North of Elgon

Did a bit of exploring with four of the kids Monday, through the area at the base of Mount Elgon on its north side. The farther east one goes, the more thinly distributed are the human inhabitants, and the lightly wooded savanna is quintessentially African. We saw close on 50 bird species, observed mainly from our pickup, since we did not have time to get out and walk around. Here are some of the best birds of the day:

d'Arnaud’s barbet

black-billed barbet

lanner falcon (imm)

silverbird

crested francolin

white-crested turaco

fork-tailed drongo

superb starling

red-billed hornbill

village indigobird

pin-tailed whydah

fan-tailed widow

blue-headed coucal

northern red bishop

black-winged red bishop

rufous sparrow

olive pigeon

yellow-throated longclaw

striped kingfisher

mountain wagtail

black-and-white mannikin

grey-backed fiscal

marsh tchagra

cardinal quelea

blue-naped mousebird