A trip to Ethiopia in 2016 had whetted our appetite for some more African birding. Uganda seemed like an interesting destination where we could conceivably see as many as 200 new species, including about 25 of the Albertine Rift endemics (AREs) that are found only in the mountainous border region between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its neighbors Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. Many other species typical of the forests of west Africa and the Congo Basin also reach western Uganda, contributing to an avifauna that is quite different from that of neighboring Kenya. Although Americans of our generation still associate Uganda with the brutal dictatorship of Idi Amin, the country has been politically stable for the last two decades, and has developed a good tourism infrastructure fueled largely by the gorilla-tracking industry. A number of Ugandan companies specialize in birding tours, most of them offering similar 2-3 week itineraries that promise upwards of 500 species. After reading various trip reports and contacting several companies for information, we settled on guide Alfred Twinomujuni and his company, AvianWatch Uganda (AWU). As others have reported, Alfred is a very accomplished guide who has an amazing ability to mimic Uganda’s birds—his renditions of the complex songs of robin-chats and thrushes are especially impressive! Alfred’s own imitation of a song or call was often enough to catch a bird’s attention and bring it close enough for him to record it (he carried a shotgun mike at all times) and then use tape-playback to finish the job. In this manner and with considerable patience he was often able to lure distantly heard birds right to where we were standing. Alfred also possesses incredible enthusiasm and stamina – for 22 days we were birding dawn to dusk (and sometimes later) with few breaks, and even while driving he kept the window open and an ear cocked for roadside calls.
As usual, our chief planning dilemma was timing. Most birders visit Uganda either in the winter months when northern hemisphere migrants are present, or from July to September, avoiding the wet season months of October-November and April-May. Although late July-August fit our schedule well, Alfred was already booked a year in advance for that period, and instead suggested a trip in either late May or late June. Late May worked better for us, and he assured us that the species we were especially interested in seeing (e.g., Green-breasted Pitta, Grauer’s Broadbill, other AREs) would be easier to find then than in June. It sounded good, but we discovered firsthand why birders avoid May! At just about every site we visited the bird activity seemed low. Species that (apparently) are normally common were often difficult to find, and Alfred’s rhetorical “Where are all the birds?” became a daily refrain. The weather may not have helped. We were worried about going during what would technically still be the wet season, and had brought with us just about every item of rain gear we own. But this year the rains had come very late in April and did not last long. Almost no rain fell during our trip and the conditions everywhere were very dry, putting a damper (so to speak) on birds that are typically more active in the wet. But despite the difficulty of the birding and a few unexpected misses we nonetheless managed to see 555 species in three weeks, testament to Alfred’s persistence and considerable talent!
Our 22-day itinerary adhered to the standard birding route: a counter-clockwise circle from Entebbe northwest to Budongo Forest and Murchison Falls NP, then south along the country’s western border to Kibale Forest, Semuliki NP, Queen Elizabeth NP and Bwindi Impenetrable NP, finally looping back up to Entebbe via Lake Mburo NP. To this we added a day at Mgahinga Gorilla NP in the far southwestern corner on the Rwandan border, the only accessible site for the spectacular Ruwenzori Turaco. Our accommodations were also pretty standard and chosen for convenience, running the gamut from the upscale Mweya Lodge in Queen Elizabeth NP to the very basic government-run bandas at Semuliki. Everywhere we stayed had en suite bathrooms, mosquito nets and 24-hr electrical power (with occasional glitches), and only the Semuliki bandas lacked a hot shower. Uganda is not a destination for the gastro-tourist but in general the food was fine, and neither of us suffered any sort of gastrointestinal distress at any time during the trip. The staple starches are cassava (dry and bland), matooke (mashed plantains, also a bit bland but good when served with groundnut sauce), rice and “Irish” potatoes. The latter were typically excellent, and we found Ugandan chips (fries) to be some of the best we’ve had anywhere. Beef, chicken and fish were usually available, and stew seemed to be the most common method of preparation. There is also an Indian influence, so curries and tandoori dishes were often on the menu. The beer was very good, with a number of different local brands to choose from. Most of the time we ordered box lunches we could eat in the field, and these usually consisted of sandwiches along with some fruit or hardboiled eggs. On a few days when we were traveling we ate in restaurants or hotels in towns along the way.
We were determined not to repeat the mistake we made last year when we flew to Ethiopia, arriving to a full day of birding exhausted after having spent two consecutive nights in the air with no rest in between. Instead, we booked a flight with an 8-hr layover in Amsterdam, which allowed us to sleep for 6 hours (at a hotel in the terminal) between overnight flights (LAX to Amsterdam followed by Amsterdam to Nairobi and on to Entebbe). As a result we arrived into Entebbe much less tired, and ready to spend the day birding.
13 May: Entebbe
A short hop from Nairobi got us into Entebbe at about 10 a.m. We’d obtained preliminary visas online, which meant all we had to do upon arrival was show our passports and yellow fever certificates and hand over $50 each, and we were on our way in just a few minutes. We also exchanged $500 for Uganda shillings, becoming instant millionaires at the exchange rate of 3500 UGX to the dollar. Alfred and our driver, Abdul, were waiting for us outside baggage claim, and after stops to drop our luggage at the Central Hotel and pick up box lunches at a nearby restaurant we were birding by noon. Our first stop was Lutembe Bay, a Ramsar site on Lake Victoria that is an important overwintering spot for shorebirds and terns. Most of the shorebirds had left by now, but a few hundred White-winged Terns and some Gull-billed Terns still lingered. Highlights of our boat trip through the wetlands were two African Skimmers, an African Marsh Harrier, the only Glossy Ibises of the trip, and a number of Blue-breasted Bee-eaters, virtually all of them young birds still in non-breeding plumage.
Abdul then dropped us off at the Entebbe Botanic Garden where we spent the rest of the afternoon, eventually walking back to the hotel at dusk. Orange Weaver was a key target here, and we found several of them, along with Golden-backed, Slender-billed, Northern Brown-throated and Black-necked Weavers. The afternoon’s list was quite extensive, and among many other species included Great Blue and Ross’s Turacos, Crowned and Black-and-white-casqued Hornbills, Meyer’s and Gray Parrots, Klaas’s and Red-chested Cuckoos, White-browed and Snowy-crowned Robin-Chats, Green Hylia and Green Crombec. We arrived back at the Central Hotel to find an African Hobby settling in to roost in a tree above the entrance.
14 May: Mabamba Swamp
We packed up and left the hotel early for the drive to Mabamba Swamp. Although this site on Lake Victoria is not far from Entebbe, it takes an hour or more to reach it on small, unpaved roads. As we waited at the ferry landing for the local birding guide, Ishmael, to organize a boat for us, we spied two Weyns’s Weavers in a somewhat distant tree, a species we would not see elsewhere. We then spent about four hours paddling and motoring through the swamp in a search for Shoebills that became increasingly desperate as the minutes ticked by without any sign of the birds. Species that were common here included both African and Lesser Jacanas, Winding Cisticola, Northern Brown-throated Weaver, and Fan-tailed Widowbird. We were delighted to have a Montane Blue Swallow fly over, as Alfred had told us he thought it was still a bit early in the season to find this species.
After working our way deep into the swamp without finding a Shoebill, we reluctantly decided it was time to head back, depressed at the thought that we might dip on Uganda’s flagship species. As we turned around, however, a large bird appeared in the sky, and we watched as a Shoebill flew high overhead and off into the distance. Not the intimate views we’d hoped for, but a save, nonetheless! And only minutes later as we rounded a bend in a narrow waterway a second Shoebill flushed from right in front of the boat. Fortunately it flew only a short distance before landing again, and then stood patiently as we maneuvered the boat close enough to get the sorts of photos we had dreamed of getting! We arrived back at the landing relieved and in high spirits, and settled in for the long drive to Masindi. We made a few brief stops along the way, picking up Marsh Widowbird, Purple Starling, White-headed Barbet, and in a roadside marsh just outside Masindi, another Shoebill. It was dusk by the time we finally arrived at the Masindi Hotel, a well-known and well-worn old colonial establishment where the likes of Katherine Hepburn, Bogie and Bacall, and Ernest Hemingway all stayed back in the day.
15 May: Budongo Forest
After breakfast we made the 30 minute drive to Budongo Forest, and specifically the famous Royal Mile, a dirt track that runs dead straight for a mile through beautiful primary forest. As we headed into the forest we could hear chimpanzees screaming nearby, and Alfred predicted we would soon see them. But they were apparently feeding on the forest floor where they remained invisible from the track, and our anticipated encounter with our closest primate cousins never materialized. The Royal Mile was some of the most difficult birding we encountered in Uganda, as the canopy is very high and the understory impenetrable. It was a gray day, and many of our views consisted of tiny, backlit silhouettes flitting around neck-achingly high above us. It was slow, frustrating going, but we gradually accumulated species such as White-thighed Hornbill, African Dwarf Kingfisher, Narina Trogon, Speckled and Yellow-throated Tinkerbirds, Hairy-breasted Barbet, Golden-crowned Woodpecker, Chestnut Wattle-eye, Buff-throated Apalis, Rufous-crowned Eremomela, African Forest-Flycatcher, Gray-throated Tit-Flycatcher, Chestnut-capped Flycatcher, Purple-headed Starling and Red-headed Bluebill. The sky darkened ominously as we ate our picnic lunch along the track, and not long afterwards it began to rain heavily. This was our cue to move on, and we took advantage of the short-lived storm to drive out into some of the surrounding agricultural areas. Just as the rain stopped we arrived at a productive spot where we found Gray-headed Oliveback, Copper and Purple-banded Sunbirds, Yellow-mantled and Red-collared Widowbirds, a large flock of Red-headed Queleas, and a brief look at a Brown Twinspot for Cathy only.
We spent the last half of the afternoon in the Busingiro section of the forest, which is birded from the main road and is not quite as neck-breaking as the Royal Mile. Here we caught up with a number of the Budongo specialties we’d missed in the morning, including Chocolate-backed Kingfisher, Spotted Greenbul, Yellow-browed Camaroptera, Yellow-mantled Weaver, and a very cooperative Gray Longbill.
16 May: Kaniyo Pabidi and Murchison Falls NP
Our original itinerary had us spending the next two nights at a lodge on the southern side of Murchison Falls NP, which is bisected by the Nile. We would take a ferry across the Nile on one day for a game drive on the north side, which is where most of the wildlife occurs. But only recently AWU had learned that there would be no ferry service across the Nile for a two-week period that coincided with our visit. In order to reach the north side, what we would now have to do would be to drive all the way around to the northern entrance of the park and spend a night on the north side of the Nile. After doing a game drive there, we would take the boat trip up the Nile to Murchison Falls and then have the boat drop us off at a lodge on the south shore. In the meantime, Abdul would make the 6 hr drive back around to the southern side of the park with all of our gear. Although this was a creative solution to the ferry problem, it meant a long day of driving today to get us to the northern entrance of the park.
Before embarking on this journey, we first entered the park through the southern gate in order to visit the Kaniyo Pabidi Forest, technically an extension of Budongo but located within Murchison Falls NP. We arrived there at about 8:30 a.m. and proceeded straight into the forest in search of Puvel’s Illadopsis, which did not take long to find. Over the next two hours we pulled a few additional good species out of the otherwise very quiet forest, getting good looks at Forest Robin, Rufous Flycatcher-Thrush, Yellow Longbill, Fire-crested Alethe, and a Nahan’s Francolin that Alfred lured in and enticed to cross the trail. A late Booted Eagle was a surprise find as we headed back out of the park to begin the long drive around to the north side, and a stop for lunch near Karuma Falls yielded the only White-shouldered Tits of the trip.
We re-entered Murchison Falls NP in the late afternoon, with a considerable distance still to go to reach the Pakuba Safari Lodge where we would spend the night. As soon as we entered the park game became abundant, and before long we had seen plenty of Uganda Kob, Oribi, Lelwel’s Hartebeests, Chad Buffalo, Defassa Waterbuck, Patas Monkeys, and a few Giraffes and Elephants. Piapiacs were plentiful, but other birds were a bit harder to come by. Eventually we detoured off the main track to a cliff overlooking a small river, and here found several White-crested Turacos, Red-throated Bee-eaters, an African Gray Woodpecker, and a pair of Red-necked Falcons. Activity along the main track picked up as the sun began to set, and before we had reached the lodge we had managed to get close views of a number of Heuglin’s Francolins, Abyssinian Ground-Hornbills and a Black-bellied Bustard.
After dinner we ventured back out again to spotlight for nightjars along the track leading to the lodge. We found no nocturnal birds, but a Leopard stalking antelope was a fine consolation prize! A number of other nocturnal mammals were out and about, and we identified White-tailed Mongooses, a Genet, Bunyoro Rabbits, and two different species of Porcupines.
