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.

Bulletin 363 - Uganda #7 - Storks, Shoebill, Hamerkop, Buffalo

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.

One of the target birds in Uganda is the 48" tall Shoebill (Balaeniceps rex). This gray stork-like bird with a massive bill is unique in its own family. It is found in large swamps from South Sudan to Zambia. Uganda is the usual place where birders go to see this bird as there is a great location about 2 hours from the airport at Entebbe and guides to take out on a boat to see them. It is also #23 on the top 100 birds to see.

Shoebill

We were able to slowly approach the bird by quietly pushing the boat with poles.

Shoebill

Eventually, he took off and instead of landing back in the swamp, he landed on top of a tree. The guide was amazed. He said he has been taking people to see the bird daily for 10 years and never before saw one land in the tree. My amazing luck comes once again.

Shoebill

A close relative of the Shoebill and another bird in its own family is the 22" Hamerkop (Scopus umbretta). This brown heron like bird has a long crest giving it a hammer-head appearance.

Hamerkop

There was one new stork of the 5 photographed in Uganda. The 32" Abdim's Stork (Ciconia abdimi) is a glossy black backed stork with a white belly and blue facial skin. He was the lifer for me.

Abdim's Stork

The 32" African Openbill (Anastomus lamelligerus) is a black stork with a gap in his closed mandible. Their main food is mollusks. I have no idea when they have this peculiar mandible

African Openbill

The 42" Yellow-billed Stork (Mycteria ibis) is white with black wings, red face and a yellow bill.

Yellow-billed Stork

The 57" male Saddle-billed Stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis) is a black and white stork with a multi-colored bill.

Saddle-billed Stork - male

The huge 60" Marabou Stork (Leptoptilos crumenifer) is amazingly ugly. It has a bare pink head and neck, as it feeds on carrion along with vultures. The big throat pouch is distinctive.

Marabou Stork

The African Buffalo (Syncerus caffer) weighs up to 1800 pounds. Here is one with a Cattle Egret on his back.

African Buffalo

We have all seen photos of mammals rolling in dust or mud to protect themselves from biting insects. Well this buffalo has taken matters to the extreme. This was perhaps the funniest photo of the whole trip. He was right beside the road and just looked at us - seeming to say 'Mind your own business'

African Buffalo

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 362 - Uganda #6 - Bushshrikes and Elephants

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.

Bushshrikes are an African family of 50 species, some of which have spectacular colors. I photographed 7 new species in Uganda. All these birds have heavy bills with a hook tipped upper mandible.

The 8" Albertine Sooty Boubou (Laniarius holomelas) is a recent split (2010) and is found only in the mountains of Eastern Congo, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. It is all black with a black eye.

Albertine Sooty Boubou

The 7" Marsh Tchagra (Bocagia minuta) is brown with a black and white head and  a black tail.

Marsh Tchagra

The 7" Northern Puffback (Dryoscopus gambensis) is black and white with a red eye.

Northern Puffback

The 7" male Lüdher's Bushshrike (Laniaruis luedheri) is a black and white bird with burnt orange crown, throat and breast.

Lüdher's Bushshrike - male

The 7" male Doherty's Bushshrike (Telophorus dohertyi) is multicolored with an olive back, yellow belly, red forehead and breast and a black ring around the red on face and breast.

Doherty's Bushshrike - male

The 7.5" male Papyrus Gonolek (Laniarius mufumbiri) inhabits papyrus reed beds. He is black above with a yellow crown and orange red below. Here are a couple of photos of this beautiful bird. This was also my first time to see papyrus reeds which are famous, as the ancient Egyptians used them to make a form of paper.

Papyrus Gonolek - male

Papyrus Gonolek - male

Lastly is the 8" male Black-headed Gonolek (Laniarius erythrogaster). He is an easy ID.

Black-headed Gonolek - male

One surprise on the trip was with elephants!. I always assumed that there were 2 species of elephant - African and Indian. But in Uganda we saw the 2 species of African elephants and I did not even realize when they said 'there is a Forest Elephant' that it was a separate species until I arrived home and was processing the pictures from the trip.

So the one usually seen by tourists in game parks is the African Bush Elephant (Loxodonta africana). Here is a family group, taken from the boat on the White Nile River.

African Bush Elephant

A couple of days later in another park of dense forest, an elephant crossed the road and the guide shouted Forest Elephant. This was my first and only sighting of this animal. The African Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis). It is the smallest of the 3 species of elephant. The shoulder height is about 3 feet shorter than the bush elephant.

African Forest Elephant

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

I have photos of 15 of the 50 species of bushshrikes

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 361 - Uganda #5 - Raptors - part 2

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.

Raptors are a popular group of birds to see due to their size and the power they project. Many countries have hawks or eagles or vultures as national birds. In Africa their are an amazing number of raptors to be seen compared to North America. Omitting the falcons, the East Africa Guide Book for Kenya, Uganda Tanzania list 63 species. Sibley has just 24 in North America. In addition, many live in protected parks and they can be approached in a vehicle rather closely for great photos.

Three harrier species were photographed including 2 migrants from Europe. The 18" immature Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus) is dark brown above and rust below. He also has a white rump like many harriers.

Pallid Harrier - immature

The other migrant was the 18" Montagu's Harrier (Circus pygargus). The male is gray with a black line along the top of the wings.

Montagu's Harrier - male

The 20" African Marsh Harrier (Circus ranivorus) was frequently seen along lake shores. He is a dark brown hawk with a long tail and beige head.

African Marsh Harrier

The 24" Black Kite (Milvus migrans) was often seen flying, but seldom perched. He is actually brown in color and in the morning light had a reddish color in the photo.

Black Kite

The 20" Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) is a nondescript brown hawk.

Common Buzzard

The 24" Augur Buzzard (Buteo augur) comes in a dark morph and a light morph. he has a red tail like our Red-tailed Hawk. Here is an adult dark phase bird. The red in the taill is best seen when the bird is flying.

Augur Buzzard - dark morph

We aslo had a juvenile light morph with a streaked breast.

Augur Buzzard - juvenile light morph

The 14" Lizard Buzzard (Kaupifalco monogrammicus) is a pearly gray hawk with a red bill and red feet.

Lizard Buzzard

The 17" Grasshopper Buzzard (Butastur rufipennis) is a brown hawk with reddish  belly.

Grasshopper Buzzard

The 22" Dark Chanting Goshawk (Melierax metabates) is a dark gray hawk with red beak and legs.

Dark Chanting Goshawk

Accipiters are a group of hawks that hunt birds on the wing. So they have to be very quick to maneuver. Thus they have short wings and long tails. I have on ly seen 2 of the 3 accipiters in North America. But in Uganda I also saw 2 of them. 

The 12" Shikra (Accipiter badius) I had seen in China but did not get a photo. This bird let me walk right up to her. This is a female with the orange eyes. The male has red eyes. The name Shikra is unusual and it comes from Indian - meaning hunter

Shikra - female

The other was the beautiful 22" Black Sparrowhawk (Accipiter melanoleucus). This beautiful bird was in a tree across a field, but he let us walk to within 10 meters from the tree.

Black Sparrowhawk

One thing that has interested me for a long time are national birds. Now that I have done photography on several continents, I decided to look up national or official territorial birds. Some places do not have designated birds, so if they have the bird on their coat-of-arms, I used that bird. Despite the fact I have I have photographed in just a dozen countries, I have photos of the birds of 83 countries or territories. 

I did the same for the USA states and territories as well as the Canadian provinces. You can see them here.

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

I have photos of 72 of the 254 species of  hawks, eagles, kites

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.