Because you know I'm all about the birds, 'Bout them birds

I have been ever so patiently waiting for our UAB shipment to arrive (mainly so I can have a few items from home like more clothes and some extra food and spices) because it had two very important books in it.  The last time we came to Africa I invested in the National Audubon Society Field Guide to African Wildlife and Princeton Field Guides Birds of East Africa.  We arrived in country on February 5th, our stuff arrived February 9th, yet somehow no one ever seemed to know what was going on and it took until March 7th before we finally had it in our possession.  Don't even get me started on our HHE because that is driving me up a wall with how many times we've been told a different story as to where it is.

Anyways getting back on track, now that I finally have my books I can figure out who all the cool new birds are I keep seeing.  Uganda is interesting in that it sits on the Equator and therefore the sun basically rises a little before 7:00 AM every day and sets around 7:00 PM every evening.  Since it gets hot in the middle of the day, the best time to view most of the birds is at dawn and dusk - good thing Greg has to be at work by 7:30 AM so I get to see and hear all the birds every morning.

There are a few birds we see and hear all the time.  I'm always hearing the Eastern Grey Plantain-eater throughout the day and every time I do I get excited that we might finally have monkeys in our yard because they sound exactly like monkeys hooting at each other.  Unfortunately, we have yet to have any monkeys, but we've been told when the mango trees are ripe we might get some, fingers crossed.

Eastern Grey Plantain-eater - this guy is always hiding in a tree & sounds just like a monkey!

Yes, that's an avocado.

Another frequent visitor is the Hadada Ibis.  You can always tell when they're close by because they constantly sound like they're laughing.  They can be very pretty when the sun hits their feathers just right making the green in their wings shimmer.

Hadada Ibis - these guys are everywhere & sound like they're laughing haa haa ha-aaa.

Hadada Ibis.

Hadada Ibis.

Another frequent flyer is what I believe to be the Greater Blue-eared Starling.  I say I believe because they fall into the Glossy Blue Starling category and they, of course, all look almost exactly the same and all live in about the same location.  It could also be the Lesser Blue-eared Starling or the Bronze-tailed Starling.  Apparently, the different calls they make is the easiest way to tell them apart, but I'm no expert.

Greater Blue-eared Starling - makes a very annoying noise & can sound like a cat.

Greater Blue-eared Starling after a rainstorm.

The final little guy I see on a daily basis reminds me a lot of our robins back at home, the African Thrush.  He normally comes out around dusk and loves our garden area.  He's always finding bugs and when our gardener comes you can catch this little one drinking out of small pools of water.  (On a side note we ordered a bird bath and are patiently waiting for its arrival in the hopes it brings out even more birds, and our stray cats don't try to eat them.)

African Thrush.

"Our cat" stalking an Ibis in the yard.

One afternoon we had a decent rain storm and a few birds I hadn't seen before or since showed up to our yard.

Variable Sunbird.

Double-toothed Barbet.

Double-toothed Barbet.

We have many different fruits and vegetables growing at our house before we ever even planted anything.  We have 2 mango trees, an avocado tree, a ton of banana trees, and 2 papaya trees along with countless veggies and spices we keep finding.  One day the birds decided they wanted our papayas and again we saw birds we had yet to see and haven't seen again!

Speckled mousebird.

I believe this little guy is some time of Weaver bird, there are so many types that are all so similar I'm not positive, but am thinking either the Lesser Masked Weaver or the Baglafecht Weaver (don't quote me on it though).

Some type of Weaver bird.

Unfortunately, there are quite a few woodpeckers with red heads so I'm not sure exactly who this guy is.

Tropical Boubou - He caught a bug & kept hitting it on the ground.

Tropical Boubou.

These guys are rather ugly and large, but you can find them just about anywhere.  There's always a bunch flying in the sky, we see them all around the slums, and this particular group was hanging out by a craft market we went to over the weekend.

A bunch of Marabou Storks sitting in a tree.

Marabou Storks.

I can't wait to start going to all the National Parks so I can find even more interesting birds!