Galana's fourth effort. "Never mind the quality feel the width".

[kittykat23uk]

And I'm at the airport waiting to board. On top of the 400 or so species of birds, I counted at least 40 different mammals 😁

[Galana]

11 hours ago, kittykat23uk said:

On top of the 400 or so species of birds,

Well @xelas can beat that. He scored at least 2000. Sadly most were AFBs.

Oh I DID enjoy my lie in this morning. BLISS!

And it is raining!!

Let's see if this works..High time we got down to the job in hand!

34. Red-eyed Dove. Airport Guest House.Entebbe.

As before I will post in order of listing but maybe 'improve' on the original shot as the trip progresses. (Or not)

[michael-ibk]

I'm happy to see my personally coined acronym in use. 

 

Welcome home! 

Edited March 1, 2020 by michael-ibk

[Galana]

Getting careless. Missed 33 and I am sure you just need to see it.

33. Pied Crow. Somewhere south of the Equator.

 

35. Back on track.

GRey-backed Cameroptera. AGH Entebbed.

 

 

 

36. Bronze Mannikin. Botanical Gardens Entebbe.

That's it for now.

[Galana]

7 minutes ago, michael-ibk said:

I'm happy to see my personally coined acronym in use. 

It translates well in any language.

Not home yet until Noon tomorrow. Still in Entebbe for another 8 houorse or so. 6 of daylight so who knows?

[xelas]

You have the late morning but we have the ice cream  (at IST airport).

[Galana]

1 hour ago, xelas said:

You have the late morning but we have the ice cream 

A question of priorities.

Ice cream can wait for beautiful ladies.

 

 

 

 

[xelas]

That is one lovely family you have in Uganda. We are sorry to miss the ladies, one more reason to get back one day.

 

[Galana]

Back home safe despite KLM flight delays due bad weather in Kigali.

Domestic stuff almost uptodate so my tally will receive attention tomorrow and I can also catch up on other posts too.

Before that I thought it nice of the Shikra to come back to see me off from Airport Guest House on my lazy Sunday afternoon. Was it really only yesterday.

 

[Kitsafari]

@Galana So long Fred, See you Soon, says Shikra.

[Galana]

So I can make a start at least on my input from further wanderings around bird rich Airport Guest House and The Imperial Botanical Gardens in Entebbe.

I don't want to overfeed the supply by posting too many at once to avoid any boredom, yours and mine, but sheer numbers do dictate I post a greater than normal daily quota or I may be off on another trip before finalising this last one.

As stated locations are in order of the trip but the final photo may well have occurred later on.

Text may be brief but if you would like more detail do ask.

NB . Despite stringent attempts I have noted two duplications in the overall list. I simply cannot undo all sequential numbers so will correct the final total at the end. See if you notice!! Also a couple of UFOs to correctly ID so it may make little difference overall.

In the interests of space I will only post a couple of the more usual species.

37. Eastern Grey Plantain Eater. Airport Guest House and elsewhere. A sort of Turaco whose maniacal laughter can disturb your after noon nap.

 

38. Northern Black Flycatcher. Airport Guest House. and many places. The "Southern also occurs in Uganda but I have no record of a sighting this trip.

 

39. African Thrush. Airport Guest House and everywhere at low altitude.

That's a great birdbath at AGH.

 

40. Red-cheeked Cordon Bleu. This specimen was on our last day but first seen in the gardens of AGH

 

41. Scarlet-chested Sunbird. Airport Guest House.

 

42. Speckled Mousebirds. Airport Guest House and almost everywhere else.

 

43. African Yellow White-eye. Seen in AGH but this is a better pose obtained from another balcony at Bwindi Forest Lodge. Balcony birding is my preferred occupation.

 

44. Lizard Buzzard. Still in Entebbe but in the Imperial Botanical Gardens.

 

45. Great Blue Turaco. Yes! You can see them in Airport Guest House but this one was in Imperial Botanical Gardens. A huge and spectacular bird almost twice the size of most other Turacos and enhanced by the clown like head and bill.

I think finishing on a '5' will aid counting a daily quota.

Til next time.

[Kitsafari]

The AGH must be one of the best birding Airport hotels. 

 

Your photos are pretty nice and crisp! no more in the running for EBC awards then.

 

[kittykat23uk]

36 minutes ago, Kitsafari said:

The AGH must be one of the best birding Airport hotels. 

 

Your photos are pretty nice and crisp! no more in the running for EBC awards then.

 

 

There are certainly a lot of nice birds to see around there.  

[Galana]

3 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

no more in the running for EBC awards then.

Thanks. As to EBC 'we' are only at no. 45. There is a long way to go yet.

[Galana]

Thanks for all the likes etc.,

I think I have time to go for the half century if only to round up the numbers.

46. Slender-billed Weaver. I like birds that carry their ID in the name. Entebbe and latterly at Mweya Lodge in Queen Elizabeth NP.

 

47. Blue-throated Brown Sunbird. Another self namer if you can get close enough! Imperial Botanical Gardens, Entebbe.

 

48. It's a Woodpecker and it is mainly Grey.

Grey Woodpecker. Imperial Botanical Gardens, Entebbe. (and elsewhere)

 

49. Crowned Hornbill. Imperial Botanical Gardens. Entebbe.

 

50. Wahlberg's Eagle. Entebbe.

[pedro maia]

2 hours ago, Galana said:

Thanks. As to EBC 'we' are only at no. 45. There is a long way to go yet.

