Bulletin 376 - Uganda #20 - Sandpipers and other water birds, baboon

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.

There are many lakes and rivers in Uganda, so they have a diversity of resident and migrant shore birds and other water birds.

I was hoping to see some new sandpipers from Eurasia and I did get one lifer, the 8.5" Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea). It is IDed in winter plumage here by the slight droop at the end of the bill. In breeding plumage, it is a beautiful chestnut color on the head and underparts.

Curlew Sandpiper - non-breeding

The 16"  Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) is a winter resident. It is IDed by the long straight 2 toned bill. This was only my second time to see this bird.

Black-tailed Godwit

The 13" Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) has greenish legs and a slightly upturned bill.

Common Greenshank

The 8" Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucus) is identical to our Spotted Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage. The white spot on the shoulder is the ID mark.

Common Sandpiper

The 9" Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus) is similar to the Solitary Sandpiper here, with the eye ring, dark wings with white spots.

Green Sandpiper

The 8" Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola) has spotted wings and back and yellow legs.

Wood Sandpiper

Snipes tend to be secretive, so it is always nice to see them in the open as this 11" Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago). It is similar to our Wilson's Snipe with the long bill and stripes along the back.

Common Snipe

An exciting find was another lifer, but it is a member of a closely related family - the painted-snipes. This is a tiny family of 3 species. The 9.5" Greater Painted-snipe (Rostratula benghalensis) is a secretive bird in marshes. I had looked for this bird in rice paddies in China without success. 

Greater Painted-snipe

The 6.5" Lesser Jacana (Microparra capensis) is a small, secretive marsh bird. This was another lifer and the only one of this species for the trip. It has long legs and a rufous crown.

Lesser Jacana

I saw my second baboon species in Uganda, the Olive Baboon (Papio anubis). It is a large gray to olive brown monkey with a range across central Africa.

Olive Baboon

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

I have photos of 50 of the 93 species of sandpipers

I have photos of 5 of the 8 species of  jacanas

I have photos of 9 of the 135 species of  old world monkeys

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 324 - South Africa #1 - part 2 - Plovers, Sandpipers, Jacana and Mongooses

Continued from Part 1 

We also saw 5 sandpipers close enough to photograph. They were all in non-breeding plumage as they were migrants from Eurasia. Without the guide, I would not have been able to ID the birds. The 9" Marsh Sandpiper (Tringa stagnatilis) was a life bird for me.

Marsh Sandpiper

The 8" Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola) is IDed by the yellow base of the bill. 

Wood Sandpiper

The 12" Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) as the name implies has greenish legs.

Common Greenshank

The 8" Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) has yellow legs, a white shoulder patch and bobs when he walks. When we first saw the bird on a boat ride, he was standing on the back of a hippo, but the hippo submerged and he jumped onto a branch.

Common Sandpiper

Lastly is another lifer, the 5" Little Stint (Calidris minuta). The book says this is the most common of the small sandpipers in southern Africa.

Little Stint

After these dull sandpipers, the colorful African Jacana (Actophilornis africanus) was a nice change. We saw several of the on the trip. It is an easy ID with the blue bill and shield on the forehead and long legs. It is endemic to Africa and another lifer.

African Jacana

Among mammals, I was surprised that we found 4 species of mongoose. All of them are native to Africa. The first was the Banded Mongoose (Mungos mungo). It is gray and brown with darker bands across the back of the animal. We saw several of these.

Banded Mongoose

The next one was the Slender Mongoose (Galerella sanguinea). It ran across the road and stopped on a log to look at us. It is yellowish in color. This was the only one of the species that we encountered.

Slender Mongoose

We saw 2 of the Yellow Mongoose (Cynictis penicillata). The first ran into his burrow before I could take a photo, but this one stood up to look around.

Yellow Mongoose

The last one is the Suricate (Suricata suricatta). It is also known as the Meerkat. You have probably seen groups of Meekats on TV shows all standing up.

Suricate
AKA Meerkat

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

I have photos of 24 of the 67 species of plovers

I have photos of 46 of the 93 species of sandpipers

I have photos of 4 of the 8 species of jacanas

I have photos of 5 of the 35 species of mongooses



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.

Bulletin 303 - China #3 - Sandpipers and Avocet

I had an 8 day birding to trip in eastern China with a wonderful guide Lin Zhang based in Shanghai. He is perfectly fluent in English. We visited 5 different locales. His website is here. FYI making contact within China by email is a problem as the government blocks some email accounts coming in including gmail.  So I had to contact him using MS Outlook. His email is zhanglinas@hotmail.com.

As I was on the Asian side of the Pacific Ocean, I got to see birds that only show up in USA as vagrants. I was a few weeks early for spring migration, but did see a number of wintering birds, so I got a number of life birds.

The first is the 12" Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus). This is the only one in the Sibley guide. It has bright red legs and some spotting along flanks. In breeding plumage it is distinctive with solid black underparts.

Spotted Redshank - winter

And here he is in flight.

Spotted Redshank - winter

The 11" Common Redshank (Tringa totanus) was in breeding plumage. It has orange-red legs and a shorter bill.

Common Redshank - breeding

Next was the 12" Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) has gray green legs and a slightly upturned bill. These are winter plumage as they only have only slight streaking on breast

Common Greenshank

The 9" Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus) is very similar to our Solitary Sandpiper with dark wings. I had seen this bird in Hong Kong, but got improved photos this trip.

Green Sandpiper

And in flight.

Green Sandpiper

The 8" Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) is almost identical to our Spotted Sandpiper, but does not have spots in breeding plumage. It has the similar white shoulder patch. I had photographed this bird in Hong Kong before, but I got a much better photo this trip.

Common Sandpiper

The last sandpiper is the 22"  Eurasion Curlew (Numenius arquata). It is pale gray brownish, with the typical long down curved curlew bill. He has a crab in his bill.

Eurasian Curlew

I also got a better photo of the 17" Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta). This is the only avocet in the area. It is black and white with an upturned bill.

Pied Avocet

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

I have photos of 44 of the 93 species of sandpipers.

I have photos of 4 of the 10 species of avocets and stilts


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.