Discover the Birds of Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village

Click the poster image above or this link Birds of Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village to see photographs of more than 100 species of birds that live or visit Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village. The poster, with birds drawn by an Agahozo-Shalom student, is featured at several locations at Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda.

Earth on the Wing

Meyer's (brown) parrots (Poicephalus meyeri) on the left with a male
African orange-bellied parrot (Poicephalus rufiventris) on the right,
Tarangire National Park, Tanzania

Yellow-billed storks (Mycteria ibis) on the wing,
Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania

White-crested helmet-shrike (Prionops plumatus), near Kibungo, Rwanda

Denham's bustards (Neotis denhami),
Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda

African paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone viridis),
Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania

My final photograph in Africa. Although I am no longer in Rwanda,
you can read about my continuing experience with birds,
ecology, and sustainability at Earth on the Wing.

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. 

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.

Leave only footprints

Hippo prints, Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda. Note the tire track
on the right came before the hippo passed.

Tracks from the past

Impressions in the mud

Here but now gone

Our footprints linger on

Leopard print, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania

Take only memories

Leave only shapes

Elephants, hippos,

Leopards and apes

Take a virtual bird tour of Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village!

Interested in nature? Great! New to birdwatching? No problem! Join us for a virtual tour of the birds of Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village.

Black-headed herons (Ardea melanocephala) visit ASYV- so should you!

The sun rises at about 5:45am here, and we could start our bird walk this early if you like. Birds tend to be most active in the morning (about 6am-10am), but the real draw of the early start is that the sun lights up the sky as it appears from behind the hills.

Worth the early wake-up... sunrise at ASYV

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!)

Beauty Pageant

Some birds just show it off. A group of seedeaters called Estrildids are small but especially attractive. Even the duller species have their flair. Let's take a look.

Male green-winged pytilia (Pytilia melba) at Agahozo-Shalom Youth
Village, Rwanda

Be sure to vote for your favorite estrildid in the comments section.

Zebras, rhinos, and giraffes oh my! A mammal extravaganza

Common zebra (Equus quagga) in Ngorongoro Conservation Area,
Tanzania

There are roughly 5,000 mammal species on Planet Earth. Some extraordinary species inhabit East Africa. Enjoy them!

Black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) in Ngorongoro Conservation Area,
Tanzania

Monkeying around

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

The gecko in my bathroom and other lizards of East Africa

I love this little lizard. It eats bugs and poses no harm to anything else.

I like all types of wildlife. I see lizards from time to time as I am birding or as they wander into our house. I don't plan to provide much text... just enjoy the lizards!

Tropical house gecko (Hemidactylus mabouia) at Agahozo-Shalom
Youth Village, Rwanda

Usambara two-horned chameleon (Chamaeleo fischeri) in the West
Usambara Mountains, Tanzania

A young Usambara two-horned chameleon that I picked up from the
middle of the road and put into the vegetation.

A species of chameleon in dry country outside of Tarangire National Park,
Tanzania.

Water monitor (Varanus niloticus) in Murchison Falls National Park,
Uganda

Striped skink (Trachylepis striata) at Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village,
Rwanda. It is funny that this picture is actually out in the nature park at
ASYV because I see these skinks everywhere. They live just off the
pathway that leads away from my house and they are everywhere,
even venturing inside to eat bugs.

Mwanza rock agama (Agama mwanzae) in Serengeti National Park,
Tanzania. The female is actually duller brown, again a form of sexual
dimorphism.

Red-headed agama (Agama agama) in Murchison Falls National Park,
Uganda.

I think this is a Tree agama (Acanthocercus atricollis), but I do not have
a more definitive field guide nor did I get a look at whether it has a
dimpled occipital scale on the crown of its head or not. Call me a bad
lizard-watcher, but I have no idea what that is or how I would know
if I saw it. Herpetologists, help!

Basking is a behavior of reptiles to warm themselves up in the sun.

How can you not love lizards? For sharp, scaly little critters, they sure
are cute.

Boy, you're lookin' fine! Sexual dimorphism in birds

Ostriches (Struthio camelus) are sexually dimorphic. The male (right)
has a pinkish neck and legs, and black and white feathers. The female
(left) is mostly brown. 

