Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — When it became obvious that our driver was not, in fact, going to come back for us at the parking area for the Gorilla Trek, our guide Gordon got talking to one of the rangers (Gordon was a porter at Bwindi for several seasons and knew a lot of the staff there). The ranger told him about a path that lead down the mountain toward a lodge and offered to show us where it left the little town there…I only figured out it was our lodge, which was several miles by road from the trail head, when we actually got to point where we could see it above us on the mountain side. He failed to mention that the trail was near vertical for long sections and typically, for Bwindi, muddy and slippery. If we had known…but we didn’t…so Gordon bought us some water and we headed out. It sloped down through fields for the first quarter mile, before it entered the forest and dropped down steeply toward a stream We had some adventures in controlled falling for a while (a bit too long to be comfortable and bit too much like actual falls) before it leveled out along the stream bed. We were looking for whatever we could find, but one bird we had yet to see in particular…the Regal Sunbird…endemic to the Albertine Rift…but the bloom was off the morning and the birds were quiet. We did come up on this scruffy looking…maybe molting into adult plumage…Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater. We take what we can get! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Not to spoil the story for tomorrow’s post, but we did come out on a road right below our lodge, and actually were almost to the lodge drive when the safari vehicle, coming back from picking up the Trekkers, pulled in and picked us up for last 200 yards…which was, again, typical Bwindi, almost vertical. 🙂 All told, the Gorilla Trek itself might have been less strenuous. But that is Africa!

Collared Sunbird: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — In my experience it is rare to actually see the “collar” on the Collared Sunbird, and I can think of a lot of more descriptive names for this bird…one of the most attractive of African Sunbirds…if you like green and yellow. This also one of the few (along with the Green-headed, where the female has significant color. This is two shots of a male and two of the female. The male was considerably further away. And this is the last of the birds from our hour or so working the edged of the parking area for the Gorilla Trek in Bwindi. Sony Rx10iv at about 560mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixomator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 200 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Dusky Crimsonwing: Bwindi National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — I got better photos (or at least photos in better light) of this bird at Mghinga National Park a few days later, but our guide Gordon worked so hard for these first photos that I have to post them. 🙂 This is another Albertine Rift endemic, with a very limited range on the western slopes of the volcanos of East Africa. This Crimsonwing is a skulker par excellence, and we got glimpses of it all around the parking area at the Gorilla Trek trailhead in Bwindi, but it was too quick for me to get a photo. Gordon did not give up though, and we eventually caught this bird in the open long enough for a burst. Sony Rx10iv at 595mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 1000 and 1250 @ 4 @ 1/500th.

Yellow-whiskered Greenbul: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — The field guides say this is a “very common” bird throughout its range, and its range includes part of every East African country, from a few hundred feet to the tops of the mountains…basically wherever there is forest or gardens. This one was, again, around the parking area at the Gorilla Trek trailhead. Sony Rx10iv at 591mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 2000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

African Hill-Babbler: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — This is a common bird through-out its range in East Africa, but the birds along the Albertine Rift have the full black head and are a unique sub-speices, sometimes called the Rwenzori Hill-babbler. Yet another bird from our few hours abound the parking area at the Gorilla Trek trailhead. Sony Rx10iv at 591mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 200 @ f4 @ 1/500th.