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.

Bulletin 367 - Uganda #11 - Bee-eaters

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.

Bee-eaters are some of the most brightly colored African birds.There are 25 species world wide and all but 5 can be found in Africa. They are easy to see and photograph as they sit in the open on a twig looking for a flying insect. The sexes are similar in all these species.

The 6" Little Bee-eater (Merops pusillus) has green back and wings, yellow throat and breast with a brown chest band

Little Bee-eater

The 8.5" Cinnamon-breasted Bee-eater (Merops oreobates) is large and similar but with bright cinnamon underside.

Cinnamon-breasted Bee-eater

Another similar species is the 7" Blue-breasted Bee-eater (Merops variegatus). It has a bluish breast stripe.

Blue-breasted Bee-eater

The 11" White-throated Bee-eater (Merops albicollis) has a black and white head pattern and very long tail streamers.

White-throated Bee-eater

The 8.5" Swallow-tailed Bee-eater (Merops hirundineus) has a green body, blue belly and vent and yellow throat.

Swallow-tailed Bee-eater

The 12" Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (Merops persicus) is a European species that winters in Africa. It is all green with blue on the face. It has a long tail as well.

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

The spectacular 15" Northern Carmine Bee-eater (Merops nubicus) has a red body and green head.

Northern Carmine Bee-eater

The 9" Red-throated Bee-eater (Merops bulocki) is another stunningly beautiful bird.

Red-throated Bee-eater

Finally the most amazing is the 8" Black Bee-eater (Merops gularis). It has a black back and wings, streaked turquoise breast and red throat. This is a bird of the central African forests and is found in Uganda along the border of the Congo

Black Bee-eater

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

I have photos of 11 of the 25 species of bee-eaters

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 366 - Uganda #10 - Sunbirds, oxpecker

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.

As I have spent more time in Asian and Africa, I appreciate the beauty of the sunbirds, as I am getting more species and better photos. These songbirds are tiny nectar feeders and many are brilliantly colorful. They are as delightful and occupy the same ecological niche as our hummingbirds.

So here are the 7 species I photographed in Uganda. I will start with the plainest and continue to the most beautiful to hold your attention - haha. All these were lifers.

The tiny 3.5" Little Green Sunbird (Anthreptes seimundi) is plain dull olive. The sexes are similar and it is only 1cm longer then the smallest sunbird.

Little Green Sunbird

The 9" male Bronzy Sunbird (Nectarina kilimensis) has a green head, bronze patches on neck and dark body. He has a long tail which accounts for most of his length.

Bronzy Sunbird - male

The female is only 5" and she is olive and yellow with a white eye stripe.

Bronzy Sunbird - female

The 5" male Blue-headed Sunbird (Cyanomitra alinae) has a blue head and chest with an ochre back and tail.

Blue-headed Sunbird

The 4.5" male Variable Sunbird (Cinnyris venustus) is green with a blue chest and yellow belly.

Variable Sunbird - male

Next is the 4.5" male  Red-chested Sunbird (Cinnyris erythrocerca). He has a green head, blue back and red chest.

Red-chested Sunbird - male

Next to last is the 6" male Beautiful Sunbird (Cinnyris pulchellus). I am not even going to try to describe his colors..just enjoy his beauty.

Beautiful Sunbird - male

And the last one must be the king of all sunbirds, as he is called the Regal Sunbird (Cinnyris regius). Again - just enjoy his beauty. He is 4.5" in length.

Regal Sunbird - male

There are 2 species of oxpeckers. I already saw 1 in my initial Africa trip. Here is the other, the 8.5" Yellow-billed Oxpecker (Buphagus africanus). It is a brown bird with a yellow bill with a red tip. Here is a flock waiting for an animal to come by.

Yellow-billed Oxpecker

And here is one on the head of a buffalo.

Yellow-billed Oxpecker

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

I have photos of 20 of the 145 species of sunbirds

I have photos of 2 of the 2 species of  oxpeckers

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 365 - Uganda #9 - Kingfishers, 2 antelope

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.

Some of the kingfishers in Africa and Asia are spectacular and there are so many species that one can see 6 or more on a single trip. In the Americas there are only 6 kingfisher species in total. So here they are in checklist order.

 The 7" Chocolate-backed Kingfisher (Halcyon badia) is listed as uncommon in western Uganda forests. We could hear them in the canopy but we must have struggled for 1/2 an hour to finally see them. But the effort paid off to see this amazing bird with a brown head and back, turquoise wings and tail, white underside and huge red bill.

Chocolate-backed Kingfisher

The 8" Gray-headed Kingfisher (Halcyon leucocephala). He is IDed by gray hood, rufous belly, black back and the same turquoise wings and tail. The red bill seems to be a characteristic of this genus.

