Birds, Birds, Birds, Birds

I’ve always had a fascination with birds but never considered myself a “birdwatcher” or “twitcher” as they say. But Africa being the amazing place that it is there’s no surprise that there are some amazing birds. Lots of amazing birds. One of the most common books I see in people’s hands, apart from the “The Bradt Guide of Uganda” is “The Birds of East Africa”. We got our guide hand delivered to us by a friend coming back from San Francisco after buying it online from Amazon for less than half the price you would get it for here, yeah!, and it has been put to great use on all of our trips, walks and drives through the Ugandan countryside. Of the mzungus I know I’d say about 90% of them are at least self admitted, if not what I would call avid, bird watchers. We love it. The only point we seem to differ on is whether or not to mark the book when you spot one. For those of you readers interested in birds (Kris) then this blog’s for you. The following is a list of birds I’ve seen with accompanying commentary where necessary explaining a particularly interesting sighting. If I were keeping an actual log I think I’d need to note the time and place of the sighting. I’m not quite that bird crazy yet.

Maribou Stork – One of the first things you’ll see in Uganda that’s rather shocking are these 4 foot tall inhabitors of the trash heap. They’re in every dumpster in every town and rarely spotted outside of the cities. This has prompted the use of their name to describe a person who never leaves the city even to visit relatives during the holidays. These birds, although cautious about humans, are quite accustomed to the presence of humans. They’re not afraid to fly close to your head or to grab your trash as soon as you let go of it. They’re hideous.

Crows – House, Pied. Pied means black and white.

Pied Wagtail - Black and white and wags its tail, hence the name.

Black Kite – Probably third in line for highest population. It’s still really cool every time to see a raptor flying nearby. They have a way of using their tail during flight that makes them easy to spot.

Hadada Ibis – I like to call them kazoo birds because they have a very loud kazoo like call. They like to gather in groups outside our house and honk together as if they’re ringing in the new year.

Shrikes – Common Fiscal, Grey Backed, Lesser Grey.

Brown Parrot – I see these about once a day eating guavas off the tree near our place. They’re only brown on the head and back. The rest of the body is bright green and yellow. Wild parrots, neat!

Plantain Eater – Kinda parrot shaped. Their flying style is aggressive and gangly as they lob themselves from tree to tree.

Long Crested Eagle – My friend Pasco has a great series of photos he took of one of these swallowing a rat whole.

Crested Crane – The national bird. Really stunning. I wonder if they would be good eating?

Bare Faced Go Away Bird – These really grab your attention. They’re really nosy and kind of clumsy fliers. They’re called this because their call supposedly sounds like they’re saying “Go away!” They must like me because I’ve never heard their call.

African Thrush – Everywhere. Boring

Brown Babbler – Everwhere. Also boring

Starlings – Ruppell’s,Purple. Also everywhere but, contrary to the starlings in the NW, really beautiful. The most common type I’ve seen is an iridescent indigo/purple/green with a bright yellow eye.

Sunbirds – Bronze, Green headed, Olive bellied, Scarlet Chested, Variable, This one is a Marico.

Palm Nut Vulture – One early morning drive through Queen Elizabeth National Park we saw about 30 of these so called “solitary raptors” just off the highway. We came back through the same place about 2 hours later and not a single vulture in sight. ?!?!

African Fish Eagle – Very similar to our bald eagle but with more white and a lighter brown body. I’ve seen them fishing up close on Lake Mburo.

Bateluer – Bad ass bird with a bad ass name.

Spoonbill Stork – Often seen filtering the water for algae on the lakeshore next to a crocodile. Maybe they don’t taste very good.

This picture contains all of these birds;

Great Cormorant –

Great White Pelican-

Pink Backed Pelican – Amber’s fave.

Black Headed Heron – Reminds me of home.

Sacred Ibis –

Yellow Billed Stork -

Long Tailed Cormorant –

Pied Kingfisher – A very smart looking black and white cliff dweller.

Malachite & African Pygmy Kingfisher – Despite being very small, they’re very bright orange and blue so they’re easy to spot.

Woodland Kingfisher – An early favorite of mine. This was one of the first brightly colored birds I saw here. They’re turquoise, black, and white with a bright orange bill.

Lilac Breasted Roller – A multi-colored bird with a similar shape as a kingfisher. One of my favorites.

Broad Billed Roller – Rusty red with a yellow beak. They like to sit on the cactus trees.

African Jacana –

African Finfoot – Extremely rare apparently. Our guide at Lake Mburo told us that serious birders come there specifically to see the finfoot.

Black Crake – Black body, bright red feet, a blue eye, and a yellow beak. The way this bird bops around looking for food looks like it’s got headphones on and is listening to techno music. I always think it’s about to do a moonwalk.

Guineafowl – Crested and Helmeted

Double Toothed Barbet –

Pelican –

Paradise Fly-Catcher –

Weavers – Black Headed, Lesser Masked, Northern Brown Throated, The males build a hanging nest by weaving grass hoping for approval by the females. If the potential mate does not approve of the nest she will destroy it by cutting it off the tree and letting it fall to the ground.

Black Headed Oriole –

African Green Pigeon-

Little Grebe-

Hamerkop – With a hammer shaped head this little bird is quite the builder. The nest it makes would be big enough for an ostrich but the hamerkop is about the size of a common seagull.

Saddle Billed Stork –

Egyptian Goose –

Spur Winged Goose –

Yellow billed Duck –

African White Backed Vulture –

Pallid Harrier –

Gabar Goshawk –

African Goshawk –

Great Sparrowhawk –

African Harrier Hawk –

Augur Buzzard –

Common Buzzard –

Tawny Eagle –

Wahlberg’s Eagle –

Lesser Spotted Eagle –

Scaly Francolin –

Red Necked Spurfowl –

Purple Swamphen –

Lesser Moorhen –

Black Bellied Bustard –

Black Winged Stilt –

Water Thick knee –

Lapwings – Spur winged, Long toed, African wattled, Crowned, Senegal

Green Sandpiper –

Lesser Black Backed Gull –

Speckeled Pigeon –

Doves – Blue Spotted Wood, Ring Necked, Laughing

Great Blue Turaco –

Coucals – Blue Headed, White Browed

Mousebirds – Speckled, Blue Naped

Cinnamon Chested Bee Eater –

This is truly fascinating, isn’t it?

Hornbills – African Grey, Black and White Casqued, this is a Crowned Hornbill sitting on my friend Tony’s car just outside our front door.

Double Toothed Barbet -

Swallows – Red Rumped, Mosque, Lesser Striped, Barn,

Red Shouldered Cuckoo Shrike –

Common Bulbul –

Robin Chats – White Browed, Red Capped, Grey Winged

Common Stonechat –

Northern Wheatear –

Flycathers – African Paradise, Red Bellied Paradise, African Blue,

Black Headed Gonolek –

Black Crowned Tchagra –

Fork Tailed Drongo -

Yellow Billed Oxpecker – Often seen picking lice off of Cape Buffalo.

Fan Tailed Widowbird –

Black Bishop –

Black Winged Red Bishop –

Red Billed Firefinch –

Black Crowned Waxbill –

Wydahs – Broad Tailed Paradise, Pin Tailed.

Whew!