I noticed, around 4 this afternoon, a persistent high-pitched whickering call coming from the upper branches of one of our musizi trees. It was the sort of call one would expect from a small accipiter, and since it was different from any sound I've ever heard from a shikra (little banded goshawk - Accipiter badius) I figured there was a chance it could be an African little sparrowhawk (Accipiter minullus). I've been enjoying a number of sightings of adults of this species for the past several months in our area, but had not heard their voice. Son Jonathan eventually located the bird, which appeared to be eating something held in the talons of one foot. I dashed inside the house for binoculars, with the aid of which I was able to confirm its identity -- minullus indeed -- in juvenile plumage. It was feasting on some kind of small bird, and seemed immensely pleased with itself, pausing between every couple of beak-fulls of its meal to sound its boast around the neighborhood. We had a splendid view of it for quite some time.
P.S. This is probably evidence that the adults that I've been seeing have bred successfully in the area.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Morning owls
As I was out and about this morning just before sun-up (it takes a bit longer to see the disc itself here in Mbale town, cheek-by-jowl as we are against the western side of Wanale mountain), I heard both white-faced scops owl and giant (Verreaux's) eagle owl calling. No visual on either, but it's pleasing to hear them and know they're around.
The gigantic African mahogany trees are in full bloom these days, and their buttery fragrance pervades the neighborhood, especially in the evenings and early mornings.
The gigantic African mahogany trees are in full bloom these days, and their buttery fragrance pervades the neighborhood, especially in the evenings and early mornings.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Morning hunt
I was out and about this morning, perhaps a bit later than prime time for birding, and did not encounter as much variety in bird species as usual. There was a red-chested cuckoo making quite a racket, the first I've heard in many months in Mbale. These fellows are heard far more often than seen, calling as they do typically from high in a well-foliaged tree. But I did get a glimpse of this one as he flew from one giant African mahogany to another.
What I would not have wanted to miss was seeing an African hobby on the hunt. As I was on what has in the past been the municipal golf course, a hobby started into the air and made a few wide, leisurely reconnaissance circles. As a point roughly overhead and maybe 50 or 60 meters up, it stooped abruptly away to the south. Propelled by gravity and powerful wing strokes, the falcon accelerated to optimal pursuit velocity in less than four seconds. A sudden upturn and flare of spread wings signaled the end of the mission, still 20 or 30 meters above ground -- it was too distant for details, but the hobby had snatched what must have been a palm swift in flight. Leveling out, the successful hunter continued on her way toward a suitable treetop to settle down and eat.
The experience put me in mind of Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem "The Windhover" in which he writes of his own morning encounter with a falcon (most likely a kestrel). It's one of my all-time favorites, and Hopkins himself once wrote to a friend that it was the best thing he had ever written. (I took the text below from http://www.bartleby.com/122/12.html)
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89). Poems. 1918.
The Windhover
To Christ our Lord
I CAUGHT this morning morning’s minion, king-
dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird,—the achieve of; the mastery of the thing!
Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!
No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermillion.
What I would not have wanted to miss was seeing an African hobby on the hunt. As I was on what has in the past been the municipal golf course, a hobby started into the air and made a few wide, leisurely reconnaissance circles. As a point roughly overhead and maybe 50 or 60 meters up, it stooped abruptly away to the south. Propelled by gravity and powerful wing strokes, the falcon accelerated to optimal pursuit velocity in less than four seconds. A sudden upturn and flare of spread wings signaled the end of the mission, still 20 or 30 meters above ground -- it was too distant for details, but the hobby had snatched what must have been a palm swift in flight. Leveling out, the successful hunter continued on her way toward a suitable treetop to settle down and eat.
The experience put me in mind of Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem "The Windhover" in which he writes of his own morning encounter with a falcon (most likely a kestrel). It's one of my all-time favorites, and Hopkins himself once wrote to a friend that it was the best thing he had ever written. (I took the text below from http://www.bartleby.com/122/12.html)
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89). Poems. 1918.
The Windhover
To Christ our Lord
I CAUGHT this morning morning’s minion, king-
dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird,—the achieve of; the mastery of the thing!
Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!
No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermillion.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Black-shouldered kites
On my morning run today I noticed a black-shouldered kite carrying nest-building material to the top of a cypress tree, at least 25 meters up. This is at the west edge of what has been in the past the municipal golf course, near the southern edge of town. I've seldom or never seen these birds inside the built-up area of Mbale town, but they are regular in the more open country on the outskirts and farther afield. The derelict golf course still has enough open grassy/scrubby sections to make excellent hunting grounds for the rodents and insects that provide most of the kites' diet.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Rwanda & Bunyonyi
We took a family trip to Rwanda and Lake Bunyonyi (SW Uganda) the first week and a half or so of January -- our first time into Rwanda, where we visited friends in Kigali, and a return to often-enjoyed Bushara Island in Lake Bunyonyi. Of course, there were a lot of nifty birds along the way, especially at Bunyonyi, where many species are especially fearless and confiding, presumably because of not being hunted or threatened by people with any regularity.
