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 293 - Hong Kong #1 - birds around water

I had a quick 1 week vacation in Hong Kong last fall and had  1 day birding with guide David Dinkins of Hong Kong walks. We visited several locations in the New Territories.

Because this was my first trip to Asia, almost all the birds seen were lifers and new photos. So I thought I would start with the sandpipers and other water birds. For those bird listers, some of these names will be familiar.

The best sandpiper was the 10" Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago), This is the Eurasian counterpart to our Wilson's Snipe and were considered a single species until split in the last 20 years. If you have looked for the Wilson's Snipe, you know they flush and fly rapidly away and are hard to see clearly. Well we were on a boardwalk in a marsh. This bird flew in and landed on the boardwalk about 20 feet away, allowing a few photos before taking off again.

Common Snipe

The 9" Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus) is plain in winter plumage with dark wings.

Green Sandpiper

The 9" Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola) has a white eye stripe and dark spotted wings.

Wood Sandpiper

The 6" Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius) is a typical small plover with 1 ring on his chest.

Little Ringed Plover

The Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) is of course an easy ID with the long pink legs.

Black-winged Stilt

There were several herons and egrets, some of which have an obvious North American counterpart. The 38" Gray Heron (Ardea cinerea) is a large gray and white heron.

Gray Heron

The 24" Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) also has yellow feet like our Snowy Egret.

Little Egret

The 35" Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea) is said to be a secretive bird feeding in reed beds and usually only seen when flying between feeding spots as this bird.

Purple Heron

The 19" Chinese Pond Heron (Ardeola bacchus) is brownish with streaked neck in winter. It has no obvious New World counterpart as this genus is confined to the Old World.

Chinese Pond Heron - non-breeding

The 36" Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) is a Eurasian species that also appears on east coast of North America and is in the Sibley guide. The non-breeding adult here is black with a white throat.

Great Cormorant - adult non-breeding

The juvenile has white underparts.

Great Cormorant - juvenile

There are over 100 species of kingfishers but only 6 are in the Americas. Many of the Old World kingfishers are beautiful. The 6" Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) is blue above and orange below with red feet.

Common Kingfisher

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2017 David McDonald

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