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Operation Shoebill: Uganda’s Big Birding Day 24-hour race

Operation Shoebill: first-hand experience of Uganda’s Big Birding Day annual 24 hour bird race at Mabamba Bay

So why precisely have I got up well before dawn – on a Saturday – to drive for three hours in a cramped minibus to sit in an old boat?

Shoebill Stork in flight. PHOTO Ronan Donovan and Wild Frontiers Uganda www.wildfrontiers.co.ug
Reason enough to get up very early indeed on a Saturday – what a bird: the Shoebill. Big Birding Day Uganda. PHOTO Ronan Donovan and Wild Frontiers Uganda www.wildfrontiers.co.ug

It’s that time of year again: Uganda’s annual Big Birding Day, a 24-hour contest in which birders compete to see who can rack up the score for the highest number of bird species. The early bird catches the worm… or so they say. (This silly early bird didn’t even remember to catch breakfast, and now I’m sitting hungry in the middle of a huge swamp, miles from anywhere … oh damn you and your insatiable Muzungu appetite for cappuccino…)

On the shores of Lake Victoria about 50 km west of Kampala lie the vast swamps of Mabamba, one of Uganda’s few remaining swamps that are protected by the local communities.

Classified as an Important Bird Area, Mabamba Bay is home to Uganda’s most famous bird: the iconic Shoebill.

Mabamba Bay Swamp boat. Uganda’s Big Birding Day
Operation Shoebill: first-hand experience of Uganda’s Big Birding Day 24 hour race at Mabamba Bay. PHOTO Charlotte Beauvoisin

Would our Big Birding Day team get lucky and see a Shoebill at Mabamba Bay?

A couple of rickety-looking boats greet us on the edge of Mabamba Swamp. With giggles of excitement, the team’s boats head off into the Papyrus.

Pair of Grey Crowned Cranes. Big Birding Day. PHOTO Kaj Ostergaard
Pair of Grey Crowned Cranes. Uganda’s Big Birding Day 24 hour race

A pair of Grey Crowned Cranes (referred to locally in Uganda as Crested Cranes) fly overhead. It’s like a statement:  you have officially landed in Uganda’s wetlands. The fabulous Crested Crane adorns Uganda’s national coat of arms and makes its home in the wetlands (or what is left of them).

Our boats are surrounded by vibrant green, dotted with shimmering, purple water lilies, the cool morning mist rising from the crystal-clear waters.

A vibrant blue and orange Malachite Kingfisher poses delicately on a Papyrus stem as our boat pushes through the vegetation.

I spot a Northern Brown-throated Weaver (pale brown with an orange beak) at the base of some reeds. (I can’t say I know exactly what it is, but I’m the first to spot it! You don’t need to be an expert to take part in Big Birding Day; just quickly point out the moving blocks of colour to your more knowledgeable teammates).

The narrow waterways cutting through the swamp allow one, maximum two, narrow boats to pass. Travelling in a low-lying boat means you are at eye-level with so many of the birds at the water’s edge. It’s magic.

Purple Waterlillies. Big Birding Day. PHOTO Kaj Ostergaard
Purple Waterlillies contrast beautifully with the abundant lush greenery of the swamp. Uganda’s Big Birding Day. PHOTO Kaj Ostergaard

The narrow labyrinth of channels opens out into a wide freshwater lagoon.

We spot a Yellow-billed Duck in flight, a Squacco Heron amongst the reeds, and several Long-toed Lapwings, just a number of the iconic wetland birds you can see at Mabamba.

As our Shoebill comes into sight, everyone in the boat stands up (precariously tipping the boat to one side of course!)

Shoebill Stork, Mabamba Swamp. Big Birding Day. PHOTO Nick Sausen
Shoebill Stork, Mabamba Swamp. Big Birding Day. PHOTO Nick Sausen

The dark grey, funny-looking character stands an impressive five feet tall and stares back at us. A cross between a Stork and a Pelican, this prehistoric-looking bird dines on a menu of lungfish and frogs. Oh yum! (Mabamba is one of many places in Uganda you can see the Shoebill, but arguably the most accessible since it’s a short hop from Entebbe or Kampala. The excellent, mid-range Nkima Forest Lodge is just a few minutes from Mabamba Bay).

A pair of magnificent Blue-breasted Bee-eaters entertain us, while the Shoebill looks on, seriously, just ten or so metres from our boat. The Shoebill moves his head from side to side as our Mabamba guide educates us about this fascinating bird. There are just two or three pairs of Shoebills breeding in Mabamba, all under the watchful eye of the local community.

We look in vain for the Lesser Jacana, to the disappointment of our guide, who has a mental checklist of the birds he has hoped to record for Big Birding Day. Mabamba birds we do spot include Pink-backed Pelican, Saddle-billed Stork, African Fish Eagle, Purple Swamphen, Giant Kingfisher, Swamp Flycatcher and Weynn’s Weaver.

Pied Kingfisher Mabamba Swamp. Big Birding Day.
Pied Kingfisher poses on Papyrus, Mabamba Swamp. Big Birding Day

There is no protection from the sun when you are out on the open water. Cue: return to land, for a soda and a chapatti from the local snack stall. Refreshed, and with the Big Birding Day clock ticking, the competitive streak kicks in and the Big Birding Day team marches uphill towards some tall trees. En route we add a Fan-tailed Widowbird to our list.

Leaving Mabamba is a series of smaller Papyrus Swamps where we see locally occurring ‘endemic species’ such as the striking Papyrus Gonolek, White-winged Warbler and Carruther’s Cisticcola.

Uganda – ‘the birding mecca’ of Africa

Our tiny country is home to over 1000 bird species, almost 50% of Africa’s bird species. In addition to the 1000+ resident species, millions of birds migrate across Ugandan skies en route to summer alternately in South Africa and Europe.

Every year families, conservationists and the tourism industry come together to celebrate Uganda’s Big Birding Day, a series of fun conservation events celebrating birds. Young or old, an amateur or a professional ‘twitcher,’ Big Birding Day has something for everyone.

With a score of 114 species identified by the end of Big Birding Day 2013, our Mabamba team ranked a decent 9th out of 73 teams participating nationwide.

Big Birding Day
Be part of something BIG – Big Birding Day Uganda: a 24 hour birding contest across the country

How can you take part in Big Birding Day?

Expert bird guides from NatureUganda, Uganda Wildlife Authority staff and Uganda Bird Guides Club lead participants in the main event, a 24-hour bird watching contest. Big Birding Day includes free guided nature walks at dozens of sites across Uganda. Uganda Wildlife Authority provide free entry to the country’s National Parks, Wildlife and Forest Reserves on Big Birding Day (provided you register in advance).

Uganda’s Big Birding Day takes place every November. Registration is through Nature Uganda email bbd@natureuganda.org Twitter @NatureUganda and Facebook www.facebook.com/NatureUganda.

I can’t be on the winning Big Birding Day team every year – or can I? 😉

Birds send my heart a flutter …

My favourite birdwatching stories from Uganda

Similar in size to Great Britain, Uganda’s unique geographical positioning in the Great Rift Valley makes the country home for an astonishing 50% of Africa’s birds. Diverse habitats such as open savannah, montane and Equatorial rainforests, rivers, marshlands, fresh water and crater lakes combine to give Uganda an enviable bird list of over 1,060 species!

Uganda boasts an incredible 34 Important Bird Areas (IBAs), sites of global conservation importance, not just for birds but for mammals, fish, reptiles and insects. 22 IBAs are within the national protected areas and all twelve of Uganda’s Ramsar sites (internationally protected wetlands) are IBAs.

If you like birds – like I do! – then you will just LOVE Uganda! I’ve met many people who had never really noticed birds until they came here –  and returned to Europe ‘birding converts.’

Identifying a Sunbird, Birdwatching Uganda
Birdwatching Uganda. Identifying a Sunbird – not always easy, even when an expert has a bird guidebook! 

Here are a few of my favourite birding moments:

A forest wakes up (AKA birdwatching my way through lockdown on the edge of Kibale Forest) is dedicated to the hornbills, turacos, barbets, starlings and monkeys I see from my wooden house on the edge of the forest.

The Shoebill is one of Uganda’s most iconic birds. Pushing through the lillies and Papyrus of Mabamba Swamp on Big Birding Day in search of my first Shoebill sighting was a day I will never forget.

