The Gambia - January 2024 - Day 5 - Janjanbureh back to Kotu Creek

The river at Janjanbureh

Another big day of driving today, doing in a single day what we did over two days with a break at Tendaba on the way out. We nonetheless hoped to see some birds as there were some tasty looking hotspots en route. 

The birding day started at the Baobolong Camp and Guest House, of note were Green-backed Camaroptera and Leaf-Love in the big tree that spans the compound, a large flock of Spur-winged Geese downriver at dawn, and a pair of Bruce's Green-Pigeon seen in the trees opposite whilst having breakfast. These were new for the trip, and given how well they blended into the foliage it was no surprise we hadn't seen them before. 

Baobolong Camp. The trees are full of birds here, and Vultures roost on the transmitter tower.

After packing up we headed to Janjanbureh West End, the opposite side of the island that we were staying on. This is the site of the former Bird Safari Camp, now in a state of considerable ruin. I'm not entirely clear on the story, but from what I have read it seems as if this majority European-owned enterprise was 'taken over' by the minority Gambian co-owner, who with the local authorities in his pocket was able to block any attempt to recover the property despite the obvious fraud that must have taken place. I am not entirely sure what has been gained here given the entire place is now falling to bits and nobody occupies it, so it just seems like a massive loss, especially as we saw 50 species in under two hours. All that hard work and enterprise for naught, and the end of somebody's dream for good measure. Highlights here were Violet Turaco, more Bruce's Green-Pigeon, Green Woodhoopoe, Bearded Barbet, our only Wryneck of the trip, Fine-spotted Woodpecker, Northern Puffback, Oriole Warbler, White-crowned Robin-Chat, and a large mixed flocks of Weavers, Quelea, Firefinch and Waxbill. Some Long-tailed Glossy Starling jumped around the foetid ex-swimming pool.

African Grey Hornbill

Long-tailed Glossy Starling

Yellow-crowned Gonolek

African Green Bee-eater

We were on the road by 10.30am, headed along the south bank, i.e. a route we had not taken before. Our first scheduled stop was not far away, Fulabantang village, and here we found Brown Snake-Eagle and Wahlberg's Eagle whilst looking at the Marabou Stork colony that most birding tours stop for. A little further on at Brikama Ba we stopped at a known Verreaux's Eagle Owl stake-out and found two in the massive trees just outside the village.

Our main planned stop for the day was the Jakhaly Rice Fields, an agriculatural area with a grid system of paddies. What a great site this was, and although many of the fields were dry once we hit upon a few with water it was a bonanza and our species count soared. Black-winged Stilt, Greater Painted-Snipe, Kittlitz's Plover, Blackwit, Common Snipe, Green, Common and Wood Sandpipers, Little Stint, Ruff, Collared Pratincole, Black Crake, Coucals, tons of Cattle Egret and Jacanas. Yankuba didn't feature much here, there were clearly issues he was having to deal with elsewhere, and he spent much of the time on the phone. Thinking about it this was the day when things started to go downhill a bit, and from here on in it was clear that his mind was elsewhere. Unfortunately he didn't have much of a choice, but things did become a bit strained as a result, as he seemed not to really want to go out of his way at this point and we had to really push to get in as much birding as we knew we could. Still, Mick and I had a good time exploring the habitat and trying to advance the list as much as possible.

Dalaba Wetland. Somewhere in here is an African Pygmy Goose

Yellow-billed Oxpecker

By mid-afternoon we had moved on the Dalaba Wetland where our main target was an invisible and then very flightly African Pygmy Goose. Our final stop of the day was Wurokang, a known spot for Abyssinian Ground Hornbill and Temminck's Courser. We didn't get the former, but a long search (by myself, as Yankuba stayed close to the car as a hint that he wanted to get going - a hint I ignored as I really wanted to see the Courser) did find a handful of the latter, and in beautiful evening light I managed a few photos. Finally back at the car we insisted that Mick get to see them as well, so a quick drive across the area ensued, with Yankuba complaining all the way. There were also Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark, a Pied-winged Swallow, Piapiac, a Woodchat Shrike and a Northern Wheatear. Later it turned out that Yankuba did not like driving in the dark which we had not realised, and had wanted to be back at Kotu Creek in daylight and furthermore that we shouldn't have birded Janjanbureh West End in the morning as it caused us to be behind schedule. He also wanted us to pay for a hotel for him that evening so he didn't have to go home. This had not been part of the agreed plan or costs and so we politely refused, our decision being partly swayed by the lack of lunches to this point (especially as he bought himself proper lunches!) and the feeling that we were being short-changed at almost every point. Maybe we should have done as it might have got him back on side and made for an easier final couple of days. 

Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark

Temminck's Courser

Fork-tailed Drongo

Nonetheless we made it to Kotu and our mostly un-used hotel safely, stopping one final time on the way to drop off the chair at Yankuba's house seeing as we were passing anyway - it's quite close to the airport. It was in the dark but not especially late. We agreed to meet again the following morning for our scheduled boat trip up the creek. It had for sure been a really long day and as we were clearly all very tired so we agreed on a later than usual start. We hoped that the next day would see everyone back on form and that some time at home would perk our guide up ready for the final one and a half days.

Senegal - January 2024 - Day 4 - Wassadou Camp back to Janjanbureh

We contemplated doing another boat trip for better photos of Egyptian Plover but ultimately decided against it as we wanted to see more birds for our fledgling Senegal list. Even though we were only in the country for an afternoon and a morning could we make it to 100, plus there were a few possibilities here that were less likely back in The Gambia. Birding on foot it was then!

Wassadou Camp

A certain amount of risk in this shot...

Wassadou Camp - you can see where we watched the river from.

We spent the first hour or so simply observing the river as the day began. Tons of Black-crowned Night Heron were returning to roost, a Short-toed Eagle and a Fish-Eagle were up along with a Black Kite, and a Reed Cormorant flew downriver. Once again we observed Finfoot rapidly crossing from one side to the other before disappearing underneath the overhanging vegetation. The real spectacle was the thousands up thousands of Purple Starling leaving their island roost and heading off into the surrounding area for the day.

Mick

From the camp you can walk east, parallel to the river in a strip of land boxed on the other side by the entrance track, and there is a network of footpaths here that lead back out to the main road, as well as allowing locals access to the water. We set off at perhaps 8am along the most obvious main track from the camp and were into birds straight away. The whole list is far too long to labouriously set out here, but highlights were Senegal Batis (which I contrived to miss!), an amazing tree with both African Paradise Flycatcher and African Blue Flycatcher in it, Senegal Eremomela, a small group of hard-to-see White-crested Helmetshrike, Greater Honeyguide, a dozen Brown Babbler, and a Common Redstart - this is where your autumn passage migrants can end up! Overall we recorded over 60 species in about three and a half hours which seemed decent. The full eBird list is here.

African Blue Flycatcher

White-crested Helmetshrike - almost impossible to get a clear shot!

African Paradise Flycatcher

By late morning we had to leave for the long journey back to The Gambia. We were not allowed to stop very often, but we did get Bataleur for the list as well as White-backed and Hooded Vultures and Tawny Eagle - basically big obvious birds only! We also stopped so that Yankuba could buy a chair for his mother which we strapped the roof and took with us back to The Gambia. At a small lake shortly before hitting the border which we had seen on our way the previous day but not properly looked at we added our first Little Egret, a Greenshank, and over fifty Little Swift. Once back in the Gambia later in the afternoon a stop at Bangsang Quarry was very productive. In addition to a large colony of Red-throated Bee-eater we managed to find some Gosling's Bunting coming to the pools at the bottom, as well as a group of Sahel Bush Sparrow. As we approached the bridge to Janjanbureh once again the first Blue-bellied Roller of the trip was spotted - I remember being very excited about this as it was the one we hadn't yet seen.

Red-throated Bee-eater colony

Gosling's Bunting

Sahel Bush Sparrow

Agama

Blue-bellied Roller

The birding day was over - the afternoon had mostly been spent in the car but I am glad we had done it. In the end we did get over 100 species in Senegal - just - so mission accomplished, but really it was all about that Egyptian Plover. I think the earlier in the season you go the easier they become, for instance if you went in November or December you would likely get them in the Gambia, perhaps further west even than Janjanbureh.

Long-tailed Nightjar

The birding day wasn't yet over though. At the hotel we met an old man who said he could show us Nightjars, although it wasn't exactly clear which species. I suspect his presence wasn't a complete coincidence, but nonetheless why not? So after a bit of food we jumped in the car and drove to the town and then out to the southern outskirts where we proceeded on foot with torches. Sure enough there were Long-tailed Nightjars sitting quietly under bushes and we got amazing views with the light. A couple of African Scops Owl were an added bonus.

