The Gambia Bird watching

Not withstanding the Gambia's small territory it has a considerable and heterogeneous avian population both resident and Palearctic migratory birds.

This unexpected phenomenon is due in part to the Gambia's geographical location in West Africa, and the large river and its accompanying banks.

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The country's location means that it is on the line of flight of two double migrations. The first from the north in October which returns March / April of the following year.

For these migratory European birds it is the first life sustaining strip of green after the long flight south along the arid coast of northwest Africa. The second from the south at the start of the rains,  June / July, of birds from the equatorial regions of Africa, which come to the Senegambia Valley in time for the breeding season, of which the  Gambia could be said to form the central focal point, at any rate from a bird's-eye view. 

These avian visitors from the equatorial regions  exit The Gambia at the end of the rainy season, with their departures extended between the months of October to January. The country's native species population is therefore given a boot during these months, though the rise due to the Palearctic visitors is usually only a matter of a few days or weeks. On the other hand the June to July influx lasts the whole of wet period, with migratory species coming in to settle to find a mate and reproduce. 

The Gambia, in West Africa, is renowned around the world as a bird watcher's paradise. In the early part of this century, thousands of ornithologists have come to observe through their binoculars over 560 bird species of dazzlingly plumed birds.

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Click Here for the best guide available in The Gambia