17 May: Murchison Falls NP
We left the lodge immediately after breakfast for a game drive, and spent until early afternoon slowly making our way through the park to the Paraa ferry landing. In the course of the morning we picked up 95 species, with some of the highlights being Denham’s Bustard, Black-headed Lapwing, Greater Painted-Snipe, another two African Skimmers, Silverbird, Shelley’s Rufous Sparrow, Speckle-fronted and Red-headed Weavers, and the astounding sight of a flock of 600 or more Northern Carmine Bee-eaters passing overhead. At one point we found ourselves surrounded by hundreds of Kob all standing alert and nervous-looking, with a number of Rüppell’s Griffons and White-backed Vultures sitting on the ground among them. It sure looked like something was up, but it wasn’t until we drove on a short distance that we discovered what: a lioness and her cub lounging under a bush, cub busy with a kill. We arrived at Paraa with some time to spare before our scheduled boat trip, so birded some nearby trees where we found Red-winged Gray Warbler and Gray Tit-Flycatcher.
Our boat trip up the river to Murchison Falls was with Wild Frontiers, whose guide was very knowledgeable and happy to stop for any birds along the way. In addition to pointing out and identifying conspicuous and common species such as Goliath Herons and African Fish-Eagles for the benefit of the non-birders on board, he also located a Giant Kingfisher perched quietly in vegetation overhanging the water, pointed out some well-concealed nests of Hadada Ibis and Black-crowned Night-Herons, and brought the boat in for very close views of two Rock Pratincoles sitting on a rock below the falls. On our way back down the river in the hour before sunset we encountered a flock of about 40 Yellow-billed Kites all settling into a single tree to roost for the night, and also ran across a pair of Ospreys and a young Shikra.
The boat dropped us off on the south shore at the Nile Safari Lodge where we arrived in time to watch the sun set over the Nile from our room’s balcony. As we finished dinner Abdul arrived with the vehicle, having made the 6-hour drive from the north side while we were on the boat trip. With the arrival of our luggage we tried out our room’s shower, voted most interesting plumbing arrangement of the trip. The outdoor shower stall was a circular stone structure accessed directly from the bathroom. Suspended overhead was a barrel fitted with a stopcock and shower head. Upon request the staff filled the barrel with hot water, and we had only to open the stopcock to release the water—easier said than done as the stopcock was barely within Paul’s reach and well out of Cathy’s! There also wasn’t quite enough water in the barrel to complete two showers, so Paul got rinsed with cupfuls of cold water from the bathroom sink.
18 May: Murchison Falls NP to Masindi via Butiaba Escarpment
After an early breakfast we loaded our luggage into the vehicle and set off on foot to bird our way through the lodge property and out to the road where Abdul would meet us. There was good morning activity in the surrounding scrubby, agricultural areas, and the more notable species we found included Pied Cuckoo, Double-toothed Barbet, Cardinal Quelea, Buff-bellied Warbler, Sulphur-breasted Bushshrike, Red-backed Scrub Robin, Spotted Morning-Thrush, nesting Vitelline Masked-Weavers, Black-rumped Waxbill, and a pair of small, dull flycatchers that we concluded were Gambaga Flycatchers. As we waited for Abdul to pick us up out on the main road, a Gabar Goshawk, Black-shouldered Kite and Black-breasted Snake-Eagle all passed overhead.
En route to the Butiaba Escarpment we made a quick stop for White-rumped Seedeaters and also spied some Swallow-tailed Bee-eaters on powerlines along the road. Upon reaching the escarpment we ate our picnic lunch and then spent an hour or so walking the hot, open hillsides. New birds included Madagascar Bee-eaters, Lesser Honeyguide, Mocking Cliff-Chat, Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-Weaver, Lesser Blue-eared Starling, Siffling, Zitting and the handsome Foxy Cisticolas, Village Indigobird, and a Black-faced Waxbill.
We finished the afternoon back in the Busingiro section of Budongo Forest, hoping to find Ituri Batis and Cassin’s Spinetail, both of which we had missed earlier in the week. Unfortunately the forest was very quiet and there was no sign of either species. We also checked a nearby pond for Shining-blue Kingfisher, and came up empty on that front, too. After dropping our luggage off back at the Masindi Hotel, we headed to an area of pastures and hedgerows on the outskirts of Masindi to try our luck with nightjars. Shortly after arriving we were attracted to a largish tree by a commotion of Bulbuls, and discovered the object of their wrath was a Grayish Eagle-Owl. But the sky was very black, thunder was rolling in the distance, and no nightjars were calling. On the verge of giving up, we decided to play a tape on spec, and almost immediately had a Long-tailed Nightjar flying circles around us. Buoyed by that success we tried out a few more recordings, and soon had a response from a Black-shouldered Nightjar which we tracked down to a nearby tree and caught briefly in our spotlight. All-in-all a pretty good run of nocturnal birds, and we headed back to the hotel and dinner very satisfied!
19 May: Masindi to Kibale Forest
Today was destined to be another long day of driving as we headed south to the Kibale Forest. Not long after leaving Masindi, however, we stopped at an extensive swamp and papyrus beds along the main Masindi-Hoima road. Marsh Widowbirds were common here, and we were also very pleased to get good looks at several Marsh Tchagras and a much briefer look at a White-winged Swamp-Warbler. Moustached Grass-Warbler, Speckle-breasted Woodpecker, Red-headed Lovebird, Spectacled Weaver and Holub’s Golden-Weaver, Black Bishop and Black-crowned Waxbill were all added to the list.
In the late afternoon we arrived at the north end of the Kibale Forest, where we spent some time birding along the main road. Although the road offers good views into the forest canopy on either side, the truck traffic was heavy enough at that time of day to be rather distracting. Nonetheless, in between lunges to grab the scope out of the way of approaching semis, we accumulated a number of new species such as Black Bee-eater, Sabine’s Spinetail, Gray-throated Barbet, Luehder’s and Gray-Green Bushshrikes, Joyful Greenbul, Narrow-tailed and Stuhlmann’s Starlings, Green-headed, Blue-throated Brown and Tiny Sunbirds, Red-headed Malimbe and Brown-capped Weaver. From a bridge over a small river we picked out two Cassin’s Flycatchers perched on rocks mid-stream.
We drove on for nearly another hour through tea plantations before reaching the Chimpanzee Guest House were we would stay for the next two nights. Abdul dropped us off at a lake just down the road from the guesthouse, another reliable spot for Shining-blue Kingfisher. That species was again a no-show, and we had to content ourselves with another Giant Kingfisher instead.
20 May: Kibale Forest
Today was the day we were to try for Green-breasted Pitta, a difficult species to see and one of the top targets on our Uganda wishlist. The pittas are easiest to find when they display at first light, so we arrived at the Kanyanchu Visitor’s Center at 6 a.m. to rendezvous with a local guide and trek into the forest while it was still dark. Unfortunately, we had several factors working against our favor. First, no birders had visited Kibale for over a month, and in the absence of visitors the rangers had not been keeping track of the whereabouts of the pittas. Second, the breeding season had apparently ended recently, and the birds were not displaying much. Finally, they display more in the rain, and despite it supposedly still being the wet season the forest was currently very dry. Although our guide, Robert, heard a pitta display briefly in the distance, by the time we reached the area it had disappeared. The only other way to find the birds is to run across them feeding on the forest floor, so for the next four hours we spread out on either side of the trail and walked through the forest hoping to flush one. This was slow and tedious, and meant we spent very little time looking for other species. We did take a break at one point, however, to investigate some activity in the canopy that turned out to be a mixed flock of several Western Black-headed Orioles, Velvet-mantled Drongos and Chestnut-winged Starlings, and to track down—with considerable difficulty and neck pain—an Afep Pigeon that was calling from high in a very tall tree. We also ran across a group of three male Chimpanzees moving quietly through the forest, and had to backtrack momentarily when a Forest Elephant seemed to be heading our way.
Eventually Robert flushed a Green-breasted Pitta, and for the next half hour we tried to catch up with it as Robert and Alfred alternately located it while we ran back and forth between the two of them, never managing to be in the right place at the right time to see it before it flushed again. Eventually Cathy managed to get on the bird for a few seconds, but it quietly disappeared into some dense vegetation before Paul saw it, and despite our best efforts and another half hour’s search we never refound it. Finally we called it quits, and adjourned to the grounds of a nearby lodge to eat our box lunches. This was a birdy spot, and among many other species we found our first Yellow-billed Barbet and Black-and-white Shrike-flycatchers. We then drove the short distance to the Kibale Forest Camp to try for White-spotted Flufftail along the stream that runs through the property. The first one we located wasn’t very cooperative, and we had to abort our efforts to tape it in for better views when some workmen unhelpfully started up a generator only a few meters from where we were standing. Further down the trail and out of earshot of the generator we heard a second bird calling. This one was much more responsive, and eventually came right in to our feet.
We spent the last couple hours of the day birding along the main road through the forest near Kanyanchu. The highlight was a Blue-throated Roller perched on a low snag in perfect light, although African Goshawk, African Shrike-flycatcher, a stunning male African Emerald Cuckoo and some Alpine Swifts were also much appreciated.
21 May: Kibale to Semuliki
An early morning stop at the lake down the hill from Chimpanzee Guest House still failed to turn up any Shining-blue Kingfishers. We worked our way back through the tea plantations, and stopped briefly at a small papyrus swamp where we ended up with good looks at two different pairs of Papyrus Gonoleks and our first Mackinnon’s Shrike. We then passed back through the north end of Kibale Forest and stopped once more to bird along the road, which thankfully had much less truck traffic on a weekend morning. It was, however, quite windy, which made the birding less productive than it could have been. Nonetheless, we still found a few new species, including Senegal Coucal, Petit’s Cuckooshrike and Black-faced Rufous-Warbler, along with Green, Green-throated and Green-headed Sunbirds. Today the Cassin’s Flycatchers below the bridge were joined by a pair of Spotted-necked Otters, and a mixed-species troop of Red Colobus, Red-tailed and Blue Monkeys was foraging in the trees along the roadside.
We drove on to the bustling town of Fort Portal, and stopped to pick up some groceries in preparation for the next few days at Semuliki. Although there is now a “restaurant” associated with the government-run bandas where we would stay, it’s not an overly efficient operation (more about that in a minute), and Alfred had decided we would be better off making our own lunches while there. For today, however, we had box lunches from the guest house, and we stopped to eat them at a patch of scrub woodland along the road overlooking the Semuliki lowlands. A stroll through the woodland after lunch turned up Cabanis’s Bunting, Singing Cisticola, Black-winged Bishop and several Pale Flycatchers, including a heavily streaked juvenile.
We arrived at Semuliki in the heat of the afternoon and settled into our banda, which was considerably less primitive and more comfortable than trip reports from a few years back had lead us to expect. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that we had electric power (most of the time) and an en suite bathroom, albeit with only cold running water. The staff immediately presented us with a menu and asked us what we wanted for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow. Although there appeared to be quite a number of entrees to choose among, they don’t actually stock any food on site and have to go buy ingredients for whatever items guests might order. This constraint meant that we all had to agree on the same dish for dinner. After the first night they dropped any pretense of an a la carte menu, and just served us whatever they had happened to decide to make (or been able to get) that day, which was considerably easier for everyone.
We waited for the heat to die down a bit and then walked along the main road as far as the Hot Springs Visitor’s Center. There were lots of monkeys along the road including “Ugly Monkeys” (Gray-cheeked Mangabeys), but very few birds. A pair of African Hawk-Eagles circling high overhead were new for the tour, but that was about it.
22 May: Semuliki NP
After an early breakfast we picked up our local guide, Justice, along with a student intern—a young woman named Diana—and headed into the forest for the day. The Kirumia Trail runs 14 km to the Semuliki River and the border with DR Congo, but we only made it as far as the first oxbow lake, a distance of about 5 km. Although not as tall as Budongo or Kibale, the forest here is very dense, and it often took considerable time and patience to see birds that we could hear close by. In the course of the morning we eventually managed to get on a hyperactive Jameson’s Wattle-eye, Blue-headed Crested-Flycatcher, several Crested Malimbes, Brown-eared Woodpecker, Piping Hornbill, Xavier’s Greenbul, Olive-green Camaroptera, Scaly-breasted Illadopsis, Chestnut-breasted Nigrita and a number of Gray-headed Sunbirds. Where the trail passes a large open wetland area we found Banded Prinia and several Orange-cheeked Waxbills, a species that has colonized Uganda only relatively recently. A Crowned Eagle soared over at one point.
After we’d eaten our picnic lunch at the campsite overlooking the first oxbow lake, Justice led us around the lake to look for kingfishers. Shining-blue Kingfisher is regular here, along with the very difficult-to-see White-bellied Kingfisher. As luck would have it, we immediately happened upon a White-bellied Kingfisher sitting on an open snag over the water, and came away with photos and video as well as great looks at this normally shy bird. And, of course, we missed Shining-blue Kingfisher, having been looking for it on the far side of the lake when one landed in front of Alfred and Diana back at the picnic site! This species was turning into our trip nemesis, and we were quickly running out of places to look for it.
As we made our way back after lunch we ran across an active feeding flock that kept us entertained and stationary for quite some time. The members included Red-tailed and Lesser Bristlebills, Red-tailed and Yellow-whiskered Greenbuls, Fire-crested Alethe and Red-tailed Ant-Thrush. We also tracked down a calling Blue-breasted Kingfisher, and then made a detour to circle a small lake where Justice thought we might find Hartlaub’s Duck. We were skeptical, as this was a species that hadn’t even been on our radar as a possibility, but sure enough, there was a pair right where he’d predicted!
We returned to the bandas at sunset to see what might be on tonight’s dinner menu. Yesterday when offered a choice we had ordered beef curry, but had been served what we suspected had instead been beef stew. Tonight it was chicken stew, which consisted of a leg of chicken in a thin broth served over rice. We thought we had eaten the world’s toughest chicken years ago in Mexico, but this Ugandan chicken handily surpassed that! Neither of us could cut into it with a knife or make a dent in it with our teeth, and in the end we put it aside and made do with a meal of chicken broth over rice.
23 May: Semuliki NP
Today we had a choice of either going back to the Kirumia Trail—getting a very early start to try to make it to the river and back—or instead birding the trails around the hot springs. Since we had found very few of the Semuliki specialties yesterday on the Kirumia Trail, we opted for the hot springs, with hornbills topping today’s target list. A new trail runs from the bandas to the Male Hot Spring, so we left the camp on foot, along the way making a brief detour out to the main road. Almost immediately we ran across several pairs of Black-casqued Hornbills feeding in trees above the road, knocking one key target species off the list. After visiting the Male Hot Spring and admiring some distant DeBrazza’s Monkeys, we entered the forest behind the springs. For the most part it was very quiet, and we saw fewer than 20 species in the course of the morning. But those species included a group of Red-billed Dwarf Hornbills, as well as Yellow-throated Cuckoo and Olive Long-tailed Cuckoo. Unfortunately, a Forest Scrub-Robin calling close by was unresponsive to tape-playback and went unseen, and Yellow-throated Nicator was also a no-show.
We ate our picnic lunch back at the bandas, and in the late afternoon returned to the Kirumia Trail to try for White-crested Hornbill. Today Black-casqued Hornbills were conspicuous where they had been absent yesterday, but we walked in about 2 km without seeing anything new. On the way back we came upon a canopy flock that included Least Honeyguide and Red-rumped Tinkerbird. As we watched those, a White-crested Hornbill called from behind us and we ran back up the trail, eventually getting on it as it flew from tree to distant tree. Happy and relieved, we once more headed back towards the road, but the day’s secondary theme of cuckoos re-emerged, and before we made it out of the forest we had secured very nice views of Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo and the rufous-throated race of Black Cuckoo, both species that are far more easily heard than seen.
Dinner also followed an established theme, as we learned that tonight’s entree would be fish stew. We were a bit afraid this might entail fish heads in broth, but we were actually served a perfectly edible fillet of tilapia.
24 May: Semuliki to Queen Elizabeth NP
For the last two mornings we’d heard an African Wood-Owl calling close to our banda just before dawn, and decided to get up early this morning to look for it. In addition, yesterday Alfred had flushed a nightjar that he thought might have been a Bates’ Nightjar. Paul opted to sleep in, but Cathy, Alfred and Justice met at 5 a.m. to try our luck with those species. Unfortunately, we found no evidence of nightjars, and a calling African Wood-Owl was perched high in a dense tree where we finally saw it only when it eventually flew. We adjourned to breakfast, and afterwards made a quick trip out to the edge of the swamp to look for Swamp Palm Bulbuls. The flock that regularly visits that area in the morning had apparently gone elsewhere today, but as we returned to camp Justice spied a perched Spot-breasted Ibis, another species we really hadn’t anticipated seeing!
We packed up to head back to Fort Portal, taking the Old Sempaya-Itojo Rd, an overgrown track that winds up and over a ridge with spectacular views down to the Hot Springs below. Several White-crested Hornbills crossing the track precipitated a short stop, and with the canopy at eye level here we finally managed to get reasonable views of a Honeyguide Greenbul. Another brief stop at the scrub woodland where we’d had lunch earlier in the week didn’t turn up much other than a Golden-breasted Bunting.
We stopped for lunch at a hotel in Kasese, and in mid-afternoon crossed the Equator and entered Queen Elizabeth NP, taking the long route to Mweya via the Crater Loop. This was one of the most scenic drives we made, with views down into blue crater lakes and vistas across the savanna to the distant Ruwenzori mountains. Senegal Lapwings, Flappet Larks, Sooty Chats and Ring-necked Doves were common, and we also picked up Red-necked Spurfowl, Trilling Cisticola, African Black-headed Oriole, White-winged Widowbird, three Lesser Flamingos in the distant bottom of a crater lake, and, as we passed through the main entrance gate into the park, a Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl perched conspicuously atop a Euphorbia tree. A brief stop in Katwe didn’t turn up any hoped-for larks, but we did find Brimstone Canary and Crimson-rumped Waxbill.
We reached the posh Mweya Safari Lodge at dusk, and almost immediately went back out to look for nightjars. Birders are no longer allowed on the airstrip here, so we drove instead to the campground, a large expanse of short grass surrounded by scrub. A nightjar called briefly but then went silent, and we waited until it was quite dark without hearing anything more. As we started to leave, however, we swept the area with our spotlight, and picked up some distant eyeshine that turned out to be a Square-tailed Nightjar. Eventually we tracked down about three different birds, one of which sat dazzled in the light long enough for us to approach very closely for photographs.
25 May: Queen Elizabeth NP
Along with just about everyone else staying at the lodge, we headed out before breakfast for a game drive along the Kasenyi track. While the other vehicles raced ahead looking for big game, we puttered along the road, stopping for birds such as African Crake, Fan-tailed Grassbird, Compact Weaver, Fawn-breasted Waxbill, Southern Red Bishop, Black Coucal, Levaillant’s Cuckoo and Saddle-billed Stork. A distant perched raptor initially looked like a Martial Eagle until we put the scope on it and realized it was a late Beaudouin’s Snake-Eagle. Eventually we came upon a phalanx of safari vehicles stopped along the roadside, a sure sign of a nearby lion. But even through our scope the alleged lion was just a dark blob under a distant bush, so we didn’t linger long among the excited hordes who were hoping for a more satisfying sighting. We ate our box breakfast at the tourist stalls in Kasenyi, and then headed back along a less-traveled road, getting good looks at Brown Snake-Eagle, another Beaudouin’s Snake-Eagle, Temminck’s Courser, and a few White-tailed Larks among the more numerous Red-naped Larks and abundant Zitting Cisticolas. As we neared the lodge we stopped for a large herd of elephants with a number of small babies who were crossing the road, presumably heading to the channel for water.
We had lunch back at the lodge, on an outside terrace with a panoramic view of the Kazinga Channel. We were joined at the table by Slender-billed and Black-headed (Yellow-backed) Weavers and a Swamp Flycatcher, and managed to get some good close-up photos despite the waiters’ best efforts to shoo the birds away. After lunch we took the boat trip on the Kazinga Channel. This was a larger boat than the one we’d been on at Murchison Falls, and there was no stopping as we cruised slowly along the muddy shoreline. Most of the birds were species we’d already seen at Murchison and elsewhere, but we did add to the list a flock of Collared Pratincoles, the Water Thick-knees that replace Senegal Thick-knees here, several Kittlitz’s Plovers and three late Ruddy Turnstones. The number of Pied Kingfishers here was astounding—we conservatively estimated 200! — and the many Cape Buffalo and Hippos along the shore offered good opportunities for close-up views of Yellow-billed Oxpeckers.
After the cruise we headed back out for another game drive, this time taking the Channel Track to some small, rutted side-tracks where we hoped to—and did—find quail. The first of these was a buttonquail that Cathy saw well as it walked along a path that intersected the main track. The two species that occur here can only be separated safely if the color of the rump is seen in flight, however, so Alfred left the vehicle and walked into the bush to flush the bird, reporting back that it had a black rump, hence Hottentot (Black-rumped) Buttonquail. A short while later another buttonquail flushed from the roadside, this one lacking a black rump so Small Buttonquail. We also encountered a Crested Francolin and another African Crake. Upon returning to Mweya at dusk we talked Alfred into another trip to the campground, hoping to find Swamp Nightjar, but like last night only Square-tailed Nightjars were present.
26 May: Queen Elizabeth NP to Bwindi Impenetrable NP
Once again we left the lodge early with a box breakfast, this time heading for the Maramagambo Forest and Lake Nyamasingiri, which offered a final chance to find Shining-blue Kingfisher. First, however, we stopped at the Katunguru Bridge over the Kazinga Channel, where a small papyrus swamp afforded good views of Lesser Swamp-Warbler, Carruther’s Cisticola and another Papyrus Gonolek, and a very large flock of Little Swifts was feeding around the bridge. We drove in to the rather derelict-looking Jacana Safari Lodge on Lake Nyamasingiri, and almost immediately located a Shining-blue Kingfisher along the waterfront—jinx finally broken! We celebrated over our box breakfasts and a pot of tea provided by the lodge staff, and then headed back out the 10-km access road. A female Pennant-winged Nightjar roosting on the road and a Little Sparrowhawk were both nice surprises on the way.
Most of the rest of the day was spent driving to and then through the Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth NP, which was extremely hot, dry and quiet. Herds of Topi were common here, but the famous tree-climbing lions were nowhere to be found. We drove on to Bwindi Impenetrable NP where we would spend the next 5 days, arriving in Buhoma at about 5 p.m. We dropped our luggage at Gorilla Resort, a tented camp at the lower end of the village, and then spent about an hour birding the area around the park entrance. A flowering tree here was busy with at least five species of sunbirds, including Bronze and Northern Double-collared Sunbirds, and we also found White-tailed Blue-Flycatcher, Pink-footed Puffback, Black-throated Apalis and White-eyed Slaty-Flycatcher. A Blue-shouldered Robin-Chat that was singing its musical song from deep within a roadside thicket absolutely refused to succumb to Alfred’s charms, remaining unseen.
27 May: Bwindi Impenetrable NP – Buhoma
We entered the park as soon as they opened at 7:45 a.m., and spent the rest of the day birding the Main Trail, tailed by two armed guards who discretely melted into the vegetation every time we stopped to look at something. In the late 1990s rebels from the DR Congo killed a group of tourists here, and ever since visitors have been required to have an armed escort while in the park. The weather was fine, but the forest was very quiet, and we struggled to find birds. Purple-breasted Sunbirds visiting a flowering tree were the first AREs to be ticked, and early on we also encountered Cabanis’s and Ansorge’s Greenbuls, Buff-spotted and Elliott’s Woodpeckers and Black-tailed (Montane) Oriole. As we reached higher elevation activity picked up a bit, and we added two more AREs—Black-faced (Mountain Masked) Apalis and the recently split Willard’s Sooty Boubou—along with Gray Apalis, Many-colored Bushshrike, Black-billed Weaver, White-tailed Ant-Thrush, and great looks at a very cooperative Jameson’s Antpecker. We ate our picnic lunch at the shelter that marks the trail’s high point, and on the way back took the Waterfall Loop, which was just as quiet as the Main track. We did, however, run across Red-faced Woodland-Warbler, and finally got more than just flight views of Black-billed Turacos. But the highlight was a group of about six Crested Guineafowl, a species we had been very disappointed to miss seeing at Semuliki.
28 May: Bwindi Impenetrable NP – Buhoma
Alfred had a theory that some seasonal elevational migration had taken place, explaining the general lack of birds along the lower parts of the trail, so today we decided to get higher faster, taking the Mujabajiro Trail. As we started up the trail we heard a nearby cough in the dense vegetation, the closest we would get to any gorillas. Alfred’s theory notwithstanding, there was no more activity here than there had been yesterday along the Main Trail, but throughout the morning we slowly accumulated quality birds. These included Bar-tailed Trogon, Pale-breasted Illadopsis, both Red-capped and White-bellied Robin-Chats, Tullberg’s Woodpecker, Chapin’s Flycatcher, an African Broadbill doing his sputtering, circular display flights, and a pair of Handsome Francolins running through the forest and dashing across the trail. Unfortunately, what we failed to find here were Neumann’s (Short-tailed) Warbler (not calling) and Red-throated Alethe (calling but not responding), two AREs that are only found at the lower elevations of Buhoma. Missing them here meant we would not see these two endemic species.
