Uganda part 3 - Royal Mile

On next day (December 4th) in the Uganda FAM tour we first birded our accommodation at Kabalega Resort. As always, it was good fun. Nothing special, but we enjoyed solid, colourful birding (eBird checklist here). We tried the adjacent wetland for Papyrus Gonolek, no success, so had to make do with its common yet stunning relative, Black-headed Gonolek.

A pair of Gray-capped Warblers were vocal

Our main destination for the day was Budongo Forest Reserve, birding the famous trail named Royal Mile. The origin of this name is the use of this stretch of forest for different royal activities by kings (Omukama) of the Bunyoro Kingdom in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Birding on foot (rather than birding from a safari vehicle) is a feature of Ugandan birding that I really enjoyed. Birding on foot allows a better and deeper connection with the habitat and with small birds. Also it allowed me to digiscope, which I enjoy. This opportunity to bird on foot in Uganda is in contrast to birding in Kenya and Tanzania, where almost all birding opportunities along the classic routes are from inside a safari vehicle.

We arrived at Royal Mile, met up with Amos the expert local guide, and his apprentice (sorry I don't remember his name), and started birding the trail. The habitat was beautiful - rich, lush forest: 

Local people walked up and down the trail as well. We were told that these women are collecting seeds from the forest.

Birding the forest was pretty challenging. 

Warbler neck African style

Davis demonstrating another strategy for canopy birding

We heard so many birds, identified mainly by Amos and our guides Herbert, Patricia and Davis (who joined us for the day). It was much more challenging to view these mobile birds up in the canopy, and even more so to photograph them. Eventually we connected with all of our target birds (eBird checklists here and here), but photo opps were few and difficult. At least I obtained some half-decent sound recordings and videos. This sound recording demonstrates how challenging it it to sound record when birding in a large group...

Ituri Batis up in the canopy

Chestnut-crowned Flycatcher - too mobile for a decent photo

At least White-thighed Hornbills showed well enough:

While most birds didn't cooperate too well, kingfishers actually did. African pygmys showed very well:

We found a pair of African Dwarf Kingfishers, but they were very high in the canopy and pretty mobile - tougher to document.

The icing on the chocolate cake was this Chocolate-backed Kingfisher, that took some effort to find until Davis spotted it - fantastic bird! Yani - your contribution to the soundtrack is most welcome.

While birds were challenging to document, butterflies were super abundant. We were in awe with the huge diversity and sheer beauty of some mega oooooooh-wooooooow butterflies. Here are a few photos, I hope I got the IDs right, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

African Map

Bematistes macarista

Blue Diadem

Danaid Eggfly

Euphaedra uganda

Spotted Ciliate Blue

Huge thanks and appreciation to Amos, he's an amazingly skilled, knowledgeable birder and guide, deeply involved in research and conservation at Budongo forest Reserve. if you visit royal Mile, Amos is your man.

That evening we stayed in Kabalega Resort Hoima. Before dusk we walked the grounds and enjoyed some good birds (eBird checklist here).

Our first African Blue Flycatchers - stunning birds

Magpie Mannikin - our only observation during this tour

After dinner, a pair of African Wood-Owls performed amazingly well in the garden - incredible views of this awesome bird: