All you need is lovebirds

Yellow-collared Lovebird, Tarangire National Park, Tanzania

Not quite home: Nests and Avian Architecture

Woven nests: Village Weavers (Rwanda)

Birds are consumers in their environments beyond food; they use space, plant material, mud, spider silk, mammal hair, rocks, and other materials to construct their nests. In some cases birds construct other structures, like bowers or food stores.

Tufted Titmouse with nesting material (they nest in holes per Cornell University)

According to Avian Architecture, by Peter Goodfellow, the vast majority of birds do not live in their nest, although there are exceptions. The primary function of the nest is to contain eggs for protection and incubation, and then for many species, for raising the young until they can fledge (defined by the book as growing feathers and being able to fly). For many other species, the young are born from the egg with feathers and without a need for parental care. Nests are then often abandoned or perhaps reclaimed the following breeding season.

Cup nest: Chipping Sparrow (Kansas, USA)

The crane they call Umusambi

Grey-crowned cranes (Balearica regulorum) live in Africa. In Rwanda,
this is the bird they call umusambi.

Grey-crowned cranes range from Uganda (where they are the national bird)
and Kenya down along the eastern half of sub-Saharan Africa nearly
to the tip of South Africa. 

Grey-crowned cranes are omnivores, and they often feed in grasslands, as
they are in this picture from Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania.

Adult cranes have a wingspan of almost two meters, In this picture, they
are flying above the plains of Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.

Cranes fly around to find food but when they breed, they make nests
of broken grasses in shallow waters. They often find spots in wetlands
that have both shallow water and tall plants for seclusion and protection.

Both male and female cranes look similar. According to Animal Diversity 
Web, grey-crowned cranes are monogamous and may mate for life.
It takes a young bird about one year to look like its parents.

Sadly, the population of grey-crowned cranes is decreasing. Habitat loss
and capture from the wild have put serious pressure on the cranes. One
day in June, a man showed up with a baby crane and tried to sell it to
Michele and me. We declined.

People capture cranes for food, traditional practices, and the domestic and
international pet  markets. Taking a crane is illegal in Rwanda, but a payday
of 20,000  Rwandan Francs (about $33 USD) makes it an attractive crime.
As much as we wanted to buy the crane to let it go, we did not want to
give the man economic incentive to take this one or another one later.
My guess is this crane was taken to a bigger city for sale but if that failed,
it was probably eaten. Birdlife International lists this bird as vulnerable.

We could not save that umusambi. It was sad to witness it. Michele drew
this picture shortly after to try to put the bird back in its home.

Fly away, umusambi, fly away!!! Organizations that help to conserve crane
habitats and prevent their removal from the wild include:
Uganda Wildlife Education Center
Wildlife Conservation Society
International Crane Foundation

Works consulted

• BirdLife International (2011) Species factsheet: Balearica regulorum. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 03/12/2011. 
• Ryan, P. and Sinclair, I. Birds of Africa south of the Sahara. Struik Nature: Cape Town, 2003.
• Thairu, M. 2011. "Balearica regulorum" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed December 02, 2011 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Balearica_regulorum.html.
• "The Cranes: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan." 2006. U.S. Department of the Interior-U.S. Geological Survey. Accessed online December 2, 2011 at http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/cranes/baleregu.htm.
• "Ugandan Cranes Declining Due to 'Witch Doctors.'" National Geographic News. October 19, 2007. Accessed online December 2, 2011 at http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/10/071019-crane-potion.html.

Visiting the relatives

We share around 98% of our genes with chimpanzees, according to the San Diego Zoo. In Kibale National Park, Uganda, these relatives rule the forest.

Chimpanzees construct nests to sleep on at night

We visited five different forests between Uganda and Rwanda that are known to support populations of chimpanzees. In our experience, they are not always easy to find and even when you do see them, it may only be a brief encounter. Most tracking hikes give you just a brief shot at observation in the wild. However, in Kibale, you have the unique option of tracking them for the whole day. On November 5, at 6 am still in the dark of morning, Michele and I jumped off the back of a motorcycle and began our search for Pan troglodytes.

Our guide had been a ranger in the park for many years. We started searching for a group of chimpanzees not-yet-used to people but discovered only smashed figs from a recent meal. We later found a lone mother and child collecting and eating fruits in a tall fig-like tree. We eventually followed a habituated group (used to human observation) as they wandered the forest. We counted 18 individuals in the group, but a few more could have been out of sight. Because they were used to humans, we could sit/stand around ten meters back observing them while they ate, groomed, played, climbed, and rested. We even saw a skirmish with olive baboons!

