Recently noted

African hobby -- brief look at a pair of them early one evening from the verandah atop our garage; the time of day when bats begin flying and the palm swifts were still out in numbers, either of which would make fine menu items for the hobbies

African paradise flycatcher -- second sighting in a month or so, and still quite unusual for within Mbale town

Bat hawk -- spotted on two early-morning outings; the first one was probably sharing in the general feeding frenzy on a flight of the winged reproductive versions of one of the larger termite varieties

Tropical boubou -- ran across a pair dueting (which is what alerted me to their presence about 30 meters off the road I was on); I've observed these only a few times in this neighborhood during our eleven years in Mbale

This morning there were noticeably fewer than usual yellow-billed kites in flight around the area. In 30 minutes or so I saw two, I think, compared with the 30-40 I would have expected based on what I've been seeing in recent months. Makes me wonder if most of them may be gearing up to move out of these parts for a while.

Also this morning I got close to a mvuli tree from which a giant (Verreaux's) eagle owl was grunting; short on time, I couldn't stay long enough to locate it among the branches.

Near a swampy area along the municipal golf course I came across a winding cisticola, which I've not usually met that close to town (they are common just outside in the wetlands just west of town).

There have been a pair, at least, of red-billed oxpeckers turning up in our part of town the past two or three weeks. We evidently have enough people keeping cows around here to provide a sufficient supply of ticks and other parasites to support them.