As a result of the lack of bird activity, we returned to the park entrance about 2 hours earlier than planned, which turned out to be very fortuitous. As we came down the last stretch of trail the sky had darkened and thunder could be heard in the distance. We had just exited the park, intending to walk back to Gorilla Resort, when the heavens suddenly opened. We sprinted for the nearest shelter, the Buhoma Community Lodge, making it into their bar/restaurant with seconds to spare before we would have been thoroughly soaked. They were kind enough to serve us tea while we waited out the torrential downpour, extremely thankful we hadn’t lingered even a few minutes longer in the forest!
After about an hour the weather cleared, and we drove to a nearby wetland area to try our luck with Red-chested Flufftail. One responded to tape almost immediately, and Alfred then flattened a trail through the reeds and set about enticing the bird to cross it. Eventually it did, although we were a bit disappointed to see that it was either a female or immature bird, considerably less colorful than the adult male. We also picked up Woolly-necked Stork and Black Goshawk at this spot. Originally, we had planned to look for nightjars this evening, but this morning Alfred had informed us that fighting had broken out in nearby DR Congo, as a result of which Uganda had imposed a 7:30 pm curfew on tourist movement in the border regions. So we returned to Buhoma with some time to kill before dinner, spending it shopping for souvenirs in the many competing craft stalls that comprise Buhoma village.
29 May: Bwindi Impenetrable NP – Buhoma to Ruhija via The Neck
We left Buhoma after breakfast to spend the morning birding “The Neck,” the narrow area of remaining forest through which the road passes on the way to the higher elevation Ruhija sector of Bwindi. Here we added to our list Toro Olive- and Kakamega Greenbuls, Mountain Illadopsis, Willcock’s Honeyguide and Scarce Swift, and got better second looks at a number of species including Chapin’s Flycatcher and Purple-breasted Sunbird. Moving on, we stopped briefly in several highland agricultural areas where we picked up Black-throated Canary, African Stonechat, White-necked Raven and Augur Buzzard. We ate our box lunch at a spot where Alfred promised us that Dusky Twinspot would be easy to find, but since his last visit to the area most of the accessible weedy vegetation along the roadsides had been ploughed under to make way for yet more tea plantations, the scourge of the Ugandan highlands. Despite considerable searching we were ultimately unable to find any Twinspots.
We arrived at Ruhija in mid-afternoon and first spent some time birding along the road outside the village, adding two more AREs, Stripe-breasted Tit and Ruwenzori Batis, along with Yellow-streaked Greenbul, Cinnamon-breasted Bee-eater, Chestnut-throated Apalis and Gray Cuckooshrike. After stopping by the Trekker’s Tavern long enough to drop our bags and have a cup of tea we headed back out to the road to wait for nightjars. We had about two hours to go before they were due to start calling, but bird activity along the road had died down to next to nothing. We spent most of the time painstakingly taping in a Barred Long-tailed Cuckoo, which eventually showed well, giving us a hat trick of Long-tailed Cuckoos for the trip. A small flock of Horus Swifts circling low over the road also provided a welcome diversion. As dusk fell we could hear a Ruwenzori Nightjar begin to call very far away, but Alfred worked his magic, first imitating the bird to bring it close enough to record its call, then painstakingly using tape-playback to lure it ever closer. Eventually we ended up with two birds flying circles around us and landing on snags over the road!
30 May: Bwindi Impenetrable NP – Mubwindi Swamp
Today was one we had very much been looking forward to, the 4-km trek down to Mubwindi Swamp where we hoped to see a number of AREs, especially Grauer’s Broadbill. The trail was beautiful, with three steep wooded sections separated by relatively level valley floor where the canopy is very open and afforded good views. Almost immediately we encountered Regal Sunbird, Strange Weaver, Dwarf Honeyguide and Eastern Mountain Greenbul, and as we descended to lower elevations we hit Yellow-eyed Black-Flycatcher, the black-headed Ruwenzori race of African Hill Babbler, White-starred Robin, Blue-headed Sunbird, White-headed Woodhoopoe, White-bellied Crested-Flycatcher, Waller’s and Sharpe’s Starlings and Lagden’s Bushshrike. An Evergreen-forest Warbler teased us mercilessly as it skulked through the vegetation beside the path, but after many fleeting glimpses of random body parts we finally managed to see the whole bird, albeit very briefly. As we reached the area where Grauer’s Broadbill historically has nested, Alfred immediately heard and then saw a feeding bird, and after losing it for a few minutes we refound it for quite close but badly backlit views. Elated to have seen this species, we continued on to the edge of the swamp, arriving just as three Grauer’s Swamp-Warblers popped up to sing and display atop the reeds. After about a minute they disappeared and we never saw them again, emphasizing how lucky we were with the timing of our arrival!
After a pleasant picnic at a spot overlooking the swamp we headed back, finally getting on Ruwenzori Apalis and several Grauer’s Warblers on the way up, and pleased to have a Mountain Buzzard pass overhead. Archer’s Robin-Chat was also coaxed out of a thicket, although getting a good look at it required lying prone on the trail. Back in the area where we had seen the Grauer’s Broadbill we checked out a little clearing that had been carved out to one side of the trail, and discovered that it was the vantage point for an active nest. An adult was sitting on the nest, and at least one nestling poked its bill up into view periodically. Back at the lodge by 5 p.m., we opted not to go back out looking for nightjars, instead spending the evening relaxing in front of a roaring fire in the dining room.
31 May: Bwindi Impenetrable NP to Kisoro
Today was a travel day with a number of stops in diverse habitats planned, starting with the high elevation Bamboo Zone of Ruhija. The highlight here was a great view of the colorful Doherty’s Bushshrike, a species we had been pursuing unsuccessfully for the past several days. Good looks at Mountain Sooty Boubou and Mountain Yellow-Warbler were also much appreciated. From here we moved on to Nyamuriro Swamp, a formerly extensive papyrus swamp near Lake Bunyoni that now consists of a narrow protected strip surrounded by land that has been drained and cleared for agriculture. The scarce Papyrus Yellow-Warbler was our primary target here, and one popped up into view almost immediately. After a little bit of searching we also located a pair of Papyrus Canaries that performed well for the cameras. The common Black-headed Weavers here have very large bills, and are rumored to be Victoria Masked-Weavers, which may in turn be a hybrid taxon.
We spent the mid-afternoon hours birding along the main road through the Echuya Forest, which was very quiet. After several unsuccessful attempts to see calling Cinnamon Bracken-Warblers we eventually enticed a pair to come out and sing in the open, but they were the only new species added to the list here. Our last stop of the day was at a series of ponds along the main road outside Kisoro where we picked up a few waterbirds such as Eurasian Moorhen, Little Grebe and Hottentot Teal. And from there it was into Kisoro to the Traveler’s Rest Hotel, where we caught up with goings-on in the world after having been without internet for the past five days in Bwindi.
01 June: Mgahinga Gorilla NP
Mgahinga Gorilla NP sits on the border with Rwanda and DR Congo, and it’s possible to stand with a foot (and hand) in all three countries at once from the top of Mt. Sabinyo, one of the three Virunga volcanoes within the park. It’s also the most accessible Ugandan location for two of the AREs— Stuhlmann’s (Ruwenzori Double-collared) Sunbird and the spectacular Ruwenzori Turaco—as well as a good place to look for the infrequently seen Shelley’s Crimsonwing. Armed escort is required here, too, and although we started the morning with just two guards we somehow picked up another two along the way, ending up with four of them protecting three of us. Feeling very safe, we made our way up the scenic Gorge Trail, finding Stuhlmann’s Sunbird and Ruwenzori Turaco with little difficulty, plus a Golden Monkey, Mgahinga’s other star primate. Having missed it on previous trips to east Africa, Malachite Sunbird was also high on our list of target species, so we were very pleased to encounter a pair here. The orange-bellied race of Variable Sunbird was common, as were Common and Kandt’s Waxbills, and Western Tinkerbird and White-tailed Crested-Flycatcher were both welcome additions to the list. As we worked our way up into the Gorge, Crimsonwings became our primary target. We found and then staked out a Dusky Crimsonwing nest while we ate our lunch, but the adults proved elusive and in the end only Cathy managed to get a couple of quick looks at them. Predictably, we didn’t encounter any Shelley’s Crimsonwings.
Alfred took us back down via a loop trail that can apparently be good for Kivu Ground-Thrush, but he didn’t know that it hadn’t been maintained for some time. On the upper part of the trail we had to wade through waist-high thistles and nettles, and then we entered a dense and rather surreal bamboo forest that seemed to go on forever. The trail was blocked by lots of fallen bamboo, and our guards took it upon themselves to clear the way for us with much crashing, snapping and tossing of branches. Not really the best way to sneak up on shy thrushes, and not surprisingly we didn’t find any. Signs that gorillas had been on the trail recently had us momentarily hopeful, but a sighting of day-old poop was the best we could do. All in all, the trek down was a fairly tedious, tiring end to an otherwise excellent day. Rather than returning to Kisoro for the night, we pushed on to Kabale and the White Horse Inn, another famous old colonial establishment that has seen better days. This stop put us a couple of hours closer to Lake Mburo, ensuring we would arrive there in time for an afternoon game drive tomorrow.
02 June: Lake Mburo NP
We hit the road early for the remainder of the drive to Lake Mburo, making just one brief stop at a papyrus swamp along the road south of Mbarara. Greater Swamp-Warbler was our target here, and one quick blast of tape was all it took to bring one right to us. We reached Lake Mburo NP at about noon and were greeted immediately by herds of Impala and Plains Zebras, mammals that are absent from the parks in western Uganda. Common Eland also occur here, and later in the afternoon we were fortunate to see a group of four. We worked our way through the park to the zebra-striped Arcadia Restaurant on the edge of the lake, where an African Finfoot swam by while we had lunch. The focus of our after-lunch game drive was Tabora Cisticola, which we failed to find, but a Crested Barbet—another species that had not been on our Uganda radar—was a very acceptable substitute. At a wooded area where we stopped to look for woodpeckers Alfred’s imitation of a Pearl-spotted Owlet attracted the real thing, along with an attendant mob that included a Bearded Woodpecker. The woodpecker repeatedly approached the owl to peck at its feet, a behavior we had also witnessed years ago in The Gambia.
In the late afternoon we left the park to check in at Rwakobo Rock Lodge, which sits atop a rock outcrop with spectacular views across the surrounding countryside. As we dropped off our luggage we discovered a snake in our room, and not knowing if it was dangerous or not we called for reinforcements. It turned out to be a harmless species of bush snake that was quickly ushered out. Minor excitement over, we birded the grasslands at the base of the rock until dusk, hoping for nightjars and francolins as well as the endemic Red-faced Barbet. We did find the latter, along with some other new species such as Bare-faced Go-Away-Bird, Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove, Slate-colored Boubou and Green-winged Pytilia. But the francolins that gave us little jolts of adrenalin each time they darted out from under bushes all turned out to be Crested Francolins or Red-necked Spurfowl rather than the Red-winged and Coqui Francolins we had in mind. Likewise, when dusk fell the only nightjars calling were Square-tailed and Black-shouldered, both of which we had seen well earlier in the trip.
We returned to the lodge for dinner, and afterwards retreated to our room, which was in a secluded wooded spot along the path leading to the summit of the rock. Predictably, as we brushed our teeth a Freckled Nightjar began to call from somewhere nearby. We stumbled around in the woods for awhile trying to find a vantage point from which to look for it, but not having oriented ourselves to the trails in the daylight meant we didn’t know how to get to the areas of open rock favored by the nightjars. The bird stopped calling and we gave up and went to bed.
03 June: Lake Mburo NP to Entebbe
This morning we had arranged for a slightly early breakfast so we could make it back into the park for our scheduled 8 a.m. boat trip on Lake Mburo. We had been very lucky throughout the trip not to have had our plans disrupted by any vehicle problems, so it was only natural that something would happen on our last day! Fortunately, it was only a punctured tire that was soon changed, delaying us by less than an hour. The local birding guide, Moses, had made a special trip out last evening to check on the whereabouts of our number one target species, and he now took us directly to where a pair of White-backed Night-Herons was roosting in low trees over the water. We had anticipated getting glimpses of well-hidden birds in dense foliage, but these two were right out in the open, one of them pacing nervously back and forth along the water’s edge. A photo opportunity we definitely had not expected! We then motored slowly along the lakeshore, getting good looks at another three African Finfoots.
We still had unfinished business in the bush, so we didn’t linger at the lake but instead resumed driving the game tracks in our search for Tabora Cisticola. Another Crested Barbet and a pair of Rufous-chested Swallows were nice finds, but we weren’t having any luck with the cisticola. Alfred finally announced that we were out of time, but as we turned the vehicle around to head out of the park he spied another new species, a Common Scimitarbill. As we stopped to admire it, a Tabora Cisticola popped up in an adjacent tree for another eleventh-hour save!