At around 2:30 pm, it started to rain. A flurry of excitement filled the chimpanzees, and our guide told us "the rain dance" was imminent. Male individuals ran back and forth on two legs and used their hands to shake and pull young trees (normally they walk on all fours using feet and knuckles). Other individuals crowded close to big trunks to avoid the bursts. We watched until every chimpanzee had seemingly ran off or vanished into the rain. 

Even though chimpanzees and humans appear very different from each other on the surface, consider that our cells are nearly identical in form and function, and we have nearly identical internal anatomies. Check out more similarities and differences between humans and chimpanzees. 

Humans are in such a different world than chimpanzees, but we share the same earth, the same biology, and a common history. Various populations of chimpanzees in Africa total up to two hundred thousand (200,000 chimpanzees). We are at a population of seven billion (7,000,000,000 humans). Our worlds collide as our demands on the forests of Africa grow. Is the earth big enough to support both species? Will we be able to visit our closest genetic relative in the future? I do not know the answer to these questions, but I hope the answer is yes. 

The ones you miss (Ballad of the Birding Blues)

Get ready for some heartache... as much as birds can cause.

First, think about basketball. You have to take shots to score. It is the only way to get points. Inevitably, you are going to miss some of those shots too.

If you want to see a wide variety of birds, you have to go out looking. To see new birds, you may have to travel and spend money/energy/time to find them. Sometimes you get the birds. Sometimes you don't.

Green-breasted pitta, painting at Kibale National Park headquarters.
Never saw it in the flesh (in the feather!)

There are plenty of birds we missed in East Africa. For example, we missed the endemic or localized birds of Kenya, Pemba Island, and Southern Tanzania, because we never made it to those areas. Missing those birds doesn't bother me so much. There are migratory birds that do occur nearby but just never flew my way. Again, they don't bother me much. It's the resident birds of Rwanda, Southern/Central Uganda, and Northern Tanzania that we spent money/time/energy to find that we truly missed.

At the end of this post, I will list birds that we hoped to see and missed, but I want to share stories about two birds we missed (called "dipping" in birding linguistics). 

Papyrus gonolek, illustrated in Birds of East Africa (Stevenson/
Fanshawe)

The papyrus gonolek is an insect-eating resident of papyrus swamps inhabiting just five countries: Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and western Kenya. Michele and I have gone looking for this bird numerous times, even visiting sites specifically because they are known to support a population. In Uganda, we spoke to several local guides who told us the only way people ever see it is by playing tape recordings which may draw a bird in (we don’t have the capability, though I don’t oppose the practice). This information never stopped us from standing or walking around papyrus swamps for a couple hours just in case it popped out.

Papyrus swamp, Lake Mugesera, Rwanda

We have heard the gonolek call, but we have never seen it. The last time we heard it, in Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary in Uganda last Friday, the fact of missing it set in, but it had long occurred to me that this would be a bird we would miss. I am sad not to see it but have grown used to the idea that we would not. Fortunately, we have seen the much more common black-headed gonolek many times. Both gonoleks are very similar birds, and so it is like missing a close relative of the same type of bird. 

Not all misses are so easy to swallow. As soon as I moved here, I made a list of the top 200 birds I wanted to find. Although that list would look very different knowing what I do now, at the time the African green broadbill was #23. Broadbills are classified into two families, and can be found in forests in tropical Asia and Africa. I have never seen any type of broadbill so this is not only a new species but a new family of bird I have no experience with (we also missed the African broadbill and rufous-sided broadbill, species of broadbills from the other family in East Africa. Both were also in that top 200). Observing such a diverse species is highly alluring to me.

Furthermore, the African green broadbill population numbers no more than an estimated 2,500-10,000 individuals and the species is only known from three sites in the world. Two areas are in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, in a war-torn, dangerous region with poorly developed tourist infrastructure. The other site is Bwindi Inpenetrable Forest, a national park in southwestern Uganda. If I didn't make it to that park, it would be easy to write this bird off because hey, I never got close. If only that were the case...

African green broadbill, painting at tourist information center, Kabala,
Uganda

After an exciting experience in Kibale National Park in central-western Uganda this past weekend, Michele and I traveled over bumpy dirt roads in 5-person sedans packed with 9 passengers and a driver back to central-eastern Uganda (Mbarara). There were two species we wanted to chase: the green broadbill and the African finfoot. The finfoot is found all over sub-Saharan Africa but is difficult to see. It is rumored to be much easier to locate at Lake Mburo National Park, about 60 km from Mbarara. Theoretically, we could go to Lake Mburo, look for the finfoot, make our way south, and go for the broadbill before continuing further south back to Rwanda.

