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

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