Daily Archives: September 29, 2022
Elephant Edition: early encounter
African Elephant: Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — We were on our way early on the day we moved from Murchison Falls National Park to Kibale, since it would be our longest day on the road. Still we had the safari top up. We did not want to miss our last views of Murchison and its unique habitat and wildlife. We were not yet far from the lodge when we encounter this lone bull elephant feeding at its full reach from the lower branches of a big acacia tree. Lone bulls are likely to be older bulls ejected from the herd by younger rivals, but this one, from the size of the tusks, might be a young bull speaking greener pastures between herds. It was a great encounter and I have more photos to share. Sony Rx10iv at 32mm equivalent. (Gotta love the Sony’s 24-600mm zoom which makes a range of views available with a twist. In this situation I would have hated to be “stuck” with long wildlife lens on a conventional camera.) Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 200 @ f2.8 @ 1/500th.
Juvenile Abyssinian Ground Hornbill
Abyssinian Ground Hornbill: Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — This is my third post on the Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, from a fourth encounter. This is probably the rarest of my Hornbill shots: a juvenile. Hornbills, as I mentioned in a previous post, only successfully breed every 5-9 years, and only raise one chick per-nest. This bird has, so far, beaten the odds to reach this stage of its young life. Note the limited casque and the small grey wattle. This bird is also, uncharacteristically, showing a lot of the white flight feathers. The bird was right beside the road…so close I had to zoom out to get the full body in. Sony Rx10iv at 266mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 800 @ f4 @ 1/500th.