Uganda Birds - April 2012 (mostly in Mbale)

Some of the species I noticed in passing:

1.      Spectacled weaver

2.      Baglafecht (Reichenow’s) weaver

3.      African pied crow

4.      White-browed robin-chat (Heuglin’s robin)

5.      African blue flycatcher

6.      Black-headed heron

7.      African black kite

8.      Hadada

9.      Lizard buzzard

10.  Saddlebill stork

11.  Egyptian goose

12.  Little egret

13.  Red-eyed dove

14.  Speckled pigeon

15.  Scarlet-chested sunbird

16.  Ruepell’s long-tailed starling

17.  Common bulbul

18.  Yellow-throated greenbul

19.  Woodland kingfisher

20.  Wood stork

21.  Yellow white-eye

22.  Grey-cap warbler

23.  Red-billed firefinch

24.  Pink-backed pelican

25.  Grey-headed sparrow

26.  African thrush

27.  Brown parrot

28.  Broad-billed roller

29.  African pied kingfisher

30.  Speckled mousebird

31.  Red-chested cuckoo (calling)

32.  Common camaroptera (calling)

33.  Bronze-tailed starling

34.  Piapiac

35.  Wire-tailed swallow

36.  Lesser striped swallow

37.  House sparrow

38.  Bronze manikin

39.  Little swift

40.  Palm swift

41.  African pied wagtail

And a few species I came across while in the Eldoret and Moiben areas a few days:

Harrier hawk (Gymnogene)
Black-shouldered kite
Hadada
Speckled mousebird
White-browed robin-chat
Black-lored babbler
Common fiscal
Grey-backed fiscal
Red-cheeked cordon-bleu
Rufous sparrow
Blue-eared glossy starling
Ring-necked (Cape) turtle dove
Laughing dove
Cape rook
Tawny-flanked prinia
Bronze sunbird
Speckled pigeon
African black kite
Cattle egret
Diederik cuckoo
Red-chested cuckoo
Grey crowned crane

These are a few of the birds I noticed on a cloudy-morning walk up and down Argwings Kodhek Rd in Nairobi this morning:

Hadada
Harrier hawk (Gymnogene)
Lesser masked weaver
Baglafecht (Reichenow's) weaver
Collared sunbird
Variable sunbird
Bronze sunbird
White-browed sparrow-weaver
African black kite
Olive thrush
African paradise flycatcher
Speckled mousebird
Speckled pigeon
African pied wagtail
Rock martin
Little swift
Red-wing starling
White-eyed slaty flycatcher
Northern pied babbler (new species for me!)

Kenya roadside

I've had the pleasure of driving and walking around in western Kenya (highlands) for the past several days, and then driving southeast across the equator to Nairobi. Although I did no purposeful birding, I kept my eyes open and caught glimpses of a number of Africa's outstanding avian citizens, of which here is a selection (I've included a few sightings from my time in Uganda last week, also):

Black-headed oriole
Sacred ibis
Hadada (many - learned the Nandi [also] onomatopoeic name for them, "chebokwakwa")
Cape rook
Scarlet-chested sunbird
Blue-eared glossy starlings (probably greater, didn't have a field guide handy to check)
Superb starlings
Augur buzzard (regular and melanistic phase)
Silverbird
Pallid harrier, male and female (females could have been Montagu's, nearly impossible to distinguish in the field)
Bat hawk (seldom sighted, always notable in my experience)
Possible pygmy falcon (too brief a glimpse to be sure...would be a new one for me!)
Lilac-breasted roller
Lanner falcon (actually seen in Mbale, Uganda on the way to Kenya, a pair)
Grey crowned crane
Olive (rameron) pigeon (and several other species of dove/pigeon, including laughing, ring-necked, speckled, along with calls of blue-spotted wood dove & red-eyed dove)
Red-cheeked cordon-bleu
Rufous sparrow
Crowned plover
Grey-backed and common fiscal shrikes (Nandi name for grey-backed fiscal is "Kipkegei")
Red-rumped swallow
Little swift
Scimitarbill
Yellow-throated longclaw
Black-headed heron
Eurasian bee-eater
Hooded vulture
Black-shouldered kite
Saddlebill stork (this also in Uganda, in Lake Victoria as the road leaves Entebbe)
African goshawk (melanistic male chasing Ruepell's long-tailed starling & brown parrot - in Mbale town)
Helmeted guineafowl
Red-billed oxpecker
Shikra
Marabou
Fork-tailed drongo
Black-and-white-casqued hornbill
Grey-headed kingfisher
Woodland kingfisher
Pink-backed pelican

Yellow-crowned night heron

Friday, last week, I think it was, I spotted a yellow-crowned night heron in the dead branches of a large tree leaning over and into the southwest edge of Rainbow lake. There were several green herons in the vicinity too.

Season still turning

It was a great pleasure recently to have a yellow-breasted chat in our neighborhood - a first-time sighting for me. In the past few days the common nighthawks have been making their return known with their repetitive "peet-ing" from overhead in the evenings and early mornings. Western kingbirds are back in force too -- they show up a few weeks later than the scissortails, for some reason.