National parks are expensive, and we were exhausted from the previous days of traveling (and the past year of working). We could only afford to go for one of the species if we wanted to stay in our budget, and after much deliberating chose to bypass the chance at the finfoot to go for broadbill. We took a ridiculously slow 120 km public mini-bus down to Kabale, the nearest city to Bwindi, checked into a guesthouse, and got some rest. Several knowledgeable people we talked to told us we would have no problem showing up at the park, getting permits, and hiring a ranger.

We talked to the tourist information center in the town the next morning and of course the tour operator told us we should employ his bird guide. We considered it, but the guide wanted $100 USD for 1 day (in addition to transport costs, park fees, lodging, etc.). It would be great to have a guide, and we love employing local guides, but that is a lot of money. We opted to go without a guide. We tried to hitch on trucks without luck, and thus had to hire a private car to drive us the 50km to the park. Half the road was unpaved, muddy and holed up from the rains, but the forest was beautiful. Get the bird or not, it looked like we would have fun trying to find it the the lush greenery. The beauty of the forest, however, was the only enjoyable part of this trip.

Montane forest at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda

We arrived at the gate and inquired about paying fees and hiring a ranger for a walk. The man at the gate told us they do not allow afternoon walks because it would be dark soon. It was not yet 2pm, and since the sun sets at 7pm in Uganda, I suggested we could take a short walk on the trail. The man inquired why we wanted to walk in the forest (on a trail that has been there for years, mind you, this is no off-the-trail adventure). When we told him that we were looking for birds, he said we needed to have a bird guide. Though no bird guide is required he said, we should really hire one and come back. I politely told him that we could not hire an outside specialist and would only need the services of an escort. Finally, he agreed to call a ranger and have him meet us. Keep in mind, these are services we are buying, not favors they are doing for us; we pay every step of the way. A light rain hit but quickly the sky cleared, giving us perfect weather for searching.

We finally got a hold of the ranger in nearby Ruhija but he said there were elephants in this part of the forest and we could not take the trail. I respect that elephants are dangerous animals. But we had just come from hiking all day in Kibale where there were also elephants around (their dung was all over the place the ranger pointed out to us). We had hiked in the highland forests of Ngorongoro Conservation Area where elephants were very near. Rangers carry weapons for this very reason. We asked if we would be able to take the trail in the morning, but were told that the elephants may still be around. So, after paying to drive all the way, we faced two choices: leave now and cut our losses, or pay for lodging, pay for park fees, and maybe get to look for the bird the next day. We would have had only a chance of finding this difficult-to-see bird, and it seemed like we may not even get a shot. We decided to leave.

This is the part of the movie where Harold and Kumar realize that
White Castle is just out of reach, with no hang-glider to save the day

Seeing the bird is not the only fun part; the chase is pretty exciting too. There was no chase here, just getting close and being disappointed with no chance to even look.

As we were waiting for the Ruhija gate to open and let our driver take us back, we sat within meters of the best place in the world to see this rare bird. Meters from the trail, but worlds apart from the bird. I am now 50 kilometers from that trail as I write. Soon I will be back in Rwanda, hundreds of kilometers away, and quite soon thousands of kilometers away in the United States. I thoroughly enjoyed East Africa and would love to come back, but there are many other places I want to visit over my lifetime. Even if I do get back to East Africa (a region almost three times the size of Texas), I may never make it back to this spot.

It stings. It's not like seeing this bird is really important in the scheme of things. It's not like your sports team winning a national championship is that important either. In fact, that's exactly what this feels like. I remember a team I loved losing by a 3-point shot in the NCAA national championship game. They had the chance to tie it at the end, but the shot was blocked. End of game. I haven't forgotten that loss or what might have been if the shot went up, and I suspect I won't forget the time I missed out on looking for the African green broadbill either.

Bummer. Drag. Such are the birding blues. But we live to bird another day...

