Ilse de Madelaine, and St. Louis/Kaolack. I’ll be on a TDY for an INGO. Kind regards, David
Bonjour,
Tout d’abord Merci et Bravo pour le travail accompli…Je suis exploitant agricole franco-sénégalais installé à côté de Thiès et suis ce que vous faites avec intérêt et admiration depuis un certain temps.Mon fils et moi sommes amateurs de photographie animalière et débutons dans l’observation des oiseaux.Pourrions nous nous rencontrer lors d’une de vos prochaines sorties au Technopole (ou ailleurs…) ? Bien à Vous
Hi Bram,
I was recently in Dakar, and I am wondering if someone could help me identify the birds I saw flying around the courtyard of the great mosque in Touba? I have a video of them and would love to be know the name of the species.
Thanks,
Danielle
Hi Danielle. These are most likely the Yellow-billed Kites that go to roost in the area, probably with Black Kites and maybe Cattle Egrets and some Hooded Vultures mixed in the lot.
Hi, We were recently spotting ringed Osprey in Senegal/Gambia. Now sorting through several thousand photos. One shows an (indistinct) ring on an African Spoonbill. The bird was amongst several resting on the pan behind the main lagoon at Somone. Large white ring with possibly a “9”. It’s a long distance photo but do you know who ringer is so I can email photo? It was the 21/11/2019.
Vic Paine with Pip & Joanna
Thanks for your message. I’m unaware of any ringing schemes on African Spoonbill and would be very surprised if there were any – sure it wasn’t a European? Happy to have a look at your picture. Hope you got lots of Osprey ring readings!
Hi Bram. My name is Rosie Shields and I monitor an osprey nest in Scotland. I was interested to see that you spotted an osprey with a left leg blue/white Darvic ring numbered XX7 at Yene lagoon on 21st Dec. Are you happy with your identification of that set of digits? I’m unaware of us using rings yet with X as the first digit (but may be wrong on that score) but the 2 year old female that spent the summer with us and which I hope is going to be our new breeding female next season is ringed KX7, so I’m hoping that it might be her. Do you have any photos of the bird you saw? “Our” female is heavily streaked under her throat and is quite distinctive and I’m happy to send you a photo to compare if you tell me how I can do so. Looking forward to hearing from you. Many thanks. Rosie
Hi Bram. I wrote a comment before Christmas re your sighting of the osprey with Darvic ring XX7 but it doesn’t appear here. Did you receive it? My question was whether it could have been KX7 rather than XX7, the former number being the female that has settled at the nest I monitor in southern Scotland. I don’t know if the Darvic starting with X have yet been released to ringers.