Highly sought-after birds in Uganda boast a checklist of bird species, including endemic, threatened, near-threatened, endangered, rarities..

Highly sought-after birds in Uganda

Highly sought-after birds in Uganda: The country’s checklist boasts over 1061 bird species, which include endemics, threatened, near threatened, endangered, and rarities. Uganda is one of the top birding destinations in Africa, with a diverse range of spectacular landscapes dominated by savanna grasslands, swamps, woodlands, and riverine forests. All of these serve as motherly habitats to birdlife with distinctive bird species. This is due to its strategic location at the intersection of the East African savanna and the West African tropical rainforest.

On a Ugandan birdwatching safari, many birdwatchers tend to value quite several bird species, including the iconic Shoebill Stork, Green-breasted Pitta, Shelley’s Crimsonwing, Puvel’s Illadopsis of Budongo Forest, Black-breasted Barbet, Neumann’s (short-tailed) Warbler, Doherty’s Bush-shrike, Great Blue Turaco, and Standard-winged Nightjar, all prized for their uniqueness, elegance, and characteristics, as discussed below.

The highly sought-after birds of Uganda

The Shoebill Stork

The Shoebill Stork is one of the most highly sought-after birds in Uganda. The whale-billed or headed stork, commonly known as the Shoebill Stork, is a big, wading threatened bird species that has a distinctive appearance that makes it resemble a dinosaur. The Shoebill stork, which lives in marshes and wetlands like the Albert Delta and Mabamba Wetlands, gets its name from its enormous shoe-shaped beak. Its plumage is slate, blue-grey, and dark grey, with extended breast feathers, dark shafts, and a white belly. The bird is robustly built. It has pierced yellowish or grayish-white eyes and a tiny, bristly crest on the back of its neck. The bird is very huge in its feet and has very long, black legs.

The Great Blue Turaco

It is a spectacular, enormous bird, often hunted for its meat and feathers. An adult has a red-tipped yellow bill and a ragged black crest. It’s a colourful bird, with muted blue from the head to the upper breast and greenish-yellow from the belly to the vent. It also has a long tail with yellowish green side panels and a broad black band near the tip. These bird species are locally common in good forests, relict forest patches, farmlands, and secondary growth, such as in the Mabira forest, BwindiI Impenetrable Forest, and Budongo Forest among others. They are also poor at flying and thus end up soaring for shorter distances.

Shelley’s Crimsonwing

One of the highly sought-after birds in Uganda, the Shelley’s Crimsonwing is one of the rarest bird species. The male features an intense red colour on his back, crown, and wings. His tail and wings are black in contrast, and his underparts are olive-yellow with warmer tones on his abdomen and flanks. The female is duller, with a reddish-pink mantle and rump and an olive head. Bright crimson bills adorn both sexes. Closed, damp woodlands like Bwindi Impenetrable Forest are home to Shelley’s Crimsonwing. Prefers often rich valley bottoms close to water, as well as low secondary growth at forest boundaries, clearings in the forest, and glades with a wide herbaceous canopy, thickets of bamboo, and the upper forest/moorland ecotone. The vocalisation of Shelley’s Crimsonwing is sharp and high-pitched, with a “tit tit tit” call and a rising and falling series of high-pitched “tu tutu ti ti ti.”

Puvel’s Illadopsis is endemic to Budongo Forest.

The Puvel’s Iladopsis is endemic to Budongo Forest in the whole of East Africa.

Unlike Shelley’s Crimsonwing, this diminutive, dense, vividly coloured endemic babbler of Budongo Forest in the whole of East Africa is reported to inhabit tropical lowland rain forests that have mossy shrublands, dense tangles of vegetation, and deep thickets. A member of the Pellorneidae family, this kind of bird is renowned for its cunning, timid, and enigmatic personality. It is seldom observed unless deliberately pursued.  It is typically found in one place, at an elevation of 1100 metres, in the northern Budongo Forest region of Murchison Falls National Park in western Uganda.  Its underparts are pale grey with a white neck, usually washed with buff. These birds can be recognised and separated mostly by their calls, just like other Illadopsises. The geography of the endemic Puvel’s Illadopsis greatly influences its range.

