Posts in Category: Queen Elizabeth National Park
Black-headed Gonolek
Black-headed Gonolek: Irungu Forest Lodge, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — One of the more common birds of Uganda, but it can be shy. Patience pays and good views are worth waiting for. They are skulkers in the brush, but they like to sit up higher and sing. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/800th.
Scarlet-chested Sunbird
Another Sunbird from the gardens at Irungu Forest Lodge near Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda in August. Scarlet-chested Sunbird…not to be confused with the Red-chested! I posted this bird from Chimpanzee Forest Lodge near Kibale National Park. We saw it there as well. A brilliant bird! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 640 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
White-browed Robin-Chat
White-browed Robin-Chat: Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — One of the more common and wide-spread birds in Uganda, the White-browed Robin-Chat is frequent in both field and garden. We found this one at Irungu Forest Lodge while waiting for lunch time. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. IS0 160 and 1000 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Backlit shot plus 1EV.
Red-chested Sunbird
When I said we had left the Sunbirds behind in Kabale, I was, of course, exaggerating. Our first stop at Queen Elizabeth National Park is always Irungu Forest Lodge, where we have lunch. We always get there early with enough time to bird around the lodge while waiting for lunch to be served. This Red-chested Sunbird was one of many different species we saw there. Brilliant bird! The Scarlet-chested is generally found around water, lakes and marshes, and we were only a mile or so from the Kazinga Channel. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 400 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Brown Snake-Eagle
Brown Snake-Eagle: Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — Moving on now from Kabale and Sunbirds and Chimps, we found this Brown Snake-Eagle along the roadside just as we entered the park…evidently to greet us. We had had looks before, but not like this! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus 1EV.
Lions of Ishasha
Our guide, Moses, knew every tree in the Ishasha Sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park where the famous Tree Climbing Lions of the sector hang out, and on our first evening there, he took us to every one of them. The lions of Ishasha have developed the habit, over many generations now, of resting on the lower limbs of the big Acacia trees in the park. No one had seen one in a tree for several days when we visited, according to the rangers at the entrance gates, but we still made the round of all the trees. We had given up and were headed back to the lodge when Moses spotted this pride of 5 lions resting under brush 70 yards from the road. We are thankful for Moses’ sharp eyes. We could have easily driven right by. It was getting dark fast, and I used the Sony’s Anti-motion Blur mode to make the most of what little light remained. As we had seen two radio collared lions in the northern sector that morning, these made for a 7 lion day! Not bad. I posted the last photo on Facebook from the lodge that night but it deserves another showing here.
Leopard Again…
Two more shots of the radio collared Leopard at Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda. I told the story of finding her yesterday. The director of the Carnivore Project threw her two pieces of medicated meat. After the first she returned to the shade. After the second she decided to “stalk” the truck were the meat was coming from. The top panel is her in her pounce mode, and the second is a close-up of her hunting face. When she showed no signs of backing off, the Carnivore man put his truck in gear and drove off rather quickly. She paid absolutely no attention the other vehicles in the convoy, before or after he left, even though she was less than 10 feet from us. She knew exactly where the meat was coming from. Once the meat wagon was gone, she settled back into the shade. What a beautiful animal! Sony Rx10iv at around 300mm and 1200mm equivalents. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. Assembled in Framemagic.
Leopard!
After spending time with the lions on our Experiential Safari Experience at Queen Elizabeth National Park (see yesterday’s post), the tracking vehicle went off looking for a radio collared Leopard who just gave birth to a kitten. The director of the Carnivore Project at QENP was driving one of the other vehicles in our convoy. The kitten is still well hidden but they are supplementing the mother’s diet while she is nursing with some medicated meat, and this was the day for her visit. The tracking vehicle called our ranger when they had located the cat, and since she was resting quietly in the shade under another stand of brush, we were able to approach. This shot was taken from maybe 30 feet, at about 480mm equivalent, as she got up to retrieve her medicine. I like lions, and prize every encounter, but this experience with the Leopard at close range was something really special. Sony Rx10iv. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. #Epic_Uganda_Vacations.
Lions at QENP, Uganda
At dinner at our lodge on the high escarpment overlooking Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda, our driver, Moses, promised us a “special treat” for the next day. Honestly, we hand already had so many “special treats”, so many wonderful and unexpected encounters, on our Birds and Wildlife Safari with #Epic_Uganda_Vacations that we were hard pressed to guess what he might have in mind. The next morning we lined up at the gate to check into the wildlife drive in the northern sector of QENP, and witnessed a lengthy negotiation at the check in building. It turned out that Moses was trying to secure a place for us in the “Experiential Safari Group” for the morning. Up to 4 vehicles are allowed to go out, each with a ranger, in convoy, following the research vehicle with the tracker who keeps track of the radio collared lions in the park, and going “off-road” to find them…providing a pretty much guaranteed close encounter with lions…and perhaps with leopards as well. Indeed a special treat, and one that we were not expecting. We followed the radio vehicle for well over an hour across the untracked savanna, before we finally located the lions…two females resting in the shade of a large thorny clump of bush. The rangers kept us at a respectable distance, but we were close enough so that I never got above 600mm on camera’s zoom, even for the portraits. Queen Elizabeth National Park is part of larger complex of parks that make up a Lion Research Area, and the Carnivore Project at QENP monitors the largest number of Lions of any park in Uganda. A special treat indeed.
Water Thick-knee
While on our small tour boat, we came across a group of Water Thick-knees along the banks of the Kazinga Channel in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda. As you see from the first two shots, the Thick-knees rest with their legs folded at the thick heal (not the knee…it would be more accurate if they were called Thick-heals). Other members of this family are called “Stone-curlews”, though they are not related to curlews either. Most Thick-knees are nocturnal foragers. Our guide said it is possible these are young birds. Sony Rx10iv at 1200mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.