Back at the lodge, we spent a few minutes looking for roosting Freckled Nightjars. We were unsuccessful in that endeavor, but over lunch did add Arrow-marked Babbler and Mariqua Sunbird to the list. We then embarked on the long drive to Entebbe, breaking the journey at a marsh that gave us a few last species: Comb Duck, African Swamphen, African Spoonbill, and an African Yellow-Warbler to complete the Yellow-Warbler trifecta.
Our itinerary had indicated that we would have a day-room at the Central Hotel where we could shower, pack and have dinner before heading to the airport to check in for our 11:30 p.m. flight. And ideally we had hoped to be there by 6 p.m., figuring we would need to get to the airport by 8:30 p.m. At 6 p.m. we were still 20 km south of Kampala when Alfred announced that we would never make it through Kampala traffic on a Saturday evening and would need to take a back route to Entebbe. So for the next hour we bounced along on rutted dirt roads through small villages, and finally made it into Entebbe at about 7:15 p.m. Rather than the Central Hotel, we were taken to a backpacker’s hostel and shown to a tiny room whose bathroom lacked hot water. We certainly didn’t linger in the shower, and did our best to pack as quickly as possible in the cramped space, not helped by the fact that the power kept going off intermittently, leaving us packing by headlamp! But in the end we made it to the airport in plenty of time to check in and have a meal before our flight back to Amsterdam and on to the U.S.
We finished the trip having seen 555 species, with a few more heard only, a total we considered very good for a time of year when virtually no migrants are present. We also managed to see 22 of the approximately 26 ARE species that occur in Uganda. Red-throated Alethe and Neumann’s (Short-tailed) Warbler were slightly painful misses, but we hadn’t really expected to find the other two, Kivu Ground-Thrush and Shelley’s Crimsonwing. We had great encounters with Shoebill and Grauer’s Broadbill, two of the three species that had topped our pre-trip target list, and just squeaked by with the third, Green-breasted Pitta. The birding may be easier at other times of the year, but in the end we were very satisfied with the outcome, and highly recommend Alfred T. and AvianWatch Uganda for a high quality and enjoyable African birding trip!
LU: Lutembe Bay Ramsar Site
EN: Entebbe Botanic Garden
MA: Mabamba Swamp
BD: Budongo Forest
KB: Kaniyo Pabidi
MF: Murchison Falls NP
KI: Kibale Forest
SEM: Semuliki NP
QE: Queen Elizabeth NP
BW: Bwindi Impenetrable NP (Buhoma and Ruhija)
MG: Mgahinga NP
MB: Lake Mburo NP
boldface: endemic species
White-faced Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna viduata): MA, 10; QE, 20
Comb Duck (Sarkidiornis melanotos): Bukoto, 15
Hartlaub's Duck (Pteronetta hartlaubii): SEM, 4
Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca): MF, 30; QE, 106
Spur-winged Goose (Plectropterus gambensis): MA, 1; MF, 12; Bukoto, 2
Yellow-billed Duck (Anas undulata): Mabamba, 5; Kanaba, 20; Bukoto, 5
Hottentot Teal (Anas hottentota): Kanaba, 6; Bukoto, 7
Helmeted Guineafowl (Numida meleagris): MF, 40; QE, 4; MB, 5
Crested Guineafowl (Guttera pucherani): BW, 6
Nahan's Francolin (Ptilopachus nahani): KB, 1
Handsome Francolin (Pternistis nobilis): BW, 2
Heuglin's Francolin (Pternistis icterorhynchus): MF, 10
Red-necked Francolin (Pternistis afer): QE, 37; MB, 16
Crested Francolin (Francolinus sephaena): QE, 1; MB, 3
Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis): Kanaba, 2
Lesser Flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor): QE, 3
African Openbill (Anastomus lamelligerus): LU, 6; EN, 1; MF, 5; MB, 1; Bukoto,1
Woolly-necked Stork (Ciconia episcopus): BW, 2
Saddle-billed Stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis): QE, 3
Marabou Stork (Leptoptilos crumenifer): EN, 5; QE, 90; common in towns
Yellow-billed Stork (Mycteria ibis): MF, 3; QE, 5; Bukoto, 4
Long-tailed Cormorant (Microcarbo africanus): a few on most lakes and swamps
Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbov): MF, 200; QE, 100
African Darter (Anhinga rufa): MF, 23
Pink-backed Pelican (Pelecanus rufescens): MF, 1; QE, 200
Shoebill (Balaeniceps rex): MA, 2; swamp near Masindi, 1
Hamerkop (Scopus umbretta): 1 or more on most days except in BW
Gray Heron (Ardea cinerea): LU, 1; EN, 1; MF, 4; QE, 3; Bukoto, 1
Black-headed Heron (Ardea melanocephala): EN, 1; MF, 13
Goliath Heron (Ardea goliath): MF, 10; MB, 1
Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea): MA, 4; MF, 1; near Masindi, 1
Great Egret (Ardea alba): MA, 5; MF, 6; QE, 10; MB, 2; Bukoto, 2
Intermediate Egret (Mesophoyx intermedia): MA, 10; MF, 2
Little Egret (Egretta garzetta): LU, 10; EN, 5; MF, 1; QE, 10; MB, 3; Bukoto, 4
Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis): EN, 20; MF, 75; QE, 25; MB, 55
Squacco Heron (Ardeola ralloides): LU, 5; MA, 1; MF, 3; QE, 2; Bukoto, 1
Striated Heron (Butorides striata): EN, 1; MF, 2; SEM, 1; QE, 1; MB, 2
Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax): MF, 2; MB, 2
White-backed Night-Heron (Gorsachius leuconotus): MB, 2
Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus): LU, 3; MF, 20
Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus): MF, 20; SEM, 5; QE, 5; MB, 3; Bukoto, 4
Spot-breasted Ibis (Bostrychia rara): SEM, 1
Hadada Ibis (Bostrychia hagedash): common, seen most locations
African Spoonbill (Platalea alba): Bukoto, 3
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus): MF, 2
Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus caeruleus): MA, 1; MF, 1
African Harrier-Hawk (Polyboroides typus)
Palm-nut Vulture (Gypohierax angolensis): MF, 4; KI, 2; SEM, 14; QE, 2; MB, 1
White-headed Vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis): QE, 2; MB, 5
Lappet-faced Vulture (Torgos tracheliotos): MF, 1; QE, 1; MB, 3
Hooded Vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus): QE, 1; BW, 1; MB, 1
White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus): MF, 3; QE, 25; MB, 45
Rüppell's Griffon (Gyps rueppelli): MF, 20
Bateleur (Terathopius ecaudatus): MF, 4; Butiaba, 1; QE, 2; MB, 1
Beaudouin's Snake-Eagle (Circaetus beaudouini): QE, 2
Black-breasted Snake-Eagle (Circaetus pectoralis): MF, 1
Brown Snake-Eagle (Circaetus cinereus): Mabamba, 1; QE, 1; BW, 1; MB, 1
Banded Snake-Eagle (Circaetus cinerascens): near Masindi, 1; BD, 1; Butiaba, 1
Crowned Eagle (Stephanoaetus coronatus): BD, 1; SEM, 1
Long-crested Eagle (Lophaetus occipitalis): LU, 1; near Masindi, 2; SEM, 2; QE, 2; BW, 1
Wahlberg's Eagle (Hieraaetus wahlbergi): MF, 1; QE, 1; MB, 1
Booted Eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus): Kaniyo Pabidi, 1
Tawny Eagle (Aquila rapax): MF, 1
African Hawk-Eagle (Aquila spilogaster): SEM, 2
Lizard Buzzard (Kaupifalco monogrammicus): EN, 2; MA, 1; BD, 1; near Masindi, 2; KI, 1
Dark Chanting-Goshawk (Melierax metabates): near Masindi, 1; MF, 2; Butiaba, 1
Gabar Goshawk (Micronisus gabar): near Masindi, 1; MF, 1
African Marsh-Harrier (Circus ranivorus): LU, 1; MA, 2
African Goshawk (Accipiter tachiro): KI, 1; BW, 1
Shikra (Accipiter badius): MF, 1
Little Sparrowhawk (Accipiter minullus): QE, 1; MB, 1
Black Goshawk (Accipiter melanoleucus): BW, 1; near Nyeihango, 1
Yellow-billed (Black) Kite (Milvus migrans): LU, 3; EN, 5; MF, 45; Butiaba, 1; SEM, 25; MB, 1
African Fish-Eagle (Haliaeetus vocifer): LU, 1; EN, 1; MF, 1; Butiaba, 1; KI, 1; QE, 11; MB, 10
Mountain Buzzard (Buteo oreophilus): BW, 1; MG, 1
Augur Buzzard (Buteo augur): BW, 2; Echuya, 1
Denham's Bustard (Neotis denhami): MF, 3
Black-bellied Bustard (Lissotis melanogaster): MF, 5; MB, 1
African Crake (Crecopsis egregia): QE, 3
Black Crake (Zapornia flavirostra): MA, 5; MF, 1; QE, 6; MB, 1; Bukoto, 3
African Swamphen (Porphyrio madagascariensis): Bukoto, 1
Eurasian Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus): Kanaba, 10
White-spotted Flufftail (Sarothrura pulchra): KI, 2
Red-chested Flufftail (Sarothrura rufa): BW, 1
African Finfoot (Podica senegalensis): MB, 4
Gray Crowned-Crane (Balearica regulorum): near Masindi, 8; MF, 5; BD, 2; KI, 4; MB, 2
Water Thick-knee (Burhinus vermiculatus): QE, 4; MB, 3
Senegal Thick-knee (Burhinus senegalensis): MF, 4
Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus): LU, 5; QE, 3
Long-toed Lapwing (Vanellus crassirostris): LU, 10; MA, 15; MF, 2; MB, 4; Bukoto, 2
Spur-winged Lapwing (Vanellus spinosus): LU, 2; MF, 10; SEM, 1; QE, 15
Black-headed Lapwing (Vanellus tectus): MF, 4; QE, 1
Senegal Lapwing (Vanellus lugubris): QE, 55; MB, 6
Crowned Lapwing (Vanellus coronatus): QE, 6
Wattled Lapwing (Vanellus senegallus): BD, 2; MF, 20; QE, 9; MB, 6
Kittlitz's Plover (Charadrius pecuarius): QE, 3
Common Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula): LU, 1
Greater Painted-Snipe (Rostratula benghalensis): MF, 1
Lesser Jacana (Microparra capensis): MA, 6
African Jacana (Actophilornis africanus): MA, 30; MF, 7; SEM, 1; QE, 10; MB, 4
Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres): QE, 3
Little Stint (Calidris minuta): LU, 1
Marsh Sandpiper (Tringa stagnatilis): LU, 1; MF, 3
Small Buttonquail (Turnix sylvaticus): QE, 1
Hottentot (Black-rumped) Buttonquail (Turnix hottentottus): QE, 1
Temminck's Courser (Cursorius temminckii): QE, 4
Collared Pratincole (Glareola pratincola): QE, 40
Rock Pratincole (Glareola nuchalis): MF, 2
Gray-hooded Gull (Chroicocephalus cirrocephalus): LU, 20; QE, 2
Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus): QE, 2
Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica): LU, 20; MF, 20; QE, 200
White-winged Tern (Chlidonias leucopterus): LU, 200; MF, 5; QE, 5
African Skimmer (Rynchops flavirostris): Lutembe, 2; MF, 2
Speckled Pigeon (Columba guinea): EN, 1; seen in towns
Afep Pigeon (Columba unicincta): KI, 1
Rameron Pigeon (Columba arquatrix): SEM, 30; BW, 5; Echuya, 5
Dusky Turtle-Dove (Streptopelia lugens): MG, 3
Mourning Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decipiens): near Butiaba, 3
Red-eyed Dove (Streptopelia semitorquata): common
Ring-necked Dove (Streptopelia capicola): QE, 60; MB, 30
Vinaceous Dove (Streptopelia vinacea): MF, 8
Laughing Dove (Streptopelia senegalensis): BD, 1; Butiaba, 1; QE, 10; MB, 4
Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove (Turtur chalcospilos): MB, 1
Black-billed Wood-Dove (Turtur abyssinicus): MF, 4
Blue-spotted Wood-Dove (Turtur afer): MF, 5; KI, 1; QE, 16
Tambourine Dove (Turtur tympanistria): SEM, 2; BW, 4; Echuya, 1
African Green-Pigeon (Treron calvus): BD, 1; KI, 3; SEM, 60; MB, 10
Great Blue Turaco (Corythaeola cristata): EN, 2; MA, 3; BD, 3; KI, 3; SEM, 9; BW, 5
Black-billed Turaco (Tauraco schuettii): BW, 10
White-crested Turaco (Tauraco leucolophus): MF, 2
Ruwenzori Turaco (Ruwenzorornis johnstoni): MG, 4
Ross's Turaco (Musophaga rossae): EN, 1; near Masindi, 2; QE, 1; MB, 1
Bare-faced Go-away-bird (Corythaixoides personatus): MB, 5
Eastern Plantain-eater (Crinifer zonurus): EN, 6; MA, 3; BD, 1; near Masindi, 3; KI, 5; MB, 1
Senegal Coucal (Centropus senegalensis): KI, 1
Blue-headed Coucal (Centropus monachus): MA, 2; Bukoto, 1
White-browed Coucal (Centropus superciliosus): MF, 1; KI, 1; QE, 18
Black Coucal (Centropus grillii): QE, 4; MB, 2
Blue Malkoha (Yellowbill) (Ceuthmochares aereus): BD, 1; SEM, 1
Levaillant's Cuckoo (Clamator levaillantii): QE, 4
Pied Cuckoo (Clamator jacobinus): MF, 1
Dideric Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx caprius): MF, 7; KI, 2
Klaas's Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx klaas): EN, 1; near Masindi, 1; KI, 1; SEM, 3; BW, 1
Yellow-throated Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx flavigularis): SEM, 1
African Emerald Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx cupreus): KI, 2
Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo (Cercococcyx mechowi): SEM, 1; BW, 1
Olive Long-tailed Cuckoo (Cercococcyx olivinus): SEM, 1
Barred Long-tailed Cuckoo (Cercococcyx montanus): BW, 2
Black Cuckoo (Cuculus clamosus): SEM, 1
Red-chested Cuckoo (Cuculus solitarius): EN, 1; MF, 2
Grayish Eagle-Owl (Bubo cinerascens): near Masindi, 1
Verreaux's Eagle-Owl (Bubo lacteus): QE, 1
Pearl-spotted Owlet (Glaucidium perlatum): MB, 1
African Wood-Owl (Strix woodfordii): SEM, 1
Pennant-winged Nightjar (Caprimulgus vexillarius): QE, 1
Black-shouldered Nightjar (Caprimulgus nigriscapularis): near Masindi, 1; MB, 1
Montane (Ruwenzori) Nightjar (Caprimulgus ruwenzorii): BW, 2
Long-tailed Nightjar (Caprimulgus climacurus): near Masindi, 1
Square-tailed (Gabon) Nightjar (Caprimulgus fossii): QE, 3
Sabine's Spinetail (Rhaphidura sabini): KI, 3
Scarce Swift (Schoutedenapus myoptilus): BW, 5
Alpine Swift (Apus melba): KI, 45
Little Swift (Apus affinis): Butiaba, 2; QE, 115
Horus Swift (Apus horus): BW, 6
White-rumped Swift (Apus caffer): MA, 3; MF, 3; Butiaba, 1; KI, 1; SEM, 1; MB, 2
African Palm-Swift (Cypsiurus parvus): common at all low elevation sites
Speckled Mousebird (Colius striatus): common everywhere
Blue-naped Mousebird (Urocolius macrourus): MF, 3; QE, 9; MB, 7
Narina Trogon (Apaloderma narina): BD, 1; BW, 1; MB, 1
Bar-tailed Trogon (Apaloderma vittatum): BW, 3
Green Woodhoopoe (Phoeniculus purpureus): MF, 2; MB, 12
White-headed Woodhoopoe (Phoeniculus bollei): BW, 9
Black Scimitarbill (Rhinopomastus aterrimus): MF, 1
Common Scimitarbill (Rhinopomastus cyanomelas): MB, 1
Abyssinian Ground-Hornbill (Bucorvus abyssinicus): MF, 14
Red-billed Dwarf Hornbill (Lophoceros camurus): SEM, 3
Crowned Hornbill (Lophoceros alboterminatus): EN, 3; Butiaba, 1; BW, 2; MB, 1
African Pied Hornbill (Lophoceros fasciatus): BD, 2; MF, 2; SEM, 1
African Gray Hornbill (Lophoceros nasutus): MF, 2; MB, 15
White-crested Hornbill (Horizocerus albocristatus): SEM, 4
Black-casqued Hornbill (Ceratogymna atrata): SEM, 6
Black-and-white-casqued Hornbill (Bycanistes subcylindricus): EN, 3; BD, 9, MF, 2; KI, 4; SE, 5
White-thighed Hornbill (Bycanistes albotibialis): BD, 5
Piping Hornbill (Bycanistes fistulator): SEM, 11
Shining-blue Kingfisher (Alcedo quadribrachys): QE, 1
Malachite Kingfisher (Corythornis cristatus): LU, 2; MA, 2; MF, 2; KI, 2; QE, 1; MB, 6
White-bellied Kingfisher (Corythornis leucogaster): SEM, 1
African Pygmy-Kingfisher (Ispidina picta): EN, 1; BD, 1; MF, 2; KI, 1
African Dwarf Kingfisher (Ispidina lecontei): BD, 1; KB, 1
Chocolate-backed Kingfisher (Halcyon badia): BU, 1
Gray-headed Kingfisher (Halcyon leucocephala): MF, 9; Butiaba, 1; QE, 2; MB, 1
Woodland Kingfisher (Halcyon senegalensis): EN, 2; BD, 3; MF, 1; SEM, 1; QE, 2; MB, 2
Blue-breasted Kingfisher (Halcyon malimbica): SEM, 1
Striped Kingfisher (Halcyon chelicuti): MF, 3; MB, 5
Giant Kingfisher (Megaceryle maxima): MF, 1; KI, 1
Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis): LU, 20; EN, 10; MA, 8; MF, 30; QE, 155; MB, 17
Black Bee-eater (Merops gularis): KI, 2; BW, 1
Red-throated Bee-eater (Merops bulocki): MF, 18
Little Bee-eater (Merops pusillus): SEM, 1; QE, 4; MB, 10
Blue-breasted Bee-eater (Merops variegatus): LU, 15; MA, 5
Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater (Merops oreobates): BW, 9; Echuya, 6
Swallow-tailed Bee-eater (Merops hirundineus): Butiaba, 2
Madagascar Bee-eater (Merops superciliosus): Butiaba, 5; QE, 17
Northern Carmine Bee-eater (Merops nubicus): MF, 600
Lilac-breasted Roller (Coracias caudatus): MB, 3
Broad-billed Roller (Eurystomus glaucurus): EN, 2; MA, 1; BD, 1; MF, 3; MB, 8
Blue-throated Roller (Eurystomus gularis): KI, 2; BW, 1
Yellow-billed Barbet (Trachyphonus purpuratus): KI, 1; SEM, 1; BW, 2
Crested Barbet (Trachyphonus vaillantii): MB, 3
Gray-throated Barbet (Gymnobucco bonapartei): KI, 7; BW, 4
Speckled Tinkerbird (Pogoniulus scolopaceus): BD, 1; KI, 2; BW, 2
Western Tinkerbird (Pogoniulus coryphaea): MG, 2
Red-rumped Tinkerbird (Pogoniulus atroflavus): SEM, 1
Yellow-throated Tinkerbird (Pogoniulus subsulphureus): BD, 1; KI, 2
Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird (Pogoniulus bilineatus): KI, 3; SEM, 1; BW, 8; Echuya, 1
Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird (Pogoniulus chrysoconus): EN, 2
Yellow-spotted Barbet (Buccanodon duchaillui): BD, 3; BW, 1
Hairy-breasted Barbet (Tricholaema hirsuta): BD, 1; KI, 3
Spot-flanked Barbet (Tricholaema lacrymosa): Butiaba, 1; MB, 9
White-headed Barbet (Lybius leucocephalus): near Masindi, 1
Red-faced Barbet (Lybius rubrifacies): MB, 1
Black-billed Barbet (Lybius guifsobalito): MF, 4
Double-toothed Barbet (Lybius bidentatus): MF, 2; KI, 2
Dwarf Honeyguide (Indicator pumilio): BW, 3
Willcocks's Honeyguide (Indicator willcocksi): BW, 1
Least Honeyguide (Indicator exilis): SEM, 1
Lesser Honeyguide (Indicator minor): Butiaba, 1
Greater Honeyguide (Indicator indicator): MF, 1
Nubian Woodpecker (Campethera nubica): MF, 3; near Masindi, 1; MB, 1
Tullberg's Woodpecker (Campethera tullbergi): BW, 2
Buff-spotted Woodpecker (Campethera nivosa): BW, 3
Brown-eared Woodpecker (Campethera caroli): SEM, 1
Speckle-breasted Woodpecker (Dendropicos poecilolaemus): near Masindi, 2
Cardinal Woodpecker (Dendropicos fuscescens): M, 1; BW, 2; MB, 1
Bearded Woodpecker (Dendropicos namaquus): MB, 2
Golden-crowned Woodpecker (Dendropicos xantholophus): BD, 3; SEM, 2
Elliot's Woodpecker (Dendropicos elliotii): BW, 1
African Gray Woodpecker (Dendropicos goertae): EN, 2; MF, 1
Gray Kestrel (Falco ardosiaceus): MF, 4; Butiaba, 1
Red-necked Falcon (Falco chicquera): MF, 3
African Hobby (Falco cuvierii): EN, 2
Red-headed Lovebird (Agapornis pullarius): near Masindi, 1; MB, 2
Gray Parrot (Psittacus erithacus): EN, 1; MA, 2
Meyer's Parrot (Poicephalus meyeri): EN, 3; MB, 4
African Broadbill (Smithornis capensis): BW, 1
Grauer's Broadbill (Pseudocalyptomena graueri): BW, 2
Green-breasted Pitta (Pitta reichenowi): KI, 1
Brown-throated Wattle-eye (Platysteira cyanea): BD, 1; MF, 2; K, 1; SEM, 1; BW, 2
Chestnut Wattle-eye (Platysteira castanea): BD, 5; KI, 2; BW, 1
Jameson's Wattle-eye (Platysteira jamesoni): SEM, 1; BW, 1
Ruwenzori Batis (Batis diops): BW, 3; Echuya, 1
Chinspot Batis (Batis molitor): BW, 2
Black-headed Batis (Batis minor): MF, 2; SEM, 1; MB, 2
African Shrike-flycatcher (Megabyas flammulatus): KI, 1
Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher (Bias musicus): BD, 1; KI, 3; QE, 1; BW, 2
Brubru (Nilaus afer): Butiaba, 1; MB, 1
Northern Puffback (Dryoscopus gambensis): EB, 2; MF, 4; BW, 4
Pink-footed Puffback (Dryoscopus angolensis): BW, 7
Marsh Tchagra (Tchagra minutus): near Masindi, 2; QE, 1
Black-crowned Tchagra (Tchagra senegalus): MF, 4; QE, 2
Brown-crowned Tchagra (Tchagra australis): MF, 1; BW, 3
Luehder's Bushshrike (Laniarius luehderi): KI, 1
Tropical Boubou (Laniarius major): BW, 1
Black-headed Gonolek (Laniarius erythrogaster): MF, 12; QE, 3; MB, 4
Papyrus Gonolek (Laniarius mufumbiri): KI, 4; QE, 1
Slate-colored Boubou (Laniarius funebris): MB, 1
Willard's Sooty Boubou (Laniarius willardi): BW, 2
Mountain Sooty Boubou (Laniarius poensis): BW, 1
Gray-green Bushshrike (Telophorus bocagei): KI, 1; BW, 2
Sulphur-breasted Bushshrike (Telophorus sulfureopectus): MF, 3; Butiaba, 1; MB, 2