Some of the "roadside" birds that we saw en route, and that we don't usually encounter in Mbale:
* Lilac-breasted roller, fork-tailed drongo (both of these in and around Masaka town)
* Augur buzzard (several in the mountainous Kabale area)
* Several sizable eagles, probably either resident tawny or migratory steppe eagles (difficult to distinguish in the field unless one observes at close range for a reasonable duration; also in the vicinity of Kabale)
Especially enjoyable sightings on and near Bushara Island:
* Blue-headed coucal
* Red-chested cuckoo
* Klaas' cuckoo
* Tropical boubou
* Paradise flycatcher
* Chubb's cisticola
* Streaky seed-eater
* Thick-billed seed-eater
* Grey crowned crane
* Black-lored babbler
* Cape wagtail
* Large (Holub's) golden weaver
* Chin-spot batis
* Common (brown-throated) wattle-eye
* Cinnamon-chested bee-eater
* Malachite kingfisher
* Mackinnon's fiscal
* European hobby
* Black goshawk
* Pair of harrier hawks on nest
* Cardinal woodpecker
* Pin-tailed whydah
Some of the "roadside" birds that we saw en route, and that we don't usually encounter in Mbale:
* Lilac-breasted roller, fork-tailed drongo (both of these in and around Masaka town)
* Augur buzzard (several in the mountainous Kabale area)
* Several sizable eagles, probably either resident tawny or migratory steppe eagles (difficult to distinguish in the field unless one observes at close range for a reasonable duration; also in the vicinity of Kabale)
Especially enjoyable sightings on and near Bushara Island:
* Blue-headed coucal
* Red-chested cuckoo
* Klaas' cuckoo
* Tropical boubou
* Paradise flycatcher
* Chubb's cisticola
* Streaky seed-eater
* Thick-billed seed-eater
* Grey crowned crane
* Black-lored babbler
* Cape wagtail
* Large (Holub's) golden weaver
* Chin-spot batis
* Common (brown-throated) wattle-eye
* Cinnamon-chested bee-eater
* Malachite kingfisher
* Mackinnon's fiscal
* European hobby
* Black goshawk
* Pair of harrier hawks on nest
* Cardinal woodpecker
* Pin-tailed whydah
Monday, December 29, 2008
Shades of David & Goliath
A few days ago, toward the end of a morning run that had been fairly sparse in the bird-sighting department, I noticed a flurry of wings in the branches of an albizia tree overhead. A sizable bird, obviously a raptor of some sort, was scarcely avoiding being overtaken by a much smaller pursuer. Both found perches in the tree, having arrived, it seemed, at a temporary stalemate. Once they got settled, I was able to peg the larger of the two as an African goshawk (Accipiter tachiro) and its antagonist as an African little sparrowhawk (Accipiter minullus). The dimensional disparity was striking -- I'd never seen individuals of the two species in the same tree -- one crow-sized and the other barely larger than your average thrush. Both of these accipiters are agressive hunters, but I'm not sure what precipitated the harassment of the goshawk by its diminutive cousin. Perhaps the little sparrowhawks have a nest in the neighborhood?
Monday, December 22, 2008
Back home
Back to a degree or so above the equator -- home to Mbale -- where, this time of year, it's generally hot and dry. No exception right now!
Yesterday I encountered a large falcon cruising low across our side of town. Had just a brief look at it, but the impression of some streaking beneath and its impressive dimensions suggest that it may have been an immature female lanner. Otherwise, it's been fun to be back to seeing palm-nut vultures on an almost daily basis, along with our local lizard buzzards and the renewed population of African black kites back from wherever they wander between about September and November/December. The neighborhood sunbirds in their usual splendid variety seem to be celebrating the typical dry-season blossoming of many local tree species.
Yesterday I encountered a large falcon cruising low across our side of town. Had just a brief look at it, but the impression of some streaking beneath and its impressive dimensions suggest that it may have been an immature female lanner. Otherwise, it's been fun to be back to seeing palm-nut vultures on an almost daily basis, along with our local lizard buzzards and the renewed population of African black kites back from wherever they wander between about September and November/December. The neighborhood sunbirds in their usual splendid variety seem to be celebrating the typical dry-season blossoming of many local tree species.
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