For last year's Artist's Choice, I wrote about the Shoebill, but mentioned I had considered the Hadada Ibis, whose call is a big part of our soundtrack here in Kampala. So this year, I decided to choose the Hadada Ibis for my one day out of the whole month with no prompt. (The videos both use the spelling Hadeda, but on eBird it's Hadada.)
These birds are very abundant and very noisy. Often when we arrive at school in the morning, they are bobbing around on the football (soccer) field, looking for food just exactly the way American Robins do in the US. Many people consider them a nuisance and unattractive, but if you look closely at their teal-toned iridescence, they are quite beautiful. According to one of my students, the local story is that the Ibises' children were stolen away, and their loud call is their attempt to get them back.
Come back, my children
All day long I call for you
Flying and flying
©Ruth Bowen Hersey
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