Hayley Meets Hornbill

January 1, 2012 · Filed under General

Things at Christmastime in Uganda don’t so much “wind down” as they “grind to a 3-week halt”.  Grasping at straws to convince myself that I’m still a productive enough human being to re-enter the American workforce in a few months, I decided to use my holiday time putting together a training manual for the local guides of our beekeeping Agro-Tour in Kataara.  This involved compiling photos and information for local crops, medicinal plants, cultural sites and…..birds.  Lots of birds. 

I really don’t like birds.  Why?  It might have something vaguely to do with that time I had to chase a mockingbird around its territory with a stopwatch and clipboard for a total of 8 hours recording, every 5 seconds, exactly which behavior it was exhibiting in exchange for something UNC-Chapel Hill called “an education” masquerading as a weekly Animal Behavior lab.  Time.  PERCHING.  Time.  PERCHING.  Time.  FLYING.  Time.  PERCHING.  Time.  Uhhhh….  Time!  Foraging?  Time. PERCHING.  Time.  PERCHING AND SINGING!  Time.  Just perching.  I think I still chase that mockingbird sometimes, in my nightmares.

What was I saying?  Oh yes, lots of birds.  But as it turns out—even the most normal birds in Uganda are awesome!  No, I still cannot tell the difference between a Yellow-fronted Weaver and any of the 5 races of Baglafecht Weavers, which all have yellow fronts, but they are beautiful!  Have you heard of something called a Sunbird?  Or a Firefinch?  These are like our pigeons and sparrows. 

Variable Sunbird

I’m learning so much, too.  Like, the Eastern Grey Plantain-eater?  This book says that it calls “with loud, querulous and nasal notes which build up into a maniacal laughter.”  And I thought those were just the voices in my head!  What a load off! 

What’s great is that, when you’re researching Ugandan birds, not only is it impossible for you to get your hands on a stopwatch or a clipboard, but you get to Google things like Common Chiffchaff and Brown-throated Wattle-eye.  You also get to Google image, with fingers crossed that you won’t be traumatized or otherwise plagued with awkward custom Facebook ads for life, things like Dusky Tit and Hairy-breasted Barbet.

The more you poke around the online birding world, the more impressed you become by the beauty and diversity of these creatures and the passion and drive of the many human creatures who study them and take their photos.  Soooooooo many photos.  Kind of….a lot of photos….Then you start to get scared.   How many hours did someone have to stand in a bush to get this perfect snap of a Lesser Blue-eared Glossy Starling?  Who sat down and drafted out names for the Streaky-breasted Flufftail?  Why does the Grasshopper Buzzard have its own fan page?  What is happening??  I’m not even sure that some of these are real birds anymore.  Topping my candidates for fanciful feathered friends? A Moustached Green Tinkerbird and the Sooty Boubou.  Too much.  It’s just too much.  Waaaay too much.  Stop it!  Leave me alone you crazy mockingbird!  Perch!  Perch! No…fly!  Forage!  I don’t care, leave me alone!

I think I overdid it on the bird-loving thing.  Bird-liking.  Bird-slight-interest-taking.  Now I’ll be dreaming of Whydahs and Woodpeckers, Weavers and Waxbills but….ah!  At last!  One I can identify with….the Common Cuckoo. 

Bird.