Daily Archives: September 18, 2022

Elephant edition: Our first!

We came across our first elephants along the banks of the Nile where the Albert and Victoria Niles join in Murchison Falls National Park. Elephants are still recovering after the Ugandan herds were decimated under Idi Amin…so you do not see the mass groups common in other East and South African countries. Ugandan elephants are still seen mostly in small groups of 6 to 12, including males, females and young. There seem to be a significant number of old bachelor males who are not attached to family groups…but that could just be my impression. This was a family of three, with one youngster…though there may have been more elephants back further in the brush waiting for us to pass. Sony Rx10iv at 74 and 100mm equivalents (they are big animals and we were quite close). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Abyssinian Ground Hornbills

Abyssinian Ground Hornbill: Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — Ground Hornbills are most often seen in family groups, male, female, and generally a single chick to sub-adult bird. The male and female often walk through the savannah grasses next to each other. These are big birds, the size of a North American turkey. They prefer to walk or “lumber” even when threatened, but you do catch them in flight occasionally, mostly moving up to or down from a roost in the lower branches of well grown trees, and they have striking white patches on the wings. You can just see a bit of white poking out on the male’s wing in this photo. There is a Southern Ground Hornbill, which replaces the Abyssinian (or Northern) in Kenya and the rest of Africa south and east of there. They tend to be very local…but we saw several families on this trip to Murchison. This family happened to be close to our track along the edge of the Nile near where the Albert and Victoria Niles join. Sony Rx10iv at 554mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th.