Macro photography I assume

The end of an era - Part II

So what will replace over two decades (nearly three!) of Canon? As I mentioned at the end of the last post I don't actually know yet but I do have pretty good idea. About a year ago I sold almost all my non-birding lenses, including the wonderful 70-200mm f2.8, the third one I had owned - the original, the first version with an image stabiliser, and finally the fabulous second IS iteration. This was after a trip to Lisbon where my son had toted around a tiny and amazing camera whilst I struggled with the weight and size of my Canon stuff. I invested what pittance I got back in almost the same thing he had, the most wonderful and tiny mirrorless camera, a Sony Alpha 6600. It is miniscule, look! Paired with a Zeiss 16-70mm f4 lens (24-105mm equivalent) it weighs just 811g. By contrast the Canon set-up with the same focal length weighed 2.2kg. Even pairing it with my smaller 80D was 1.4kg. 600g may not sound like a lot, but combined with the small form factor it is just night and day. It takes superb photos, and is far far more sophisticated and infinitely more clever than my older Canon, benefitting from eight further years of wizard scientists dreaming up new things for it it do, and making existing things like autofocus ridiculously accurate. And whereas my first digital SLR had three focus points this has 425! My 1DX had 61 so this is just incredible to me. I've been taking it almost everywhere, you just don't notice you're even carrying it.

Behold my miniature camera

But could I use it for birding? Well yes I could, but I'm nervous. I could operate the Canon 1DX with my eyes closed. I knew what every dial did, what my base settings were, and what I needed to do to change them without even looking at the camera. I knew it would be right and it was. Muscle memory kicked in, my fingers and thumb moved of their own accord to change the settings seamlessly. As such I got images I might never have got had I been less familiar with what I was using. When I moved from one Canon body to the next I set up the replacement exactly as its predecessor and it was if I was using the same camera. I am worried that it will not be easy to somehow relearn 20 years of using the same physical placement of menus and buttons. 

Now of course Canon do make mirrorless cameras and very good ones at that. Their lens range is also unparalleled. I could replace the setup I just sold with almost exactly the same thing, no work or effort would be required, it would be virtually seamless. But there are issues. The first is cost. To replicate most closely what I've been using would be in the order of £17k, a Canon R3 or R1 with a 600mm f4 lens. Read that number again. Jesus. I suppose I've spent more than that on camera gear over the years, but never in one go and also photography doesn't mean quite the same to me now as it did once. Frankly I don't deserve it at the moment, I just don't engage in bird photography with the fervour that I once did. It may come again, but right now it's not a priority and to spend that amount of money on one camera and one lens would be grossly indulgent. And it's not like I'm going to get back any meaningful amount on my old kit either. I've kept a record of every camera and lens I've ever bought and sold, and the unwelcome news is that I'm being offered 30% of what I paid for it, and that is without inflation. With inflation it's 20%. And they've not yet confirmed the amount as they need to assess it first. Half of me is spitting, the other half is remembering what a great time I had with that lens and camera, where they came with me to, and how much I enjoyed trying to get the best out of them. In deep snow and in -23 degrees centigrade, in Middle Eastern deserts, in the tropics with 95% humidity, in cloud forests in Central America and on boat trips and safaris in Africa. That lens and camera went everywhere and did everything, and mostly they didn't skip a beat, they just kept on going and going. I never mollycoddled my gear, I used it as intended, and the value of the quote will likely go down once they've had a look at it. It always goes down....

The other issue is size - it might be technologically incredible, but Canon gear is by nature still large and bulky. They've trimmed the weight some, but it's not night and day by any means, and broadly speaking the physical size is still the physical size. The kit I just sold weighed 5.2kg, the direct Canon mirrorless equivalent would come in at 4.2kg. Lighter, but not an especially large difference. What I want at this juncture is much smaller and lighter....

So I need to make a change. I am not yet experienced enough with Sony to be entirely confident. The small form factor of the A6600 results in inevitable compromises that I am struggling with, in particular the lack of a dedicated rear wheel or a front dial, though I am discovering some custom settings that get around this. Possibly an A9ii or iii is in my future but for now I will back myself to be able to learn something new. All it requires is time and effort. I think I can get there, I just need to take a lot more photos than I currently do. It is amazing how correlated experience and profiency tend to be, i.e. I didn't get good at using Canon by sitting at home. So I have my eye on a beauty of a Sony 200-600mm zoom lens that paired with my existing A6600 will save me nearly 2.5kg, rather than just the 1kg mentioned above. It is also physically shorter than my Canon 500mm, and far less bulky despite still being a large lens by any stretch of the imagination, and with the APS-C format will yield 900mm vs 700mm on the Canon which included the 1.4x teleconverter. In my mind's eye I can feel it now and it feels amazing. It's also massively cheaper than Canon, as in ten times cheaper. And if I grow to like it, get good at using it, and deserve something better, then Sony also make some quite lovely prime telephotos....

