View from the Front Porch - Part I

View from the Front Porch

Front porches have historically been gathering places for friends and family….a  place to relax, rejoice and share stories. The front porch of the guesthouse is such a place.  It’s a wonderful spot to sit and catch your breath after walking 2 miles home from school in the Ugandan heat or to watch the day’s first light slowly illuminate the valley below us as the bees and birds arrive and the crested cranes take off from the muvule tree below. 

Recently we hosted many volunteers and visitors at the guesthouse. A wonderful group of 7 visited us from Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, NC. They came to teach classes, work alongside students to make beds for the new boys' hostel, visit the homes of orphans they sponsor, and bring smiles and hope to everyone they met. After very full and emotional days, we all relaxed on the front porch together, recounting the day, laughing and crying.  Much of life just seems to happen on the guesthouse front porch and we’d like to share that with you.

With Namanda James, the student we sponsor in the Children of Bududa Orphans Project. We have been sponsoring him for 14 years. He is now in his last year of technical school in Kampala where he is studying to be an electrician.

Besides sitting with friends, colleagues and sometimes even strangers, we love to watch the bird life from the front porch. The trees and shrubs around attract a lovely array of birds that have captivated us, so it made perfect sense to compile the Guesthouse Bird List of all the birds we have seen from the front porch, which to date number over 50. We share the list here with you.

Female Bronze Sunbird loves nectar from these wonderful tubular flowers.

                                                    

Bronze Sunbird                                                  Black-headed Weaver
Copper Sunbird                                                  Baglefecht Weaver

Green-throated Sunbird                                  Holub's Golden Weaver     

Olive Sunbird                                                      Lesser Masked Weaver

Green-headed Sunbird                                     Common Bulbul

Bronze Mannikin                                               Yellow-throated Greenbul
Black & White Mannikin                                  Snowy-headed Robin Chat
African Citral                                                       African Thrush
Grey-headed Sparrow                                      African Pied Wagtail
Rufous Sparrow                                                 Common Fiscal

African Blue Flycatcher - one of our favorite Guesthouse birds!

African Blue Flycatcher                                Speckled-breasted Woodpecker

Northern Black Flycatcher                          Grey Woodpecker 

African Dusky Flycatcher                             Cardinal Woodpecker
Speckled Mousebird                                      Great Sparrowhawk
African Pigmy Kingfisher                             Eastern Chanting-Goshawk
African Firefinch                                             Grey Kestral
Red-billed Firefinch                                      African Harrier Hawk

                          

Eastern Chanting Goshawk

African Hawk Eagle                                     Pied Crow
Black Kite                                                       Klaas’s Cuckoo
Common Buzzard                                        Diederik Cuckoo
Grey-backed Cameroptera                        Fork-tailed Drongo
Tawny-flanked Prinia                                 Square-tailed Drongo
Willow Warbler                                            Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater

Yellow White-eye                                         Yellow-crowned Canary
Grey Crowned Crane                                  Yellow-fronted Canary
Hadada Ibis                                                    Brimstone Canary
Grey Heron                                                     Red-eyed Dove 

Grey Crowned Crane - The National Bird of Uganda - A lovely pair roost in the tree down the hill from us.

Eddie (left) and Isaac. Both are orphans in the Children of Bududa project and students at the Bududa Vocational Academy in the Block and Concrete Practice program. Future builders of Bududa!!!

Keep your eyes peeled for View From the Front Porch - Part 2 with more photos!