Bulletin 358 - Uganda #2 - Batises, Crombecs, Vangas

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.

In this bulletin we will see 3 small families of birds. All were life birds in this bulletin.

The first is the wattle-eye and batis family. There are 31 species in the family and I photographed 4 on the trip. The batises are small plump big headed black and white birds. 

The 4" male Western Black-headed Batis (Batis erlangeri) is easily IDed as a batis by the coloration. But best ID is voice. The female would have a brown breast band.

Western Black-headed Batis - male

Next is the 3.5" Rwenzori Batis (Batis diops). It is found in the Rwenzori Mountains above 5000' in the Albertine Rift. If you look closely there are 2 white dots on the face - an important ID mark.

Rwenzori Batis

I also saw my first wattle-eyes in the same area. The 5" female Brown-throated Wattle-eye (Platysteira cyanea) has a red wattle.

Brown-throated Wattle-eye - female

Interestingly, these birds are named for the female coloration. The male has a smaller black throat band.

Brown-throated Wattle-eye - male

The 4" female Chestnut Wattle-eye (Platysteira castanea) is a chestnut bird with a gray head and white belly. The wattle is purplish. I did not see a male, but he is black and white like a batis.

Chestnut Wattle-eye - female

The next family are African warblers and crombecs. There are only 18 species and I photographed 4 and missed a photo of a 5th.

The tiny crombecs appear almost tailless. The 3.5" White-browed Crombec (Sylvietta leucophrys) is grayish with olive wings and a wide white eye stripe.

White-browed Crombec

The 3.5" Green Crombec (Sylvietta virens) is completely dull olive gray.

Green Crombec

The 3" Northern Crombec (Sylvietta brachyura) is gray above and buffy below.

Northern Crombec

At 7" in length, the Moustached Grass Warbler (Melocichla mentalis) is the giant of the family. It has a brown back, buffy underside and 2 white facial stripes.

Moustached Grass Warbler

The vangas were an endemic family to Madagascar, but I guess DNA showed a close relationship to the helmetshrikes and they were merged a few years ago. There are 39 species in the combined family.

The 6" male African Shrike-flycatcher (Megabyas flammulatus) is a clean black and white bird with a red eye. The female was not seen but she is brown with a streaked chest.

African Shrike-flycatcher

Lastly is the 5" male Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher (Bias musicus). This black and white bird was at the top of a very tall tree and would not respond to the tape and come closer. He has a crest as the ID mark.

Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher - male

One thing that has interested me for a long time are national birds. Now that I have done photography on several continents, I decided to look up national or official territorial birds. Some places do not have designated birds, so if they have the bird on their coat-of-arms, I used that bird. Despite the fact I have I have photographed in just a dozen countries, I have photos of the birds of 83 countries or territories. 

I did the same for the USA states and territories as well as the Canadian provinces. You can see them here.

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

I have photos of 7 of the 31 species of batises and wattle-eyes

I have photos of 6 of the 18 species of  crombecs and African warblers

I have photos of 3 of the 39 species of  vangas and helmetshrikes

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2020 David McDonald

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