Birds of Gambia

Guides Clive Barlow & Andy Lamy

Clive Barlow--Author as Birding Guide (abridged biography--click here for complete C.V.)

Mr. Barlow has been the director of "Birds of The Gambia Co Ltd" since 1985 and is co-author of the award winning book, A Field Guide to Birds of The Gambia and Senegal. has done vital research for the creation of modern field guides, and has worked actively to create and maintain wildlife refuges such as Kiang West National Park and the Tanji Bird Reserve. Additionally, Mr. Barlow has recently worked on research and avian sound recordings in Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Mali and Nigeria. With John Hammick and Pat Sellar he has published the three CD set Bird Song of The Gambia and Senegal: an aid to identification. .

Naturalist Andrew Lamy, as a professional clarinetist and field-ornithologist, is a seasoned and perpetually inquisitive "ear-birder" with applied training in bioacoustical analysis, and has extensive birding experience in Senegal and The Gambia, where he has studied West African birds in the field with four leading experts: author Clive Barlow and IRD ornithologists Pierre Reynaud, El Hadji Sylla, and Mamadou Sakho. A concert clarinetist during the performance season ( www.mixedflockorchestra.net, www.njsymphony.org, www.halcyontrio.com, www.artistsinternational.com , www.andrewlamy.com), Mr. Lamy travels in the off-season for research and birding trips. He has worked to extend and improve "best practice" standards for comparitive song analysis, academic preparation, and reliable field identification of sound-alike bird species using an integrated system of spectrum analysis and techniques based on timbre, cadence, and directional/radial sorting. Before completing degrees in biology and music, Mr. Lamy worked with Jane Goodall at the L.A. Zoo in 1987 and 1988 on experimental design to study relationships of music and stress-reduction in captive chimpanzees.

Mr. Lamy first traveled to Senegal and Gambia in 1996 where he worked with Pierre Reynaud (biologist of ORSTOM/IRD), Mamadou Sakho (curator of Morel’s legendary skins collection), and Col. El Hadji Sylla (Director of National Parks in Senegal) as a bird-finder in the ORSTOM (French Overseas Office for Technical Research and Development) Ferlo Desert Expedition for an avian population census, invertebrate parasaitism of birds, and the tracking of remnant populations of West African Ostrich. Mr. Lamy met Mr. Barlow in 1996.

Mr. Barlow & Mr. Lamy first collaborated as bird-safari leaders in in 1998, and confirmed four new avian records for The Gambia on the first trip together, namely Green-winged Pytilia, Sahel Paradise Whydah, Red-necked Nightjar, and Blue Rock Thrush. This pilot collaboration yielded important updates to distribution information the observation of four new records of bird species for the Gambia, and a total of 310 species in 2 weeks. A percentage of all proceeds from tours goes to help fund research, conservation, cooperative expeditions, as well as field guides and training for interested young african birders. Together they organise and lead a variety of "depart on request" tours of 1 to 14 days duration for birders, photographers, sound recordists and film makers. Mr. Barlow has been instrumental through his efforts in the creation of what has now become a "Golden Age" of birding in The Gambia--he has led scores of up-country tours, (and as resident ornithologist in The Gambia is best positioned for constantly updated scouting information), and has trained a generation of local and foreign guides. Now, in partnership with Andrew Lamy and Firefinch Adventures, he offers tours and organizes research expeditions to many other destinations in West Africa.

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