Shoebill, Murchison Falls National Park Uganda. Photo Ronan Donovan
Shoebill, Murchison Falls National Park Uganda. Photo Ronan Donovan

A day in the life … species by species. Uganda may not have the same change of seasons as Europe (but the insects don’t know that). I watch the seaons change in Uganda through the medium of entymology.

A bird’s eye view of Uganda – Big Birding Day  Up before dawn to take part in the Big Birding Day, a 24 hour birding race covering 33 sites across Uganda. Our team recorded 606 species! And the best bit? Our team won!

For three years I was part of the volunteer team helping make Big Birding Day even BIGGER! To tie in with this event and the country’s 50 years of independence, Africa on the Blog published my article on how birding tourism can be used to help develop Uganda and support poor rural communities. Read “Birding@50” – Save Uganda’s Beautiful Crested Crane.

Child, Klaas' Cuckoo, Kibale Forest, Uganda birds, Birdwatching Uganda
Dillon eyes up a spectacular Klaas’ Cuckoo, Kibale Forest bird ringing, Sunbird Hill

A ticking off – bird ringing in Kibale Forest was a very cool way to spend two days.

Incredibly rich in animal life, Kibale Forest is a place of many firsts for me. Even after three years working in conservation, Mother Nature had still been holding back on me: this particular Kibale Forest trip I saw my first wild chimp, my first Red Colobus Monkey, my first Green Mamba! But these were all unexpected bonuses – we’d actually traveled to Kibale Forest to ring birds.

Look up! Urban birding Kampala-style is the Muzungu’s view from Long Crested Towers – my home in Bukasa. Kampala is a dusty, polluted city of 2 million inhabitants. Yet, with over 300 bird species, the city is still a birder’s dream …

Hooded Vulture soaring above Kampala. PHOTO Achilles Byaruhanga
Hooded Vulture soaring above Kampala. PHOTO Achilles Byaruhanga

Populations of the 11 species of African vulture have declined considerably. In A disgusting day out I took part in NatureUganda’s annual vulture count – and a gory tour of the very smelly outdoor Busega fish factory and the formidable Kalerwe Abattoir, on the look-out for Hooded Vultures, Pied Crows, Brown Kites and Marabou Storks.

NatureUganda Vulture Count Kampala, Uganda birds
Hammerkop and large numbers of Marabou Storks overseeing the fish processing near Nateete, Kampala
Birdwatching Uganda. A birding muzungu at Sipi Falls, eastern Uganda
Birdwatching Uganda. A birding muzungu at Sipi Falls, eastern Uganda

Regular Diary of a Muzungu readers may remember my love-hate relationship with the Kingfisher that woke me up at 5.30 am PRECISELY every day for almost 4 years. I frequently curse him but I thought I’d lost him at one point – as I explain in the Kingfisher and I.

A birding Safari here in my backyard is one of my favourite birding walks, from Namuwongo in Kampala down to Port Bell on Lake Victoria. Baldrick was so tired, we had to drag him home! It was a great day for my growing bird list though ;) so do check it out!

Male birders Uganda
Roger and Nathan bird watching on Entebbe Peninsula. Big Birding Day 2010 – the year our team won!

I’m part of the volunteer team helping make Big Birding Day even Bigger!

A bird’s eye view of Uganda – Big Birding Day  A 24 hour birding race across 33 sites. Together we recorded 606 species. And the best bit? Our team won!

These are just a few of my many Uganda birding stories.

Do you like birdwatching? If you’re planning a trip to Uganda, check out the tour operators in my Travel Directory or drop me a line for some personal recommendations.

I love birds! Uganda’s Big Birding Day

Diary of a Muzungu is proud to be a sponsor of Big Birding Day 2013, supporting the next generation of birders in Uganda.

Diary of a Muzungu is delighted to support Big Birding Day (BBD) Uganda

Diary of a Muzungu is delighted to support Big Birding Day (BBD) Uganda

How many birds will you see at Big Birding Day 2013?

Bigger and better than ever, help us beat last years record – 290 birders in 58 teams, birding in 35 areas, recording 657 species (63% of the total species of Uganda recorded and an increase of 82 species from the 2011 record)!

 

The Muzungu with young birder Hope at Kasenge, Uganda. International Day of the Safari Guide

The Muzungu with young birder Hope at Kasenge on International Day of the Safari Guide. Photo courtesy of Titus Kakembo and Uganda Tourism Press Association

This Friday 18th October is the official launch of Big Birding Day 2013 at the Uganda Museum in Kampala.

Charlotte Diary of a Muzungu Big Birding Day 2013

Diary of a Muzungu helped promote Big Birding Day 2013

The free to enter Big Birding Day race is a 24 hour competition this Saturday, 19th October, at dozens of sites across Uganda, involving birdwatching groups competing to score the longest bird species list in 24 hours. Birding teams are led by professionally trained guides and experienced bird guides from NatureUganda membership and UWA staff. Each group must have at least 2 members who are experienced bird watchers to confirm the species identification.

All birds seen and/or heard calling within these sites will be recorded (TICK!) A tally centre will be set up at NatureUganda to receive and check all records.

Each new bird sighting gets a TICK

Each new bird sighting gets a TICK – but no cheating please guys!

 

The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and National Forestry Authority (NFA) are offering FREE entry for all Big Birding Day participants birding in National Parks, Wildlife Reserves and Forest Reserves – but you need to register your team first. (Scroll down for the flyer and contacts below).

…And if you can’t make the Big Birding Day race this Saturday, why not join us for the Festival Saturday 26th October? Here NatureUganda will name the Big Birding Day winning teams at Kitante Primary School Gardens (behind the Uganda Museum). This free event is open to the whole family and will be a chance to learn more about birds and birding. There will also be live music, dancing, face painting for the kids and more…

What can you expect from the Big Birding Day 2013 Race?

One year I was lucky enough to tag along with expert birders Roger Skeen and Nathan Eluku who recorded an incredible 175 bird species between Namuwongo, Kampala and Entebbe. What a fantastic day out it was. And the best bit? Our team won!

How to take part in Big Birding Day 2013, Uganda

Diary of a Muzungu is proud to be a sponsor of Uganda’s Big Birding Day 2013, supporting the next generation of birders. Birds, conservation, tourism

 

It’s not all about winning of course… this year I’m excited to be going to Mabamba Swamp, famous for its rare Shoebill Stork. I can’t wait!

Shoebill Stork, Entebbe, Uganda

Shoebill Stork, first seen by the Muzungu (though the mesh of its cage) at UWEC, Entebbe, Uganda

 

If you’re asking yourself, “why exactly does the Muzungu keep banging on about birds?” read “Why we should embrace Uganda’s Big Birding Day.” They delight me and enthrall me.

There’s a serious side to the event too and this year’s theme is: Birding, Our Livelihoods and Our Economy

Birdwatching can present significant economic opportunities for countries through sustainable tourism, says the United Nations environment agency. In Uganda, tourism is the number two foreign exchange earner (second only to remittances from Ugandans living overseas).

Did you know that worldwide, one in eight people earn their living directly or indirectly because of the tourism industry?

You only need to look at Uganda’s gorilla tourism and the way this single species has promoted Uganda internationally and helped fund other tourism initiatives and conservation across the country to see the huge potential for birding to develop Uganda’s economy. The Uganda Wildlife Authority, conservation organisations and tourist lodges work very closely with the community: training and employing local people.

Birding directly employs qualified bird guides and rangers, tour operators and sales consultants. Employment opportunities exist for land owners, farmers and producers who supply lodges, people who maintain tracks and trails, lodge and hotel staff and all the smaller businesses that support these: boda boda drivers, restaurants and shops. Birding tourism or ‘avitourism’ can thus become an economic and political force for both development and conservation.

Birding disproportionately favours the poor, since we find the highest number of bird species in remote areas. Thus, with the right investment in training and tourist facilities, birding can contribute to raising people out of poverty.

By supporting Big Birding Day 2013, the training of the next generation of birders and the investment in tourism infrastructure, you’re helping build the skills and opportunities of individual Ugandans, the economy of Uganda and protecting its wildlife and natural heritage at the same time … and you can have a great day out at the same time!

Please contact NatureUganda on 0414-540719 / 0414-533528 / 0772929626 to find out more, email bbd@natureuganda.org or register via the NatureUganda website.

NatureUganda is a membership-based organisation that would not exist without your support. 