Narina trogon,
painting at Kibale
National Park
Headquarters

Birds we heard but did not see: Papyrus gonolek, Fischer's turaco, Afep pigeon, mountain sooty boubou, Usambara akalat, green-throated sunbird, yellow-billed barbet, yellow-spotted barbet, Nahan's francolin, red-chested flufftail, Neumann's (short-tailed) warbler, western green tinkerbird, chocolate-backed kingfisher,  standard-winged nightjar (all of these were in the presence of guides who knew the sounds)

Birds we hoped to see but never did, despite being in appropriate habitat: narina trogon, tacazze sunbird, yellow-eyed black flycatcher, white-winged warbler, spotted eagle-owl, green-breasted pitta, greater flamingo, all four crimsonwings, African pygmy goose, African finfoot, wooly-necked stork, abdim's stork, rufous-bellied heron, african skimmer, white-collared oliveback, and plenty of others!

Run like an antelope

Thomson's gazelle (Gazella rufifrons) in Ngorongoro Conservation Area,

Tanzania. Look at all those flamingos in the background! What a life, to

run around free and enjoy the birds, without a care, except for lions,

cheetahs, leopards, and hyenas, of course.

The name antelope refers to a wide variety of mammals. Although antelopes are extremely diverse, they all share some basic characteristics.

White-bearded gnu (a subspecies of blue wildebeest (Connochaetes 

taurinus albojubatus) in Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania.

Antelopes are even-toed, hoofed mammals. They share this foot morphology with hippopotamuses, warthogs, giraffes, and deer, but none of those are "antelope."

Female eland (Taurotragus oryx) in Akagera National Park, Rwanda.

Antelope are classified in the family "Bovidae" along with cattle (buffalo) and sheep. Something that distinguishes the Bovids from other even-toed, hoofed mammals is that Bovids have horns.

Kongoni (hartebeest) (Alcelaphus buselaphus cokei) in Serengeti 

National Park, Tanzania.

Topi (Damaliscus lunatus) in Akagera National Park, Rwanda.

Antelope have horns, not antlers. Deer, for example, are not antelope. If you think about the common white-tailed deer, you may remember the male has antlers. His antlers branch; horns of Bovids do not branch. Additionally, antlers are shed each year and then regrown. Horns are permanent and do not shed.

Female waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) in Akagera National Park, 

Rwanda.

Most antelope species also exhibit sexual dimorphism. Sizes, coloration patterns, and the presence of horns may differ between the males and females depending on the species. Adult males of all antelope always have horns, but some females have them too. Male and female elands, for example, both have horns but differ in their shade of brown and how much hair they have on their necks. Male impala have horns but females do not (males and females also differ in size but otherwise look the same).

Bush duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia) in Arusha National Park, Tanzania.

Kirk’s dikdik (Madoqua kirkii thomasi) in Tarangire National Park, 

Tanzania.

Antelope vary greatly in size. Eland males can weigh nearly 950 kilograms whereas Kirk's dikdik reaches just 7 kilograms. Some dikdik species are even smaller (2-3 kilograms).

Bohor reedbuck (Redunca redunca) in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Some antelope species live in large herds, such as wildebeest and impala, but others like duikers live alone or in small groups. In some species, like waterbuck and gazelles, in the breeding season, the males split apart from herds and defend a territory. 

Impala  (Aepyceros melampus) in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Uganda Kob (Kobus kob thomasi) in Murchison Falls National Park,
Uganda

All antelope are grazers. What they graze upon depends on their habitat. Antelope inhabit ecosystems from desert to grasslands to dense rainforests. They eat plants and serve as the link in the food chain between the sun and the predators.

Male bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) in Akagera National Park, Rwanda

Big antelope are preyed upon by lions, cheetahs, leopards, and hyenas, but smaller antelope are eaten by a wide variety of predators. Life as an antelope is a life on the move, in search of food and avoiding being the food. Run antelope run!

Works consulted

• Gomez, W., T. Patterson, J. Swinton and J. Berini. 2011. "Bovidae" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed October 31, 2011 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Bovidae.html.
• Kingdon, Jonathan. The Kingdon Pocket Guide to African Mammals. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2004.
• Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. "Horns and Antlers." 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed October 31, 2011 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/topics/mammal_anatomy/horns_and_antlers.html
• "Mammals: Antelope." 2011. Zoological Society of San Diego. Accessed October 30, 2011 at http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-antelope.html

Monkeying around

Red-tailed monkey (Cercopithecus ascanius) in Mpanga Forest Reserve,
Uganda.

Grey-cheeked mangabey (Lophocebus albigena) in Mabira Forest
Reserve, Uganda.

Guereza colobus (Colobus guereza) in Arusha National Park, Tanzania.
Note the fully white fluffy tail- this is the East African highland form.

Guereza colobus (lowland form) in Kasoingere Forest, Uganda.
Note the black arms and thin white-tipped tail.

