Southern Citril in Uganda

Formerly considered to be a single species the African Citril is now treated as three species - African, Western and Southern.  The Western Citril is found throughout Uganda but the other two are not normally shown to be present here.  I am familiar with the Western Citril as it occurs near our house west of Kampala and was in our garden in Bukoba, Tanzania.

Western Citril (male) from Bukoba, Tanzania

One of the first birds I saw when wandering the grounds of Sipi River Lodge, Mount Elgon Highlands was a Citril - but quite different to the Western Citril.  It was grey rather than black-faced, had a weak, not prominent yellow supercilium and had heavily streaked underparts.  It clearly matched the Southern Citril.  I could find no reference to this species in Uganda so took hundreds of photos to support my claim for a new country species.

Male Southern Citril - Sipi River Lodge, Jan 2017

Male Southern Citril - Sipi River Lodge, Jan 2017

Female Southern Citril - Sipi River Lodge, Jan 2017

Britton's "Birds of East Africa" (1980) considered the original lumped species and stated that ssp. brittoni is "endemic to W Kenya at 1300-2800 m, from Siaya (several localities), Kakamega and Nandi north to Mt Elgon ...".  

It seems reasonable to me that a bird found on Mt. Elgon on the Kenya side would be likely to occur on the Uganda side of the mountain.  

Further research at home led me to a report in the African Bird Club Bulletin 18.2 which states "Also new for the country is Southern Citril Serinus hypostictus, of which at least ten were seen on the slopes of Mount Elgon at Sipi on 5–7 April 2010".

So, my birds are not the first but confirmation that Southern Citril (Crithagra hyposticta brittoni) does occur in Uganda at least near Sipi and the Mount Elgon NP research centre.  It may also occur in the far south west near Bwindi according to one correspondent - Akankwasa Hilary.