News

The following largely unsubstantiated records have been published in recent editions of the ABC Bulletin for information only.

In late May 2006, a four-day visit to Semliki National Park yielded some predominantly Central African species that reach the eastern limit of their range here, including Hartlaub’s Duck Pteronetta hartlaubii (one on 27th and a pair on 28th), Nkulengu Rail Himantornis haematopus (two perched c.5 m above ground before dawn on 28th and another on the forest floor the same day), Yellow-throated Cuckoo Chrysococcyx flavigularis (heard daily; one seen on 27th), Red-billed Dwarf Hornbill Tockus camurus (four on 27th, three on 29th), Black-casqued Hornbill Ceratogymna atrata (pair on 27th), Red-rumped Tinkerbird Pogoniulus atroflavus (one on 27th), African Piculet Sasia africana (one on 28th), White-throated Blue Swallow Hirundo nigrita (eight on the Semliki River on 29th), Swamp Palm Bulbul Thescelocichla leucopleura (four on 28th), Yellow-throated Nicator Nicator vireo (one on 28th), Blue-billed Malimbe Malimbus nitens (three on 26–27th) and Chestnut-breasted Negrofinch Nigrita bicolor (one on 26th).

On 11 January 2007 a Greater Kestrel Falco rupicoloides was observed in Murchison Falls National Park; the Bird Atlas of Uganda (Carswell et al. 2005) mentions only two previous records for the country. Also there on that date was a flock of c.120 Caspian Plovers Charadrius asiaticus. Two Ring-necked Francolins Francolinus streptophorus were seen crossing a track in the same park and could be observed in detail on 20 February; there are only a few records of this species. On 18 March, six Black-collared Lovebirds Agapornis swindernianus were observed twice around the Sonso River at the end of the Royal Mile in Budongo forest; there are very few records of this West African species which just reaches western Uganda, and only a couple from this site. A Speckle-breasted Woodpecker Dendropicos poecilolaemus was at Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary, near Kibale National Park, on 13 February.

Records from January – September 2006 include the following. At Lake Mburo National Park (=NP), a White-backed Night Heron Gorsachius leuconotus was seen on 4 February and two Madagascar Squacco Herons Ardeola idae on 29 July. A Verreauxs' Eagle Aquila verreauxii flew over Kitintale on 23 June; this is a new record for the Kampala area. One in Queen Elizabeth NP on 4 August was new for the park, as was a Swallow-tailed Kite Chelictinia riocourii in Murchison Falls NP on 12 Aug.

Although Grey Crowned Crane Balearica regulorum appears to be in serious decline, flocks are still relatively common outside the breeding season, e.g. 60 c.15 km west of Mbarara on 10 July; 83, a high number for the Albertine Rift, at Kashaka, Lake George, on 28 July, and 171 at the Kaku swamp, Masaka District, on 29 July; the latter site holds the national record, of 650, in 2003. A pair of White-headed Lapwings Vanellus albiceps with chicks was observed at Murchison Falls NP on 6 July; the first and second records for Uganda have recently been accepted, both from Murchison: a single in July 2003 and a pair in January 2004. An adult Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos with three young was seen at Lutembe on 22 July; there is a documented breeding record from Buddu, near Masaka, involving an incubating bird photographed in 1911. Grey-headed Gulls Larus cirrocephalus continue to increase on the Musambwa Islands, where they breed; over 51,000 were recorded there on 13 July. A remarkable 1,363 Pied Kingfishers Ceryle rudis were counted on the Kazinga Channel on 26 July, a record number for that site. On 30 January there was a Crested Barbet Trachyphonus vaillantii near Rwonyo, Lake Mburo NP.

A pair of African Green Broadbills Pseudocalyptomena graueri was seen nest building in Bwindi Impenetrable NP on 22 May. In early August, two nests had chicks, whilst a third pair was feeding a fledgling. Four White-breasted Cuckoo-shrikes Coracina pectoralis seen in Lake Mburo NP on 6 February were new to the park and indeed to southern Uganda.

In Semliki NP, a Forest Scrub Robin Cercotrichas leucosticta was observed on 25 August and a Grey Ground Thrush Zoothera princei on 28 August. A Bocage’s Bush Shrike Malaconotus bocagei was seen south of Mabira Forest in August; though described as ‘fairly common’ in The Bird Atlas of Uganda (Carswell et al. 2005), it is now rarely recorded. On 7 August, four tiny birds near Sambiya River Lodge in Murchison Falls NP were identified as Yellow Penduline Tits Anthoscopus parvulus; this would be a new species for Uganda and East Africa, if accepted. A pair of Golden-naped Weavers Ploceus aureonucha was observed in Semliki NP on 1 August; this is the first record for Uganda and also the first anywhere since 1986, when it was seen in the Ituri Forest, Kivu Province, DR Congo. Orange-cheeked Waxbills Estrilda melpoda were seen in Semliki NP in August and September; the species was only discovered in Uganda, at this site, in 2003. In Kidepo NP a male Steel-blue Whydah Vidua hypocherina in full breeding plumage was seen on 1 September.