Did you know you can renew your NatureUganda membership by mobile money? Just 5000 UGX for students and 25k UGX for annual family membership. Send to 0777147367

Follow NatureUganda on Twitter and be a Fan of NatureUganda on Facebook

If you like my birding stories, you might enjoy Diary of a Muzungu’ s page dedicated to our feathered friends, Uganda’s birds.

Do you like birds? Are you taking part in Big Birding Day this year? This annual event is growing every year. If you have ideas on how we can help develop BBD, do get in touch!

Be part of something BIG!

The Uganda Kob and the Grey Crested Crane adorn the country's crest

The Uganda Kob and the Grey Crested Crane adorn the country’s crest  – (which bird will replace it in 20 years time when the bird is extinct?)

“Birding@50” focuses on the plight of Uganda’s national symbol, the Grey Crowned Crane.

While the country has been (for the most part) celebrating 50 years of independence, Uganda’s national symbol is in crisis. The Grey Crowned Crane is under serious threat as her wetlands habitats are polluted, eroded, degraded and built upon. Human development is swallowing up the wetlands.

Left unchallenged, the Crane will not survive, and it is estimated that the Grey Crowned (or ‘Crested’) Crane will be extinct in Uganda within just 20 years.

The Grey Crowned Crane, also known as the Crested Crane

Ironically, the fact that Cranes are monogamous birds that pair for life is one of the factors pushing them towards extinction. Some people hold the traditional belief that eating or using a Crane product will therefore strengthen their own relationship.

 

NatureUganda is leading the campaign to save the Crane.

We urge individuals and the authorities to protect the wetlands. We need people to ask themselves “when did you last see a young or adult Crane? Do you see them as often now as you did when you were a child?”

It is no coincidence that as humans encroach upon the wetlands, the number of Cranes has plummeted across the country.

NatureUganda’s Achilles Byaruhanga tells us more about this sensational bird in The Crested Crane: Uganda’s symbol of beauty and serenity

 

So why am I talking about this?

It’s because this Saturday 20th October will be BIG BIRDING DAY 2012!

BBD is a country-wide “big birding race” between birding groups, led by experienced bird guides, who will aim to record as many bird species as possible in a single 24 hour period.

NatureUganda has 47 teams registered so far, across the country. More teams are registering, making this the biggest BBD ever!

There’s free entry for all participants birding in National Parks, Wildlife Reserves and Forest Reserves – but you need to register with NatureUganda first.

The results of the BBD race will be announced during the Big Birding festival on Saturday 27th October 2012 at Entebbe Botanic Gardens. See poster for more details!

The importance of Birds

Despite the large number of birds in Uganda – almost half the continent’s species – very few Ugandans are aware of the country’s rich diversity. The “Uganda Big Birding Day” helps promote avi-conservation and avi-tourism – bird conservation and tourism or ‘birding.’ Although avi-tourism is developing in Uganda, very few locals take part – yet! More trained bird guides are needed!

If you like birds, you might enjoy some of my other stories about birding in Uganda.

Big Birding Day Uganda 2012

Check out all these lovely FREE events! Big Birding Day Uganda 2012

A disgusting day out

Looking for things to do around Kampala?

NatureUganda is a member organisation that organises affordable birdwatching trips around the country and researches numerous species, mainly birds.

Visiting the abattoir might not be top of every vegetarian’s wish list, but that didn’t stop two vegetarians from looking forward to a day out at the slaughterhouse, as part of Nature Uganda‘s annual vulture count. Interested in taking part?

Our gory tour took us to the very smelly outdoor Busega fish factory; the tidy, rustic Kyengera Abattoir and the formidable Kalerwe Abattoir, on the look-out for Hooded Vultures, Pied Crows, Brown Kites and Marabou Storks.

Nature Uganda vulture count, abattoir, Marabou storks

The annual Nature Uganda vulture count takes you to glamorous locations such as abattoirs! Here Marabou Storks congregate off Port Bell Road, Kampala

“I tried not to look at the blood and guts around me and looked down – and narrowly avoided stepping on a cow’s brain!” Said Alex the vegetarian. Not the most glamorous of day’s out for us ladies, tiptoeing around pools of dark red blood seeping into Kalerwe’s thick oozing mud…

Vulture Count Kalerwe Abattoir, Kampala

My Nature Uganda friend Roger had painted a grim picture of last year’s annual vulture count – but I couldn’t wait to experience the horror for myself!

Living in Uganda has desensitised me to the horrors of the meat trade. A vegetarian since the age of 13, it was learning about the UK’s concrete and metal ‘factory farms’ that turned me off meat, overnight. In the UK we’re as far removed from the slaughter process as could possibly be (it’s hard to reconcile the surgical cleanliness of the plastic-wrapped portions of meat in the supermarket with the reality of what happens to the animal in the slaughterhouse). Here in Uganda, it’s back to basics: blood, guts and all.

Heaps body parts Kalerwe Abattoir, Kampala

Heaps of (cow) body parts wherever we looked in Kalerwe Abattoir, Kampala – why can’t the Chinese make ornaments and medicines out of this lot and leave Africa’s rhino and elephants alone?

So why were we putting ourselves through this?

Vultures aren’t the world’s prettiest birds – that characteristic bald head helps keep the head clean when feeding on a carcass – but they (and the Marabou Storks) are arguably the most useful, and need to be protected.

Populations of the eleven species of African vulture have declined considerably. Threats vary, but include poisoning, loss of habitat, trapping for food and witchcraft.

Vultures are nature’s most successful scavengers. Known by some as ‘Superman of the bird world,’ vultures can eat Anthrax (without dying) and quickly dispose of diseased carcasses (without catching the disease) – and no other animal will eat their carcass.

In the past decade, hundreds of vultures have been accidentally killed across East Africa after consuming poisoned animals set to kill lions and hyenas which had attacked livestock. Vultures are also intentionally poisoned by poachers because the presence of circling vultures alerts wildlife authorities to the location of poachers’ illegal activities.

Hooded Vulture soaring above Kampala. PHOTO Achilles Byaruhanga

Hooded Vulture soaring above Kampala. PHOTO Achilles Byaruhanga

Three Hooded Vultures, Kampala. Photo Veena Naik

Three Hooded Vultures, Kampala. PHOTO Veena Naik

In a recent incident, 48 vultures were poisoned near the Ishasha River on the Congo border, their bodies found scattered along a path heading back to Queen Elizabeth National Park.

In Kenya, vulture numbers in the Maasai Mara National Reserve have declined by an average of 62% since the 1970s. Vultures have some of the lowest reproductive rates among birds, making them particularly vulnerable. A decade ago none of Kenya’s eight vulture species was on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species; now 6 out of 8 species are on the Red List, with populations declining at an alarming rate.

Information on Kenyan vultures edited from Summit to save Africa’s vulture populations from extinction on ‘African Raptors‘.

Nature Uganda Vulture Count Kampala

Hammerkop getting in on the act! Huge numbers of Marabou Storks overseeing the fish processing near Nateete, Kampala

So how is the demise of this ugly old bird linked to human health?

Following a decimation of the vulture numbers in India, there’s been an increase in disease transmission among dogs and rats. The subsequent increase in dogs and rabies is blamed for an estimated human health costs of $1.5 billion a year. If vulture numbers continue to decline in Kampala, what might be the impact on the residents of the city?

cow hoofs Kampala

Too hot to trot! Nothing goes to waste here …molokony (cow hoof) is a popular hangover cure

Back at the abattoir, the authorities were suspicious of the muzungu wandering around with a camera – all except this guy: “You take my picture” he said.

worker Kalerwe abattoir

My idea of hell – but just another day at work for this guy

Once beyond the understandably suspicious questions “are you from the Ministry of Health?” people seemed quite interested in what we were doing. Someone offered to feed the birds for us (for a fee). Another guy asked if we could solve the problem of the Marabous shitting on (and therefore destroying) his zinc roof!

At Kyengera, the unmistakable smell of burning flesh led us by the nose down to a shack where a whole cow’s head sat roasting on an open fire. For 500 shillings (the cost of two chapatis) I was invited to take a photo – or (just for laughs!) pose with the man stoking the fire and roasting the head – somehow that just seemed one step too far.

Aren’t you glad I didn’t take that last photo?

The species: in order of population size, Uganda has the following Vultures: White-backed, Hooded, Ruppell’s, Palm Nut, Lappet-faced, White-headed and Egyptian.

