(podica senegalis)
The African Finfoot is an uncommon but widespread African water bird. It is like a cross between a grebe and a duck. It is usually shy and furtive and on many birding trips only fleeting views will be obtained - sometimes only of the splash in the water where it had been. That certainly was not the case at Loango NP in Gabon. We found so many Finfoots that we almost stopped paying attention to them - oh look, there's another Finfoot ...
The problem of getting close enough for a decent photo was solved eventually by giving the boat full throttle at a likely bird caught in mid channel - the birds are reluctant to fly and prefer to paddle away.
The Finfoots in this area are the sub species camerunensis, the male of which is much darker and lacks the white line down the neck.