Two birds... one click: African Jacana and Grey-headed Gull

Well I would love to say - it is not everyday that you get two lifers with errr... one click. There is a big problem when you go out of the way for birding, like me visiting Uganda and you find birds that are common, common they may be but you throw common sense out of the window and do not trust the previous knowledge worth a dime. Come on - you want me to spell it out to you? well they are birds - they decide whether you have the pleasure of their company and not the other way round.

African Jacana was supposed to be common and it did show itself plenty of times while on our hunt of Shoebill. But then during those times there are very special times when the lighting is great, background and foreground is a sort of perfect and Wham ! other birds decide to land on the same very spot. Now you are in a fix, perfect foreground, perfect background and a confused soul behind the lens. Anyway - I did what I thought was the best at that moment - I kept the camera down - to the surprise of my birding guide. I can still imagine him cursing beneath his breath while he was trying to whisper - Grey-headed Gull.... the boatman had stopped rowing the boat trying to give me a perfect moment and I too realised that the boat was drifting and the moment would soon be lost. I had tried to soak in the environment a bit too long I suppose. The modern cameras give this opportunity a bit better than their predecessors I believe. I pressed the shutter and did not raise the finger till my 200 shot buffer gave up. The rest you can decide after seeing the picked few pictures...

Lilly in foreground, African Jacana the bird I was photographing and the gulls in the background...

A portrait of African Jacana

There are two Jacanas found in Uganda the African Jacana, one pictured above and Lesser Jacana. Though the range overlaps I was fortunate to see only one of the two. The frontal shield of the birds I saw were striking blue.

...and the gull asked me - we flew in all for nothing?

Neat birds was my first expression. The Grey-headed Gulls did not leave their names to any imagination. Other that the neat grey heads - the eyes were beautiful with pale yellow eyes surrounded by pink red ring. saw these birds in flight as well as resting as they landed on the island of sort occupied by a lone Jacana.

...keep posing I said 

...face slightly to the left - Ah ! that's my girl...

...the moments drifting away...