To learn more about the Kampala vulture counts, and other activities, visit the Nature Uganda web site.

If you like birds, check out the muzungu‘s Birds page for lots more Ugandan birding stories!

Look up! Urban birding Kampala-style

The view from Long Crested Towers, Kampala

Kampala is a dusty, polluted city of 2 million inhabitants. The crowded industrial area slap bang in the centre of town, sits cheek by jowl with a slum of 100,000 people and a creaking and inadequate sewage system pours filth into nearby Lake Victoria. Drainage channels (for the country’s voluminous heavy rains) are the preferred waste disposal solution for many a Kampala household.

Originally on seven hills, the capital’s urban sprawl now covers at least three times that many hills now, the city’s population nurtured by rapid and increased urbanisation and the world’s 3rd highest birth rate.

But for all this, Kampala is still a birder’s dream with over 300 species. Forest birds, such as Black and White Casqued Hornbills, nest in a few remaining large trees in the city environs and Palmnut Vultures nest overlooking the golf course in the middle of the city.

Hammerkops often perch on the neighbour's roof. Here's one on the edge of Lake Victoria, a few km away
Hammerkops often perch on the neighbour’s roof. Here’s one on the edge of Lake Victoria, just a few km away. Image Achilles Byaruhanga, Nature Uganda

I work in the centre of the capital and live in Bukasa, just 4 miles outside town – or less, as the Pied Crow flies. To many Kampalans, I may as well live in De Bush!

You can set your watch by the sound of the early morning birdsong in Uganda, more or less constant throughout the year, thanks to the country’s position on the Equator. The Woodland Kingfisher wakes me at 5.30 am sharp, very sharp; its shrill call forces my head off the pillow.

Great and Long Tailed Cormorants, Cattle and Little Egrets, Marabou Storks and Pink Backed Pelicans fly south towards the lake from their roosting site atop a statuesque hardwood Mvule tree in the middle of Kyangoga slum. They’re joined by the occasional Grey-Crowned Crane, Uganda’s most elegant national symbol. Usually seen in pairs, these Cranes mate for life, a commitment which, irony of all ironies, makes their eggs highly prized as wedding gifts – or so the urban myth goes. The Crane is further highly threatened due to destruction of its wetland habitat for conversion to farmland and agriculture (Uganda is a predominantly subsistence economy).

Iridescent Ruppell’s Starlings chuckle and scold from atop the water tank, swooping down to the garden tap to drink. Northern Grey-headed Sparrows pick at the crumbs left by the dogs and Red-billed firefinches bob in and out of the Bougainvillea. The hullaballo of a giant Eastern Grey Plantain Eater makes me look up as we pass under the electricity wire by the gate.

An early morning stroll with the dogs takes me along dusty marram roads towards Lake Victoria, a sea of Papyrus (and the inevitable construction sites) separating us from the men in dugout canoes fishing for Tilapia.

Kampala is a huge building site. Banana plantations and cassava plots metamorphose overnight. Over the past three years, we’ve frequently had to double back on ourselves when confronted by yet another new fence, a wall or a pile of freshly-baked red bricks.

And yet, turn a corner, and you’re back in the village, with ducks at your feet and a herd of cows slowly ambling past you.

The dogs scamper through the rough bush next to the house, inevitably picking up ticks left by grazing livestock. Cows are a status symbol in Uganda; the more you own, the greater respect you command. The dogs’ ticks can balloon to juicy fat currants before I notice them (where are the Oxpeckers when you need them?)

An African Open-Billed Stork, picking over the freshly hoed earth for snails, flies off at the sight of the dogs. A pair of Hadada Ibis cackle comically overhead – (no chance of a lie-in once these guys land on your roof).

A White-browed Coucal watches us from its perch on a termite mound.

The fabulous Woodland Kingfisher, Kampala
The fabulous Woodland Kingfisher, Kampala – beautiful but noisy! Image Achilles Byaruhanga, Nature Uganda

Further down the track, en route to Port Bell fish landing site on Lake Victoria, we watch Hooded Vultures and Marabou Storks jostle for pickings amongst a big pile of fresh slaughtered pig heads at the open-air abattoir next to the railway track. The enormous Marabou Stork has a wing span of over two metres and is a frequent flier over Kampala. They can clean up faster than the City council: every day an estimated 10,000 of these scavengers (the largest known colony in the world) clean up 1-2 tons of the capital’s rubbish.

As the day warms up, we double back across the scrub, home to Long Crested Towers.*

A Long-Crested Eagle watched me from a telegraph post when I first viewed my new house
A Long-Crested Eagle watched me from a telegraph post when I first viewed my new house – I took it as a lucky omen. Image Achilles Byaruhanga, Nature Uganda

A Long-Crested Eagle watched me from a telegraph post when I first viewed my new house; I took it as a good sign. No looking back  – only up 😉

*With a nod to one of my conservation heros, Gerald Durrell.

This post was originally written for David Lindo, the Urban Birder. He says “It’s estimated that by 2050 at least 75% of humankind will be living in cities. Many of us never leave our city environments. But within our sprawling cities there is birdlife to be found — sometimes in surprising abundance. If we open our eyes, look up and listen it will make itself known to us. What we have to do is learn how to appreciate the nature on our doorsteps and then we will fully understand the importance of worldwide conservation.”

David has a few Urban Birding tips to get you started:

  • Look up
  • Ignore people — see buildings as cliffs and mountainsides
  • Have as your mantra: “Anything can turn up anywhere at any time”
  • Enjoy yourself!

Thanks David for the inspiration and the words of encouragement!

If you like birds, check out the muzungu‘s Birds page for lots more Ugandan birding stories!

Down in the slum, after the rain

A glimpse of life in Namuwongo ‘go down’ along Kampala’s railway track

Marabou Storks railway Kampala. Photo Achilles Byaruhanga

Marabou Storks along the railway line in Kampala. Photo Achilles Byaruhanga, www.NatureUganda.org

The air is damp and heavy, the air is cool and last week’s fine, dusty marram earth is compacted beneath our feet. Limbs have been torn off the Pawpaw tree the other side of the compound wall and a single giant leaf, over four metres long, has been torn off the Palm tree. It lies there on the grass looking pathetic, no longer the majestic bough waving in the breeze.

It’s rained hard for the last two days. It’s a blessed relief for us all, although Baldrick’s been curled up in a tight ball on the doormat; he lives outside and the cold has got into his bones. He thinks nothing of stretching out in the sun in the heat of the day for hours: my Ugandan dog.

I decide to take advantage of the cool morning to go for a long walk and we take the short route down the path onto the railway line. It’s a sea of mud and empty cavera carrier bags. Water runs freely and collects in greenish grey puddles suffocated with plastic rubbish. The ducks are caked in mud and oil and the giant Marabou Storks peer down at us from atop the rubbish dumps.

I pick my way up and down the smooth marram pathway that winds its way between the makeshift shacks and public latrines. Here, all life happens out in the open, either side of the path: women deep fry cassava in big open woks just a foot from the main path. Children sit on dirty wooden benches next to open charcoal stoves, surrounded by plastic basins of washing-up, giant beaten aluminium pots of beans and converted oil drums brewing god knows what.

A man wants me to buy smoked dried fish.

“Salina ssente” I say – “I don’t have any money” – unwilling to open my bag in an area I don’t know and glad I won’t have to buy these fish that are covered in flies.

Two women hold a large piece of tripe over a bucket, one of them sawing it into two pieces. Muddy ‘Irish’ potatoes spill out of a sack onto the piles of black shiny charcoal.

To see a muzungu down in the slum must be quite unusual and I don’t hear the same number of greetings I get elsewhere. When I do speak, I’m aware many people don’t speak Luganda; many are refugees from northern Uganda or even further afield, South Sudan.

Wherever they’re from, the children still speak as one of course: “muzungu-how-are-you?” comes the chorus.

This is one of many walks that have taken me through the slum. It’s as fascinating as it is grim.

I used to live a stone’s throw away from Namuwongo ‘go down.’ The noise from the shanty town along the railway tracks was a constant backdrop to my life. I miss it. Here’s more about the terrible effects of  the heavy rains on life in the slum

I was embarrassed recently to dispose my rubbish in Namuwongo slum.

A ticking off – ringing birds in Kibale Forest

According to Roussouw, Kibale Forest harbours the greatest variety and concentration of primates found anywhere in East Africa.”

