Chris_GA_Atl

I have now put up my galleries from northwestern rwanda and mgahinga gorilla national park at www.pbase.com/cwillis. There are a few more bird pictures that I can't identify, so to those of you like safarimama, ovenbird, kimburu and predatorbiologist who have been so helpful, if you could please look at these and tell me what you think, I would appreciate it.

All of these were taken at the Volcanoes Mt. Gahinga Lodge just outside the gate of Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.

(1) Some sort of bee-eater, or roller:
http://www.pbase.com/cwillis/image/73849258

(2) I have no idea what this one is, but it has a long, curved beak and was hanging around in a flower bush:
http://www.pbase.com/cwillis/image/73849259

(3) African pied wagtail? Just a guess based on a bird you all identified for me from Ngamba Island:
http://www.pbase.com/cwillis/image/73849260

(4) Yellow-billed kite?
http://www.pbase.com/cwillis/image/73849261

Thanks again for your help with these. I have one more gallery left to put up (from Ruhija and Buhoma), and there will be a few more unidentified birds in there as well.

Chris

afrigalah

I don't have a bird book for that part of the world but the first two look to me like a little bee-eater and a female marico sunbird.

John

Geelong2007

the first one could also be either a cinnamon chested bee eater or a blue breasted bee eater
the cinnamon chested is also about 22cm adult while the blue breasted is about 18cm
both are found through the western Uganda and Rwanda areas ie. Magahinga area
Cinnamon is found in highland forest and forest edges, gardens etc while the blue breasted is found in reedbeds and damp areas fringing lakes and swamps.
hope this helps

matnikstym

1. looks identical to the little bee eater in my bird book
2. agree with john, looks like marico sunbird
3. yep, it's a pied wagtail.
4. tail feathers look too long for a kite but could be because of the angle.

safariranger

Hi Chris,
Thanks for letting us have a little bit of fun trying to identify the magnificent birds you spotted. We are in the fortunate position of Robert being one of ahandfull of Birding specialsist guides Jaco, Robert and myself have come to the following conclusions. Number one we have confirmed a Cinnamon breasted bee-eater, going on habitat. Nr two seems to be the Amethyst female sunbird, although we are not 100% convinced. Nr 3 is definitely an African pied wagtail. Nr 4 we agree is most likely a Yellow billed kite, although the colour variations made it a bit tricky. We cannot wait for your next set of pics and woulkd love to participate again.
Cheers Leonard.

Geelong2007

I agree it is not a little bee eater as they do not have the white wedge on the cheek which distinguishes it from the blue breasted ( really marked white wedge) and the cinammon which also has a white wedge but not as marked
I think it is the blue breasted as this picture has a realy noticable white wedge between the yellow throat and the black mask
which is more defined in the blue breasted compared to the cinnamom
Chris if you told us the habitat where you saw it it might help as well
nr. 2 I dont think is a amethyst female sunbird because of the habitat where the picture was taken

Geelong2007

PS
Amethyst sunbirds are not found in Western Uganda or Rwanda
It could be a female of the following species but hard to tell
bronze sunbird or purple breasted sunbird
BUT I admit maybe I am now stuck

afrigalah

I agree, fun trying...thanks, Chris.

John

napamatt

Can't speak to first 2 - I only know Southern Africa birds.
3 is Pied Wagtail
4 is Yellow billed Kite

Chris_GA_Atl

Thanks, everyone, for participating in this discussion. To answer the question about habitat, I took all of these pictures on the grounds of the Volcanoes Mt. Gahinga Lodge. The Lodge itself has beautifully landscaped gardens, with lots of flowers and trees. There was a nearby trail that supposedly led to a stream, but there was no water in the immediate area where I was taking the pictures. Surrounding the lodge were cultivated areas, and the Mgahinga Park border was about 200 meters south of where I was, and that would have been a forested area.

I went back to my "rejects" and found two more pictures of a similar-looking bird to #1 that I took at the same place and time. I doubt that is this the same indvidual bird, but perhaps it is the same species -- certainly to my uneducated eye it looks the same. I will warn you that these are not very good pictures, but perhaps they will assist in the identification effort.

http://www.pbase.com/cwillis/image/73859167
and
http://www.pbase.com/cwillis/image/73859168

Once we have finished this discussion, I will delete these two pictures. Thanks again for all of your help in identifying these birds.

Chris

ovenbird

My guesses:

Chris: It sounds like the lodge is at ~2300m with habitat similar to Bwindi, so I'm basing my guesses on these assumptions. Please let me know if this is incorrect since I don't want to make an A$$ our of U and ME! This is most challenging and fun...almost as challenging and fun as taking the pictures in the first place, right?!!!

- Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater, based on altitude and habitat as Geelong2007 pointed out.

- Some sort of female sunbird...sorry, they all look the same to me! But looking in my bird book, I think I've narrowed the field to those: 1) with eyebrows and yellowish bellies, 2) found in that area, and 3) found at 2300m. These include Bronze, Malachite, Olive-bellied, Rwenzori Double-collared, and Purple-breasted. We saw all but the Purple-breasted in the understory and mid-canopy. The Purple-breasteds were always way up in the upper canopy at the tippy top of the trees.

- You're right on the last two, African Pied Wagtail and Yellow-billed Kite...a very nice BIF photo.

napamatt

I think you may have confused things!

Chris_GA_Atl

Matt,
Do you mean with my poorly-taken additional pictures or my amateurish description of the habitat?
:^)
Chris

napamatt

The last two photos could easily be takem for different birds.

Chris_GA_Atl

In that case all I've done is proven that I don't know anything about birds!
It definitely could be 2 or even 3 different species. Sorry if I made the identification problem worse!

Chris_GA_Atl

Ovenbird, yes the lodge is at about 7500 feet elevation -- I can go back and check my GPS tracklog to be exact, but your elevation assumption is a correct one. As the bird flies, it is only about 20 miles south of Bwindi and has forest similar to that in Bwindi, at least at the edge. There are some different habitats further up the mountains in the park itself, like a gorge on Mt. Sabinyo where some people went to see the Rwenzori Turaco.

Thanks again for all your comments!
Chris

Geelong2007

Chris thanks for the update on the habitat
the last two photos are not of different birds they are immature of the first #1 which I am now leaning to being the cinammon
because the blue breasted hangs arounds swamps etc
so we can pretty well say the #1 #3 and #4 we have indentified
the #2 now down to 4 probables