Gray-headed Kingfisher

The 6.5" Striped Kingfisher (Halcyon chelicuti) is mostly white with streaking on his head, brown on lower back and the turquoise wings and tail with the red bill again.

Striped Kingfisher

The 8.5" Woodland Kingfisher (Halcyon senegalensis) has a white head and body with a blue back, wings and tail. There are large black shoulder patches on the wings.  Of course a large red bill as he is still the same genus.

Woodland Kingfisher

The 4" African Dwarf Kingfisher (Ispidina lecontei) is a little jewel. This is the smallest kingfisher in the world. 

I noticed the species name 'lecontei' and decided to investigate further as we have 2 species in the USA - LeConte's Sparrow and LeConte's Thrasher. Well it turns out that all 3 birds are named for John Lawrence LeConte - the leading entomologist in North America in mid 1800s. He described over 10,000 species of insects new to science. LeConte's Sparrow was discovered by Audubon and named for LeConte. LeConte himself discovered the LeConte's Thrasher. However, LeConte never visited Africa so how did this bird get named for him? Well another famous US ornithologist, John Cassin, whom we know for several western North America species such as Cassin's Finch, Kingbird, Auklet etc. was curator at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. He was looking at specimens from Africa in the collection and named many of them for science and this kingfisher for his friend.

African Dwarf Kingfisher

The 4.5" African Pygmy Kingfisher (Ispidina picta) is very similar, but the crown is blue. This is a juvenile bird with the black bill. The adult has a red bill.

African Pygmy Kingfisher - juvenile

The 5" Malachite Kingfisher (Corythornis cristatis) is somewhat similar despite a different genus, but the slight shaggy crest on top of the head makes the ID.

Malachite Kingfisher

Lastly is the 10" Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis). This black and white bird is an easy ID. On one of the boat rides, we visited a nesting colony in a mud bank consisting of perhaps 100 birds attending to their nest holes.

Pied Kingfisher

I photographed 2 new species of antelope in Uganda, The Kob (Kobus kob) is a beautiful animal with distinct white facial marking, curved ridged horns (male only) and black on the front of the legs. The males weigh up to 250 pounds. There are 3 subspecies ranging across central Africa from Senegal in the west to Sudan and Uganda in the east.

Kob - male

The Topi (Damaliscus lunatus) is a heavy set antelope with males weighing up to 350 pounds. It is dark brown with a black face and black shoulders, thighs and upper legs. Both sexes have the curved horns.

Topi

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

I have photos of 18 of the 113 species of kingfishers

I have photos of 25 of the 147 species of  antelope, bison, cattle

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 364 - Uganda #8 - Bulbuls and crows

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.

Bulbuls are a large old world family of birds so almost anywhere in Africa or Asia, you can find several species. The 7" Dark-capped Bulbul (Pycnonotis tricolor) is all brown except for a white belly and yellow vent.

Dark-capped Bulbul

The 8.5" Yellow-throated Leaflove (Atimastillas flavicollis) is lighter brown above with a yellow throat and light underside. Where do they make up these bird names? Leaflove??? really.

Yellow-throated Leaflove

Many of the bulbul family in Africa are mostly olive colored and are called greenbuls. The 7" Mountain Greenbul (Arizelocichla nigriceps) is olive with a gray head and white eyeline.

Mountain Greenbul

The 7" Toro Olive Greenbul (Phyllastrephus hypochloris) is plain drab olive-brown, so best IDed by voice.

Toro Olive Greenbul

The smaller 6.5" White-throated Greenbul (Phyllastrephus albigularis) has an olive body, gray head and white throat.

White-throated Greenbul

The most colorful of the bulbul family is the 8.5" Red-tailed Bristlebill (Bleda syndactylus). This bird is olive above and yellow below . He has a red eye and a patch of blue skin around the eye.

Red-tailed Bristlebill

There were 3 members of the crow family I photographed in Uganda - one of them was a lifer. The 18" Pied Crow (Corvus albus) is a beautiful black and white crow.

Pied Crow

The 22" White-necked Raven (Corvus albicollis) is all black with a white patch on the nape of his neck. He has a massive black bill with a white tip.

White-necked Raven

The new bird for me was the 14" Piapiac (Ptilostomus afer). This bird is all black bodied bird with a long tail and red eye.. The wings and tail are grayish brown.It is found on the ground, following large mammals. It catches insects disturbed by the animals.

Piapiac

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

I have photos of 21 of the 153 species of bulbuls

I have photos of 43 of the 134 species of crows, jays and magpies

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.