Seasonal comings & goings

I saw a male northern harrier on power lines just south of Lubbock yesterday. He'll be leaving for cooler climes soon. Although I've seen these and other harriers often enough, 99% of the time they're airborne, quartering over some swamp or savannah or field. It was almost a shock to see this one perched!

Our scissortails are back in numbers, in Abilene and across west Texas. Purple martins, barn swallows and cliff swallows are much in evidence again, as are the chimney swifts.

We had clay-colored and Lincoln's sparrows in our front yard among a mixed group of birds foraging under the bird feeder -- both of these were new to me, so a real pleasure to have a prolonged look at them. These fellows are also probably on their way northward.

There was a Bewick's wren inside our garage a few days back -- I've often been impressed with how bold and even intrusive these diminutive birds are when pursuing their insect and arachnid prey.

Recently in Abilene

We had a ladder-backed woodpecker in our neighbor's front yard a few days ago. That same afternoon a sharp-shinned hawk wheeled overhead - first I've seen around here for several months. Turkey vultures are back in the vicinity also on a daily basis. And I passed a red-tailed hawk on S. 1st St. this afternoon (nothing unusual in that).

What was unusual, in my experience, was a wild turkey that we startled just a couple of blocks from our house. It flew up into a mesquite tree - obviously a large bird, but it wasn't until it landed that I realized what it was. They are not infrequent outside town, but I've not come across one in this residential area before.

Had close views of a Carolina wren in a nearby alley as it searched for breakfast on the ground and low on the mesquite and hackberry tree trunks.

Lots of warblers calling these days, but I haven't had binoculars handy often enough to identify one in a while.

I've been seeing shovelers, canvasbacks, ring-necked ducks, mallards, cinnamon teal, and many American coots on local ponds and reservoirs.

San Antonio streets

In San Antonio, Texas this weekend for the international TCubed convention for math and science educators. Walking the streets and sitting on the river walk we've caught brief glimpses of a peregrine, some diminutive greenish warblers (probably kinglets) and a yell0w-crowned night heron.

Back in Mbale for July

Back in Mbale for most of July, and one of the best parts of returning to this familiar environs is the familiar avifauna. As I compose this, besides the thunder rolling and the pitter-patter of rain on many leaves, I can hear the robin-chats (white-browed, Cossypha heuglini) singing away in defiance of the wetness, reminding me why they're in the top tier of musicians on this continent.

I haven't yet made any lists of species seen, and may not on this short visit get the chance for much intentional birding (I will try!), but it's pleasant to be able to mention a few of those that have delighted my eyes in these few days since arriving.

*Long-crested eagle -- hunting from a perch on the perimeter fence at Entebbe airport
*Lizard buzzard -- on a power line close to our house in Mbale
*Red-eyed dove -- ubiquitous
*Pied crow -- the same, only more so
*Scarlet-chested sunbird -- male singing atop a tree
*Northern puffback, Klaas' cuckoo, and white-browed coucal -- voices only so far, but they'll come out to be seen at some point
*Yellow-throated greenbul in their usual noisy gregariousness
*Woodland kingfisher
*Pygmy kingfisher -- perched in our yard, a perfect little jewel
*Piapiac
*Ruppell's long-tailed starling
*Harrier hawk (gymnogene) -- gliding effortlessly among the remaining giant African mahogany trees in our neighborhood
*African hobby -- brief glimpse of one wheeling over the ARA in Kampala
*Black-headed heron
*Yellow-billed stork
*White-breasted cormorant
*Pink-backed pelican

Eastern kingbird

Not too many notable sightings lately, although I've seen the yelllow-billed cuckoo and common flicker again in the last few days.

I did come across a fairly uncommon bird in these parts, being the southwestern margin of its summer range, an eastern kingbird. Western kingbirds are abundant throughout the summer in Abilene, but I think I've seen the larger, darker eastern species only once before in this area, years ago. I was driving through Cal Young park around lunch time and noticed a large, darker-than-usual flycatcher perched near Cedar Creek. Suspecting something out of the ordinary, I stopped for a closer look and confirmed it as an eastern kingbird. Very nice.

Osprey

I neglected to report this earlier, but back in April I saw an osprey over our neighborhood in Abilene -- the only one I can remember ever seeing here.

Potpourri of recent sightings

Today in Abilene -- yellow-billed cuckoo, one in our back yard and another one across town; green heron in Kirby Park; purple martin in Cal Young Park; common flicker in Abilene cemetery

Couple of days ago at Clapp Park in Lubbock -- one avocet, a pair of wilson's warblers, several Mississippi kites

Last week in Malibu, California -- brown pelican, yellow-billed magpie, California towhee, hooded oriole, Anna's hummingbird, black phoebe (all new to me except the brown pelican and possibly the oriole, which I may have seen in SW Texas years ago)

On Rainbow Lake

We've just moved into a house that backs up to a small reservoir of probably three acres surface area. It's called Rainbow Lake, and one can see a few species of ducks and other water-loving birds on or around it at just about any time. This morning I've observed an American coot (Fulica americana), a male and female northern shoveler (Anas clypeata), some of the usual mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), a pied-billed grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) and a group of ring-necked ducks (Aythya collaris; these diving ducks always seem to prefer the middle part of the lake).

