Crested Francolin

Clapperton's spurfowl, which I posted on yesterday, had 930 observations and 218 photos. By contrast, its relative, the crested francolin has 38,184 observations (33.5 times more) and 3,569 photos (16.4 times more). Both are listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, but wow, what a difference in observations. I saw  both in Kidepo Valley NP.  

Photos of the crested francolin in Kidepo Valley NP in northeastern Uganda. 

There are four or five subspecies, with one of the subspecies sometimes treated as a separate species, Kirk's francolin. I saw ssp. grantii found from southern South Sudan and western Ethiopia south to north-central Tanzania. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

It has chestnut blotching on the neck and breast, a black bill, red legs, a white supercilium and a dark brown crown. The females is slightly smaller than the male and has upperparts that are more densely barred and narrower shaft streaks.  

Clapperton's Spurfowl

We saw Clapperton's spurfowl in Kidepo Valley NP in northeastern Uganda in July 2025. In the Wikipedia article there are three photos and all three were taken in Kidepo Valley NP with a notation on one photo that it is the nominate subspecies. There are two subspecies: (1) Pternistis clappertoni clappertoni found from Mali to southern Sudan, eastern South Sudan, northeastern Uganda and western Ethiopia; and (2) P. c. sharpii found in northern and central Ethiopia and Eritrea. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Illustration from Birds of the World without a moustachial stripe. The moustachial stripe varies a lot. It is lacking in the northeastern part of the range, like where we were in Kidepo Valley NP. Also brown markings on lowerparts are heaviest in the western part of its range. 

Clapperton's spurfowl has: a red patch around the eye; a white throat and foreneck; red legs; males have two spurs and females have one spur or none; and the bill is black with a red lower mandible. There is great geographical variation in the plumage and some authors treat it as monotypic (no subspecies), which is how it is treated in Birds of the World. However, as noted above, Wikipedia shows it has having two subspecies. eBird only lists 218 photos and 930 observations which is very few compared to most other birds. There is also very little on it in Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Williamson's Sapsucker

Up until recently I'd never heard of a Williamson's sapsucker. My son Sam, who is into woodpeckers, showed me a photo of one he'd taken on Mount Waterman in the San Gabriel Mountains, not far from the Buckhorn Campground. It is a beautiful bird, sleek black with yellow on its breast and a red patch on its throat and it cultivates pine trees to produce sap. It apparently makes the rounds each day to its cultivated trees, which consist of holes that it has engineered with its beak which produce a nice flow of sap. Once I learned where the grouping of trees was I have been to it several times, sitting in my car, with the driver's side window down, watching for it to appear. I've seen it twice now, the second time it was there when I arrived and I watched it long enough to snap 179 photos before I got tired of it and quit. It had hardly moved the entire time. 

The first time I parked and waited for several hours for it to arrive, which it eventually did. It landed in full sight, then apparently noticed me there and played shy, hiding in a crook of a tree just giving me partial glimpses - enough to see the yellow and the red on it. Ultimately if flew to another tree with a prominent set of holes and went to work tapping into its life-giving sap. I have become quite a fan of this beautiful bird. 

Huge holes, apparently deep and wide, perhaps with wells of sap inside. 

Lots of small holes and sap running down the side of the tree. 

Most woodpeckers, male and female, look alike. In this case the male and female look completely different. See the illustrations from Birds of the World below. Because of this, the male and female were considered two different species until an ornithologist discovered a nest in Colorado in 1873 and found both of these apparent two species raising a brood of youngsters. 

Female

Male

Range map from Birds of the World. Orange is breeding, light blue wintering and purple is year-round. 

Hammond's Flycatcher

I was recently in the San Gabriel Mountains above Los Angeles, near Buckhorn Campground, and photographed my first Hammond's flycatcher. It is an aerial forager, capturing most of its insect diet on the wing. Breeding birds prefer old growth forests of more than 25 acres and a minimum age of 80 to 90 years. 

The upperparts are grayish-olive; the sides of the breast and upper breast are dark gray; it has a whitish eye-ring, often thicker behind the eye; wing bars are narrow and whitish in adults; the upper mandible is blackish, the lower mandible is one-half to two-thirds dark and yellowish at the base; the legs are blackish. 

Hammond's flycatcher illustration from Birds of the World.

It winters in the highlands of Mexico and Central America in cool forested regions. In the range map, below, orange is breeding, yellow is migration and blue is non-breeding or wintering. 

Range map from Birds of the World. 

Pygmy Nutchatch

The pygmy nuthatch is found in pines (especially ponderosa pine), douglas-fir and other conifers feeding on seeds and insects. This is the first one I've seen. I knew it was a nuthatch, but did not realize it was a pygmy nuthatch until my son posted a photo of one in the same area. It was all over this pine cone. 

The pygmy nuthatch has a gray cap, a dark eye-line marks the cap, blue-gray upper parts, and dull to bright buff to buffy white underparts. I am assuming I saw ssp. leuconucha, one of six subspecies, which is found along the southwestern California coast. I saw this near Horse Camp in the San Gabriel Mountains which are not on the coast, they are north and east of Los Angeles, but are relatively close to the coast. 

Illustration of pygmy nuthatch from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Hadada Ibis

We saw some hadada ibis in the Mabamba Swamp northwest of Entebbe, Uganda. I'd previously seen some in northern Kenya in 2014. One in particular looked like it had taken a mud bath and was having a bad feather day. It looked pretty disheveled. 

An illustration from Birds of the World.

Range map from Birds of the World. 

Black and White Shrike-Flycatcher

Near Nkima Forest Lodge northwest of Entebbe, Uganda, I observed a male and female black and white shrike-flycatcher. They have long crown feathers and a short tail. The male has black upperparts, throat and upper breast; the rest of the underparts are white and it has a yellow iris. 

Illustration from Birds of the World.

The female has a dark brown head; chestnut upperparts and wings; whitish underparts with washed cinnamon. 

My photos of the female are much better than of the male. 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World. 

Range map from Birds of the World. 

There are three subspecies and I saw the nominate subspecies musicus.