Bulletin 371 - Uganda #15 - Hornbills and 3 monkeys

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 2 species of ground hornbills. I saw the Southern Ground Hornbill in Kruger Park on my first Africa trip. Here is the other - the 36" Abyssinian Ground Hornbill (Bucorvus abyssinicus). It is a large black hornbill found walking along the ground searching for insects, snakes, lizards etc. It is an easy ID and the huge size cannot be confused with any other bird. This is a male with the blue around the eye and red throat patch

Abyssinian Ground Hornbill - male

The female has a blue throat patch.

Abyssinian Ground Hornbill - female

There are 59 species of hornbills with 27 in Africa and the rest in Asia. The 29" Black-and-white Casqued Hornbill (Bycanistes subcylindricus) has a huge bill with a casque protuberance on top. It has a black body, white belly and tail, and primaries on wings.

Black-and-white Casqued Hornbill

Very similar is the 28" White-thighed Hornbill (Bycanistes cylindricus). The only obvious difference is the white ring around the eye and the tail has a black stripe across the middle.

White-thighed Hornbill

The 22" Crowned Hornbill (Tockus alboterminatus) is a black hornbill with a bright red bill and bushy crest.

Crowned Hornbill

The 28" White-crested Hornbill (Tropicranus albocristatus) is a black hornbill with a very long graduated tail and a bushy white crest like a Mohawk haircut. It was a treat to find this bird as there are only 2 or 3 pairs in Uganda in the Semliki Forest along the Congo border.

White-crested Hornbill

We saw several species on monkeys in Uganda. The first is the well named Red-tailed Monkey (Cercopithecus ascanius). It is 40 - 60" in length with the tail being 60%. It is IDed by the red tail, white cheeks and nose. This monkey is in the same forest with the White-crested Hornbill above and the hornbill follows the monkeys as the monkeys shake the leaves and expose caterpillars which the hornbills eat.

Red-tailed Monkey

Next is L'Hoest's Monkey (Allochrocebus lhoesti). It is about 45" long and 50% tail. It is a black monkey with a brown lower back and white around the neck.

L'Hoest's Monkey

The last is Patas Monkey (Erythrocebus patas). It is a large red haired monkey 60" in length and the tail is 50%. The males can weigh up to 40 pounds. The adults have a white face but the babies have a black face. They are mostly terrestrial.

Patas Monkey

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

I have photos of 2 of the 2 species of ground hornbills

I have photos of 8 of the 59 species of  hornbills

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

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Bulletin 334 - South Africa #11 - Part 1 - Owls, Nightjar, Hornbills, others, antelopes

I had an amazing 2 week trip to South Africa and scored almost 280 new species of birds as well as fantastic mammals and a few reptiles. My guide Casper Badenhorst was outstanding. You can see his web site here. He can be contacted through the web site or if you want his email it is info@birdingandwildlifesafaris.com. I recommend him highly as he showed me so many rare birds and animals. I will use him again when I go to Southern Africa.

As you know already, owls are my favorite birds to photograph. I saw 3 of them on the trip, all in the daytime, at their roosts. When we did look for owls a few times at night, we only saw one of the same birds.

The 20" Spotted Eagle-Owl (Bubo africanus) has large ear tufts. He was roosting in a tree above his nest. We saw the same species on a night drive but he was much farther away.

Spotted Eagle-Owl

Here is another photo.

Spotted Eagle-Owl

And here is the downy baby in the nest.

Spotted Eagle-Owl

The 25" Pel's Fishing Owl  (Scotopelia peli) is a very large ginger colored owl with dark eyes. This is 5th largest owl in the world. Due to the lack of suitable rivers in the dry country of South Africa, this bird is rare and the #1 target bird for the country. In fact, my guide said it is the #1 bird for all of Africa. I was unfamiliar with the bird before the trip, when the guide told me about it. He said that he usually had to take clients to Botswana to find it. With my uncanny luck, I told him not to worry, we would see it. We found it along a river where he had never seen it before..just roosting in a big tree across the river. Incredible luck!

Pel's Fishing Owl

Here he is looking right at the camera.

Pel's Fishing Owl

The last owl is our familiar 16" Western Barn Owl (Tyto alba). He was sleeping under the roof of a restaurant, where we had lunch.

Western Barn Owl

We only saw a single nightjar, the 9.5" Square-tailed Nightjar (Caprimulgus fossii). This was another stroke of luck as we had stopped to look at another bird and the guide heard it call right beside the road. He was sleeping on the ground, under a bush. We were so close that I could not get the tail in the photo.

Square-tailed Nightjar

We have toucans in the New World with large bills. The equivalent family in the Old World are the hornbills. I was looking forward to seeing some of them for the first time. I can truly say I was disappointed as the toucans are beautiful and the hornbills are kind of ugly.

The 23" Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill (Tockus leucomelas) is black and white with spotted wings and bare red facial skin.

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill

The 17" Southern Red-billed Hornbill (Tockus rufirostris) is similar but with a red bill and pale face.

Southern Red-billed Hornbill

The 19" African Gray Hornbill (Tockus nasutus) has a gray body. The female shown here,  has red and yellow on the bill. The male has a gray bill.

African Grey Hornbill - female

The 21" Crowned Hornbill (Tockus alboterminatus) is all dark brown except for a white belly. The bill is red.

Crowned Hornbill

The 24" Trumpeter Hornbill (Bycanistes bucinator) is black with a white belly and a huge ugly gray bill. I think some plastic surgery is on order for this species?

Trumpeter Hornbill

Continued on Part 2