Uganda's national bird

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Originally uploaded by ian.shelburne

This is a grey crowned crane, the national bird of Uganda. Cranes in general are spectacular birds, but the crowned cranes (both grey and black) are stunning even in this excellent league. This one lives in the Abilene Zoo, and was enjoying the early-spring sunshine last Saturday after an unusually cold and moist winter.

Sharp-shins spotted soaring

In the midst of a morning run in magnificent 48-degree-F. sunshine today, I had a couple of sharp-shinned hawks (Accipiter striatus) come a-soaring overhead, apparently enjoying the clear, warming weather after the clouds and some bluster of yesterday. It was easy to see the size differential between the larger female and her mate.

I also flushed a small flock of rufous-sided towhees (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) in an alley -- the first of these I've seen this season.

Blogging this reminded me of several other notes that I've been intending to post in recent weeks but have been forgetting. So here are a couple of those:

Seeing the sharp-shinned hawks this morning made me think of the Cooper's hawk (Accipiter cooperii) that I saw briefly a week or so back as I was walking toward the ACU campus -- a fine predator if there ever was one. A day before or after that, on the same city block, I had an excellent look at a golden-fronted woodpecker on a mesquite trunk (Melanerpes aurifrons), a particularly attractive member of its family.

We've had good numbers of red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) in the neighborhood, and have been seeing kestrels (Falco sparverius) for the past few weeks, too.

On an overnight visit to Robert Lee in Coke County, Texas where my great-grandparents lived, we came across these birds that I thought worthy of note:

Curve-billed thrasher (Toxostoma curvirostre)

Brown towhee (Pipilo fuscus)

Greater roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus)

Inca dove (Columbina inca)

Several days ago there was a pair of Bewick's wrens (Thryomanes bewickii) clambering about amongst a pile of miscellaneous items on the small covered porch behind our house. Evidently they were terrorizing whatever arthropods had been taking refuge in the nooks and crannies -- a worthy service, as far as I'm concerned!

Seen on a mesquite

As we're getting settled in Abilene, Texas, I'm getting accustomed (again) to the slimmer set of avifauna that prevails in these parts as compared with southeastern Uganda. There have been some changes in bird populations here since the last time I spent much time in Abilene. White-winged doves were not present, at least per my observation, in Abilene in the late 1980s. Now they are the most numerous dove species here. Eurasian collared doves have also become common residents over the past several years. The mourning doves and Inca doves that are long-time indigenous species are still around, but they seem to be fewer than before.

A few minutes ago I was treated to the sight of a golden-fronted woodpecker (Melanerpes aurifrons) working the gnarled trunk of a mesquite tree in our neighbors' front yard. This was the first one I've seen in this neighborhood since moving here a few weeks ago, so definitely not an everyday sighting.

I caught sight of a Swainson's hawk (Buteo swainsoni) briefly overhead as I was standing in front of the house yesterday -- another one that we don't see on a daily basis inside the city limits.

Day-walking

Driving across Abilene yesterday afternoon, passing through a park in the central part of the city, we came upon a yellow-crowned night heron out for a day-time stroll. It had been uncharacteristically rainy for this time of year, so I suppose the normally nocturnal bird was taking advantage of the cooler, overcast weather to squeeze in more eating hours than it usually gets.

Additions

OK, here are a couple of species that I overlooked or need to add to the list, having come across them in the last few days.

* Rose-ringed parakeet (in Houston; presumably this introduced species is expanding its range in urban areas)
* House sparrow
* House finch
* Red-headed woodpecker

I've heard some individual meadowlarks calling, so it's been possible to peg those, at least, as the Eastern variety.

I met with a large thrasher yesterday but need to do further investigation to determine which of the family it was.

Change of hemisphere

Since May 26 we have been in Texas, so the available avifauna is quite distinct from what we are used to in Mbale. Our travels around the state since arriving in Houston have not left much time for focused birding, but I have appreciated the "in-passing" encounters with several of the species that one can expect to see in these parts at this time of year. Here are a few that have crossed my path recently.

* Northern mockingbird
* Laughing gull (Gulf Coast at Galveston)
* Blue jay
* Northern cardinal
* Swainson's hawk
* Red-tailed hawk
* Barn swallow
* Cliff swallow
* Great-tailed grackle
* Common grackle
* Eurasian collared dove (ringed turtle-dove)
* Inca dove (in Abilene)
* Mourning dove
* White-winged dove
* Chimney swift
* American crow
* Yellow-billed cuckoo
* Cattle egret
* Mississippi kite
* Song sparrow
* American robin
* European starling
* Eastern bluebird
* Red-winged blackbird
* Green heron
* Black-crowned night-heron
* Yellow-crowned night-heron
* Killdeer
* Black vulture
* Turkey vulture
* Purple martin
* Loggerhead shrike
* Western tanager
* Meadowlark (unsure whether Eastern or Western; I need to get more field experience distinguishing these two)
* Scissor-tailed flycatcher
* Common nighthawk

I haven't been writing these down as I see them, so I'm sure I'm forgetting some. I'll add others as they come to mind.