Uganda for Bird's Wildlife & Nature - Day 6 : 25th July 2024

Quite simply put we spent the from eight till five on the Mu Bwindi trail.  It was a long descent on a serviceable track down through the light and open forest with thick undergrowth, Sunbird attracting flowers and towering trees. The trail was used by Forest Elephants and Gorillas and there was ample evidence of both but unsurprisingly none were seen although the feeling that the slopes around us held such magnificent beasts gave a feeling of being somewhere very special indeed. The damage from the passage of the latter was negligible with only some sagging edges to suggest such massive creatures had crossed this way.

Bark stripping by Elephants

We took five hours to cover a good few kilometres to the spot where we had lunch and to be honest we were all tired but happy but the thought of another hour or so to get down to the swamp at the very bottom and back was met with ‘no more down please.’

Lunch view - more 'down' just beyond Rubina's head!

Relaxing Paul but always listening

The forest was alive with birds the whole way with some now familiar species we had seen over the last two days amongst a host of new ones.  Shouty Chubb’s Cisticola’s and all four Apalis were in song and all showed very well and Banded Prinias made up for yesterday with frequent energetic close views by the path side.

Needless to say, finding the Grauer’s Broadbills was a key part of this trek and our local guides did the business and found two feeding high in the canopy before they dropped to a tree at eye level affording much better views of this enigmatic leaf green bird with a powder blue throat.  If it did not move you would never a have found it.  At the lunch spot some of the group trekked down a way off piste to the now abandoned nest site where one of the parents was seen feeding a fledged youngster.  To be honest I was suffering with my breathing due to the elevation and needed to compose myself for the slow and steady slog back uphill to the road afterwards.

Grauer’s Broadbill

Grauer’s Broadbill - Roman Werpachowski

Grauer’s Broadbill - Roman Werpachowski

But there was so much to see with African Citril Finch, gaudy Brown Capped Weavers, Grey Chinned, Blue Headed, Regal and Northern Double Collared Sunbirds, Rwenzori Hill Babblers (amazingly it is actually a Sylvia warbler), Thick-billed Seedeaters, Mountain White Eyes and Cardinal Woodpeckers on the slope below us while Mountain Buzzards mewed above.

Brown Capped Weavers

Cardinal Woodpecker

There were many new Flycatchers with White-bellied Crested, the angry looking Yellow-eyed Black and dull and dinky African Dusky  to go with African Paradise, White-tailed Blue and White-eyed Slaty while Dwarf Honeyguides were seen much better alongside a host of Greenbuls.  I thought from the book that these would be a headache but with guidance you have a good idea where to go with the id.  There were grey headed Eastern Mountain, Yellow-Whiskered and Yellow Streaked but Grey-chested Babblers were vocal but never even glimpsed in the bracken and balsam thicket unlike their close relative the Mountain Illadopsis, Grauer’s Warbler, Mountain Yellow Warbler and Albertine Sooty Bulbul who were all seen with patience.

Eastern Mountain Greenbul

Yellow-eyed Black Flycatcher

Dusky Crimsonwings (a tubby little finch with, well, you know…) were found on several occasions and Equatorial Akalet, Archer’s Robin-chat and the gaudy White Starred Robins added even more colour when you eventually got to see them.

Higher up we found Fine Barred Woodpecker, striking Sharpe’s Starling, more Brown-Capped Weavers and the oddly named Strange Weaver too.  Both Northern and Pink-footed Puffbacks were found along with Mountain Oriole and both Grey and Petit’s Cuckoo-shrikes as well as a Ludher’s Bush-Shrike once again but despite hearing several Lagden’s Bush-shrikes we could not find one. Chin-spot Batis were noted along with the localised Rwenzori Batis.  Both species (like many out here) have gleaming pale eyes. 

Strange Weaver - building a nest

Strange Weaver - Angie Merrick

Eristalis sp

A Tambourine Dove perched up for us while we were watching the Broadbills and there was even more colour to be found with a male Narina Trogon, noisy (they sound like distressed Mallards) Black and White Casqued Hornbills, punky Black-billed Touracos and a ludicrously shiny gang of White-headed Wood-Hoopoes that put on a show for the crew.  A couple of Mackinnon’s Shrikes were found and one had stashed a small snake into a crevice on a branch down at path level and flocks of Slender-billed and Narrow-tailed Starlings past over.

White-headed Wood-Hoopoe - Angie Merrick

White-headed Wood-Hoopoe

Mackinnon’s Shrike

Elephant...

And Gorilla - other track users

Blue Monkey

L'Hoest's Monkey

Tambourine Dove

 

By the time we emerged onto the road were had been on the track for just over nine hours but despite my lack of breath, it had been an exhilarating experience with the feeling that within Bwindi we were just scratching the surface.

And could not have done it without these guys - and Paul of course

Back at the lodge I had a hot shower and then sat on my balcony (with a towel!) and dried in the evening sun whilst the bushes on the next level of rooms below held Variable and Collared Sunbirds, and Baglafecht Weavers (which had rusty rear crowns and not olive like the ones in Entebbe), a White-eyed Slaty Flycatcher and a family of vociferous Chubb’s Cisticolas although we had started to call them Chubbies by then.

Baglafecht Weavers

Baglafecht Weavers

Chubb’s Cisticola

Chubb’s Cisticola

White-eyed Slaty Flycatcher

Pied Crows began to gather as the sun went down and an adult Harrier-Hawk headed off to roost too.  It had been a long day – especially immediately following the Gorilla experience but certainly one to remember. The steps back up to the dining area seemed huge but at least I only had nine. The ladies were down the bottom and had 62 each way of varying depth.  I think that would have finished me off!

Pied Crow