I finished reading “Sand County Almanac” last night. Why did I wait so long to read it?
Under a blinding blue sky this morning we walked along the track into the forest birding. The highlight was a pair of Great Blue Turacos. They are 2 ½ feet long and bright blue with green and yellow trim. They have a yellow beak with a red tip and they sport a black crown. Seen in the wild they are spectacular. The other blue creature was a blue-headed agama sucking up ant from a tree. Very attractive for a lizard!
When we returned there was a strange vehicle parked here and one of the NFA guys was crawling through the bushes collecting snails. The German researcher was paying 100/= each for 50 snails. He returned from the forest just before the heavy rain began. Thurston lives in Hanover and is a snail researcher, ‘shnecken’ to you krauts. His wife is Ugandan and he spends a lot of time here. No one knows how may species live in Kalinzu and many will be new discoveries. There is no economic value in research, only a quest for knowledge but the diversity of snails, at least in Kalinzu, is a sign of the health of the forest – the proverbial canaries in the coal mine.
As usual, the rain brought a chill to the air and I put on socks and polar fleece, to stay warm while reading. I am alternating between “South” and “Walking the Bible.” Connie made potato salad with real eggs and mayonnaise and it was like a 4th of July picnic except we had grilled cheese instead of hot dogs. You can’t keep the cheese or mayo long without refrigeration so you gorge when you have cheese.
It’s nice when we can sit outside and eat. The black weavers have swapped nest building for chick feeding, but continue to shuttle back and forth to their nests. The swallows pick up a piece of twig and stop to dip it in the mud before adding it to their nest in the eaves. And while the pied wagtails do their avian can-can on the ground, the cinnamon-chested bee-eaters dive from their perches, green backs and cinnamon undersides glowing in the dying rays of the sun as they snag a final bug before bed. Who needs television?
