Uganda 09/07/2018 – 29/07/2018

Practical information

Planning the trip

We compared a lot of options to travel around in Uganda. We chose to travel with Habari (www.habaritravel.nl) and I think that concerning price/quality this is certainly a very good option. Because we travelled with three people it was also interesting that you didn’t have to pay a single supplement. The answers were always swift and to the point. The deal was that they arranged a car, a driver, the hotels, etc… based on the itinerary we agreed. All arrangements were made very correct, we never had any problem and the driver took care of everything. On some places we had a bird walk with a guide which was included and on other places we birded on our own. The bird guides that our driver booked were always very good, so that was a really pleasant surprise because we didn’t know what to expect in advance. I included the contact details of the birdguides in the itinerary, so you can contact them in advance. They are very knowledgeable. Our driver was Dauda Ssebbowa ([email protected], +256772572696). A very knowledgeable person, with a very big network, always friendly and nothing is a problem. We started sometimes very early and ended very late and he was always pleased to help and to improve what we asked. On the way he all the time had an eye for birds and pointed them to us so we could identify them if we missed them.

The itinerary is available in the report below, and I think concerning the time we had this is a very good option. I would only maybe change two minor things in hindsight. We were a little short in time in Buhoma so we couldn’t bird the lower lying forest of Bwindi long enough. So try to get at least one full day in Buhoma. In Kibale we went on the second day for the Green-breasted pitta, because of that you have to pay two days an entry fee in the forest. You better do the pitta first very early in the morning and do a chimp walk later on the day. The gorilla trip and chimpanzee trip ask also some of the precious birding time, but I don’t think I would want to miss this experience. Certainly the gorilla’s were an overwhelming experience. Anyway time is always your biggest enemy on the trip, the areas are very big and the available time short, so you will have to make choices.

I also always make a target list (see annex 2), based on information I can find and to start planning a trip. I included this list at the back of the report. Besides the Albertine Rift Endemics I included species which have a more or less restricted range, birds that are everywhere difficult or birds that I missed on other vacations and options are running out unless I have to go back to these countries. The most overlap we had with our trips to Ethiopia and Ghana, and certainly Ghana is a good option to reduce your target massively for the lower lying forest areas in Uganda. This makes that you can focus more on special targets.

Getting there

The flights were included in the package we agreed and we departed in Brussels with SN. The flight time is about 8 hours, so after some movies you arrive first in Kigali for a short stop and then continue to Entebbe. The flight back was during the night, direct from Entebbe to Brussels.

Food

Concerning food we experienced no problems, and we even didn’t take the precautions we take in other Africana countries. We ate salads and vegetables, etc. without any problem. The lodges are of a very high standard, except in the Semliki area, and the cooking is excellent and always a delight after a long day. The arrangement we made was only with breakfast, so that keeps you very flexible to adapt your planning based on what you want to do and where you are at noon or in the evening. In all the lodges you can normally get packed lunches and on other occasions our driver found a nice spot.

Climate

The climate varies from chilly in the evening, and even cold at night at one place to very hot. But most of the time you are at such a height that the heat is not a problem, only the Semliki area and Murchison Falls is quite hot. The other areas have a very nice birding climate. We only had some rain on our last day on our drive back to Entebbe, besides that the weather was perfect.

Road

The road conditions are good on the big routes, but in some areas the roads vary from decent dirt road to bad dirt road and on some places extremely bad. Although the road conditions were challenging at times we experienced no problems, only one flat tire which was fixed quickly by the driver. Traffic is always very quiet, only around Kampala you will experience very busy traffic. So road conditions are basically very safe in my opinion. On several places big road constructions were going on, so roads are still improving drastically.

Visum

The visum arrangements are one of the most user friendly I have had on the African continent. You have to apply for it in advance, and within a couple of days you get a notification. Because I made a mistake filling in the form, it was easy that you can even quickly fix your visum request.

Sightings and sound recordings

All the sightings are uploaded on www.observado.org with exact GPS-locations, so I didn’t add any GPS locations in the report because you can find them on the internet for the species of your interest. I also made some sound recordings which are available on www.xeno-canto.org.