Well, thumbs up to that. Kibale is where the muzungu saw her first wild Chimpanzee, and the apparently ‘elusive’ Red Colobus monkey (although I’m not sure whether the staff at Kibale Forest Camp would agree, hearing them crash through the forest while they’re serving the guests sundowners).

Incredibly rich in animal life, Kibale is a place of many firsts for me. Even after three years in Uganda working in conservation, Mother Nature’s still been holding back on me: my first wild chimp, my first Red Colobus Monkey, my first Green Mamba! But these were all unexpected bonuses – we’d actually travelled to Kibale to ring birds.

Malcolm Wilson setting up the mist nets at the edge of Kibale Forest
Malcolm Wilson sets up the mist nets at the edge of Kibale Forest

The previous day Julia had instructed the boys to hack a pathway through the high grass at the edge of the forest. Four-metre high bamboo poles were hung with a fine nylon ‘mist net’ barely visible at dusk or dawn, gently ensnaring unsuspecting birds. Off with the anoraks and on with the Ipod – there’s as much technology in 21st-century birding as in any walk of life . (Bird calls are stored on the iPod, which is hung strategically close to the forest to attract the birds). Every few minutes, one of the team would disappear into the Bush to check the net, returning excitedly a few minutes later with their feathered booty in a little cloth bag.

bird ringing Malcolm Wilson Kibale
Bird ringing is an exact science! Monitoring the bird population of Kibale Forest edge

On our feet since dawn, ringing birds is harder than it looks: concentrating on the welfare of the birds, not leaving them in the net for more than 20 minutes, keeping them cool.

No-one had slept much the night before. We’d been woken at two in the morning by a gargantuan face-off between the chimps in the forest and three dogs tearing around the compound – all set off by a hungry elephant! It was the chimps that had woken Mandela. He’d then quickly woken Bahati and off they ran to chase the elephants away from the precious pineapple field.

That morning, expert birder and tour guide Malcolm was very excited at rumours of a White Collared Oliveback – “Ooooh, put it back in the bag,” he said, savouring the moment.

Dawn looked nervous when advised she was about to pull ‘a new bird’ out of the bag. It’s a bit like lucky dip really! Or not so lucky in Dawn’s case: she dipped her hand in – and winced in agony as an enormous beak bit her hand! The Blue Breasted Kingfisher was one of the weekend’s top finds, with the most experienced ringer ‘getting the tick first.’ If there was envy, no-one let on!

Blue Breasted Kingfisher Sunbird Hill Kibale
Malcolm displays the Blue Breasted Kingfisher – one of the weekend’s top catches – before letting it fly back into the forest

Malcolm gave Dawn more warning about the Grosbeak (Thickbilled) Weaver: “Beware Dawn, this one has an 80 pound per square inch peck!” i.e. don’t be fooled by the small beak, it can exert a painfully powerful peck!

Bird guide Nathan weighs bird
A young helper watches Nathan record the bird’s biodata at Sunbird Hill

“The secret is to get the kids involved” said Richard, encouraging Hope and Amos to hold the birds and help identify them. He was less positive about the Marsh Tchagra: “they bite a lot, like all Shrikes – nasty birds.”

Klaas' Cuckoo Kibale Forest edge Sunbird Hill
Dillon eyes up a spectacular Diederick’s’ Cuckoo

Eager to see the birds in the nets (before anyone else!) – I got lost – twice!

Malcolm waved his finger at me sternly as Nathan and I rejoined the group back in the shade by the house.

“Don’t spend so much time by the nets,” he said. I felt embarrassed. (I didn’t mean to get lost!)

Highlights of the two days’ ringing included a pair of exquisite Grey-headed Negrofinches (now known as Negritas), Green-backed Twinspots, a Little Greenbul (I was relieved to hear the experts struggle to identify birds too!) and a Brown-chested Alethe (a species of forest thrush that can only be caught with an iPod and a mist net); a Green Hylia (a type of warbler), an Olive-bellied Sunbird and a tiny White-ringed Prinia.

You can read a full trip report from the visiting birders on the Teifi Ringing Group’s blog.

Identifying Sunbird Kibale Forest edge
Identifying a Sunbird – not always easy, even with the bird guide!

It was a real treat for an amateur birder like me to see such wonderful birdlife come out of the forest. Everyone pointed out birds flying overhead and in trees around us: an emerald green Diederick’s Cuckoo, Lesser Striped Swallows, African Grey parrots, a Superb Sunbird; a Black Crowned Tchagra (a shrike) in the long grass.

The Roussouw guide says “watch for flocks of rare and localised White Naped Pigeons in-flight overhead or sunning themselves in treetops in the early morning” and lo and behold, the White Naped Pigeons were in front of us.

Fascinating and fun too, the two days’ information collected is baseline data for a study of the biodiversity of the forest edge. The data’s being shared with NatureUganda, one of the partners in a new East African bird ringing scheme.

TICK! bird list Kibale Forest
TICK! Here’s the full list of the birds I saw on the edge of Kibale Forest (R = ringed)
  • African Blue Flycatcher
  • African Grey Parrots
  • African Yellow Whiteye (R)
  • Black Crowned Tchagra
  • Blue Breasted Kingfisher (R)
  • Bronze Mannikin
  • Bronze Sunbird
  • Brown-chested Alethe (R)
  • Brown-throated Wattle-eye
  • Diederick’s Cuckoo
  • Dusky Blue Flycatcher
  • Green Crombec (R)
  • Green Hylia (R)
  • Green Twinspot (R)
  • Green-backed Twinspots (R)
  • Grey-backed Camaroptera (R)
  • Grey-headed Negrofinch (R)
  • Grosbeak (Thick-billed) Weaver (R)
  • Klaas’s Cuckoo (R)
  • Lesser Striped Swallow
  • Little Greenbul (R)
  • Marsh Tchagra (R)
  • Northern Double-collared Sunbird
  • Olive-bellied Sunbird (R)
  • Pygmy Kingfisher (R)
  • Ross’s Turaco
  • Slender-billed Weaver (R)
  • Snowy-headed Robinchat (R)
  • Superb Sunbird
  • Vieillot’s Black Weaver
  • White-naped Pigeon
  • White-collared Oliveback (R)
  • White Chinned Prinia (R)
  • White-headed Sawwing
  • Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird (R)
  • Yellow-whiskered Greenbul (R)

NOTE 2021: Since writing this blog, the 40 acres of regenerating farmland have developed into Sunbird Hill, a site for birders, ornithologists, lepidopterists, entomologists, primatologists and tourists who want to be immersed in nature. Sunbird Hill supports the work of In the Shadow of Chimpanzees, a small NGO that is training young people in conservation and developing village tourism along the edge of the National Park.

Save Mabira Forest! we can live without sugar

To everyone’s horror – but few people’s surprise – the President has decreed that ‘the degraded part’ of this ancient and fabulous forest, protected under international law, should be cut down. And for what crucial development project?

The president says the current scarcity of sugar warrants giving away the Forest.  Ugandans aren’t silly (and they love discussing current affairs); everyone thinks  that the President is just using the high price of sugar as an excuse.

The Mabira issue is in every paper and on TV every day. Conservation organisations have come together to issue a statement with Nature Uganda supported by Friends of the Earth and Uganda’s National Association of Professional Environmentalists.

So, the President (against the wishes of many in his Cabinet) plans to give away one third of the 30,000 hectare rainforest to SCOUL (the Mehta Group’s Sugar Corporation of Uganda Ltd), a producer with significant operations in the area, near Jinja. A planned giveaway was opposed in 2007, culminating in a demonstration that left three people dead and a boycott of Mehta sugar. The victim people often talk about was Indian, the same ethnic group as Mehta’s owners. This man strayed into the angry demonstrators and was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and beaten to death. Thus not only do we have the very real possibility of violence, but I’d hazard a guess that increased racism against Indians is likely, and will last well beyond this debate.  Rumour has it there are soldiers guarding Mabira forest.

The President claims opposition politicians and activists who supported the giveaway in 2007 are to blame for the current sugar scarcity. On August 13, he said “how can Uganda import sugar? This indiscipline should stop. We have defeated armed terrorists. We cannot accept to be defeated by unarmed terrorists.”