^top

The following records are from February 2006. Two Blue Quail Coturnix adansonii were observed near Masindi on 25th. An unusually large flock of 60 Stone-curlews (Eurasian Thick-knees) Burhinus oedicnemus was claimed from the north bank of the Nile in Murchison Falls National Park on 23rd; this species is an occasional winter visitor to Uganda. A Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres was seen on the Kazinga Channel in Queen Elizabeth National Park, on 28th. A pair of African Green Broadbills Pseudocalyptomena graueri were nest-building in Bwindi-Impenetrable Forest on 16th. Two White-browed Sparrow Weavers Plocepasser mahali were at their nest in Murchison Falls National Park on 23rd.

The following records were received for July-August 2005. A Broad-billed Sandpiper Limicola falcinellus was found at Lake Katwe, Queen Elizabeth National Park, on 29 August; there are few records for this Palearctic migrant in Uganda. The previous day, a Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres was seen on Kazinga Channel in the park. A pair of Green-breasted Pittas Pitta reichenowi was nest building in Kibale National Park on 22 July; what was almost certainly the same pair was seen again on 7 August. At Mubwindi Swamp, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, a pair of Green Broadbills Pseudocalyptomena graueri was observed at its nest on 15 July, and a pair with a juvenile was seen on 14 August.

Two Fischer’s Lovebirds Agapornis fischeri were seen in Entebbe’s Botanical Garden on 14 January 2006; they had apparently been recorded before at this site and would constitute an addition to the Ugandan list, if accepted as wild birds.

The small breeding population of Northern Masked Weavers Ploceus taeniopterus reported from the shores of Lake Bunyoni in Bull. ABC 12: 73 are in fact Victoria Masked Weavers Ploceus victoriae described by John Ash in 1986; this form is now suspected to be a hybrid between Northern Brown-throated P. castanops and Black-headed P. melanocephalus or Golden-backed Weavers P. jacksoni (cf. Birds of Africa 2004). A visit to Semliki National Park in early March 2005 yielded Chapin's Flycatcher Muscicapa lendu, apparently the first record here, and Orange-cheeked Waxbill Estrilda melpoda. At Lake Mburo, a displaying Thick-billed Cuckoo Pachycoccyx audeberti was seen on 24 March; this is the second or third record for Uganda.

Records from 2004 include the following. A Black Heron Egretta ardesiaca was seen on the Kazinga Channel in Queen Elizabeth National Park (NP) on 28 January; this is a rarely seen species in Uganda. Another egret seen there on 17 August appeared to show characteristics of Western Reef Egret E. gularis (identified at this site in 2003) but was quite distant and the bill looked too dark and more like that of E. garzetta. An individual seen well during a Lake Mburo boat trip on 26 August, however, had the greenish legs and pale bill typical of the race asha; this species is a rare vagrant to Uganda. A snake eagle with a greyish head, whitish throat, broken breast band and plain white underwing-coverts was identified as an adult male Beaudouin’s Snake Eagle Circaetus beaudouini in the Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth NP on 18 August; this is a vagrant to western Uganda. Another vagrant in the same park was a Slender-billed Gull Larus genei, seen on the Kazinga Channel on 28 January. A Madagascar Lesser Cuckoo Cuculus rochii was captured on video along the ‘Royal Mile’ in Budongo Forest on 13 August; this migrant is rarely recorded in East Africa and there are apparently no official records from Budongo, although a local guide claimed that the species was also present in 2003. A Speckle-breasted Woodpecker Dendropicos poecilolaemus was found at Buhoma on 21 August; this may constitute the first for the area.

A displaying Little Rush-Warbler Bradypterus baboecala was observed in Murchison Falls NP on 9 August; this appears to be a new record for the park although the local guide was familiar with the species. Three Southern Black Flycatchers Melaenornis pammelaina were seen in Lake Mburo NP on 5 February; this may represent the third record for Uganda. A male Red-eyed Puffback Dryoscopus senegalensis was claimed from the Neck, Bwindi Impenetrable NP; this is an eastern range extension as Semliki, on the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is the only other site in Uganda from where the species is known. A small breeding population of c20 Northern Masked Weavers Ploceus taeniopterus was found on the shores of Lake Bunyoni on 5 February.

