Uganda - 20 July 2015
This morning we woke up in Lutembe Bay. Breakfast would be at 7.30 am, as the journey through Kampala was going to be a nightmare if we left earlier. So we had arranged with Robert, our guide, to take us out at 6.40 am and bird around the lodge at Lutembe Bay and try for the Red-Chested Flufftail again, that I had seen but Mum and Dad had missed last night.
That meant I could get up at 6.30 am and pull on my clothes. We were down by the little creek with in 5 minutes with Robert whistling to the Flufftail. I wish I could do that.
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| Creek into Lutembe Bay, Uganda Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
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| Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, Lutembe Bay, Uganda Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig |
Suddenly, we heard one and then two Flufftail on the left hand side of the creek. A fisherman arrived and took his boat out along the creek and we thought this kind of disturbance would silence these shy birds. Then I turned for a second to take a photo and mum turned to watch when Dad and Robert shouted to say a Flufftail had flown across the gap. I would have liked a better view of but at least I had seen one the night before. Mum was going to be a nightmare missing two birds in two days. Our friend Digby birded in Colombia with us and was joining us in a few days for two weeks in Uganda once said "if Helena misses a bird Chis sees, then all hell breaks loose!". With this in mind, we were desperately hoping for another miracle viewing. Robert helpfully showed us where the Flufftail had crossed with his laser pointer. As we stared at the position of the missed bird, a second bird flew across the gap. We were so lucky to have seen it, improving the Craig family 'harmony index' as our guide from Peru, Gunnar Engblom coined it.
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| Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, Lutembe Bay, Uganda Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig |
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| Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, Lutembe Bay, Uganda Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig |
We also saw Eastern Grey Plantain-eater which Dad admitted we had missed the day before when Mum and I were asleep in the vehicle but he hadn't mentioned it as he was sure we would see another one, so would tell us then. So now we were back to everyone seeing all the birds.
As well as that, we had better views of Papyrus Gonolek and saw Long-toed and Spur-winged Lapwing and Vieillot's Black Weaver.
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| View from our Lutembe Guest House, Lutembe Bay, Uganda Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
After breakfast we headed off for the other side of Kampala.
Due to heavy traffic getting through Kampala and then to Jinja, we didn't arrive at our birding destination until 11 am and then spent the rest of the day birding Mabira Forest.
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| Mabira Forest, Jinja, Uganda Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
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| Mabira Forest, Jinja, Uganda Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
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Great Blue Turaco, Mabira Forest, Jinja, Uganda
Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig
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Here we had gripping views of Forest Robin and Green-tailed Bristlebills, both usually being extremely shy and difficult to see. The Bristlebill was feeding young and so was quite high up when it was usually in the undergrowth. Robert told us that he had never seen anyone photograph them before because they were usually so secretive.
 Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
I spotted a pair of White-Spotted Flufftail which Dad managed to photograph. These were feeding on the edge of a stream when usually you would have to wait for an hour or two just to catch a one second view if you are lucky!
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White-spotted Flufftail, Mabira Forest, Jinja, Uganda
Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig
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| Our Guide Robert, checking for birds, Uganda Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
We had an amazing afternoon birding at Mabira Forest, also seeing Tamourine Dove, Narina Trogan, Forest Wood Hoopoe, Grey-throated Barbet, Red-headed Bluebill and White-breasted Nigrita.
Trip list - 137 total birds by the end of day 2 and 40 lifers for me
About the Writer
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Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig on Scilly
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig
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Mya-Rose Craig is a 13 year old young birder, conservationist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world. She is looking forward to going Mountain Gorilla Trekking in East Africa in the summer and watching Penguins in Antarctica in December 2015, which will be her 7th continent. She has recently been listed with the singer songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people. Please like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter
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