At long last the next and final 10 days have now been fully updated. Enjoy!
Queen Elizabeth NP
We were out early and started birding the main road up towards the park checkpoint where the first few mammals were being seen. Once at the checkpoint, we opened up the roof and went into safari mode. Large herds of Ugandan Kob were spectacular as they fed across the large open and green plains with mountains in the backround. Some good birds were being seen including a very showy family of Collared Pratincoles. The first of very few Elephants were seen occasionally and our first Vultures of the trip were chilling out in some dead trees. We continued to drive around the park up until late morning where it became very hot and activity had dropped right of. However it was a good morning notching up a good range of species and at long last some good raptor counts. A quick lunch was had back at Marafiki with the usual 5-star service from the locals. The afternoon was spent on the west side of the park and the Kazinga Channel where we embarked on a brilliant boat trip getting stunning views of plenty of mammals as well as hundreds of birds, including the much hoped for African Skimmers. The boat trip ended at Lake Herald that is shared between Uganda and The Congo. On our return an albino Malachite Kingfisher was caught us out. A short game drive afterwards produced a family of Elephants, and then a Nightjar drive back to Marafiki produced no Nightjars at all, but an Owl crossing the road was presumably a White-faced Scops but it kept flying away and a definite identification was unlikely to get. In the distance as we were driving back, a set of eyes crossed the road. It took a while to see the culprit, and when we did it wasn't the best of views, but we were in no doubt the culprit was a Leopard. Apart from nearly running over a Snake, we saw nothing else.
Goliath Heron - 2
Yellow-billed Stork
African Spoonbill - 1
Lesser Flamingo - 100
White-backed Vulture
Ruppell's Griffon Vulture
Brown Snake Eagle
Martial Eagle
Crested Francolin
Red-necked Spurfowl
Black Crake
Water Thick-Knee
Temminck's Courser - 1
Spur-winged Plover
Senegal Lapwing
Kittlitz's Plover
African Skimmer - 100+
African Mourning Dove
Bare-faced Go-Away Bird - 1
Grey-headed Kingfisher
Madagascar Bee-Eater
Spot-flanked Barbet
Rufous-naped Lark
Flappet Lark - 1 displaying
Red-capped Lark
Plain Martin - 2
Wire-tailed Swallow - 2
Rufous-chested Swallow - 2
African Pipit
Grey-capped Warbler - 1
Black-headed Batis - 1
Yellow-billed Oxpecker
Lesser Masked Weaver
Ugandan Kob
Yellow-throated Longclaw
Temminck's Courser
Collared Pratincole
a very young Collared Pratincole
Red-necked Spurfowl
Warthog
White-browed Coucal
Hippo
African Skimmers
Giant Forest Hogs
Yellow-billed Stork
Water Thick-Knee
Water Thick-Knee keeping a safe distance
Hamerkop with a Marabou Stork
African Fish Eagle
albino Malachite Kingfisher
Elephants
Kazinga Channel