In the last few weeks, the price of sugar in Uganda has risen dramatically, from 2,500 shillings* / kilo to a high of 7,000 shillings / kilo and has since dropped to approximately 3,500 shillings / kilo and  today the inflation rate is at 21.4%, the highest in 18 years. The rising cost of living is affecting everyone and everything: high fuel costs, high commodity prices, a badly weakening shilling and economic strikes, walk to work campaign, and strikes by taxi drivers, traders, teachers and doctors. *(Normally I’d convert this into dollars / sterling but that’s losing meaning as the shilling continues to fall).

A Jinja tea estate

This deceptively beautiful green is a tea plantation. The two trees are all that remain of this section of Mabira Forest

The most obvious challenge (well, to me with my conservation hat on) is environmental: Mabira is home to 300 bird species, including the endangered Nahan’s Francolin, the Papyrus Gonolek and nine endemics (species not found anywhere else in the world). Mabira is the only remaining large natural forest on the northern shores of Lake Victoria.

Uganda has 4.9 million hectares of forests and woodlands cover, according to the National Forestry Authority. Mabira is categorised  as a ‘protection forest,’ crucial for safeguarding watersheds and catchments, biodiversity, ecosystems and landscapes. In 2007 the World Bank, the National Forestry Authority and an inter-ministerial committee all advised against the Forest giveaway.

Environmentalists say the revenue lost to government by giving away part of the Forest for sugar growing, in terms of carbon credits, is estimated at US$316m. The value of the land is estimated at US$5m and the value of the wood at US$568m. That means the Ugandan public stands to lose almost US$890m, about 1.5 trillion shillings, equivalent to 25% of the 2011-2012 national budget, as a result of the government’s plan to degazette part of the Forest, according to the NGO, Environmental Alert.

Note: this is just valuing the land and the timber, how do you value a catchment area for Lake Victoria, Lake Kyoga and three rivers including the River Nile? What about the lost livelihoods of local people who are dependent on the Forest? How do you value biodiversity? A species? What will the impact be on tourist dollars?

If the President gives away this Protected Area, what about the others, where will be next? In 2010 he announced he would let the Madhvani Group build a golf course right in the middle of Murchison Falls Protected Area. “Where is the pollution from golf? Where are the fumes?” He is reported to have said. Thankfully that idea got mothballed.

The Mabira issue is not just an environmental one, it gives a fascinating insight into Ugandan society. Some of the other issues, discussed in this week’s media:

Alternative solutions to addressing the lack of sugar have been offered:

Let the president take the land offered by the Baganda kingdom offered as an alternative to Mabira in 2007. This isn’t the first time the Baganda kingdom has offered alternative land for sugarcane growing. If the issue is to increase sugar production, then the kingdom’s offer will suffice. Otherwise, insisting on Mabira would imply there are ulterior reasons to giving away the natural forest land, since sugarcane can grow almost anywhere.

The Church of Uganda is also said to have offered land for the same purpose.

Other people have suggested plots of land right across the country; in fact many say that Mabira is not good land for sugarcane growing: there is too high a water content in the cane and a comparatively low ratio of sugar extracted (all while polluting the local rivers and using disproportionately higher levels of electricity).

Here are key parts of an interview with respected commentator Godber Tumushabe, Executive Director of ACODE (Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment).

Q. What will be lost and gained if the Forest is given away?

Apart from being a vital water catchment area from Lake Victoria, if you’re building dams around River Nile* you do not want to do anything in the hinterland that will disrupt the hydrological feature. Forests are considered to be one of the major carbon sinks, if you then destroy a forest like Mabira you would have destroyed a very important sink very close to the capital city with a fast-growing industrial sector. We have not developed the technological capacity to cope with adverse climate change and ecological disruptions. We would lose the climate modifying element of an important forest like Mabira.

*The new Bujagali hydropower project is being constructed close to Mabira, due to come online within the year. Currently, the country is experiencing major power outages throughout the day. Lack of capacity, inefficiencies at the providers, high cost of fuel, increasing population size are all blamed.

Economically, agricultural communities around Mabira depend on the forest’s resources, and are therefore highly vulnerable.

*NEWSFLASH*

In an interesting twist, today Mehta say they don’t want the forest land and never asked for it. The Indian business community are understandably worried about how the proposed giveaway affects them and have come together to form their own lobbying group. Even without any protests, Indian businesses must have been losing revenue these last two weeks.

We watch the news with interest! Now what will the President do?

Information sources

Extracts from The Independent magazine  Aug 26 – Sept 1 2011

Warning – this blog contains snakes!

Entebbe’s Reptiles Village has been on my list of places to visit for ages.

Reptile Village Entebbe chameleon close-up

Chameleon, Reptiles Village Entebbe. Close-up of one of the world’s most fascinating creatures!

When I suggested to the team that we all have a day out together at the Reptiles Village in Entebbe, organised by Nature Uganda, we were equally split down the middle: two for, two against. Enid’s words were in fact “No way, I’m not giving up my Saturday to see snakes!”

After the office was repainted, I noticed that she put back the posters of birds, butterflies and mammals – but not the one of the snakes. Patrick is equally averse to snakes – I remember his look of disgust when we walked past the enormous python at UWEC (a.k.a. Entebbe Zoo). To be fair though, last year a cousin of theirs was killed by a notorious Puff Adder out in the bush towards Tanzania; he was dead within a few hours.

It’s run by a Ugandan who is passionate about snakes in particular and reptiles in general. All the animals he rescues are native to Uganda. He rescues reptiles that are in danger of being killed by humans, and tries his best to ‘sensitise’ people (as we seem to be doing with elephants, dogs, birds, you name it)…

The message is generally: “you don’t have to kill it – it’s unlikely to harm you unless provoked and there are measures to deal with elephants, dogs, birds” [complete as appropriate]. Today at Reptiles Village, I couldn’t stop myself telling people off. I was tired, I wasn’t very gentle, I just said “stop doing that.”

Each reptile has a story. The Monitor Lizard only has one claw on its left paw, as a result of the fight he had with the humans who wanted to use his skin to make a drum. The shell of one of the Leopard Tortoises seems to have melted, where it was rescued from a fire. “I hear they are very good for traditional medicine,” one lady said. “Some people eat them,” someone else said.

Monitor Lizard, baby crocs, Reptiles Village, Entebbe

Monitor Lizard and baby crocs – cute – at this size!

If you turn a tortoise upside down, it will panic and wee itself. If it does this too often it will become dehydrated and eventually die. I didn’t know this myself until last year. I bought a tortoise from some boys down one of the back roads in Muyenga (I shouldn’t have, I realise now). Anyway the tortoise (who didn’t hang around long enough to get a name) tumbled over a step and overturned. I turned him the right way up – and he did the most enormous turd (a sure sign he was scared!)

Being on today’s trip reminds me how much people need to be sensitised. These are not even your average Ugandans; these are people with a proven interest in conservation, and yet they were letting the kids pull leaves off the young saplings and getting too close to the animals. It was a fun and interesting day out but it just reminds me how much work there is to do in conservation in Uganda.

The lady guide was very informative but admitted she won’t hold a snake! We were lucky enough to have a HERPS (herpetology / reptile) specialist, Mathias, on our group. He was a mine of information.

African Rock Python Reptiles Village, Entebbe

Watching us without moving. An African Rock Python, Reptiles Village, Entebbe

Forest Cobra Reptiles Village Entebbe

Like a sentry on duty, the first snake we saw was the Forest Cobra, head up and in aggressive mood. Reptiles Village Entebbe

The three metre (?) long African Rock Python is a constrictor. Apparently this is the only snake large enough to consider eating a human but attacks are very rare, although their long teeth can inflict painful wounds. These beasts are often found in caves.

We couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw a small manky-looking puppy curled up asleep in the same cage. “Breakfast,” we asked? Twenty minutes later it had gone, nowhere to be seen! The snake hadn’t moved though so we can’t blame him…

Jackson’s Chameleons at Reptiles Village

Jackson’s Chameleons at Reptiles Village, Entebbe

Holding the pretty Von Hohnel’s Chameleon was a highlight of the day. Its black tongue is coiled tightly like a spring enabling, it to PING into action and trap insects half a metre away! Its eyes are hilarious, constantly rotating, one looking forward and down while the other looks backwards and up! “How does the brain process all that information?!” Erik asked.

Everyone loved the Twig Snake. It was the thickness of a twig, brown and only a foot long. Amazingly, however, this tiny little snake can give you a nasty death, poisoning you over the course of a week.

