Month: October 2016

Bird of the Week, Bird watching

Yellow-breasted Apalis (Apalis flavida)

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Yellow-Breasted Apalis is the commonly encountered Apalis in the field especially if you are birding arid-semi arid areas of Kenya. Its widespread distribution makes it an easy target if you are also birding mid-altitude elevation and in this context it can be true for areas like Nairobi national park, Naivasha, Lake Nakuru, Masai Mara and Amboseli.

The much sort after Apalis is the Karamoja Apalis Apalis karamojae which is a range-restricted species, is found in Masai Mara national Reserve where acacia drepanolobium dominate the vegetation. Taita Apalis Apalis fuscigularis is a globally threatened species is endemic to Taita Hills in South East Kenya. Grey, Chesnut-throated and Black-throated Apalis are easy to pick species in montane dominated habitat of central Kenya e.g Mt.Kenya, Aberdare, Mau forest. While Buff-throated and Black-collared Apalis is commonly recorded in Kakamega forest, the only remnant tropical rain forest patch in Kenya.

 

Bird of the Week, Uncategorized

Red-throated Bee-eater (Merops bulocki)

SX50 39112 Red-throated Bee-eater

Red-throated Bee-eater is an incredibly beautiful Bee-eater to watch…in any birding trip to Uganda, with your best bet being in Murchison falls national park in northern Uganda. As soon as you approach the river Nile, their presence there cannot be ignored, where they are frequently seen going in and out of their nest holes.

The above photo was taken during my recent bird trip to Uganda, where we were visited Murchison Falls National Park, Budongo forest reserve where we extensively birded the famous Royal Miles Trail, we easily picked up our much sort after kingfishers( African Pygmy, Blue-breasted and and Chocolate-backed Kingfisher).

Kibale forest reserve, Bigodi swamp and  Samliki  were part of the other areas we visited. Kibale and Bigodi swamp were incredibly productive for us, but the same cannot be said of Samliki forest.  I think our timing was not the best as it had rain heavily the previous night, so we literally had to  walked on the flooded Kirumia trail. We dearly missed our gumboots which we had ignored to bring, next time we will be more clever. Keep birding.