Bulletin 373 - Uganda #17 - Owl, Cuckoos, Pratincoles

After the week in the Capetown area, the guide Casper Badenhorst, and I flew to Uganda and met a local guide. We started at Entebbe Airport on the southeast corner of Uganda and made a diagonal trip to Murchison Falls NP in the northwest corner. From there, we proceeded south through a chain of nature preserves and parks to the southwest corner at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. We finished along the southern border back to the airport.

Unfortunately we did not do any night birding in Uganda because mostly we were exhausted from birding and driving long distances. But we did get one owl at dawn after a rainstorm overnight. And what an amazing owl it was. The 26" Verreaux's Eagle Owl (Bubo lacteus) is a grayish owl with dark eyes and pink eyelids! The pink eyelids are usually only seen if the owl has his eyes closed. But because of the rain all night, his feathers were matted down and the eyelids are plainly visible with his eyes open. This was the one owl I hoped to see on the trip as I missed it in the previous Africa trip. He is often seen on night drives on safari and people always remember seeing the "owl with the pink eyelids". It is the largest African owl and the only owl species in the world with pink eyelids.

Verreaux's Eagle Owl

Here he is watching us.

Verreaux's Eagle Owl

We saw a number of cuckoo species. The 16" Levaillant's Cuckoo (Clamator levaillantii) is  a black cuckoo with white underparts and streaking on the breast. It has a crest.

Levaillant's Cuckoo

The 12" Red-chested Cuckoo (Cuculus solitarius) is dark gray above and has stripes across the underside except for the red chest.

Red-chested Cuckoo

The stunning 9" African Emerald Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx cupreus) has an iridescent emerald green head, breast, body and wings. The belly is bright yellow.

African Emerald Cuckoo

The 13" Blue Malkoha (Ceuthmochares aereus) is a gray bird with some bl;ue on the wings and tail. But the bright yellow bill and bare blue skin around the eye are the easy ID marks.

Blue Malkoha

The 18" Blue-headed Coucal (Centropus monachus) is a beautiful showy bird with rufous wings, blue head and nape and a white breast. 

Blue-headed Coucal

The 16" White-browed Coucal (Centropus superciliosus) has reddish wings, a black crown, and a wide white stripe over the eye.

White-browed Coucal

Pratincoles are closely related to sandpipers. The 10" Collared Pratincole (Glareola pratincola) is a brown bird with a buffy throat surrounded by a thin black line.

Collared Pratincole

The 7.5" Rock Pratincole (Glareola nuchalis) is a brown bird with a black head and a prominent white stripe around back of the neck. It has a red bill and legs. It lives on rocks in the middle of rivers. I photographed this bird on the boat trip below Murchison Falls

Rock Pratincole

I just read an amazing nature book "World of Wonders" in praise of fireflies, whale sharks, and other astonishments. The author is Aimee Nezhukumatathil. She is a poet but a lover of all nature. The book is a compilation of many essays she had written over the past decade about various species in all nature - from dragon fruit and corpse flower to octopus and flamingo. I even learned a new interesting fact about Monarch Butterflies.

One amusing essay was a time she took her 2 young boys on a Christmas Bird Count and their comments as they were deep in the woods.

Barnes and Noble selected it as the book of the year 2020. It is so beautifully written as she is a poet. It is just delightful. I am sure you will love to read it.

I put the different bird and mammal families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 33 of the 216 species of owls

I have photos of 23 of the 147 species of  cuckoos

I have photos of 3 of the 17 species of courses and pratincoles

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2020 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.

Bulletin 372 - Uganda #16 - Old World Flycatchers - Part 1

After the week in the Capetown area, the guide Casper Badenhorst, and I flew to Uganda and met a local guide. We started at Entebbe Airport on the southeast corner of Uganda and made a diagonal trip to Murchison Falls NP in the northwest corner. From there, we proceeded south through a chain of nature preserves and parks to the southwest corner at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. We finished along the southern border back to the airport.