Anyway, watch this space. I'm quite excited by the prospect, and it will almost certainly get me out and taking pictures again, which if I am honest I have not really done properly for quite some time and is a major part of making this change.

The end of an era - Part I

On a beach in Florida

I've used Canon cameras for as long as I can remember, all the way back into the days of film. I first bought an SLR in 1997 I think, a Canon EOS 500n. I graduated from that to Canon EOS 5. I spent three months in Australia in 1998 with that camera and it was just terrific, with five focus points, a real upgrade! And as a pointless fun fun gimmick they could be controlled by eye! From there I moved to a pair of Canon EOS 1N. I remember climbing Ben Nevis with both of them, one loaded with colour slide film, the other with black and white. Ludicrous when you think about it. I never got into darkroom stuff, I just paid silly money to Fuji to have them do it. I found them the other day, boxes and boxes of slides - Velvia and Sensia mostly, though you would have to be fairly ancient to remember what those names even meant. I am and I do!

My first foray into digital was also years ago. Mrs L and I had a point and click digital camera for a while in the early 2000s. I have no idea what it was, and I don't think we were especially early adopters, but I remember it being novel and fun. I also remember Mrs L dropping it on a rock during a canoing trip in France and cracking it open. My first entry into digital SLRs some time later was a Canon EOS D30, with three whole megapixels and three focus points! It was wonderful, or I thought so at the time. Mrs L broke that one too, cracked the screen against the seat rails of the car one day. Sad times. The next camera I can remember was an EOS 50D, my first properly capable DSLR. I didn't let Mrs L near it! This came out in August 2008 and I think I bought one pretty soon afterwards. It had nine (count 'em!) focus points. Nine! Some of the first photos from this blog in February 2009 were taken with it, and by that time I was beginning to invest in some swanky glass as well - the first EF version of Canon's fabled 70-200mm f2.8 series of lenses. I also had a 28-70mm f2.8 that I had bought at B&H PhotoVideo in New York in around 2007, at that time the most expensive single item I had ever bought at around $800.

By late 2009 I'd stepped up a gear and was using a second-hand 1D Mark II, an older camera than the 50D, but far far better, and from then on that was all I used. I upgraded through every iteration of the 1D until the 1DX which I bought in 2018 and have been using ever since, with the 1D Mark IV as my backup. The lenses improved too. My first birding lens was the non IS version of the 300 f4. I remember buying it at Jessops on Tottenham Court Road when that still existed. I then flip-flopped endlessly between between the image-stablised version of that lens and the non-stablisiled 400mm f5.6, and at some point I capitulated and bought myself a 300mm f2.8 which I used with converters.

But all of these purchases were leading up to just one thing. A Canon 500mm f4. I succumbed in April 2010. Initially my pictures were much worse, I simply did not know how to handle it. Over time I got the hang of it though and I've never looked back. Whilst I sold it in 2012 and moved to the peerless 800mm f5.6, it wasn't long before I bought the new Canon 500mm f4 mkII, nearly 1kg lighter than the prior version and with much better stabilisation and optics. I've been using both of these lenses for over a decade, almost every bird photo on here or anywhere else was taken with one of those two lenses, most probably the 500mm as it was the one I always picked up due to it being so much lighter. For dedicated photography trips with small birds the 800mm came along, for anything else including more general travel it was the 500mm. I loved that lens. 

Here is my 500mm on the day I got. Brand new! It didn't look like this when I packed it up!

Earlier this week however I packed it up in its big grey suitcase and a van came and picked it up. It also picked up my trusty 1DX, both converters, and my one remaining non-birding lens, a Canon 24-105mm f4. Two weeks before that the same thing has happened with the 800mm. Goodbye Canon, it's been great. A sad day and the end of an era. But time marches on, and I don't mean just mean the technology, I also mean me!

When I first started carrying these lenses around I was 34 years old and I barely felt them. When the new 500mm came out, weighing a mere 3.1kg vs the 4.5kg of the 800mm, it felt like a toy. In conjunction with a 1D body the whole lot weighed over 5kg and yet I would happily walk around all day with it dangling off my shoulder. It travelled the world with me, but on more recent trips it's begun to feel heavier. Too heavy. At the same time I cannot help but notice that the technology has moved on. In Singapore earlier this year, a place where almost nobody is a birder yet everyone is a photographer, people I saw were carrying the most comparatively dinky cameras and yet achieving astonishing results. My birding buddies on Wanstead Flats had also moved onwards and upwards, with a slew of lovely mirrorless Canon setups weighing a fraction of what I was carrying, assuming I was carrying anything that is. 

