Blogs from Tambacounda Region, Senegal, Africa

The numbers are in! I identified 63 different species this January in the Kedougou Region alone... mostly in the fields near Bandafassi and along the Gambia near Kedougou. Here they are: January Birds Black-headed Heron Ardea melanocephala Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis Hamerkop Scopus umbretta African Fish Eagle Haliaeetus vocifer Palm-nut Vulture Gypohierax angolensis Lappet-faced Vulture Torgostracheliotus Black Kite MilvusMigrans Beaudouin's Snake Eagle Circaetus beaudouini Gabar Goshawk Micronisus gabar Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus Fox Kestrel Falco alopex Grey Kestrel Falco ardosiaceus Double -spurred Francolin Francolinus bicalcaratus Stone Partridge Pt... read more

At this point, other volunteers come to me with bird questions, typically curious about the identity of a certain birds they have recently seen. Far and away, the most common bird that I get asked about is the Abyssinian Roller. Its long tail and the varying shades of vivid, ultra-florescent blues make the bird a stunner for birders and non-birders a like. Furthermore, on any given day, I may see over 20. This number has only increased with the burning of fields. They are everywhere right now and last week, I thought the whole mountain might burn. I literally, started packing some of my valuables that night as a large portion of the mountainside glowed red with fire. Evidently, the villagers must know something about this I don't, they've been down this road before, since they ... read more

I have had a few near-misses since arriving in Senegal. Every time I get in a vehicle, I consider it a near-miss. The act alone of getting in a vehicle in this country scares me, which is why I am content to be living where I am living, relying primarily on bicycle, and sometimes going months without climbing in a sept place, taxi, or bus. But biking is not without its own danger. And birding by bike, let no one tell you differently, can be an extreme sport. I was traveling with a friend from my village to Kedougou, either a 12k or 17k trek, depending on who you ask (I think 12). My binoculars were, as usual, at their ready, strewn diagonally across my chest. We were facing a head wind, biking uphill in the ... read more

Recently, I received my first visitor from the US since arriving in Senegal. A friend from the Park Service, and a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer himself, Bill, had made his way to Senegal, in hopes of spending a short time here, traveling through Guinea, and ending up in Sierra Leone, his former country of service. After spending a week in Dakar, taking in the music scene, he decided it was more than enough this time around to stay in Senegal, preferring to take in one country more fully than three on the fly. His arrival was more than enough of an excuse for me to take a break during the holiday season from my typical work (Senegal schools were not in session over the holidays anyhow), and do a little bit of overdue exploring. As is ... read more

I had heard the bubbling numerous times during the rainy season. It was always came from the same spot. At the time, turtles were a common sight, so I had just assumed this was another turtle my presence had driven into the water. A few days ago I discovered otherwise. On this day I thought I spotted a Sun Lark and went for a closer look. By now rainy season has been a thing of the past for almost 2 months and the puddle that brought in so many wetland birds has finally dried up. Namaqua Doves, Chestnut-backed Sparrow Larks, and Cinnamon-breasted Rock Buntings have taken the place of Black-headed Herons, Hamerkops, and Lilly-trotters. Indeed it was a Sun Lark, the first I had seen of the month, so I make a note in my notepad. ... read more

I imagine that there is a certain point in every Senegalese's life, at least those living in these parts, when they completely tune out the sonorous, monotonous, rarely interrupted sound that is the Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird. Though many in the village, no doubt, hear this sound from the very first days of their lives until their last, and everyday in between, very few, at least of whom I have encountered, know exactly where, or who, I suppose, the noise is coming from. I have asked villagers about cicadas – what makes that buzzing sound? They correctly tell me it is an insect, and many are even able to point it out to me in an insect book. They go on to tell me if eaten they will give the consumer a strong voice. They seem to know ... read more

The past month and a half, with my daily birding outings, my absence at the compound has become just as noticeable as my presence in the fields and woods. When I tell them I am looking for birds, show them my field guide and binoculars, I think they just pass it off as more toubab weirdness. Most people think the binoculars are a camera and I routinely get asked to take people's picture. A high school boy, named Amoudou (not that that helps narrow it down), who speaks decent English and stops by routinely to practice with me, noticed my absence at the hut as well. The conversation went something like this (Y for Yaya (me), A for Amoudou) A: When I stopped by yesterday and today, your brother said you were in the fields looking ... read more

It had been 5 days since my host father had died. I was in the middle of what would become the longest, most exhausting, stressful, and sad week of my service to date. The relatively quiet (by Senegal standards) compound where I live was quickly taken over by crowds of people, mourners and those who had simply come to pay their respects to my baaba, the chief of my rural, village-home in Kedougou. The once, private space I called myhut, had become property of the grieving commonwealth as out-of-town family and friends made themselves at home and “mi casa es su casa,” was taken to its most literal extent. I needed out. I needed a break, or I would break. To leave the village completely and come back a week later when the smoke had cleared ... read more

I attended a meeting at the school that went from 9am until 4:30pm, a meeting of which I understood little but was called upon regularly for my opinion – “I think what we are talking about is important, if there is anything I can do to help I will, but I think it is best for me to just listen right now and hear all the information.” This response seems to work at most meetings when I am called upon to speak out of the blue and don't entirely know why. With the meeting finished, it was Wednesday afternoon, I was exhausted, but got on my bike to head in to Kedougou for Thanksgiving. Around 20 volunteers arrived and we had a pretty ambitious menu. A turkey was going to be sent down from Tamba, the ... read more

One of my favorite birds to watch is the Beaudouin's Snake Eagle. In flight they are able to pause in the air in ways that would make harriers jealous. Walking through the fields there is one stretch with little tree cover where around a quarter of my trips I am able to spot this snake eagle hovering stationary, excepting a slight angling of its tail feathers. It is an impressive sight. Today I was given a raptor treat. I had taken a bus to town with 3 middle school scholarship winners and my Senegalese counterpart. We had had some difficulties with transportation, as usual, and the day was extremely stressful. We had set out to get school supplies with the scholarship money they had received. Having accomplished this, we made our way back on a small ... read more