This is a very large family (331 species) of small songbirds only 2 of which show up regularly in Alaska. Many of them are beautiful! Because of the number, of species, many will be found on any trip in Eurasia or Africa. They have many names flycatchers, chats, robins, wheatears, and many others.

The 7" Northern Black Flycatcher (Melaenornis edoliodes) is completely black.

Northern Black Flycatcher

The 7" male Sooty Chat (Myrmecocichla nigra) is black with a prominent white wing bar.

Sooty Chat - male

The 5" male African Stonechat (Saxicola torquata) has a black head, wings and back and white underparts except for a rusty breast.

African Stonechat - male

His cousin is the 5" male Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra). He is mostly buffy and brown, but with a black and white face. It is a winter migrant to Africa.

Whinchat - male

The 5" Cassin's Flycatcher (Muscicapa cassini) is gray above and lighter below with black wings. He is found along forest streams from 2200 to 5200' elevation. He perches on low branches or on rocks in the stream like this one. It is listed as uncommon.

Cassin's Flycatcher

His cousin is the 5" Swamp Flycatcher (Muscicapa aquatica). He is brown above and white below with a brown breast band.

Swamp Flycatcher

A species name I had not seen before was alethe. These are secretive thrush like forest birds. They are usually solitary and and follow ant swarms to feed. In fact they were in the thrush family until 2010.

The 7" Fire-crested Alethe (Alethe castanea) is brown above, with a gray face and underparts. There is a central orange median strip on the top of his head. They say it is not usually seen in the field. This is another bird named for an invisible field mark.

Fire-crested Alethe

The 6" Red-throated Alethe (Chamaetylas poliophrys) was a lucky find as we had ants moving across a mountain road and he popped in and out of the underbrush, as we waited for him. He has a brown back and wings with gray head and underparts. The red throat is distinct on this species.

Red-throated Alethe

A beautiful bird was the monotypic genus 7" Silverbird (Empidornis semipartitus). It is silvery gray above and rufous below. An easy ID if you know the bird.

Silverbird

I put the different bird and mammal families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 52 of the 331 species of Old World Flycatchers


Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2020 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.

Bulletin 371 - Uganda #15 - Hornbills and 3 monkeys

After the week in the Capetown area, the guide Casper Badenhorst, and I flew to Uganda and met a local guide. We started at Entebbe Airport on the southeast corner of Uganda and made a diagonal trip to Murchison Falls NP in the northwest corner. From there, we proceeded south through a chain of nature preserves and parks to the southwest corner at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. We finished along the southern border back to the airport.

There are 2 species of ground hornbills. I saw the Southern Ground Hornbill in Kruger Park on my first Africa trip. Here is the other - the 36" Abyssinian Ground Hornbill (Bucorvus abyssinicus). It is a large black hornbill found walking along the ground searching for insects, snakes, lizards etc. It is an easy ID and the huge size cannot be confused with any other bird. This is a male with the blue around the eye and red throat patch

Abyssinian Ground Hornbill - male

The female has a blue throat patch.

Abyssinian Ground Hornbill - female

There are 59 species of hornbills with 27 in Africa and the rest in Asia. The 29" Black-and-white Casqued Hornbill (Bycanistes subcylindricus) has a huge bill with a casque protuberance on top. It has a black body, white belly and tail, and primaries on wings.

Black-and-white Casqued Hornbill

Very similar is the 28" White-thighed Hornbill (Bycanistes cylindricus). The only obvious difference is the white ring around the eye and the tail has a black stripe across the middle.

White-thighed Hornbill

The 22" Crowned Hornbill (Tockus alboterminatus) is a black hornbill with a bright red bill and bushy crest.

Crowned Hornbill

The 28" White-crested Hornbill (Tropicranus albocristatus) is a black hornbill with a very long graduated tail and a bushy white crest like a Mohawk haircut. It was a treat to find this bird as there are only 2 or 3 pairs in Uganda in the Semliki Forest along the Congo border.