Many-colored Bushshrike (Telophorus multicolor): BW, 3
Doherty's Bushshrike (Telophorus dohertyi): BW, 1
Lagden's Bushshrike (Malaconotus lagdeni): BW, 1
Gray Cuckooshrike (Coracina caesia): BW, 2
Black Cuckooshrike (Campephaga flava): MF, 1; MB, 1
Petit's Cuckooshrike (Campephaga petiti): KI, 2; BW, 6
Gray-backed Fiscal (Lanius excubitoroides): MF, 10; QE, 20; MB, 6
Mackinnon's Shrike (Lanius mackinnoni): KI, 1; BW, 4
Northern Fiscal (Lanius humeralis): BD, 1; MF, 2; QE, 5
Western Black-headed Oriole (Oriolus brachyrynchus): BD, 3; KI, 2; SEM, 1
African Black-headed Oriole (Oriolus larvatus): QE, 1; MB, 1
Black-tailed (Montane) Oriole (Oriolus percivali): BW, 9
Fork-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis): SEM, 2; QE, 1; MB, 1
Velvet-mantled Drongo (Dicrurus modestus): KI, 2
Blue-headed Crested-Flycatcher (Trochocercus nitens): SEM, 1
Black-headed Paradise-Flycatcher (Terpsiphone rufiventer): EN, 2; BD, 1; SEM, 5
African Paradise-Flycatcher (Terpsiphone viridis)
Piapiac (Ptilostomus afer): near Masindi, 15; MF, 300
Pied Crow (Corvus albus): common in towns
White-necked Raven (Corvus albicollis): BW, 3; Echuya, 1
Western Nicator (Nicator chloris): BD, 2; SEM, 3
Rufous-naped Lark (Mirafra africana): LU, 1; QE, 17
Flappet Lark (Mirafra rufocinnamomea): MF, 1; Butiaba, 2; SEM, 1; QE, 15; MB, 1
White-tailed Lark (Mirafra albicauda): QE, 7
Plain Martin (Riparia paludicola): BD, 3
Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia): BD, 5; MF, 14
Banded Martin (Riparia cincta): QE, 25
Rock Martin (Ptyonoprogne fuligula): BW, 25
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica): BD, 2; KI, 3
Angola Swallow (Hirundo angolensis): LU, 10; EN, 3; MA, 2; QE, 4; BW, 8
Wire-tailed Swallow (Hirundo smithii): MF, 5
Montane Blue Swallow (Hirundo atrocaerulea): MA, 1
Red-rumped Swallow (Cecropis daurica): BW, 7
Lesser Striped-Swallow (Cecropis abyssinica): common everywhere
Rufous-chested Swallow (Cecropis semirufa): MB, 2
Mosque Swallow (Cecropis senegalensis): KI, 2; QE, 2; MB, 1
White-headed Sawwing (Psalidoprocne albiceps): common at all low elevation sites
Black Sawwing (Psalidoprocne pristoptera): BW, 50
African Blue-Flycatcher (Elminia longicauda): BD, 1; KI, 2; BW, 3
White-tailed Blue-Flycatcher (Elminia albicauda): BW, 11
White-bellied Crested-Flycatcher (Elminia albiventris): BW, 1
White-tailed Crested-Flycatcher (Elminia albonotata): MG, 1
White-shouldered Black-Tit (Melaniparus guineensis): MF, 2
White-winged Black-Tit (Melaniparus leucomelas): BW, 1; MB, 10
Dusky Tit (Melaniparus funereus): BD, 1; BW, 3
Stripe-breasted Tit (Melaniparus fasciiventer): BW, 2
Slender-billed Greenbul (Stelgidillas gracilirostris): BD, 4; KI, 1; BW, 4
Red-tailed Bristlebill (Bleda syndactylus): SEM, 2; BW, 1
Lesser Bristlebill (Bleda notatus): SEM, 1
Shelley's (Kakamega) Greenbul (Arizelocichla masukuensis): BW, 1
Eastern Mountain-Greenbul (Arizelocichla nigriceps): BW, 5; Echuya, 4; MG, 2
Joyful Greenbul (Chlorocichla laetissima): KI, 2
Honeyguide Greenbul (Baeopogon indicator): SEM, 1
Yellow-throated Greenbul (Atimastillas flavicollis): EN, 1; BW, 2
Spotted Greenbul (Ixonotus guttatus): BD, 4
Red-tailed Greenbul (Criniger calurus): SEM, 2; BW, 6
Gray Greenbul (Eurillas gracilis): BD, 1; SEM, 1
Ansorge's Greenbul (Eurillas ansorgei): BW, 3
Plain Greenbul (Eurillas curvirostris): KI, 1; SEM, 2; BW, 1
Yellow-whiskered Greenbul (Eurillas latirostris): BD, 1; SEM, 1; BW, 3; Echuya, 1
Little Greenbul (Eurillas virens): BD, 3; KI, 3; heard many places
Toro Olive-Greenbul (Phyllastrephus hypochloris): BW, 3
Cabanis's Greenbul (Phyllastrephus cabanisi): BW, 2
Xavier's Greenbul (Phyllastrephus xavieri): SEM, 2
White-throated Greenbul (Phyllastrephus albigularis): KI, 1
Yellow-streaked Greenbul (Phyllastrephus flavostriatus): BW, 5
Common Bulbul (Pycnonotus barbatus): common everywhere
Green Crombec (Sylvietta virens): EN, 2; SEM, 1; BW, 2
Lemon-bellied Crombec (Sylvietta denti): BD, 1
White-browed Crombec (Sylvietta leucophrys): BW, 6; Echuya, 1
Northern Crombec (Sylvietta brachyura): MF, 1; Butiaba, 1
Moustached Grass-Warbler (Melocichla mentalis): near Masindi, 1
Yellow Longbill (Macrosphenus flavicans): KB, 1
Gray Longbill (Macrosphenus concolor): BD, 1
Grauer's Warbler (Graueria vittata): BW, 3
Green Hylia (Hylia prasina): EN, 1; BD, 1; SEM, 1; BW, 1
Chestnut-capped Flycatcher (Erythrocercus mccallii): BD, 4; SEM, 1
Red-faced Woodland-Warbler (Phylloscopus laetus): BW, 6; MG, 3
Papyrus Yellow-Warbler (Calamonastides gracilirostris): Nyamuriro Swamp, 1
African Yellow-Warbler (Iduna natalensis): Bukoto Marsh, 1
Mountain Yellow-Warbler (Iduna similis): BW, 1; MG, 4
Lesser Swamp-Warbler (Acrocephalus gracilirostris): QE, 2
Greater Swamp-Warbler (Acrocephalus rufescens): swamp near Nyeihango, 1
Fan-tailed Grassbird (Schoenicola brevirostris): QE, 3
Evergreen-forest Warbler (Bradypterus lopezi): BW, 1
Cinnamon Bracken-Warbler (Bradypterus cinnamomeus): Echuya, 2
Grauer's Swamp-Warbler (Bradypterus graueri): BW, 3
White-winged Swamp-Warbler (Bradypterus carpalis): near Masindi, 1
Ruwenzori Apalis (Apalis ruwenzorii): BW, 3; MG, 2
Black-throated Apalis (Apalis jacksoni): BW, 7
Black-faced (Mountain Masked) Apalis (Apalis personata): BW, 9
Yellow-breasted Apalis (Apalis flavida): MF, 2; MB, 1
Buff-throated Apalis (Apalis rufogularis): BD, 4; KI, 3; SEM, 2
Chestnut-throated Apalis (Apalis porphyrolaema): BW, 1
Gray Apalis (Apalis cinerea): BW, 2
Green-backed Camaroptera (Camaroptera brachyura): common, seen or heard most places
Yellow-browed Camaroptera (Camaroptera superciliaris): BD, 1
Olive-green Camaroptera (Camaroptera chloronota): SEM, 2
White-chinned Prinia (Schistolais leucopogon): near Masindi, 2; KI, 4; BW, 11
Red-winged Gray Warbler (Drymocichla incana): MF, 1
Red-faced Cisticola (Cisticola erythrops): EN, 1; BD, 2; MF, 1; KI, 1; SEM, 1; QE, 1
Singing Cisticola (Cisticola cantans): SEM, 2
Whistling Cisticola (Cisticola lateralis): BD, 1; near Masindi, 1
Trilling Cisticola (Cisticola woosnami): QE, 12; MB, 7
Chubb's Cisticola (Cisticola chubbi): KI, 1; BW, 7; Nyamuriro, 3; Echuya, 5; MG, 3
Rattling Cisticola (Cisticola chiniana): MF, 15; SEM, 2
Winding Cisticola (Cisticola galactotes): LU, 3; EN, 1; MA, 25; Masindi, 3; QE, 1; Bukoto, 1
Carruthers's Cisticola (Cisticola carruthersi): QE, 2; BW, 3; Nyamuriro, 3
Croaking Cisticola (Cisticola natalensis): MF, 3
Tabora Cisticola (Cisticola angusticauda): MB, 1
Siffling Cisticola (Cisticola brachypterus): Butiaba, 1
Foxy Cisticola (Cisticola troglodytes): Butiaba, 4
Zitting Cisticola (Cisticola juncidis): Butiaba,3; QE, 37
Gray-capped Warbler (Eminia lepida): EN, 1; MF, 1; KI, 2; QE, 1
Black-faced Rufous-Warbler (Bathmocercus rufus): KI, 1
Buff-bellied Warbler (Phyllolais pulchella): MF, 5; MB, 1
Tawny-flanked Prinia (Prinia subflava): EN, 3; BD, 1; MF, 6; Butiaba, 3; SEM, 1
Banded Prinia (Prinia bairdii): SEM, 4; BW, 4
Rufous-crowned Eremomela (Eremomela badiceps): BD, 6
African (Ruwenzori) Hill Babbler (Sylvia abyssinica): BW, 1; Echuya, 1; MG, 2
African Yellow White-eye (Zosterops senegalensis): EN, 6; KI, 2; BW, 25; Echuya, 8; MG, 1
Pale-breasted Illadopsis (Illadopsis rufipennis): BW, 2
Mountain Illadopsis (Illadopsis pyrrhoptera): BW, 3
Scaly-breasted Illadopsis (Illadopsis albipectus): SEM, 1
Puvel's Illadopsis (Illadopsis puveli): KB, 2
Black-lored Babbler (Turdoides sharpei): QE, 5; MB, 12
Brown Babbler (Turdoides plebejus): MF, 1
Arrow-marked Babbler (Turdoides jardineii): MB, 4
Dusky-brown Flycatcher (Muscicapa adusta): KI, 1; BW, 10; MG, 2
Gambaga Flycatcher (Muscicapa gambagae): MF, 2
Swamp Flycatcher (Muscicapa aquatica): LU, 2; EN, 1; MA, 4; MF, 2; QE, 11; Nyamuriro, 6
Cassin's Flycatcher (Muscicapa cassini): KI, 4; QE, 1
Sooty Flycatcher (Bradornis fuliginosus): BD, 1; KI, 4; BW, 2
Dusky-blue Flycatcher (Bradornis comitatus): BW, 4
Pale Flycatcher (Agricola pallidus): SEM, 4
African Forest-Flycatcher (Fraseria ocreata): BD, 3
Gray-throated Tit-Flycatcher (Fraseria griseigularis): BD, 1; KI, 1; SEM, 1
Gray Tit-Flycatcher (Fraseria plumbea): MF, 1; KI, 1
Chapin's Flycatcher (Fraseria lendu): BW, 4
Ashy Flycatcher (Fraseria caerulescens): BD, 1; BW, 1
Silverbird (Melaenornis semipartitus): MF, 7; Butiaba, 1
Yellow-eyed Black-Flycatcher (Melaenornis ardesiacus): BW, 5
Northern Black-Flycatcher (Melaenornis edolioides): EN, 3; MF, 4; Butiaba, 1; QE, 6
White-eyed Slaty-Flycatcher (Melaenornis fischeri): BW, 8; Echuya, 2; MG, 5
Fire-crested Alethe (Alethe diademata): Kaniyo Pabidi, 2; SEM, 3
Brown-backed Scrub-Robin (Cercotrichas hartlaubi): BD, 1; near Masindi, 1; SEM, 1
Red-backed Scrub-Robin (Cercotrichas leucophrys): MF, 2; QE, 2
White-bellied Robin-Chat (Cossyphicula roberti): BW, 2
Archer's Robin-Chat (Cossypha archeri): BW, 1
White-browed Robin-Chat (Cossypha heuglini): EN, 1; MF, 2; KI, 1; QE, 2; MB, 3
Red-capped Robin-Chat (Cossypha natalensis): BW, 1
Snowy-crowned Robin-Chat (Cossypha niveicapilla): EN, 1; KI, 1
Spotted Morning-Thrush (Cichladusa guttata): MF, 2
White-starred Robin (Pogonocichla stellata): BW, 4; MG, 3
Forest Robin (Stiphrornis erythrothorax): KB, 1; SEM, 1
African Stonechat (Saxicola torquatus): BW, 3; Nyamuriro, 2; Kanaba, 1
Sooty Chat (Myrmecocichla nigra): MF, 5; QE, 14; MB, 5
Mocking Cliff-Chat (Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris): Butiaba, 1
Rufous Flycatcher-Thrush (Neocossyphus fraseri): KB, 1; KI, 1; SEM, 2
Red-tailed Ant-Thrush (Neocossyphus rufus): SEM, 3
White-tailed Ant-Thrush (Neocossyphus poensis): BW, 2
