Uganda for Bird's Wildlife & Nature - Day 10 : 29th July 2024

We bid our farewells to the Gueraza Canopy Lodge and set off on the long road to Masindi but as you can imagine there were stops along the way with the first when we were back almost to the main road. In a very short while we clocked up an array of good birds with Little Greenbuls, Buff-throated Apalis and White Chinned Prinias in song along with a Green Hylia and a green spotty Western Nicator that took some finding as it perched up in the lower canopy.  Triangulating the song eventually gave us excellent views. 

A Little Sparrowhawk flew above us, our first true Accipiter and African Shrike Flycatcher perched up.  Brown Illadopsis sung in the dark tangles but they were open underneath and by standing with your head just inside you had a chance to see one.  It was actually the moving white throat that first gave them away. The same patch was home to Red-tailed Bristle-bills and the same technique yielded good views of this striking species too. Collared and Olive Bellied Sunbirds dangled on blooms.

On again and we were all scanning the dead snags alongside the road in the hope of scarcer, Barbet, Rollers and Pigeons.  To start with it was Purple Headed and Chestnut-winged Starlings and then our first Hairy-breasted Barbets followed by another pair that showed very well as they picked small figs.  Black and White Casqued Hornbills did the decent thing and perched up for us and while watching them we found Yellow-spotted and Grey Throated Barbets and Yellow-rumped and Speckled Tinkerbirds. We could hear Yellow-billed Barbet and Roman picked one up in the closest trees (where Red-chested Cuckoos sung out of view) where it even lingered long enough to give scope views.

Grosbeak Weaver in the mist

Hairy-breasted Barbet

Hairy-breasted Barbet - Angie Merrick

Black and White Casqued Hornbill

Black and White Casqued Hornbill

A plump Pigeon caused a further stop and we had an Afep perched up at the top.  While putting the scope on it another Pigeon flew in and Paul hastily told me to get that one first and there was a fine White-naped Pigeon.  This is a seriously tricky species to find and Paul was over the moon – as were we.  Three more Afeps even came in to join the party.

White-naped Pigeon - Angie Merrick

Afep Pigeon

The rest of the journey produced many of the now usual wayside species but a number of stops brought us a wealth of new avian delights. A break at a damp little bit of marsh on the outskirts of a small town was noisy with breeding Weavers – Village and Northern Brown Throated and two Levaillant’s Cuckoos played hide and seek in a Mango.

Northern Brown Throated Weaver

Village Weaver nests

The reedy tangles held Highland Rush Warbler.  We could hear it singing but like many of these warblers it was a furtive little bugger. Marabou Storks, Sacred and Hadada Ibises overlooked from the rooftops.

Marabou Stork

Sacred Ibis

Another lush field stop that appeared random but probably wasn’t produced a selection of closely related species with Yellow Shouldered and Red-collared Widowbirds – all flowing flappy tails, Pin-tailed Wydahs, Red-billed Queleas and gloriously vibrant Black Bishops.  A pair of Black Sparrowhawks circled overhead.

Yellow Shouldered Widowbird - Angie Merrick

Black Bishop

There were quite a few raptors with Harrier-hawks, Wahlberg’s and Long-crested Eagles, Lizard Buzzards, Yellow-billed Kites, Shikra and a hefty Cassin’s Hawk-Eagle.  African Stonechats, Northern Black Flycatchers and Sooty Chats were frequent again and there were more Mosque Swallows in the villages as well our first White-throated Bee-eater – another more northern breeder already on the move south.

Shikra

Shikra

White-throated Bee-eater - Angie Merrick

African Stonechats

A final pull over overlooking a scrubby valley was full of birds with Red-shouldered and new Yellow-mantled Widowbirds, both Mousebirds, Whistling and Red-faced Cisticolas, Northern White-eyes, Brown Backed Scrub Robins and Tawny Flanked Prinias. Scaly Spurfowl was ‘singing’ and a trio were seen in flight.  There were Sunbirds too and more Bronzy than previously and Black-crowned Waxbills, Black and White and Bronze Mannikins in the field margins.  Compact Weavers were seen again along with Baglafecht and Black-headed.

More road time followed and we arrived in a very dusty and noisy Masindi at dusk.  We were staying at the Masindi Hotel – at 101 years the oldest hotel in Uganda. It was a little tired but had history throughout.  Bogart and Hepburn stayed there during the filming of The African Queen in 1951 and Hemmingway in 1953 although none of us got to stay in their rooms!  Despite the traffic noise outside I slept well.