Snipe Progress and a Bonus

This is a photo of the progress that I have made on the snipe painting since last week. The actual painting is not so pale. Somehow Blogger is to blame for changing the look of the photos when I try to upload them.

Anyway I really need to take a step back and slow down on the foreground plants to make them look good. The Chiming Bells plant to the right of the snipe really needs to be painted with care because it will be a major element to frame the bird.  There will be more flowers in the painting as well.

The promised bonus is simply a few photos from Uganda to flesh out this post. I shot so many photos that I think are interesting but they never made it into my initial series of posts about that trip from a few years ago. This is a Hammerkop perched on some decrepit boats on the shore of Lake Victoria at the edge of the Mabamba Swamps.

The Hammerkop preening.

A Spur-winged Lapwing picks at beach flotsam for something edible.

A famous oddity of the bird world, the Shoebill. Uganda is the most reliable place to see this rare bird.

A member of a bird family that is confined to sub-Saharan Africa; This is a Ross's Turaco. One of six species of colorful turacos that I got to see in Africa. Too bad the brilliant red wings that this bird has did not show in this photograph.

A beautiful male, African Firefinch. This is a common city bird.

The exaggerated white horns of Ankara Cattle. 

We were waiting for dinner to be ready at a restaurant and we decided to stroll through the neighborhood near dusk. We were thrilled to see a group of Banded Mongooses across the road.

They seemed to be thrilled to see us as well and came right over. They joined us for dinner in the restaurant; At least until the restaurant staff shooed them out.

Sunrise over the Kazinga Channel. This is right near the restaurant with the mongooses. This place has the reputation for being one of the best places in all of Africa for seeing a great diversity of wildlife. We saw lots of good things there.