^top

On 26 February 2004, a Congo Serpent Eagle Dryotriorchis spectabilis was observed at The Neck, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park; this constitutes the fourth sighting for Uganda.

Records from January to February and August 2003 include the following. A pair of Great Crested Grebes Podiceps cristatus was present at the crater lake below Ndali Lodge, near Kabale on 28 January; this species is rarely recorded in Uganda. Also rarely seen is Black Egret Egretta ardesiaca, of which two were in Queen Elizabeth National Park on 30 January. A Western Reef Egret Egretta gularis was on the Kazinga Channel, Queen Elizabeth National Park on 19 August. A Spotted Crake Porzana porzana, another rare Palearctic migrant to Uganda, was seen in a wetland near Hoima on 27 January. An African Green Broadbill Pseudocalyptomena graueri was observed in its nest near Mubwindi Swamp, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park on 4 February. A pair of Southern Black Flycatchers Melaenornis pammelaina with a juvenile were observed in Lake Mburo National Park on 6 February, at the same place where a pair was observed on 25 July 2002; these sightings apparently represent the first records in Uganda. The long-staying Yellow-footed Flycatcher Muscicapa sethsmithi at Buhoma, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, was still present in August. A pair of Dusky Twinspots Euschistospiza cinereovinacea was seen at the Sebitoli section of Kibale National Park on 28 January; this is a new park record and a range extension for this species.

A Congo Serpent Eagle Dryotriorchis spectabilis was claimed from the Buhoma area of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, on 19 August 2003; scope views from a distance of c30m were obtained of the bird, which was perching at c3 m along the river below the entrance of the park. There are only two previous records of this species in Uganda, from Bwamba, Semliki, in 1990 and 1994. Also in Bwindi, near Mubwindi Swamp, Ruhija, a pair of African Green Broadbills Pseudocalyptomena graueri were watched as they fed two nearly fully-grown nestlings on 4 August.

In November 2002, two species were seen that would appear to be new for Uganda. The first was a Great Bittern Botaurus stellaris at Kibimba rice scheme, 140 km east of Kampala on 20th, the second a White-eyed Gull Larus leucophthalmus in breeding plumage at Lutembe bay, between Kampala and Entebbe, on the 24th. In December 2002, a third species new to the country was found when a group of eight Orange-cheeked Waxbills Estrilda melpoda was seen just outside Semliki National Park at c700 m altitude on 26th; in East Africa, this species was previously only known from the Bujumbura area in Burundi, c550 km to the south.

^top

During a field survey conducted specifically to elucidate status and distribution of the Blue Swallow Hirundo atrocaerulea in the country, 630 individuals of this threatened species were counted along Lake Victoria's shore between Sango Bay and Mabamaba in nine days in August 2001. A flock of ten House Sparrows Passer domesticus were found at the Kibimba rice scheme, Iganga Province, south-east Uganda, on 21 November 2001; this is apparently the first record for the country. Two displaying male Northern Masked Weavers Ploceus taeniopterus were found in a small colony of Yellow-backed (=Black-headed) Weavers P. melanocephalus at Entebbe Zoo in February 2002; the species, which is not on the Uganda list, was previously only known in East Africa from an isolated colony in Lake Baringo, Kenya.

In Murchison Falls NP, 15-17,000 Abdim's Storks Ciconia abdimii were filmed at Nyamsika, by the River Nile, by a BBC crew in March 2001. In October 2001, an immature male Madagascar Lesser Cuckoo Cuculus rochii was mist-netted on the Entebbe peninsula on 24th; this species is normally recorded from April to September in East Africa. The presence of Ansorge's Greenbul Andropadus ansorgei in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, suspected since 1992, was finally confirmed on 2 August when a bird was well seen and heard. In July a Grauer's Swamp-Warbler Bradypterus graueri was found in a patch of rushes just outside Bwindi NP; there are probably only six sites for this Albertine Rift endemic in Uganda, of which only two are protected. Two Gambaga Flycatchers Muscicapa gambagae, seen in Murchison Falls NP on 3 July, constitute the first record for the park. What appears to be the first Yellow-footed Flycatcher Muscicapa sethsmithi for Semliki NP was observed on 7 July.

About 5,000 Cattle Egrets Bubulcus ibis were at a single roost at Kabaka's Lake, Kampala, in November and December 2000. Up to 36 Grey Crowned Cranes Balearica regulorum roosted on electricity pylons in central Kampala, from March 2000 to at least March 2001. Several Northern White-crowned Shrikes Eurocephalus rueppelli were reported from the southern part of the country in savanna woodland on the road to Kabale, end 2000; previously, they were only known to occur in the northeast.

Last page update 27th December 2007

^top