Trip to Uganda (February 2014): Wildlife (birds)
Although birds were definitely visible throughout the hike around Murchison Falls as well as the Games Drive, it was on the boat trip up the Victoria Nile between the Nile Delta on Lake Albert in toward the Murchison Falls that we saw the most birds. In addition to the river attracting a wide range of species, it was perhaps also that our attention was allowed to really look at the birds, even with the hippos, crocs and elephants hanging out at the waterside.
The first bird I saw was the pied kingfisher. According to Helm Field Guides' Birds of East Africa, the Pied Kingfisher:
"Ceryle rudis 25cm, 10
Characterful large crested black and white kingfisher: ad ♂ has two complete breast bands; ad ♀ has a single broken band. Imm is similar to ad ♀, but has brown fringing to the face and throat, and a duller band. Uniquely fish from hovering flight, enabling birds to exploit open water. HH highly social: singles and groups are widespread and common residents beside all types of water, from sea-level to 2300m, including coastal shallows. Vo calls an explosive and rather tern-like chit-chit, which often breaks into a metallic, musical and rhythmic chittering with many birds joining in excitedly."Personally, this was my favorite bird; it's coloring and its awesome hover-fishing technique was just super cool to watch. What I liked as well was that, as a viewer, you could really start to understand its behavior quickly. When fishing, they would fly quite high up in the sky, and then hover, with their beak jabbing back and forth at the air like they were sewing. Then, WOOSH, down to the water where they would, in a flurry and splash of water, grab an unsuspecting morsel.
The first bird I saw was the pied kingfisher. According to Helm Field Guides' Birds of East Africa, the Pied Kingfisher:
"Ceryle rudis 25cm, 10
Characterful large crested black and white kingfisher: ad ♂ has two complete breast bands; ad ♀ has a single broken band. Imm is similar to ad ♀, but has brown fringing to the face and throat, and a duller band. Uniquely fish from hovering flight, enabling birds to exploit open water. HH highly social: singles and groups are widespread and common residents beside all types of water, from sea-level to 2300m, including coastal shallows. Vo calls an explosive and rather tern-like chit-chit, which often breaks into a metallic, musical and rhythmic chittering with many birds joining in excitedly."Personally, this was my favorite bird; it's coloring and its awesome hover-fishing technique was just super cool to watch. What I liked as well was that, as a viewer, you could really start to understand its behavior quickly. When fishing, they would fly quite high up in the sky, and then hover, with their beak jabbing back and forth at the air like they were sewing. Then, WOOSH, down to the water where they would, in a flurry and splash of water, grab an unsuspecting morsel.