The final straw came a few weeks ago when I went to Mexico with Mick. As usual I had dragged along the 1DX with the 500mm, but he had a shiny new toy, an Olympus OM1 system with an astonishingly small and lightweight lens that in fact magnified more than mine. He happily carried this all day, whereas half the time my camera stayed in the car. Too heavy, too awkward, plus a bit of professional jealousy! Previously I'd been happy to bird with it but now it felt like a drag, a literal weight on my shoulder. We talked about what I should do a fair bit, the pros and the cons, the alternatives and so on, and by the time I got home my mind was made up. I sold the 800mm two days later. What an astonishing optical marvel that was, but fewer and fewer places were servicing it which could be an expensive problem in the future, and I also knew that if the 500mm was now too heavy for my liking the chances of me ever picking up a lens that weighed +50% again were next to nil. I'd rather not talk about the money I got back on it if you don't mind.....  Suffice it to say that photographers are essentially walking pots of money as far as camera businesses are concerned.

This was my full birding trip bag. It weighed around 17kg.

But what will replace my beloved Canon gear? In truth I don't know yet, but I'll cover my thoughts in the next post as I have blathered on for far too long today already.

Senegal - January 2024 - Day 3 - Janjanbureh to Wassadou Camp

Another day, another new country. Despite this being a fairly short trip we had specifically asked to be taken to Senegal. Partly this was because this late in the season Egyptian Plover have essentially moved east and out of The Gambia, but also as we wanted to visit a new country - another list I'm afraid. It would take a full day of driving to get there and back from Janjanbureh, but it would still be worthwhile.

We did a spot of birding before breakfast at the camp, the highlight being an unphotographable Yellow-crowned Gonolek in the tangles of branches at the water's edge, before packing up and heading south-east. Once again lots of stops along the way, with great views of Beaudouin's Snake Eagle, Abyssinian Roller, Senegal Coucal, Yellow-billed Shrikes and much more besides.

Pied Crow

Beaudouin's Snake Eagle

Western Red-billed Hornbill

Yellow-billed Shrike

We crossed the border between Sabi and Velingara at about 11am. Despite there being nothing there there was nonetheless a border office and a lot of paperwork, as well as a passive-aggressive official who did not like my camera being on my shoulder. I don't think I initially understood what he was getting at, the border being nothing more than a chain across the road, but it was his job to make sure that this highly sensitive chain did not get photographed, and was determined to make it clear that this would be huge issue. After a few veiled threats I worked out what it was he was there to say, all very friendly in the sense of "I could make big trouble for you" friendly, and of course once he had buggered off I made sure to take a photo of the border anyway.

Paperwork done and we were free to cross the chain. Hurrah a new country! Within a few miles we had a list of around 20, but with many miles still to go we hoped to improve upon it. The route skirted around the eastern end the Gambia before heading north then south again on larger roads, you can see this on the map here, it's that final bit that looks like two sides of big triangle. We arrived at the Campement de Wassadou at around 3pm, and spent the next two hours exploring the area on foot before our scheduled boat trip in the early evening. We did a short circuit of the camp, but most of the time was spent sat on the bluff overlooking the river and scanning the water and the sky whilst having a nice cold drink and a banana. The undoubted highlights of this river-watch were our first sighting of Egyptian Plover flying downstream low to the water, and then of African Finfoot paddling across the Gambia River, both much-wanted species that are not always guaranteed. The full list is here.

As the day cooled we descended the steps and got into a small boat for a trip along the river looking for improved views of the Egyptian Plover which we hoped would be foraging or resting on one of the numerous sandbanks. As we had seen a bird flying south it made sense to go that way, and in any event you could not travel too far north as the river was clogged. This boat trip was simply brilliant - Adamawa Turtle Dove on the bank, Western Plantain-eaters, two more Finfoot, three species of Lapwing, a Greater Painted Snipe, around 50 Northern Carmine Bee-eaters, five species of Kingfisher including Giant Kingfisher, a Western Banded Snake-Eagle, and finally three Egyptian Plover. Unfortunately the Plover were not seen south of the camp, but a short distance north at the very end of our trip when as a last attempt we swung back past the camp to explore some sandbanks a little further up. There they were, but by this point it was virtually dark. Still, a magnificent experience, and whilst the drive had taken up a decent chunk of the day (it is about a 6-7 hour drive once you factor in numerous birding stops plus the border crossing).

Adamawa Turtle Dove

Grey-headed Kingfisher

Northern Carmine Bee-eater

Giant Kingfisher

Little Bee-eater

Western Banded Snake-Eagle

Egyptian Plover