 

Good to know there will be EBC’s, standards must be maintained.

[xelas]

13 hours ago, Galana said:

It's a Woodpecker and it is mainly Grey.

That is how most of my birding lessons looked like !

[Soukous]

On 2/18/2020 at 11:49 AM, Galana said:

#100 is decided and only yesterday Sunday, I had no choice with the selection of #200 as it fell in place just right.

 

Oh for crying out loud!

You've already got posts 100 & 200 in the bag. 

Nothing quite like rubbing it in. 

[xelas]

18 minutes ago, Soukous said:

You've already got posts 100 & 200 in the bag. 

And #300, I am quite sure .

[Galana]

3 hours ago, xelas said:

That is how most of my birding lessons looked like 

Glad you learned something apart from all those bloody Bulbuls!

Tip. If it looks like a Bulbul but is green, it is probably a Greenbul! Everyone has to start somewhere!

 

Edited March 4, 2020 by Galana

[Galana]

1 hour ago, Soukous said:

Oh for crying out loud!

You've already got posts 100 & 200 in the bag. 

Seems like it and that was posted on 18th February. I only got home 2nd March.

I fear @xelas may have inside information. No idea how many clicks he got but from the shutter noise from the back of the car it must be 600 or more. Of course many will be of the same bird!!

[xelas]

9 minutes ago, Galana said:

No idea how many clicks he got

We have made 12615 clicks (plus a few hundred more that were deleted on spot) so a lot of noise from our side . @kittykat23uk was much more appreciative, putting her mirrorless to Quiet Mode (or Noiseless Mode). So I have no idea how many clicks she has done. Jo??

[kittykat23uk]

Well, I have not got a clear number as I have been deleting as I go along but I shoot raw and jpeg together so overall I estimate around 37,500 images, with duplicate jpegs that's around 75,000 total. Since I had some issues with storage early on in this trip I have been curating my images as I have gone along, selecting between 100 to 400 or so images from each day as a first pass. 

[Galana]

12615 in 30 days. That's >600 a day!! I was also on silent mode, well the camera was anyway! I got around 2000 exposures and my 16GB card was not full.

I think it is time for a little more detail of the trip for the others:-

I put a small trip together for @xelas to introduce Zvezda and him to East Africa's birds and in particular some of the 'specials' in Uganda's 1200 species. 20 days in an anti clockwise rotation around South West Uganda. (Despite being a small country it is just not possible to go everywhere in three weeks and remain sane.)

Our route shows our stops, starting in Entebbe and travelling via Mabamba Swamp west to Fort Portal and Chimpanzee Guest House in Kibale Forest. Then south to Mweya Safari Lodge in Queen Elizabeth NP where, by agreement, we splurged on a pair of nice tents. Continuing SW we made for Buhoma in Bwindi Impenetrable NP and on up to Broadbill Forest Camp to garner some Albertine Rift endemics.  We then travelled via two swamps, I like swamps, to the lovely Lake Mulehe Lodge for more swamp birds. Back over Kabamba pass, with one of the finest views, IMO, in Africa across to the Ruwenzoris on a clear day. On to a final stop in Lake Mburo NP for more Savannah and Swamp birds with a good chance of a Leopard sighting too.

Then a return to Entebbe and the team to go its separate ways with me staying on to mop up and visit friends.

Later as word got round we were joined by @kittykat23uk akas 'Jo' and we were able to fit in both Chimp and Gorilla trecking for her without disrupting our timetable.

So it came to pass that 'we' arrived at our first stop in the early hours of Sunday 9th February with Z & A being the last at silly o'clock that morning. No way were they to be fit to head out at first light so I had arranged a lazy day with some local birding in Entebbe for the Sunday which is about where I am at in the postings.

Which I had better get on with as this is not a trip report. The others can do that!

Edited March 4, 2020 by Galana
Corrected text.

[Galana]

Recap over and we are still in Entebbe for the next dirty metric dozen.

Our day in Entebbe included a must do visit to The Imperial Botanical Gardens and for a setting that is envious on the shores of Lake Victoria.

Several of the photos already submitted are from these Gardens and so we continue our stroll.

51. Yellow Wagtail (flacva Ssp.)

 

52. Cattle Egret.

 

53. Harder to get to grips with but quite common so forgive the lapse into ECB land

Ross's Turaco.

 

54. Black and White Casqued Hornbill. A bit better.

 

55. Little Sparrowhawk was spied overhead viewing us with disdain.

Also caught up with a better sequence in Buhoma where this one was taking breakfast.

 

55b. Little Sparrowhawk. Visitor Centre balcony, Buhoma.

Back to EBB..

 

56. Water Dikkop. IMp. Gardens.

 

57. Spur-winged Lapwing.

 

58. African Open-billed Stork. Imp. Gds.

 

59. Grey Kestrel. One of Uganda's commonest raptors.

 

60. Pied Kingfisher. Imperial Bot Gardens. The latter picture was at our lunch stop by the lake.

Speaking of lunch, it IS getting rather hot.

 

Time for a cold one although one of us looks to have had too many already.

After lunch we can continue.