Abyssinian Thrush (Turdus abyssinicus): BW, 3; Nyamuriro, 1; Echuya, 2
African Thrush (Turdus pelios): EN, 4; MF, 1; KI, 2; QE, 1
Violet-backed Starling (Cinnyricinclus leucogaster): MF, 5; Butiaba, 2; QE, 3; MB, 30
Chestnut-winged Starling (Onychognathus fulgidus): KI, 2
Waller's Starling (Onychognathus walleri): BW, 6
Sharpe's Starling (Pholia sharpii): BW, 2; Echuya, 2
Narrow-tailed Starling (Poeoptera lugubris): KI, 14; BW, 3
Stuhlmann's Starling (Poeoptera stuhlmanni): KI, 8; BW, 1
Purple-headed Starling (Hylopsar purpureiceps): BD, 3; KI, 1
Rüppell's Starling (Lamprotornis purpuroptera): EN, 5; MF, 20; QE, 35; MB, 100
Splendid Starling (Lamprotornis splendidus): EN, 10; KI, 8; MB, 3
Lesser Blue-eared Starling (Lamprotornis chloropterus): Butiaba, 5
Greater Blue-eared Starling (Lamprotornis chalybaeus): MB, 1
Purple Starling (Lamprotornis purpureus): near Masindi, 1; KI, 1
Yellow-billed Oxpecker (Buphagus africanus): MF, 9; KI, 1; QE, 11; MB, 7
Gray-headed Sunbird (Deleornis axillaris): SEM, 5
Seimund's (Little Green) Sunbird (Anthreptes seimundi): BD, 1; KI, 2; BW, 1
Green Sunbird (Anthreptes rectirostris): BD, 2; KI, 3; BW, 1
Collared Sunbird (Hedydipna collaris): BD, 3; KB, 1; KI, 1; SEM, 2; BW, 9; Echuya, 5
Green-headed Sunbird (Cyanomitra verticalis): KI, 5; BW, 2; MG, 1
Blue-throated Brown Sunbird (Cyanomitra cyanolaema): KI, 2; BW, 1
Blue-headed Sunbird (Cyanomitra alinae): BW, 4
Western Olive Sunbird (Cyanomitra obscura): KI, 1; BW, 9
Green-throated Sunbird (Chalcomitra rubescens): KI, 1; BW, 2
Scarlet-chested Sunbird (Chalcomitra senegalensis): EN, 1; MF, 3; QE, 2
Purple-breasted Sunbird (Nectarinia purpureiventris): BW, 11
Bronze Sunbird (Nectarinia kilimensis): KI, 5; BW, 2
Malachite Sunbird (Nectarinia famosa): MG, 3
Olive-bellied Sunbird (Cinnyris chloropygius): EN, 3; BD, 2; KB, 1; KI, 3; BW, 2
Tiny Sunbird (Cinnyris minullus): KI, 2
Stuhlmann's (Ruwenzori Double-collared) Sunbird (Cinnyris stuhlmanni): MG, 7
Northern Double-collared Sunbird (Cinnyris reichenowi): BW, 15; Echuya, 1
Regal Sunbird (Cinnyris regius): BW, 4; Echuya, 4; MG, 6
Beautiful Sunbird (Cinnyris pulchellus): MF, 4
Mariqua Sunbird (Cinnyris mariquensis): MB, 2
Red-chested Sunbird (Cinnyris erythrocercus): LU, 1; EN, 2; MA, 1; QE, 6
Purple-banded Sunbird (Cinnyris bifasciatus): BD, 2
Variable Sunbird (Cinnyris venustus): BW, 2; Echuya, 4; MG, 5
Copper Sunbird (Cinnyris cupreus): BD, 1; KI, 1; SEM, 2
Cape Wagtail (Motacilla capensis): MA, 2; BW, 1; Nyamuriro, 2; Kanaba, 1
Mountain Wagtail (Motacilla clara): BW, 2
African Pied Wagtail (Motacilla aguimp): EN, 1; MA, 3; MF, 3; KI, 5; QE, 4; BW, 3; MB, 1
African (Grassland) Pipit (Anthus cinnamomeus): QE, 5; MG, 1
Plain-backed Pipit (Anthus leucophrys): MF, 1; near Masindi, 5; QE, 2
Yellow-throated Longclaw (Macronyx croceus): EN, 1; MA, 3; near Masindi, 1; KI, 1; QE, 23
Golden-breasted Bunting (Emberiza flaviventris): SEM, 1; BW, 1; MB, 1
Cabanis's Bunting (Emberiza cabanisi): MF, 1; SEM, 2
Yellow-crowned Canary (Serinus flavivertex): BW, 6; MG, 2
White-rumped Seedeater (Serinus leucopygius): near Butiaba, 2
Yellow-fronted Canary (Serinus mozambicus): BD, 1; near Masindi, 1; KI, 3
Western Citril (Serinus frontalis): BD, 2; BW, 8
Papyrus Canary (Serinus koliensis): Nyamuriro, 2
Black-throated Canary (Serinus atrogularis): BW, 5
Brimstone Canary (Serinus sulphuratus): QE, 3
Streaky Seedeater (Serinus striolatus): BW, 4; Nyamuriro, 6; Echuya, 10; MG, 5
Thick-billed Seedeater (Serinus burtoni): BW, 4; Echuya, 3; MG, 1
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus): BD, 3; seen in some towns
Shelley's Rufous Sparrow (Passer shelleyi): MF, 2
Northern Gray-headed Sparrow (Passer griseus): common everywhere
Speckle-fronted Weaver (Sporopipes frontalis): MF, 5
White-browed Sparrow-Weaver (Plocepasser mahali): MF, 1
Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-Weaver (Plocepasser superciliosus): MF, 1; Butiaba, 2
Crested Malimbe (Malimbus malimbicus): SEM, 5
Red-headed Malimbe (Malimbus rubricollis): KI, 1; BW, 3
Red-headed Weaver (Anaplectes rubriceps): MF, 1
Baglafecht Weaver (Ploceus baglafecht): BW, 8
Little Weaver (Ploceus luteolus): MF, 8; MB, 1
Slender-billed Weaver (Ploceus pelzelni): EN, 4; MA, 2; KI, 1; QE, 7; Nyamuriro, 1
Black-necked Weaver (Ploceus nigricollis): EN, 1; BD, 1; KI, 4; BW, 8
Spectacled Weaver (Ploceus ocularis): near Masindi, 3; KI, 1; BW, 1
Black-billed Weaver (Ploceus melanogaster): BW, 3
Strange Weaver (Ploceus alienus): BW, 4; Echuya, 3
Holub's Golden-Weaver (Ploceus xanthops): near Masindi, 2; QE, 2; MB, 2; Bukoto, 1
Orange Weaver (Ploceus aurantius): EN, 5
Northern Brown-throated Weaver (Ploceus castanops): LU, 2; EN, 1; MA, 10
Lesser Masked-Weaver (Ploceus intermedius): QE, 2; MB, 60
Vitelline Masked-Weaver (Ploceus vitellinus): MF, 4
Vieillot's Weaver (Ploceus nigerrimus): MA, 3; BD, 2; MF, 10; SEM, 2
Village Weaver (Ploceus cucullatus): MA, 5; MF, 30; SEM, 5; QE, 20; MB, 4
Weyns's Weaver (Ploceus weynsi): MA, 2
Black-headed (Yellow-backed) Weaver (Ploceus melanocephalus): MF, 1; QE, 40; Nyamuriro,10
Golden-backed Weaver (Ploceus jacksoni): EN, 3; Bukoto, 4
Yellow-mantled Weaver (Ploceus tricolor): BD, 2; KI, 5
Brown-capped Weaver (Ploceus insignis): KI, 3; BW, 5
Compact Weaver (Pachyphantes superciliosus): QE, 3
Cardinal Quelea (Quelea cardinalis): MF, 2
Red-headed Quelea (Quelea erythrops): BD, 20; SEM, 15
Red-billed Quelea (Quelea quelea): MF, 10; QE, 20
Northern Red Bishop (Euplectes franciscanus): MF, 2
Southern Red Bishop (Euplectes orix): QE, 3
Black-winged Bishop (Euplectes hordeaceus): near Masindi, 2; SEM, 2
Black Bishop (Euplectes gierowii): BD, 3; near Masindi, 1; SEM, 1
Yellow Bishop (Euplectes capensis): BW, 1; Kanaba, 1
White-winged Widowbird (Euplectes albonotatus): QE, 5
Yellow-mantled Widowbird (Euplectes macroura): BD, 3; near Masindi, 5
Red-collared Widowbird (Euplectes ardens): BD, 1; near Masindi, 1; QE, 6
Fan-tailed Widowbird (Euplectes axillaris): MA, 15; QE, 1
Marsh Widowbird (Euplectes hartlaubi): near Masindi, 5
Grosbeak Weaver (Amblyospiza albifrons): BD, 15; MF, 20; KI, 3; BW, 1
Gray-headed Nigrita (Nigrita canicapillus): BD, 1; KI, 1; BW, 1
Chestnut-breasted Nigrita (Nigrita bicolor): SEM, 4
White-breasted Nigrita (Nigrita fusconotus): BD, 1; KI, 1; SEM, 1; BW, 2
Jameson's Antpecker (Parmoptila jamesoni): BW, 1
Gray-headed Oliveback (Nesocharis capistrata): BD, 2
Yellow-bellied Waxbill (Coccopygia quartinia): MG, 1
Dusky Crimson-wing (Cryptospiza jacksoni): MG, 2
Fawn-breasted Waxbill (Estrilda paludicola): QE, 3
Orange-cheeked Waxbill (Estrilda melpoda): SEM, 2
Crimson-rumped Waxbill (Estrilda rhodopyga): QE, 3
Black-rumped Waxbill (Estrilda troglodytes): MF, 5
Common Waxbill (Estrilda astrild): MA, 2; near Masindi, 2; Kanaba, 2; MG, 10
Black-crowned Waxbill (Estrilda nonnula): BD, 2; near Masindi, 3; KI, 7; Kanaba, 1
Kandt's Waxbill (Estrilda kandti): BW, 1; Echuya, 3; MG, 10
Black-faced Waxbill (Estrilda erythronotos): Butiaba, 1
Red-headed Bluebill (Spermophaga ruficapilla): BD, 1; BW, 1
Red-cheeked Cordonbleu (Uraeginthus bengalus): MF, 12; Butiaba, 6
Brown Twinspot (Clytospiza monteiri): BD, 1
Green-winged Pytilia (Pytilia melba): MB, 4
Red-billed Firefinch (Lagonosticta senegala): EN, 4; MF, 3; QE, 25; Nyamuriro, 2
African Firefinch (Lagonosticta rubricata): BW, 2
Bronze Mannikin (Spermestes cucullata): EN, 15; MF, 20; KI, 4; SEM, 20; QE, 5; MB, 1
Black-and-white Mannikin (Spermestes bicolor): EN, 4; KI, 1; SEM, 16; QE, 2; Kanaba, 1
Pin-tailed Whydah (Vidua macroura): BD, 2; MF, 1; KI, 5; SEM, 1; QE, 4
Village Indigobird (Vidua chalybeata): Butiaba, 3; QE, 1
Mammals
Bush Elephant (Loxodonta africana)
Common Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes)
Central African Red Colobus (Piliocolobus oustaleti tephrosceles and P.o. ellioti)
Guereza Colobus (Colobus guereza)
Olive Baboon (Papio anubis)
Grey-cheeked Mangabey (Lophocebus albigena)
Patas Monkey (Erythrocebus patas)
Tantalus (Vervet) Monkey (Chlorocebus tantalus)
L’Hoest’s Monkey (Allochrocebus lhoesti)
DeBrazza’s Monkey (Cercopithecus neglectus)
Blue Monkey (Cercopithecus stuhlmanni)
Golden Monkey (Cercopithecus kandti)
Uganda Red-tailed Monkey (Cercopithecus ascanius schmidti)
Brush-tailed Porcupine (Atherurus africanus)
Crested Porcupine (Hystrix cristata)
Red-legged Sun Squirrel (Heliosciurus rufobrachium)
Alexander’s Bush Squirrel (Paraxerus alexandri)
Striped Ground Squirrel (Xerus erythropus)
Bunyoro Rabbit (Poelagus marjarita)
Yellow-winged Bat (Lavia frons)
Side-striped Jackal (Canis adustus)
Spotted-necked Otter (Hydrictis maculicollis)
Lion (Panthera leo)
Leopard (Panthera pardus)
?Common Genet (Genetta genetta)
Slender Mongoose (Herpestes sanguineus)
White-tailed Mongoose (Ichneumia albicauda)
Banded Mongoose (Mungos mungo)
Dwarf Mongoose (Helogale parvula)
Common Zebra (Equus quagga)
Common Warthog (Phacochoerus africanus)
Common Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius)
Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis)
African Buffalo (Syncerus caffer)
Bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus)
Common Eland (Taurotragus oryx)
Rwenzori Red Duiker (Cephalophus rubidus)
Black-fronted Duiker (Cephalophus nigrifrons)
Yellow-backed Duiker (Cephalolophus silvicultor)
Oribi (Ourebia ourebi)
Bohor Reedbuck (Redunca redunca)
Uganda Kob (Kobus kob thomasi)
Defassa Waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus defassa)
Impala (Aepyceros melampus)
Topi (Damaliscus lunatus topi)
Lelwel’s Hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus lelwel)