Death by other snake bites can be much quicker, especially if you’re in a remote area without access to the anti-venom injections, which is most likely. To put this in perspective though – assuming you’ve had the courage to read this far – only 10% of the snakes in Uganda are venomous. You’d be incredibly unlucky to meet one of that 10% and if you were to get bitten, they don’t necessarily release their poison either. I do love seeing Ugandans interacting positively with reptiles. (There seems to be so much fear around them, even though most are harmless).

Frankly I’ve hardly seen any snakes in my first two and a half years living in Uganda: two dead grey ones in the road and a couple of harmless Grass Snakes in our compound.

I had to wait a year before I saw a decent snake: and there it was stretched across the whole length of the road ahead of us, an enormous black snake (not a Black Mamba, they’re actually grey), on the road to Uganda Wildlife Authority campsite in Ishasha. It was a beauty!

Have you visited Reptiles Village? How do you feel about snakes and chameleons?

A bird’s eye view of Uganda – Big Birding Day

What is Big Birding Day?

It seems I can’t get enough of volunteering!

So, as Big Birding Day arrived, I was up before dawn to take part in this year’s 24 hour birding race (held to coincide with the World Bird Festival) entered by over 39 teams covering 33 sites across Uganda. Together we recorded 606 species.

And the best bit? Our team won!Uganda has more bird species per square kilometre than any other country in Africa. Uganda’s unique geographical positioning means there are more birds migrating north to Europe and back south to Southern Africa via Uganda than virtually any other African country.

Red Necked Falcon was a highlight of Big Birding Day Uganda

Red Necked Falcon was a highlight of Big Birding Day Uganda. Photo courtesy of biodiversityexplorer.org

The Big Birding Day race

It was a grey start to the day, the clouds gathering over Lake Victoria threatening rain. Our first birds of the day, at a grassy hill above Lweza, seemed to confirm the trend for the morning’s weather:

Grey-headed sparrow, Grey-backed Fiscals (nine of them), African Grey Parrot, Grey-backed Cameroptera, Grey Heron, Eastern Grey Plantain Eater.

I couldn’t help but smile as I jotted down birds with such picturesque names as:

Laughing Dove, Brown Twinspot, Helmeted Guineaufowl and Scaly Francolin.

Nathan spots the Beeeaters on Big Birding Day

Nathan spots the Beeeaters on Big Birding Day

The lucky team of me, Roger and Nathan, had almost made it back to the car as the heavens opened, ideal time for us to drive the few kilometres to the next site, the fish ponds at Kajjansi, where we saw two types of Sandpipers, Long-toed Lapwing, Broad-billed Roller, African Harrier Hawk, Fan-tailed Widowbird, Yellow-throated Longclaw and two types of Vulture.

As the rain passed our count moved to the quarry to spot a Eurasian Reed Warbler, Wattled Starling, a Grosbeak Weaver – spotted by yours truly – and the highlight of the day, a rare Red-necked Falcon, not recorded in Kampala for 25 years.

On a hill overlooking Lutembe Lagoon near Kajjansi airfield we derided the enormous flower farm, whose fertilisers leech unchecked into Lake Victoria. Lutembe is both a Ramsar site and IBA, Important Bird Area, recognised internationally for their unique biodiversity. Pollution of the waters should not be happening here of all places.

Ramsar sites are areas of wetlands which are among the world’s most productive environments. They are cradles of biological diversity, providing the water and primary productivity upon which countless species of plants and animals depend for survival. They support high concentrations of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrate species.

Blue Breasted Beeeater, courtesy of flickr.com

Blue Breasted Beeeater, courtesy of flickr.com

On the Papyrus fringed wetlands overlooking Kajjansi airfield our binoculars picked out many firsts for me: Sooty Chat, Striped Kingfisher, Little Bee-eater, the beautifully named Red-faced Lovebird, Blue-breasted Bee-eater, Lesser Swamp Warbler, Black-shouldered Kite, Black-crowned Waxbill, and Lizard Buzzard. Without the indefatigable Roger “no time to hang around” I would usually have been content to watch the Sunbirds, ignorant of the difference between a Copper Sunbird and a Bronze Sunbird. Roger’s observations were a real eye opener and made me forget the pre-dawn start!

Wandering around Zika Forest with a clipboard, I was delighted to see Red Tailed Monkeys – my totem – in the high trees above us. One of them tutted at us loudly. “We don’t have time for mammals” a disappointed Roger scolded. It was as we left the Forest that we had the most bird sightings and Roger’s mood lifted. We were delighted to see Purple Headed Starlings and a Red-shouldered Cuckoo-shrike, rare visitors to Kampala and its environs.

Papyrus Gonolek sighting Big Birding Day Uganda

Roger: “I know there’s a Papyrus Gonolek here somewhere …” Big Birding Day Uganda

As we drove onto the Entebbe peninsula, through the narrow tunnel underneath the airport runway, a lady skirted the perimeter fence, balancing several metres of firewood on her head. The sight seemed incongrous, the juxtaposition of the traditional and the supersonic.

With all the birds noted down, my binoculars strayed to the man in his underpants, fishing in the shallows…

“Charlotte, stop looking at that naked man!” Roger shouted.

There were more monkeys waiting for us at Entebbe’s Botanical Gardens: both Vervet and Black and White Colobus. (I had to admire the bravery of the nut seller who casually walked beneath a tree full of monkeys with his open basket of groundnuts).

Tired, but happy we’d secured a good score, we drove back to Kampala so Roger could start comparing scores with the other teams. Big Birding Day Uganda was a fantastic day out. Roger and Nathan introduced me to a whole new range of birds and some fabulous habitats (sewage ponds excepted!)

Papyrus Gonolek birdfinders.co.uk

Papyrus Gonolek, photo courtesy of birdfinders.co.uk

A successful day – the official word
Teams recorded birds in all National Parks, Wildlife reserves, Important Bird Areas, Ramsar sites and Forest reserves and included community groups, groups of tourists, teams from NatureUganda, Uganda Wildlife Authority, Uganda Bird Guides Club and more. The highest record came from Kampala-Entebbe area with 175 species (that was us!), followed by Murchison Falls National Park (162), Queen Elizabeth National Park (160), Kidepo National Park (150), Mabamba Ramsar site (138), Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park (137), Mabira Forest Reserve (136), Bahai Temple-Park Alexander, Kampala (126), Kibale National Park (110), Lake Mburo National Park (110).

During the day, a number of key species were recorded that have not been documented on the Ugandan (bird) list for over 50 years and were about to be removed from the list; species that are not on the Uganda list at all and those that have over time extended their ranges to areas where they have not been recorded before.

Based on the Big Birding Day Uganda race, NatureUganda plan to develop a tour of Uganda that birders – from Uganda or from overseas – can follow to record the highest number of species. Birding is important for the development of Uganda’s tourism industry, with the potential for it being an even bigger revenue earner than gorilla tourism.

So what’s Ramsar all about?

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands: Uganda presently has 12 sites designated as Wetlands of International Importance, with a surface area of 454,303 hectares.
Lutembe Bay Wetland System. 15/09/06; Wakiso; 98 ha; 00°10’N 032°34’E. Important Bird Area. Situated at the mouth of Lake Victoria’s Murchison Bay, this shallow area is almost completely cut-off from the main body of Lake Victoria by a C. papyrus island. The site supports globally threatened species of birds, endangered Cichlid fish, and over 100 butterfly species, including three rare ones. It is a breeding ground for Clarias and lungfish, and regularly supports more than 52% of the White-winged Black Terns (Chlidonias leucopterus) population. The system plays an important hydrological role, with the swamps surrounding the Murchison Bay acting as natural filters for silt, sediments and excess nutrients in surface run-off, waste waters from industries, and sewage from Kampala City. Lutembe Bay is being reclaimed and decimated for horticultural activities and the surrounding highly populated areas have been strongly affected by commercial and industrial development, urban wastewater, and conversion to agricultural land. A number of NGOs have been conducting conservation education activities in and around Lutembe, with the Uganda Wildlife Education Center (UWEC) only about 5 km from the bay. Ramsar site no. 1637.

Do you want to take part in Big Birding Day in 2013? The event is growing bigger and bigger every year and Diary of a Muzungu is delighted to be one of the media sponsors.

To register for Big Birding Day, visit NatureUganda or the Uganda Wildlife Authority websites.

If you like birds, check out the Muzungu’s Birds page for lots more Ugandan birding stories!

