Bulletin 374 - Uganda #18 woodpeckers & USA birds for 2020

 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.

Woodpeckers are always a favorite of birders and I had 6 species for the Uganda portion of the trip. The 7.5" male Red-throated Wryneck (Jynx ruficollis) is a spotted brown bird with a red throat. They feed on ants on the ground and use old woodpecker holes for nesting. The 2 wryneck species are the first 2 species in the woodpeckers listing suggesting they are the most primitive of the woodpeckers.

Red-throated Wryneck - male

The 7.5" female Fine-banded Woodpecker (Campethera taeniolaema) has an olive green back and wings and finely barred underparts. She has red on the nape of her neck. The male would have the crown of his head also red. This is a recent split from Tullberg's Woodpecker in West Africa.

Fine-banded Woodpecker - female

Her cousin is the 8" male Nubian Woodpecker (Campethera nubica). He has a brown back and yellow underparts and is spotted all over. This is a male with the fully red head and red whisker.

Nubian Woodpecker - male

The smallest of the woodpeckers was the 5.5" Cardinal Woodpecker (Dendropicos fuscescens)The back is lightly streaked olive and the wings are black with white spots. The face is gray. The male of course would have red on his head where this female has black.

Cardinal Woodpecker - female

Her cousin is the larger 7.5" African Gray Woodpecker (Dendropicos goertae). This bird has a gray head and breast and plain olive back and wings. The male of course has red on his head.

African Gray Woodpecker - female

Lastly is the largest woodpecker I saw in Uganda, the 9" Yellow-crested Woodpecker (Chloropicus xantholophus). It is dark olive on the back with spotted underparts and a boldly patterned black and white face. The male has a tiny yellow tuft on the hindcrown which is difficult to see. This is another bird named for a field mark that is invisible.

Yellow-crested Woodpecker

I have not done much birding at all in the USA in 2020 due to Covid travel restrictions, but in the 4th quarter a few remarkable birds were found and I had to go and photograph them.

The first of these was a beautiful male 9" Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius).This is a western North America bird in the Rocky Mountains from Montana to Alaska and wintering south to California. A few birds end up far east of their normal range. This one was on Surfside Beach south of Galveston, a 30 minute drive for me to see him. It was just the 3rd time I have seen the bird and the only time in the lower 48 states.

Varied Thrush - male

His normal habitat is dense coniferous forests where he forages on the ground in deep shade. So he tended to stay in the shadow of the houses on stilts along the beach. Here he is on a garden hose in front of a trash can. Definitely an unusual place to find this bird.

Varied Thrush - male

A few day later I heard about an Eared Quetzal (Euptilotis neoxenus) being easily seen for the first time ever, in mountains east of Tucson AZ. So I called my Tucson guide Melody Kehl and she confirmed the bird was still present and easily seen. So I went to Tucson that weekend. Melody took me to the location and what a show this pair put on for birders from all over the USA. 

This bird is a regular in the Chiracahua Mountains in SE Arizona, but maybe only a couple of pairs. There are few roads and mostly the bird is found at the top of a trail and then even if spotted, it is gone the next day so it is always 'a 1 day wonder'. This year a pair of juveniles was found in June and were watched by a local resident - but in September, they started to come down into a valley to feed on fruiting trees and there was a road there - so BINGO everyone who has been waiting for a chance to see this fantastic bird finally got an opportunity.

This is a brightly colored 14" bird. The male has an iridescent green head, back, wings chest and tail with a red belly and white under the tail. This is a first year male who has not molted completely to adult plumage. The 'ears' are some wispy feathers on the cheeks that can be seen if you look closely. Obviously, this was a lifer for me.

Eared Quetzal - male

The female has a gray head and breast. The feathers are easier to see on her in this photo.

Eared Quetzal - female

While we were waiting for the Quetzal to appear, several beautiful 24" Chiricahua Fox Squirrels (Sciurus nayaritenesis) were feeding in the trees. This is the northern subspecies of the Mexican Fox Squirrel. This was a life mammal for me - so a bonus after finding the Quetzal.

Mexican Fox Squirrel

A Christmas treat was an exceedingly rare bird for the USA. The story of how it was found was serendipity. A lady who had started birding a few months ago went to a state park south of San Antonio Dec 19th. She had a small camera and took a photo of a bird along the edge of the lake. She could not find the bird in her bird book, so she showed it to the park personnel and it was IDed as a 10.5" Spotted Rail (Pardirallus maculatus). This is a bird from southern Mexico to Argentina. Rails as a group are secretive marsh birds and exceedingly difficult to see well.

Well word went out and people started coming from all over North America to see the bird as he seemed to stay in the same location along the shore in cattail patches. Apparently the best place to see this bird is in Peru or Argentina. The volunteer at the park said a man was even coming from London England to see it!

I went on Dec 26 - 4 hour drive each way and I spent 5 hours waiting for the bird to come out of hiding in the grass along the shore. I was rewarded with 2 looks as he ran between cattail patches for about 30 seconds each time, but the second time my camera was ready and I got a couple of photos. He is black and covered with white spots. He has a long bill that is dark. The adults have a yellow green bill, so this is thought to be a juvenile.

Spotted Rail

And the last bird was a 3.25" Calliope Hummingbird (Selasphorus calliope) I found in my yard on Dec 27th. He is a juvie male as he has just a couple of purple feathers on his throat. He is still here now and I hope he decides to spend the winter. It is only the second time I have had this bird at my house. This is the smallest bird in North America.

Calliope Hummingbird - juvenile male

So my year finished up with some amazing USA birds.

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

I have photos of 59 of the 235 species of woodpeckers

I have photos of 50 of the 167 species of  thrushes

I have photos of 16 of the 43 species of quetzals and trogons

I have photos of 20 of the 282 species of squirrels

I have photos of 19 of the 138 species of rails, coot, and gallinules

I have photos of 126 of the 358 species of hummingbirds

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2021 David McDonald

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