Angola pied colobus (Colobus angolensis) in Magamba Forest, Tanzania.
Note its white arm fur and thin white-tipped tail.

Patas monkeys (Cercopithecus patas) in Murchison Falls National
Park, Uganda.

L'Hoest's monkey (Cercopithecus l'hoesti) in Nyungwe Forest National
Park, Rwanda

Gentle blue monkey (Cercopithecus mitis) in swamps surrounding
Lake Mugesera, Rwanda

Vervet monkey (Cercopithecus pygerythrus) in Akagera National Park,
Rwanda

Olive baboon youngster (Papio anubis) in Arusha National Park, Tanzania

Bringing the sausage tree to Agahozo

The sausage tree is found in a variety of habitats, including the open
plains of Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.

The sausage tree is a prominent tree of the African landscape. It is native to sub-Saharan Africa and can be found in nearly every country in that range. But you hardly see them in Rwanda.

The tree gets its English name because its fruits resemble giant sausages.
This picture is from one of the only Kigelia trees I have seen in Rwanda.

Kigelia pinnata is found in the surrounding countries Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania, and Burundi in savannahs and woodlands from 1100-3000 above sea level (I have seen it in both Uganda and Tanzania). Despite having the elevation and (at least formerly having the) habitat, I have only seen a few individuals of this species in Rwanda, all near the shore of Lake Muhazi, but I would guess it can also be found in Akagera National Park.

A sausage tree in a much more wooded habitat than the picture above,
in this case in Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania.

Most of Rwanda’s native trees outside the parks, especially the big ones, have been cut and replaced by non-native eucalyptus trees, grevillea trees, crops, and banana plants. I suspect that Rwanda's sausage trees were cut in the past. Many non-native ornamental trees, like filau (Asia) and jacaranda (Central America), are promoted, sold regularly, and planted throughout Rwanda as well. To me the lack of hornbills outside the parks in Rwanda is indicative of the lack of big native trees (hornbills nest in cavities in old, larger trees). You do see hornbills regularly in the countryside of Uganda because there are still many big native trees scattered among farms.

A young sausage tree outside Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda.

I scoured all the Kigali plant nurseries I could in search of sausage trees, but I could not find a single plant. As I mentioned, mostly exotic species are planted here as ornamental trees (Spathodea campanulata, the African tulip, a native, is also a popular choice). Interestingly enough, sausage trees are used as ornamental trees in other African countries and even in Australia. The sausage tree provides dense shade and has large attractive maroon flowers. Its flowers are also a great food source for bees, so it makes sense to plant when you have beekeeping operations (as ASYV does). But again, you don’t see sausage trees in Rwanda where everyone seems to opt for exotics.

The fruit (left) and seeds (right) of the sausage tree.

I decided to try to bring the sausage tree to our hillside. We need both shade and flowers for our bees at ASYV. I collected seeds from a rotting fruit and got a not-yet-ripe sausage fruit to save and harvest later. Kigelia seeds are known to be quite difficult to cultivate. I have found that to be the case unfortunately. I have tried five different methods, including the recommended method without much success. Out of over 100 seeds, I have only gotten four to sprout, all through keeping them moist in plastic bags.

Two Kigelia plants just after sprouting.

We have planted two of the sausage tree seedlings in our nature park. The Environment Club and the students of Agahozo-Shalom work each week to protect our recovering woodland from non-native invasive species. We have two more seedlings and are contemplating whether to plant them or keep them in the nursery until they get much bigger.

A member of the ASYV Environment Club plants a sausage tree seedling
in the Agahozo-Shalom Nature Park.

Bringing the sausage tree to this hillside is a small step in the native reforestation of Rwanda. It is up to just four plants at this location, but if they grow and eventually fruit, the sausage tree may again be a fixture of this African landscape. 

Just the beginning! In 4-5 years, this tree should provide shade and
reach up to 5 meters.

Works consulted:

• Biggelaar, C. 1996. "Appendix: List of all tree (ibiti) and other plant sepcies cultivatedon the sample farms in the communes of Karama and Mabara." Farmer Experimentation and Innovation: A case study of knowledge generation processes in agroforestry systems in Rwanda. Food and Agriculture Organization. Accessed October 23, 2011 at http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/006/W2406E/W2406E10.htm
• "Kigelia pinnata." AgroForestryTree Database. World Agroforestry Center. Accessed October 23, 2011 at http://www.worldagroforestrycentre.org/sea/Products/AFDbases/AF/asp/SpeciesInfo.asp?SpID=1028