The Standard-winged Nightjar

It is of a moderate size. Their eerie vocalisations and flying foxes are typically how one notices them. When they are sleeping or during the day, they hide themselves with their mottled brown feathers. Their feathers can grow up to 38 cm in length, and they often soar at sunset and into the late evenings. Its name comes from the long feathers that the mature males of the species utilise to stretch out in courtship dances.

The Neumann’s (Short-tailed) Warbler

 It is a small, distinctive bird species found in the forested areas of Uganda, particularly in the Bwindi Buhoma areas. Its plumage is covered with white throat and wing bars, pale yellow underparts, and a grey-brown back with a raised short tail.  The colour of the female’s legs is dark brown, while males have pinkish-grey legs.

The Green-breasted Pitta

The Green-breasted Pitta is one of the highly sought-after birds in Uganda. Though its green breast and pale throat are darker and duller than those of the adult African Pitta, their features are very similar. In the inner forests of southwest Uganda, it is an uncommon inhabitant. Mostly located in Kibale forest, they are difficult to notice but can be found in the damp lowlands of tropical woods. Green is the colour of its breast, and a black line surrounds its throat.

The Doherty’s Bush-shrike

The adult male is similar to the Gorgeous Bush-shrike but the fore crowned bright red with no red below the black breast-band and a black tail. They are never seen because they are shy, only audible, and prefer highland, forested areas. They have a large black-breasted band, a pale yellow and lemon-like midsection, a black tail, and a green body with a bright red throat and forehead. The underparts of the younger birds are striped in green and yellow, giving them a pale green colour.

The Bar-tailed Trogon

The adult male is similar to the Narina Trogon but rather darker, with a blue band on the breast and barred black and white tail edges at the back. They are woodland dwellers and prefer higher altitudes in montane forests. Males have blue-black heads, two orange or yellow bare-skinned patches below the eyes, and brilliant green-blue and violet colours on their upper breasts. Females have brown heads and a light cinnamon throat and breast.

The Black-breasted Barbet

The Black-breasted Barbet is a large, spectacular black barbet bird with a thick ivory bill that is covered in hackles with white patches on the lower back and flanks and a bright red lower breast and belly. They inhabit mostly riverine woodlands, drier wooded grasslands, and scattered trees. These are lone birds that nest traditionally in tree cavities. They consume insects, fruit, and tiny reptiles as food. Both birds incubate the two to four eggs that the female lays for a duration of thirteen to fifteen days.

The Grauer’s Broadbill

The Grauer’s Broadbill nests its young ones in Kibale Forest.

An intriguing and endemic bird species known as Grauer’s Broadbill is one of the highly sought-after birds in Uganda. This bird, once known as the African Green Broadbill (Grauer’s Broadbill), is a sight to behold for any enthusiast of the natural world. Located in the southwest of Uganda, in the Ruhija sector of the Mubwindi marsh trail, is where you can find this rare species of bird in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. In the Neck and beside the river, a few flocks have been sighted. Discovering and observing this amazing natural wonder in its native habitat is a worthwhile endeavour.

The Grauer’s Broadbill is an incredibly beautiful bird with many distinctive features that make its identification simple. This small bird, with its bright blue neck and vent and vivid green plumage, is even more endearing among the fully grown birds. The small and noticeably distinct bill of Grauer’s broadbill sets it apart from other broadbills. Observing the adults’ buff crowns with fine black streaks and tiny black eye stripes is amazing.

Although some birds are restricted to specific regions, Uganda is endowed with a multitude of birding places where enthusiasts can enjoy a birdwatching excursion and search for these exquisite species, especially the Shoebill Stork. In one day, a proficient bird observer can identify over 100 species. The best chance of discovering exceptional, lovely species is to start early.

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