July 25th Bird Report

There is a great difference between a birder and a bird watcher. If you ever get the chance to watch “The Big Year” with Owen Wilson, Jack Black and Steve Martin, you will learn more about birders. We went on a birding tour in Mexico a few years ago and the people there quickly snubbed us because we did not have a “life list” to cross birds off as we saw them. My only “lifer” here is a shoebill although a wild crested crane would be pretty exciting too.

I just like birds and I like finding new ones, listening to old ones and generally watching them anywhere I am. I carry a bird book because I like to know what I am looking at but I am not counting the birds I see so that I can brag about the number of birds I have seen or “the time I saw the motmot in Mexico.” I am a bird watcher and Corey is becoming a bird watcher too. We have our binoculars by the back door with my Birds of Africa South of the Sahara book and we watch.

Uganda is a haven for bird watchers. There are over 600 species of birds here and people from around the world come to see their “lifers.” Each morning we wake up to the plantain eaters, the ibis, and the bulbuls. There is also a dove who sounds like he is rapping but I don’t know who he is yet. We also have the flock of roosters who make sure we notice them too because they are, after all, birds.

So from time to time, I am going to share the birds we have seen. If you don’t care about birds, skip these blogs. But there are some beautiful ones around that are worth taking a look at. Most photos are not mine because by the time I spot the bird, get my binoculars for a closer look, get my book for an attempt at identification and then get my camera to take a photo, the bird is gone or he has moved just behind a strategically placed leaf so that I only get a photo of his tail. If he’s a plantain eater, he laughs at me too.

Eastern Grey Plantain Eater - my photo

 Speckled Mousebird

 

Red Shouldered Cuckooshrike

Double Toothed Barbet

Splendid Glossy Starling - my photo

Scarlet Chested Sunbird

 

Long-Crested Eagle

 

Marabou Stork - my photo

Glossy Ibis - my photo

Dark Capped (Black-Eyed) Bulbul - my photo

Pied Crow

And yes, I did see a motmot in Mexico on our way to Saint Sebastian although the birders didn’t believe me!