Birds of Senegal and The Gambia
- Birds of Senegal and The Gambia (2nd edition) by Nik Borrow and Ron Demey (Bloomsbury, 2023).
- 360 pages; 149 colour plates, colour distribution maps.
- ISBN: 9781399402200. Pbk, £30.
- Buy at BirdGuides bookshop from £26.99
Since the arrival of the first edition of this book in 2011, birders' awareness of Senegal as a great destination has risen, while, as always, The Gambia is viewed as the ideal place to take a first trip to Africa. This book is a condensed version of Birds of Western Africa and allows you to take only those 700 or so species you really need on your trip. The taxonomy has been updated to mostly follow that recommended by IOC. A few birds have been added either because they have been split (Scopoli's, Boyd's and Barolo Shearwaters for example) or because they are now known to pass through the area on the basis of satellite-tracked birds (such as Greater Spotted, Lesser Spotted and Spanish Imperial Eagles), while Plain Swift is assumed to occur as we now know that some leave the Canary Islands to winter in Guinea (again thanks to tracking data).
New distribution data is now available for the coast north of Dakar and also from Casamance in the south, and this has resulted in Freckled Nightjar, Horus Swift and Collared Dove being added. There are also first records including Caspian Plover, Black-casqued Hornbill, Willcocks's Honeyguide and Mountain Wagtail. A few poorly documented species have been left out this time (such as Black-and-white-casqued Hornbill, Cassin's Honeybird and Lemon-bellied Crombec).
The superb illustrations by Nik Borrow are really crisp thanks to improved printing, and these have been revised and redrawn in some cases, with several new layouts allowing more space for some species. For this edition, Ron Demey has completely overhauled the text and the maps have been revised to reflect the increased knowledge of distribution, particularly in Senegal. On each spread, the text and colour maps sit opposite the plates. Both this and its sister publication, Birds of Ghana, are excellent field guides. I'm also impressed that the price has only increased by a single penny since 2011!
