Thursday, 29 December 2022
28-12-2022 NGALA LODGE, GAMBIA - BEAUTIFUL SUNBIRD (FEMALE) (Cinnyris pulchellus)
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The beautiful sunbird (Cinnyris pulchella), formerly placed in the genus Nectarinia, is a sunbird. It is native to tropical Africa, its range extending from Senegal and Guinea in the west to Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya in the east.
Beautiful sunbirds are tiny, only 10 cm (4 in) long, although the breeding male's long tail adds another 5 cm (2 in). They have medium-length thin down-curved bills and brush-tipped tubular tongues, both of which are adaptations to their nectar feeding. The male has a black head, bright metallic green upper parts, scarlet breast bordered with yellow and black belly. The central feathers of the teal are greatly elongated. The female is brown above with yellowish underparts.
Wednesday, 28 December 2022
27-12-2022 CALYPSO BAR, GAMBIA - AFRICAN DARTER (Anhinga rufa)
The African darter (Anhinga rufa), sometimes called the snakebird, is a water bird of sub-Saharan Africa and Iraq.
The African darter is a member of the darter family, Anhingidae, and is closely related to American (Anhinga anhinga), Oriental (Anhinga melanogaster), and Australasian (Anhinga novaehollandiae) darters.
The African darter is 80 cm (31 in) long. Like other anhingas, it has a very long neck. The male is mainly glossy black with white streaking; females and immature birds are browner. The African darter differs in appearance from the American darter most recognisably by its thin white lateral neck stripe against a rufous background colour. The pointed bill prevents confusion with cormorants.
27-12-2022 CALYPSO BAR, GAMBIA - BLACK CASQUED HORNBILL (Ceratogymna atrata)
The black-casqued hornbill (Ceratogymna atrata), or black-casqued wattled hornbill, is a species of hornbill in the family Bucerotidae. It is found fairly commonly across sub-Saharan Africa, being known from Sierra Leone and Liberia in Western Africa (as well as most of the West African nations along the Gulf of Guinea), south to Angola and east to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and western Uganda. They are currently considered of near threatened, and their population is declining.
The black-casqued hornbill is a large, mostly black bird with bare-skinned blue wattles and skin around their eyes. Adult birds are typically between 60 and 70 cm (24 and 28 in) long, and can be distinguished from the similar yellow-casqued hornbill by the white scales found in their plumage. They are readily identifiable as a member of the hornbill family by the eponymous casque structure that the birds develop on their beaks as they mature.
Like many bird species, black-casqued hornbills exhibit sexual dimorphism. The males are larger, with black heads, and a larger casque. The females have brown hood of feathers.
Both male and female birds have a powerful, "braying" call, which can be heard over 2 kilometers away. The generally louder males also make other calls, including a resonant squawk and a soft chuckling alarm call.
Black-casqued hornbills spend most of their time high in the trees of lowland, evergreen forests, although they also occur in nearby plantations and mature secondary growth. They typically live together in pairs or small family groups, although flocks of up to 40 individuals have also been sighted. Flocking black-casqued hornbills may wander for hundreds of kilometers in search of fruiting trees, returning to favored roosting spots at night.
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