Njeru

Several days back we enjoyed a couple of days at the Kingfisher Safaris Resort near Njeru town on the edge of Lake Victoria next to where the White Nile originates from the lake. There wasn't time for much intentional birding, but I enjoyed as always the mix of bird life that is typical of the area. Some of my favorites from this visit:

* Red-chested sunbird (the most common species there and unfailingly gorgeous)
* Paradise flycatcher
* Red-bellied paradise flycatcher (one of the few times I've ever seen these two closely related species virtually alongside each other)
* Northern black flycatcher
* African blue flycatcher
* Wahlberg's eagle
* Long-crested eagle (one being chased by three eastern grey plantain-eaters)
* African fish eagle
* African goshawk
* Palm-nut vulture
* Double-toothed barbet
* Black-crowned waxbill

Today (back in Mbale) I heard a male Klaas' cuckoo calling for the first time in a while. Also yesterday we had a western black-headed oriole in one of the musizi trees outside the house. African blue flycatchers have been frequenting the place too.

Turn-coats

It's that time of year in this part of the world -- the male widows, whydahs and their kin are changing their drab non-breeding plumage for striking fancy-dress of contrasting blacks, yellows, reds, oranges, plus in some cases super-long tail feathers. This morning I saw my first full-breeding-dress male black bishop of this season in the neighborhood. Stunning!

It was also a good morning for falcons. There were a pair of red-necked falcons in the Borassus palm in which I observed them several times a while back. Pleasant to find them still (or back) in residence there. And, twice, I had an African hobby (probably a male, based on smallish size) scythe across in front of me. It'd be hard to get faster and more elegant than these guys.

Flying circus

Yesterday I interrupted a morning run to spend several minutes enjoying a flying circus centered around an emergence of winged termites. A striking variety of birds were hawking the ascending "white ants" -- even strict vegetarians like red-eyed doves. These termites are truly a universal food. The clowns in this circus were represented by several hamerkops and black-and-white-casqued hornbills, both species among the most comedic of birds both in appearance as well as psychology. But my favorites were the acrobatic/aerobatic artistes, the parts ably played by a pair of lanner falcons and at least two European hobbies. All these were so fixated on catching breakfast that they paid me little heed and passed or perched variously quite close to where I was standing on the roadside.

They were amazing, a real treat to behold.

Among the prominent

Last week I had several road trips out from Mbale in different directions. As always, I scanned roadsides for any interesting birds and noticed some that can justly be called "prominent." On the edge of a wetland west of Soroti there were a pair of Abyssinian ground hornbills (Bucorvus abyssinicus). It had been a while since I saw any of these mainly black, turkey-sized birds that spend most of their time stalking around on the ground in bushed grasslands. Then yesterday, coming back from Kaderuna in Pallisa district, we passed a pair of grey crowned cranes (Balearica regulorum), Uganda's spectacular national bird, just outside Mbale town. It also seems like forever since I have seen any of these near Mbale. One comes across them more often around Eldoret in Kenya, and also in western parts of Uganda.

Mackinnon's or lesser grey?

Yesterday I caught sight of a shrike of a sort that I'd not seen in Mbale before. It was obviously either a type of fiscal or closely related to these fellows. Having seen Mackinnon's fiscal in Kakamega forest (Kenya), I assumed this was one of those. Checking my field guide, however, revealed that it may more likely have been a lesser grey shrike. I did not have binoculars handy, so was not able to observe the features that would distinguish one from the other. Since Mackinnon's is a resident where it occurs and the lesser grey a migrant, and since I've not come across these in Mbale before, and since it is the height of the season for palearctic migrants to be passing through...my guess is that this was probably a lesser grey. Which would be nice to be able to confirm, as I've never seen that species before at all. Maybe I'll come across another one before the end of migration.

Owls, etc.

Last week we got a pretty good look at a barn owl perched in a flamboyant (Poinciana) tree, across the road from the house where the children go to school. It was being mobbed (a bit half-heartedly) by some bulbuls and some other small birds, and putting up with it all right. When Nathanael spotted it and asked me what it was, we called several of the other kids and teachers to come have a look in the few minutes before school was to begin. The growing knot of observers under its roost eventually proved to much for comfort and it flew across into a nook under the eaves of a neighbor's house.

The other morning I was out jogging a bit earlier than usual (too dark to see potholes on the road, so maybe a bit ill-advised) and I heard a white-faced owl (some books list it as white-faced scops owl) calling across the way. These seem to be regular here in Mbale, at least during some parts of the year, but we don't get to see them all that often since we're seldom out at night and they tend not to move from their secluded roosts during the day.

As far as I've been able to tell from a dozen years in Mbale, our normally resident owls are Verreaux's/giant eagle owls (often noisy even in day time) that inhabit the mature African mahogany trees in this neighborhood; the pint-sized white-faced owls (an adolescent specimen of which we once kept for a while during its recuperation from a close encounter with a car); and barn owls. Other than these, we once in a while hear or much less often catch a glimpse of the medium-sized African wood owl (their duets are one of the especially interesting signature sounds of the night across much of Africa).

In other news, there was a paradise flycatcher in our yard the other day -- first time for me to see/hear one right here, even though they have turned up elsewhere in Mbale once in a great while.

The European bee-eaters are overhead several times a day now, heading for cooler climes. I also saw a flight of 100+ Abdim's storks flying NW early this morning, probably also on migration. And the other day I had a glimpse of a large falcon, either lanner or peregrine over the neighborhood road on which I was driving. Wish I'd had binocs handy and time to stop and gaze and nail down its ID.

First bee-eaters heading north

Yesterday, 21 March, I heard and saw my first flock of European bee-eaters since the southward migration season last year, flying overhead on their way back to more northerly climes. In a part of the world where we do not have the four clearly demarcated seasons of the temperate zones, these and other Palearctic migrants are a pleasant reminder that fall and spring are happening elsewhere.