White-crested Hornbill

We saw several species on monkeys in Uganda. The first is the well named Red-tailed Monkey (Cercopithecus ascanius). It is 40 - 60" in length with the tail being 60%. It is IDed by the red tail, white cheeks and nose. This monkey is in the same forest with the White-crested Hornbill above and the hornbill follows the monkeys as the monkeys shake the leaves and expose caterpillars which the hornbills eat.

Red-tailed Monkey

Next is L'Hoest's Monkey (Allochrocebus lhoesti). It is about 45" long and 50% tail. It is a black monkey with a brown lower back and white around the neck.

L'Hoest's Monkey

The last is Patas Monkey (Erythrocebus patas). It is a large red haired monkey 60" in length and the tail is 50%. The males can weigh up to 40 pounds. The adults have a white face but the babies have a black face. They are mostly terrestrial.

Patas Monkey

I put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 2 of the 2 species of ground hornbills

I have photos of 8 of the 59 species of  hornbills

I have photos of 9 of the 135 species of  old world monkeys

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2020 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.

Bulletin 370 - Uganda #14 - Weavers - part 2, Buntings

After the week in the Capetown area, the guide Casper Badenhorst, and I flew to Uganda and met a local guide. We started at Entebbe Airport on the southeast corner of Uganda and made a diagonal trip to Murchison Falls NP in the northwest corner. From there, we proceeded south through a chain of nature preserves and parks to the southwest corner at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. We finished along the southern border back to the airport.

We saw some weavers in an earlier bulletin. Here are the rest of that family that I saw in Uganda.

The 7" Holub's Golden Weaver (Ploceus xanthops) is all yellow with a black bill. It reminds me of a female Summer Tanager.

Holub's Golden Weaver

The 5.5" male Black-necked Weaver (Ploceus nigricollis) is almost orange with a black back and throat. It sure resembles some of our orioles.

Black-necked Weaver - male

The 5" male Brown-capped Weaver (Ploceus insignis) is a bright yellow bodied weaver with black face, wings and tail and a brown crown.

Brown-capped Weaver - male

The 5.5" Northern Brown-throated Weaver (Ploceus castanops) is yellow with some dark streaks on wings and a brown face. He has a white eye. This one is in the papyrus reeds as you probably remember from previous photos.

Northern Brown-throated Weaver - male

A small group of red and black forest weavers are called malimbes. The only one I saw was the 6.5"  Crested Malimbe (Malimbus malimbicus). It is a black bird with a red throat, face and small crest.

Crested Malimbe

Widowbirds are in the same family as weavers. The males have long tails in breeding plumage. The 6" male Fan-tailed Widowbird (Euplectes axillaris) is all black with a red shoulder patch. It resembles our Red-winger Blackbird.

Fan-tailed Widowbird - male

The old world buntings were previously in the same family with the new world sparrows, but were separated in 2013. I added 2 buntings to my list in Uganda.

The 6" Cabanis's Bunting (Emberiza cabanisi) has a black and white striped head and a bright yellow belly.

Cabanis's Bunting

The 6" male Cinnamon-breasted Bunting (Emberiza tahapisi) has a similar black and white striped head but a rufous chest and belly.

Cinnamon-breasted Bunting - male

I put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 27 of the 117 species of weavers.

I have photos of 12 of the 44 species of  buntings

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2020 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.

Bulletin 369 - Uganda #13 - Herons, Crane, Ibis, Fruit Bat

After the week in the Capetown area, the guide Casper Badenhorst, and I flew to Uganda and met a local guide. We started at Entebbe Airport on the southeast corner of Uganda and made a diagonal trip to Murchison Falls NP in the northwest corner. From there, we proceeded south through a chain of nature preserves and parks to the southwest corner at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. We finished along the southern border back to the airport.

With many lakes, rivers and marshes in Uganda, herons were common and I photographed 2 new species.

