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Birding Notes
On the Trail of the Flufftail
Searching for the (alternative) Big Three in the Pearl of Africa
Before I left for Africa, I hadn’t even heard of a flufftail. Then I had the chance to see one.
Uganda, January 2020
The wooden fishing boat pushed aside rafts of blue lotus and nosed its way along narrow channels in the papyrus. Above our heads, weaver birds built nests among the reeds, and bee eaters perched on the tallest stems to watch for dragonflies. A tiny malachite kingfisher — burnt orange and dazzling blue, with a coral pink beak — watched as we floated past.
A few metres ahead stood a shoebill, a big grey bird with a rakish crest, yellow eyes and a beak like an aircraft carrier. It stared at something in the water, undeterred by the wide-eyed, camera-wielding onlookers. Then it lunged. Its beak speared through the lotus pads deep into the water. When the bird straightened its neck, it was holding a squirming lungfish.
On the first full day in Uganda, we had bagged one of our Big Three.
