African Marsh Harrier

On July 18, 2025 Judy and I, and our granddaughter Ella, were on a wooden boat with an outboard motor, a navigator and a  guide in the Mabamba Swamp on Lake Victoria in Uganda. We saw lots of birds and I was able to get photos of most of them. One that eluded me was an African marsh harrier which glided by us in front of the boat. A combination of not having my camera ready and the guide and Ella in front of me made it so that I was not able to get a photo. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

I'm currently trying to document on my blog the different species of birds I've seen. I've blogged on most of them and have a goal to get it completed by the end of the year. Most of the birds I include on my list are ones that I have photographs of. However, this is one of about 22 I currently count that I don't have photos of. I've decided to do a short post on each one of those and include an illustration and a range map. 

Western Marsh Harrier

On October 17, 2017 Judy and I were with our friends, John and Susan, in Azerbaijan, toward the end of a "Silk Road" trip through the Stans, which started in China, then continued on through Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. We visited Shirvan NP to see goitered gazelles and while we were there, near a marsh, we saw a western marsh harrier. The identification was confirmed by two other identifiers on iNaturalist.

Eight years later, on November 26, 2025, we were in Keoladeo NP in Rajasthan, India and saw our second western marsh harrier, a much better view. This second sighting has had one other identifier on iNaturalist. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

In both cases we had guides who identified the birds while we were with them. 

Martial Eagle

In May 2014 Judy and I visited Kenya and Tanzania with my partners and their spouses as part of a larger overall group. We visited Buffalo Spring NR where we were in two different vehicles (3 couples in each vehicle) as part of a larger overall group of about 36 people. My partners and their wives in the other vehicle saw and got photos of a martial eagle which I provide below. We saw a martial eagle on our drive leaving Buffalo Springs. It was standing on a roadside post and flew when we got near it. We did not get photos of it, so I use the photos taken by other members of our group. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Yellow-Legged Gull

On July 2, 2022 we took a birding tour of the Sado Estuary near Lisbon, Portugal with Bernardo Barreto of Birds & Nature Tours in Portugal. We met him in Setubal and then did a clockwise drive around the estuary, eventually driving out the 13 mile long, and less than one mile wide, Troia Peninsula, which separates the Sado River from the Atlantic Ocean, and took a ferry across the 1.5 mile wide estuary, at that point, to Setubal where we'd begun. From the boat I got a photo of a yellow-legged gull. 

There are two subspecies and I saw ssp. atlantis, sometimes known as the Atlantic gull, which could possibly be a species on its own. Additionally, birds breeding on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, Portugal and Galicia, like this one, are usually included among ssp. atlantis, but are sometimes considered a third ssp., lusitanius. These birds have darker wings and back in comparison with the Mediterranean birds. My photo appears to be of a second year bird with a black bill tip and dark eyes (instead of the red bill tip and yellow eyes). I only have one identifier on iNaturalist that confirms it. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Greater White-Fronted Goose

I visited the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area in Irwindale, California on February 5, 2022 to find a greater white-fronted goose which I'd seen had been identified there recently, on eBird, a bird I'd not seen before. It was not a particular scenic setting, but I found that goose, and several others, including a snow goose and a Ross's goose, hanging out together, which game me an opportunity to see them in comparison to each other in an up-close setting.  

The tule goose, aka tule white-fronted goose, ssp. elgasi, is a very small population and winters in the Sacramento Valley, Suisun Marsh and Napa Marshes in California. The more common Pacific white-fronted goose, ssp. sponsa, or formerly frontalis/gambelli, also winters along the Pacific coast from California to western Mexico. It is distinguished from the other ssp. by its smaller size and range. This is likely the ssp. I saw. I'll save a larger discussion for later if I get a better sighting in a more natural setting with a larger population. 

Illustration of ssp. albifrons, not the one I saw, from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Black Swan

My partner, John Mirau, had a home next to Lake San Marcos in the unincorporated community of Lake San Marcos, in the North County region of San Diego County. On July 30, 2022 Judy and I took a small boat out on the lake and followed its shoreline, with John, his wife Susan, and some other friends. One of the fun water fowl on the lake is the black swan, an import from Australia. Wikipedia notes that breeding pairs of black swans have been reported in Orange County in Lake Forest, Irvine, Newport Beach and Santa Ana. Well, I can verify that there are also breeding pairs in Lake San Marcos as we have seen them sitting on eggs and have seen cygnets with them as well. As the range map below indicates, they are found in Australia. However, Wikipedia notes introduced populations in New Zealand, the UK, Japan, Mainland China and the U.S. in Florida, North Carolina and California. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Speckled Chachalaca

In February 2009 Judy and I went to Peru with my law partners and their spouses. During the trip we flew into Puerto Maldonado, then took a boat trip down the Madre de Dios River to the Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica, an ecolodge just off the river and adjacent to Tambopata NR. During a day walk into the jungle right next to the ecolodge we saw a speckled chachalaca that I got some poor photos of. I identified it as an Andean guan on iNaturalist and was overruled by two others who identified it as a speckled chachala. 

Illustration of ssp. guttata from Birds of the World

Range from Birds of the World.