A birding safari here in my Kampala backyard

Early Sunday morning – when few people are around – is the best time to spot birds: through the slum, along the railway track, through the Papyrus down to Port Bell on Lake Victoria.

“Up with the lark” last Sunday for a spot of birdwatching with Roger and Jean. (Strangely, the lark was one of the few birds we didn’t see!) What a fantastic way to wile away a few hours.

Roger volunteers with Nature Uganda and gets paid to travel to every corner of Uganda to do bird counts. Nice job! His knowledge is amazing. Jean is a fellow VSO volunteer and is a midwife at Kibuli Hospital. He’s nuts about birds, she’s nuts about babies.

My house is separated from the marsh – and one of the city’s shanty towns – by the railway line a few metres beyond our compound wall. I love living in Namuwongo. I have the quiet of being in a cul de sac with the reassuring buzz of human activity beyond: men hammering iron sheet roofs onto new shelters, laughing children, salesmen broadcasting their (usually crappy Chinese) wares via the repetitive strain of Greensleeves played on a loop on cheap tinny speakers (did I mention crappy Chinese wares… ?) Except of course, it’s not always a buzz of activity out there but one – or many – loud pulsing rhythms. The drums and the sound of people ululating fill the night air on market days. Even after 18 months here it still sounds magical to me.

We are of course encroaching onto the wetlands. Our house is on legitimate land, the ‘right side’ of the railway, but nonetheless our house is surely part of the wider problem.

Grey Crowned Cranes or Crested Cranes
Grey Crowned Crane or Crested Crane. PHOTO Kaj Ostergaard

On our walk we lamented the loss of the wetlands (the natural filter for the heavy run-off from rains in Kampala for instance) but were delighted to see seven Grey-Crowned Cranes, Uganda’s national symbol. What does it say about a country’s environmental management that its national symbol faces extinction within 20 years? Survival of the Grey-Crowned Crane is threatened due to wetland habitat destruction, where the Cranes breed. Wetlands in Uganda are under threat from a variety of human activities, especially conversion to farmland and agricultural activities. Consequently, the Crane’s critical breeding and roosting habitats are disappearing while the remaining ones are highly degraded. Nature Uganda is spearheading the campaign to protect this extraordinarily beautiful bird.

Uganda Kob and Grey Crowned Crane adorn Uganda's crest
The Uganda Kob and the Grey Crowned Crane adorn the country’s crest (which bird will replace it in 20 years time when the bird is extinct?)

We were gobsmacked at the sight of a Black Headed Heron swallowing an enormous frog and you have to wonder how the clumsy-looking Pink Backed Pelicans balance atop the tree. We searched for the beauty in the ugly Marabou Stork. Viewed while it’s on the ground you won’t see it: admire its gracious flight, we all agreed it’s quite spectacular for such a big bird.

A Long Crested Eagle watched us pass. He looked a bit odd; the wind dishevelled him, making his crest feathers flop over his eyes, reminding me of my grandfather whose single strand of hair covered a receding hairline – until he ventured out in windy weather.

We argued about the merits – or not! – of the Woodland Kingfisher’s call. A beautiful bird it may be but its call, from the avocado tree overlooking my bedroom, is shrill and unforgiving at 5.30 a.m. every bleeding morning.

Woodland Kingfisher birdwatching Kampala
My love-hate relationship with this beautiful bird was put to the test recently. Woodland Kingfisher birdwatching Kampala

A few of the amazing 86 bird species we saw on our walk (Roger has actually recorded 120 in this small area) included the Hadada Ibis, who scolded us at regular intervals, like a child who uncovers you playing ‘hide and seek’ and has to alert everyone to your hiding place.

The African Hobby is quite the cutest bird of prey I’ve seen. The bird reminded me of my UK life and the long distance we’ve both travelled. We also saw a Sandpiper and some other avian visitors from northern Europe.

Marabou Stork. PHOTO Andy Gooch
It’s BIG and it’s UGLY – it’s a Marabou Stork! As featured on the front cover of “The Beauty and some beasts” a book of photography by Andy Gooch

As the railway track curved round towards Port Bell we heard a terrific blood-curdling screaming as a pig had its throat cut at the open-air abattoir below us. Roger told us about another day trip he’d been on: counting the vultures at the main city abattoir near Luzira. “I’ve never seen anything like it” he said. “Hundreds of sheep and goat heads in a pile.” Four hundred cattle are killed a day, and in the most rudimentary fashion.

Marabou Storks and Hooded Vultures jostled for the best picking among a big pile of bones which, on closer inspection (I couldn’t stop myself) turned out to be fresh pig heads. Yes I am somehow still a vegetarian!

The one and only: Baldrick

Dogs rushed us from all directions as we approached Port Bell and for once my happy-go-lucky Baldrick looked rattled. “He’s alright” Jean said. “Not sure Baldrick thinks so!” Roger added. Being charged by an enormous cow – loose and feeding on a rubbish dump we passed – was a bit scary though.

We followed the railway track right down to Port Bell, on the edge of Lake Victoria. It’s the first time I’ve seen draught Bell – or any other lager – in Uganda, served an inch at a time! We had our drinks in a little shack by the beach as the waitresses argued over how to lay out the tables. The freight ships arrive in Port Bell from Tanzania. We know they’ve docked when we hear the train shuttle up and down 2 or 3 times a day from the Lake to the Industrial Area approximately 5 km away.

scene railway Namuwongo slums, Kampala
A typical scene along the railway through ‘Go Down’ Namuwongo slums, Kampala

Back home along the railway track and we tripped over Baldrick as the day heated up and he started to lag behind. Jean and I waved and shook hands with the kids screaming “muzungu, how are you?” as Roger kept walking on.

“We’ve blown your cover!” I said, laughing.

“I’ve spent months trying to ignore them. Now they’ll all be calling at me next time I walk along here.” Sorry Roger, I just hope you get to hear the Papyrus Gonolek above the screaming children next time you walk to Port Bell.

For bird and animal lovers alike, Andy Gooch has published a book of beautiful wildlife photos “The Beauty and some beasts,” available online from Aristoc or Banana Boat in Kampala. Andy is very generously giving one third of the retail price to the Uganda Conservation Foundation.

The full list of birds we saw on our birdwatching safari to Port Bell, in the order they appear in Stevenson and Fanshawe’s “Birds of East Africa” is:

Pink Backed Pelican
Great Cormorant
Long Tailed Cormorant
Cattle Egret
Little Egret
Purple Heron
Black Headed Heron
Grey Heron
Marabou Stork
Hammerkop
Open Billed Stork
Marabou Stork
Hadada Ibis
Black Kite
Black Shouldered Kite
Palm Nut Vulture
Hooded Vulture
African Marsh Harrier
Shikra
Long Crested Eagle
Grey Kestrel
African Hobby
Grey Crowned Crane
African Jacana
Black Crake
Spur Winged Lapwing
Long Toed Lapwing
Wood Sandpiper
White Winged Tern
Gull Billed Tern
African Green Pigeon
Speckled Pigeon
Red Eyed Dove
Laughing Dove
Grey Parrot
Eastern Grey Plantain eater
Diederik Cuckoo
White Browed Coucal
Blue headed Coucal
Little Swift
Palm Swift
Speckled Mousebird
Pied Kingfisher
Woodland Kingfisher
Malachite Kingfisher
White Throated Bee-eater
Yellow fronted Tinkerbird
Yellow rumped Tinkerbird
Double Toothed Barbet
Sand martin
Barn Swallow
African Pied Wagtail
Common Bulbul
White Browed Robin chat
African Thrush
Little Rush Warbler
Winding Cisticola
Red-faced Cisticola
Tawny Flanked Prinia
Grey capped Warbler
Grey backed Camaroptera
Northern Black Flycatcher
Black and White Shrike Flycatcher
Brown Throated Wattle eye
African Blue Flycatcher
Yellow White eye
Bronze Sunbird
Olive bellied Sunbird
Copper Sunbird
Red chested Sunbird
Grey backed Fiscal
Black headed Gonolek
Papyrus Gonolek
Pied Crow
Ruppell’s Long Tailed Starling
Splendid Starling
Grey headed Sparrow
Black headed Weaver
Grosbeak Weaver
Slender billed Weaver
Fan tailed Widowbird
Red billed Firefinch
Common Waxbill
Black Crowned Waxbill
Bronze Mannikin
Black and white Mannikin
Yellow fronted Canary