When males and females of the same species have different physical forms, it is called sexual dimorphism. These differences can be in body parts, color patterns, and size.  If you are trying to identify a species, recognition that the sexes may appear different is key. I once met a woman who swore she had two species of cardinals in her yard, but after a bird walk she discovered the Northern Cardinal males are bright red whereas the females are greyish red. Same species, but different looking. 

Why?

The Kinyarwanda-English Bird Dictionary

Kids that followed us on a birdwatching hike imitate our use of binoculars.
South of Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village, Rwanda.

Bird = inyoni. Whenever someone eyes us suspiciously or gawks at us as we are out staring at a bird, all we have to say is “inyoni.” Hahaha, uproar and laughter! Inyoni, imagine that!

Kinyarwanda: Sarufuna, English: hamerkop (Scopus umbretta) at Lake
Kivu, Rwanda

Many of the bird names in Kinyarwanda are not specific to the species of bird, but represent a group of similar birds. For example, although there are seven types of turacos in Rwanda, some as strikingly different as Ross’s Turaco and the Great Blue Turaco, the name is the same for them all (inganji). 

Chatting with Robins

White-browed Robin-chat (Cossypha heuglini). Vegetation by Lake Kivu,
Rwanda. This is also a common bird at Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village.
Muscicapidae (Old World Flycatchers)

One of the tricky aspects of bird lingo is that some common names do not carry over from location to location. In addition, some birds have names because of similar looking birds, but are not even classified in the same family. For example, one might assume that the American Robin (Turdus migratorius) and the European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) are closely related. Not so! They are actually classified in different families, with the American Robin in Turdidae (which contains Thrushes and other similar birds) and the European Robin in Muscicapidae (Old World Flycatchers). 

East Africa contains examples from both families, and they are delights!

Little Game Hunters: Eagles, Hawks, and Falcons

Bateleur eagle (Terathopius ecaudatus) at rest in Murchison Falls
National Park, Uganda

Everyone can enjoy eagles, hawks, and falcons, otherwise known as birds of prey. Everyone, that is, except the prey. Sorry rodents, snakes, lizards, and smaller birds, this post celebrates your air-borne stalkers.

A birthday with gorillas

The dominant male silverback gorilla is singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY
to me in his loudest voice. Ok, he's actually just yawning.

It is nearly 11 am, and we have been hiking up the side of an ancient volcano for nearly two hours. As Michele, myself, a group of six others, and a guide clamber through stinging nettles, bamboo, and mud, my eyes light up and I grab Michele's hand.

There they are…

Advice from little hornbills

Crowned Hornbill, Tockus alboterminatus, in trees near the shore 

of Lake Victoria, at Mabamba Swamp, Uganda

My first exposure to hornbills was likely Disney’s Lion King, where Zazu tries to keep Simba out of trouble. Much to my dismay, Zazu appears to be a fictionalized hornbill species. I can’t find a match*. The only “little hornbills” are the dwarf-hornbills of the Congo rainforest and Western Africa, and even they are not that small. Certainly, none of the hornbills have given me any advice, although I am no king lion.

Sipping the sun

Scarlet-chested Sunbird, Chalcomitra senegalensis (male), at Agahozo-
Shalom Youth Village, Rwanda

Sunbirds are little gems that will catch your eye. Bright reds, greens, blues, and then woah, is that the same bird? Where did its color go? What just happened? Male sunbirds seem to change color as they move around. The males of many sunbird species have iridescent feathers, which reflect light differently depending on how light hits them. 

What did the bishop say to the widow?

"Look at me, look at me!" this bird practically screams with his get-up.
His vocals are a less appealing mix of raspy "churs." Southern Red Bishop
(Euplectes orix) (male) at Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village, Rwanda.

Bishops and widowbirds are types of weavers, as mentioned in my most recent post. The males are brightly-colored birds; some male widowbirds have long tail feathers. Females are light brown and look very similar to each other, as was the case with the other weavers.

The Basket Weavers

Male village weavers attend to their nests. 

Did you know that birds generally do not live in nests? Nests are made for laying eggs and rearing young. While some nests are very simple or require little to no preparation (like a hole in a tree), some birds are master builders. Weavers construct their nests by weaving grass, sticks, and other plant materials into ball- or tube-shaped baskets, often with entrances on the side or bottom.

A village weaver's nest that fell from a tree near Agahozo-Shalom
Youth Village. Village weavers do not breed at Agahozo but do visit.
The top of the nest is on the left in the picture, with the hole
toward the bottom of the nest.