In another strong commitment to promoting eco-tourism in The Gambia, a team of experts in bird studies from the West African Bird Study Association (WABSA) including Lamin Jobarteh, the executive director of the association, Solomon Jallow and Sering D Bojang, recently announced the discovery of two new species of birds in The Gambia, at the Atlantic Hotel bird garden in Banjul.

Confirming this development to the Daily Observer, Lamin Jobarteh the executive director of WABSA and a bird expert said both species were spotted as a result of an unusual appearance.

According to him, they thoroughly looked at the behaviour of the European Robin bird as to whether it was caged and brought to The Gambia but from their own observations, the bird may not have been caged as it behaves very unapproachable. "Although these might not be justifiable enough, because Robins are territorial and they normally visit garden in search of worms,’’ he said.

Describing the Greyish Eagle Owl specie, Jobarteh said the bird is a medium to large sized bird, uniformly greyish brown, with finely barred under parts which become more bold on the chest, dark greyish leg, white spots on shoulder, and wings as well as dark brown eyes.

He described the European Robin as thus uniformly olive, with brown upper parts and tail, warm orange-red face and breast, lower under parts dirty buffish, becoming more paler at the centre of the belly.

According to the WABSA executive director, some of the guests who also shared the view of the bird said that, the European Robin is associated with winter. "It is also a festive bird. “When people see Robin bird in UK, they begin to realise that Christmas is nearer, and during Christmas, most of the greeting cards have pictures of a Robin bird,’’ one of the European guest at the Hotel was quoted as saying.

Jobarteh then applauded the team of bird experts and photographers at the hotel garden for such a landmark discovery, which he said, would go a long way in boosting the eco-tourism in the country.

This latest discovery is said to have increased the number of bird species recorded in he Gambia so far.

Mr Chris Bowman, a bird photographer took the pictures of the two species at the garden with Greyish Eagle Owl (Bubo Cinerascens), and the European Robin (erithacus rubecula).