Uganda is a birding safari destination compared to any other African country as it is the country has got a variety of the birding habitats which includes the tropical to the afro-montane rain forests, then the wooded and grassland savannahs, mashes to papyrus swamps, arid to semi-arid areas, and the blue skies that makes Uganda a special meeting point for the migratory bird species and the different resident bird species such as shoebill, Great blue Turaco, Standard-winged Nightjar, Short-tailed Warbler, Shelley’s Crimsonwing, in the migratory bird species include the Peregrine falcon, Lesser spotted Eagle and among others.
The country has the intra migrants both the vertical and horizontal and the breeding resident species within the main habitants which bring Uganda the most populous birding destination with the forests and swamps which inhabits the most bird species.
Bird watching in Uganda can be done in the best birding destinations in the country, as in the bird watching is mostly done from the Uganda’s National Parks, forests, wetlands, also at the shores of the various water bodies especially during the boat riding. In Uganda the most favorite birding destinations includes Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Murchison Fall National Park, Mabamba Bay wetland and many others. Not only birding as the main safari, during your birding safari in Uganda the tourist can have the opportunity to enjoy the country’s most loved nature and the wildlife.
Albertine Rift Endemics in Uganda.
Albertine Rift Endemics are in their range is more or less confined to the montane habitats associated with the Rift Valley Escarpment running between Lake Albert and the north of Lake Tanganyika. There are approximately about 37 range restricted bird species as the Albertine Rift endemics, of which the half of the bird species are known as the global conservation concern and these have recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In Uganda more than 20 Albertine Rift endemics are resident in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the two extend their range southward into the western Tanzania, the all 24 of the Albertine Rift Endemics that are found in Uganda are all found in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park like the African green broadbill, that is also again found in Democratic republic of Congo in the Itombwe Mountains and Kahuzi biega National Park.
The Albertine Endemics in Uganda as well can be found in the Rwenzori Mountains with 17 Albertine Rift endemics and in other countries like 14 in Virunga and the 12 in the Echuya forest. The Albertine Rift endemic bird species in Uganda includes the Handsome Francolin, Rwenzori turaco, Rwenzori nightjar, African green broadbill, Kivu ground thrush, Collared apalis, Red-throated alethe, Mountain masked apalis, Neumann’s warbler, Rwenzori batis, Blue-headed sunbird, Purple-breasted sunbird, strange weaver, Batis diops, Ploceus alinus, Apalis Rwenzori, Cossypha archeri, Graueria vittata, Francolinus nobilis, Tauraco johnstoni, Caprimulgus Rwenzori, Alethe poliophyrys, Grauer’s scrub warbler, Neumann’s warbler and many more.
Uganda boasts two of the endemic birds like the Fox’s weaver and the Stuhlmann’s double collared sunbird as well as many Albertine Endemic species that are very difficult to see anywhere else in Africa.
Birding habitats in Uganda.
Uganda has got the papyrus swamps and the mashes where the tourists can spot the stork-like grey shoebill, which is globally threatened bird species and highly sought after though can be spotted in Mabamba swamps, Namugabo wetland also the great habitats for the shoebill is on Lake Albert, Lake Bisina, Opeta, Awoja wetland, the Victoria Nile and the mases in the eastern central Uganda.
The mash bird species in Uganda are the widespread but they are scare like the ducks, Moorhens, sandpipers, Shanks, Plovers, Stilts, Papyrus Canary, Yellow Warbler, Carruther’s Cisticola, then the grey eyed Orange Weaver is always sighted at the northern shores of Lake Victoria, these makes Uganda to be highly visited and recognized birding destination among all the African countries and in the entire world for a birding safari with over 1090 bird species making 50% of the Africa’s bird species and 11% of the world species.
Best time to go for a birding safari in Uganda.
Birding safari in Uganda is done at any time, but the best time to watch the birds in Uganda is the period when the intra African migrants from Southern Africa do arrive in Uganda from the period from the July to September this is the period when the guests can spot bird species like the cuckoos such as the low level foraging but canopy calling Barred Long-tailed Cuckoo that spends most of the summer in the southern countries of Malawi and Mozambique. The migratory bird species arrive in the country in November and leave by April.