The 33" Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea) is a common heron, but this was the first time I got one close by, for a good photo.

Purple Heron

The taller 38" Gray Heron (Ardea cinerea) resembles our Great Blue Heron.

Gray Heron

The giant 60" Goliath Heron (Ardea goliath) is a bird I had seen in the guide book. As the largest heron in the world, it was one I wanted to see. It has a gray body and reddish neck.

Goliath Heron

3 smaller herons include the 18" Squacco Heron (Ardeola ralloides). It is a squat beige heron.

Squacco Heron

The 20" Black Heron (Egretta ardesiaca) is all black. It is often found creating an umbrella like posture with its wings forward.

Black Heron

Lastly is the 22" Western Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis). This is the common white egret with a yellow bill and orange plumes in breeding season. It is widespread in the Americas.

Western Cattle Egret

Surprisingly, I only found a single ibis species, the 32" African Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus). It is an elegant bird and an easy ID with its bare black neck and white body with black wings.

African Sacred Ibis

Probably the most elegant bird of the trip is the 44" Gray Crowned Crane (Balearica regulorum). It is the National Bird of Uganda.

Gray Crowned Crane

and another photo of this magnificent bird.

Gray Crowned Crane

The Straw-colored Fruit Bat (Eidolon helvum) is the most common African large bat. It is found in most of sub-Saharan Africa. They live in large colonies of 100 thousand to 1 million animals. And each year in the largest mammal migration on the planet, 10 million bats roost in a 5 acre forest in Zambia. Despite its relatively small size, 6-9 inches and 8-12 oz weight, many are hunted for 'bush meat' in Central and West Africa.

Straw-colored Fruit Bat

I put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 28 of the 66 species of herons, bitterns and egrets

I have photos of 11 of the 35 species of  ibises and spoonbills

I have photos of 7 of the 15 species of  cranes

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2020 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.

Bulletin 368 - Uganda #12 - Weavers - part 1

After the week in the Capetown area, the guide Casper Badenhorst, and I flew to Uganda and met a local guide. We started at Entebbe Airport on the southeast corner of Uganda and made a diagonal trip to Murchison Falls NP in the northwest corner. From there, we proceeded south through a chain of nature preserves and parks to the southwest corner at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. We finished along the southern border back to the airport.

We met some of the weaver species in South Africa. They were mostly yellow birds with varying amounts of black on the head and face. In Uganda I found more species and some were quite different than the previous ones.

The 4.5" Speckle-fronted Weaver (Sporopipes frontalis) is a brown and gray sparrow like bird with an ochre nape and black forehead.

Speckle-fronted Weaver

The 5" male Black-headed Weaver (Ploceus melanocephalus) had a black head and chestnut belly. He resembles our Baltimore Oriole.

Black-headed Weaver - pair

The 5" male Golden-backed Weaver (Ploceus jacksoni) is similar but the whole underside is a dark chestnut color.

Golden-backed Weaver - male

The 4" male Little Weaver (Ploceus luteolus)  is yellow with a black face and thick bill.

Little Weaver - male

A similar 4.5" weaver is the male Slender-billed Weaver (Ploceus pelzelni).He has a smaller amount of black on the face

Slender-billed Weaver - male

The 6.5" male Village Weaver (Ploceus culcullatus) is yellow with a black face and streaked back.. He also has a bright red eye!

Village Weaver - male

The 6" male Baglafecht Weaver (Ploceus bagalecht) has a black face and light eye.

Baglafecht Weaver

So now that you can easily identify a weaver by the yellow body and black head or face, God shows his sense of humor with the 5.5" male Black-billed Weaver (Ploceus melanogaster). He is all black with a yellow face!

Black-billed Weaver

And even stranger is Vieillot's Black Weaver (Ploceus nigerrimus). He is all black with a yellow eye.

Vieillot's Black Weaver

I have photos of 27 of the 117 species of weavers.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2020 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.