East African Birds

A Slender Weaver lands on my field guide while having lunch at Mweya Lodge in Queen Elizabeth Park, Uganda.

Although not a birding trip, I took photos of birds wherever we went. There are approximately 1300 species of birds in East Africa. In Queen Elizabeth Park alone, in Uganda, there are 611 species! Identifying the birds was quite a challange. I enlisted the help of the rangers from the Ugandan Wildlife Authority, private birding guides, our driver-guides and finally my birding field guides. Many times, I photographed a bird and identified it later.
Birding here in the national parks is different. Because of security concerns, we were not allowed to walk alone in the parks. We were accompanied by an armed park ranger. In some parks, we were not permitted out of our vehicle because of the density of wild animals. Nevertheless, I took hundreds of photos, mostly from our vehicle. All of the bird photos were taken with a Nikon D80 and a Nikon 70-300 VR lens.

This is an African Pigmy Kingfisher. I was overwhelmed by the incredible colors of this bird while walking a local road in Uganda one afternoon.

This African Dusky Flycatcher posed for me while I was walking a trail in Lake Bunyoni, Uganda. It let me get very close. I found that flycatchers, in general, were not as skittish as other species when humans approached.

I believe this to be an African Mourning Dove. There are several species of Mourning Doves and many look similar.

   This is Alex Gabiito who was our birding guide in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda. Bwindi is on the border of Congo and Rwanda and is home to the famous rare Mountain Gorilla. The days before we tracked the gorillas, I enlisted Alex to help me bird. The first day I paid the expensive park fees, but we never made it off the road leading to the park, there were so many bird species. I found it mostly impossible to photograph them. You get a fleeting nanosecond to spot them in the dark, dense foliage. Alex is quite the bird guide. He has binoculars, a laser pointer, field guide and a fully loaded iPod with bird sounds. One of the bird guides I hired, from the Ugandan Wildlife Authority, knew all the birds, but didn't own a pair of binoculars! People here do with very little and know so much! I sent him a pair of binoculars I wasn't using as soon as I returned home.
   If you want to hire Alex, a true expert, you can contact him at agabiito@yahoo.com or 011-256-782-943-598 from the USA. I Know he can also arrange a birding safari for you, the next time you're in Uganda.

Alex with his laser pointer, iPod, field guide and binoculars.

d'Arnaud's Barbet. This interesting looking bird was near a picnic area in Tanzania. I spotted him as I ate lunch. While most of the tourists were out to see the big game animals, I was thrilled with the birds. I got to see the big game animals too.

While in the Serengeti we visited a Maasai village.After the Maasai people sang us a welcoming song, they danced and showed us around their village. I spotted a few Blue-capped Cordon-bleu alongside one of their huts.

There are many species of Sunbird in East Africa. My best guess is a Bronze Sunbird. These beautiful birds remind me of hummingbirds as they fly from flower to flower, incessantly moving. They are iridescent and their colors change in different light, making them difficult to identify.

This appears to be a Marico Sunbird.

A Collared Pratincole, taken from a boat.

Most East Africans know this bird, a Common Bulbul. It is noisy and is often found around buildings and in the villages.

Common Stonechat, sitting on a stone!

A Spotted Flycatcher near a road in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.

A Swamp Flycatcher landed on a bench alongside a roadside canteen in Queen Elizabeth National Park.

A White-eyed Slaty Flycatcher along the same road in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.

There were hundreds of these Pied Kingfishers at some of the lakes we visited.

Our driver in Tanzania pointed out this Gray-headed Kingfisher to me. Safari vehicles are often like a moving blind. If you travel slowly, the birds don't flush as fast. However, the roads are so terrible, rutted and rocky, noise becomes a factor.

There are fewer Sparrow species here than we have in the US. Believe it or not, I spotted House Sparrows in a most remote spot in Uganda. This bird is a Gray-headed Sparrow, fairly common in East Africa.

The Superb Starling seemed to be everywhere there were humans with food, in Ngorongoro and Serengeti, Tanzania.

This is a Black-crowned Waxbill. This bird popped out of the forest at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest for a second.

Another lucky shot in Bwindi. This White-chinned Prinea stayed at the forest edge before disappearing deep into the foliage.

These are Mousebirds. They often sit in the middle of the road, in the dust, and fly up the last second.

This Pin-tailed Wydah was near our lodge in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. It is a fairly common bird but I only saw it perched this one time. As we drove on rural roads, I could see it fly across.

A Rattling Cisticola reminded me of our Marsh Wren.

Here we are after birding the road leading to the park for a few hours. I paid to get into the park, but on this day we never got off the road because of the many birds.
Photo by Jane Rothman