Bulletin 359 - Uganda #3 - Raptors - 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.

Raptors are a popular group of birds to see due to their size and the power they project. Many countries have hawks or eagles or vultures as national birds. In Africa their are an amazing number of raptors to be seen compared to North America. Omitting the falcons, the East Africa Guide Book for Kenya, Uganda Tanzania list 63 species. Sibley has just 24 in North America. In addition, many live in protected parks and they can be approached in a vehicle rather closely for great photos.

I will start with the 29" African Fish Eagle (Haliaeetus vocifer). This cousin of our Bald Eagle has a white head and chest and tail making him an easy bird to ID.He can be readily found along lakes and rivers.

African Fish Eagle - adult

The juveniles are mostly brown color and gradually molt to adult plumage in 5 years. This is a sub-adult bird with some remaining brown streaking on the breast.

African Fish Eagle - sub-adult

The 23" Long-crested Eagle (Lophaetus ocipitalis) is a black eagle with a long wispy crest.

Long-crested Eagle

Nest we have a pair of beige eagles. The 29" Tawny Eagle (Aquila rapax) is cousin to our Golden eagle. He is beige bodied with darker wings.

Tawny Eagle

The 24" Wahlberg's Eagle (Hieraaetus wahlbergi) is a brown eagle who has a flat top to his head and a slightly crested appearance when seen from the side.

Wahlberg's Eagle

Next is a bird in the same genus, the 22" Ayre's Hawk-Eagle (Hieraaetus ayersii). This eagle has a black back and black-and-white streaked underside. The wings are lined black and white aloft.

Ayre's Hawk-Eagle

The 24" Western Banded Snake Eagle (Circaetus cinerascens) is a dark brown eagle with a white tail and terminal black band.

Western Banded Snake Eagle

His cousin is the larger 27" Black-chested Snake Eagle (Circaetus pectoralis). This bird is black above with a black chest and light belly.

Black-chested Snake Eagle

The 30" Hooded Vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus). He is IDed by the wispy white feathers from the top of his head down his neck.The adult has a red face, so this is the immature with the dark face.

Hooded Vulture

The last for this bulletin is the 24" Palm-nut Vulture (Gypohierax angolensis). The adult has white head, breast and shoulders, with black back and wings. The facial skin is red.

Palm-nut Vulture - adult

The immature has a lot of beige in place of the white..

Palm-nut Vulture - sub-adult

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 72 of the 254 species of  hawks, eagles, kites

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 326 - South Africa #3 - Part 2 - Hawks and Eagles; small mammals

Continued from Part 1

Now we have arrived at the eagles. The smallest is the 23" Long-crested Eagle (Lophaetus occipitalis). It is black with a long wispy crest. We saw this bird 4 times on the trip. This is a male with the white legs. The female has brown legs.

Long-crested Eagle - male

The next is the 23" Wahlberg's Eagle (Hieraaetus wahlbergi). Most of the birds are dark brown and it can be IDed by the flat head and slight crest.

Wahlberg's Eagle

5-10% are a lighter morph coloration. Again, the flat head and crest ID the species

Wahlberg's Eagle

The 26" Bataleur (Terathopius ecaudatus) is a brightly colored eagle with an extremely short tail, such that he looks tailless. This one had caught a Puff Adder snake and was devouring it 20 feet from the road while we watched. We saw this eagle many times on the trip. He is black with a brown back, white shoulders and red bill and legs.

Bataleur

Here is one perched in a tree. There is no tail visible.

Bataleur

The 28" African Fish Eagle (Haliaeetus vocifer) is the same genus as our Bald Eagle. He has a white head, chest and back. He is a stunningly beautiful, majestic bird. We saw this bird many times as well.

African Fish Eagle

Next in size is the 29" Tawny Eagle (Aquila rapax). He is the same genus as our Golden Eagle. He is light reddish brown with darker wings.We saw several of these birds.

Tawny Eagle

There are a group of eagles called snake eagles and the only one I photographed was the 30" Brown Snake Eagle (Circaetus cinereus). He is dark brown with a large head. We saw several of these eagles as well. They have very thick scales on their legs to protect from snake bites.

Brown Snake Eagle

Most raptors take their prey to a perch to eat. In contrast this bird eats the snake aloft. Here is one with the tail of the snake hanging out of his mouth.

Brown Snake Eagle

The 32" Martial Eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus) was one of my lucky birds. He was sitting in a dead tree right beside the road and allowed us to drive right under him. He is dark brown with white breast and belly flecked with brown spots. He also has a crest. This powerful eagle is able to take small antelope as well as smaller mammals, lizards etc. It is listed as uncommon, but we saw 3 times on the trip.

Martial Eagle

Here is a close up.

Martial Eagle

Lastly was another lucky find for me, the massive 38" Crowned Eagle (Stephanoaetus coronatus). He has a dark back, crest, and barred underparts. This was the only bird of this species we saw. Both these last 2 eagles were on the same day in Tembe Elephant Reserve. The guide had been there 100 times and never seen this eagle there previously. This eagle preys on small monkeys and antelope as well as reptiles. If you look closely, you can see on the branch, the back half of a monitor lizard that he is consuming.

Crowned Eagle

The Scrub Hare (Lepus saxatilis) is a large rabbit and one of 6 species in southern Africa. It has very long ears.

Scrub Hare

I also photographed 2 squirrel species. The Natal Red Bush Squirrel (Paraxerus palliatus) is a typical squirrel with bushy tail. It is gray on the top and reddish below.

Natal Red Bush Squirrel

The other is Smith's Bush Squirrel (Paraxerus cepapi). It is yellowish in color.

Smith's Bush Squirrel

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

I have photos of 60 of the 254 species of hawks and eagles

I have photos of 3 of the 62 species of rabbits and hares

I have photos of 15 of the 282 species of squirrels

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2018 David McDonald

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