Contact

Participants: Benoit Van Damme, Bram Vogels & Kathleen Quick

If you want more information, just contact me (Bram Vogels, written bramvogels and add @hotmail.com).

Day 1: arrival in Entebbe

We arrived perfect on time in Entebbe. The border control was quick and the bags arrived soon after clearing border control. When you leave the airport you don’t have the big mass of people offering services like in many other African countries, but just drivers waiting for there clients. We quickly found our driver and drove the short end to our hotel. We were welcomed with a drink, got some basic practical information but nothing new for regular African travelers, changed money in the hotel and went to bed because Shoebill was on the planning for the next day. We stayed in Airport Guesthouse.

Day 2: Mabamba swamp – Lake Mburo

This was already one of the big days, our top target was on the menu Shoebill. So after a short night and an early breakfast we were eager to get to Mabamba swamp. We arrived around eight and on the parking lot we had a quick look at Black-and-white casqued hornbill before we jumped in the boat. I have the impression all boats do more or less the same tour and they keep each other informed about the presence of shoebills. So you can take no matter which boat.

You first go through papyrus swamp where pied kingfisher, winding cisticola and blue-headed coucal are easily seen, before you reach a little bit more open area. African jacana, malachite kingfisher, blue- breasted bee-eater, yellow-billed duck and African marsh harrier were quickly added and then we got no less then three shoebills on one spot. This is definitely a bizarre creature and we got splendid views for more than half an hour and then the adult one decided to fly away to check another spot for fish. In flight they are even more impressive. We also got some species of otter at this spot, but couldn’t identify it because we were focused on the shoebills.

Next we went back to the papyrus and easily got Papyrus gonolek of which we had splendid views, besides grey-capped warbler and black crake. We continued the trip to some gull colonies and could add reed cormorant/long-tailed cormorant, malachite kingfisher, northern brown-throated weaver, compact weaver, fan-tailed widowbird, long-toed lapwing, black-winged kite and a massive amount of grey-headed gulls. Check between the gulls for slender-billed gull, we had an adult and an immature bird although this is for Europeans probably not a target. On the way back we also had carruther’s cisticola and at the endpoint swamp flycatchers were flying around.

We decided to bird for another half an hour just around the launching point of the boats and this proofed fruitful with African pied wagtail, Angolan swallow, African blue flycatcher, speckled mousebird, black-crowned waxbill, slender-billed weaver, weyn’s weaver (target here), yellow-fronted tinkerbird, red-chested sunbird, eastern plantain-eater, black-headed gonolek, palm-nut vulture, African harrier hawk.

We then started the drive towards Mburo. On the road we had Ruppell’s starling, white-headed saw- wing, long-crested eagle, lizard buzzard and our driver saw a great blue turaco flying over. After a short search we had splendid views of our first turaco of the trip.

We arrived in Mburo just before 5 PM and on the road towards the hotel we birded the shrubbery for a moment with yellow-crowned canary, yellow-throated longclaw, grey-crowned crane, familiar chat, red-billed firefinch and then drove to our hotel. It’s eagle’s nest hotel which has a splendid view over the national parc. Because it’s high on a hill you can scan for raptors and mammals down in the parc, the fact that there are not so many birds around the hotel because there is no shrubbery is easily forgotten. We had red-faced crombec, African wattled lapwing and African fish eagle and for the mammal list: zebra, bushbuck, olive baboon, warthog, impala, mongoose spec and waterbuck.

Day 3: Lake Mburo

Local bird guide: Moses Matsika (mail: [email protected], phone 0782/771629 or 0701/771629).

We had an early breakfast and were at the gate around 7 AM. At the Sanga gate we had a flock of red- headed lovebirds and a black-headed gonolek. We drove towards the boat launch site because normally we would start with a boat trip but because of lack of fuel we had to change plans and first bird. This was off course perfect because birds and mammals are more active in the early morning and red-faced barbet was on our list. For the barbet we had to continue towards the Nshare gate. Before we drove the whole end for the barbet, we first checked some papyrus in the vicinity of the launch site with black-necked weaver, broad-billed roller, black-lored babbler, moustached grass warbler, Nubian woodpecker, spectacled weaver, black-headed gonolek, tambourine dove and papyrus gonolek.

We continued our way birding and at our first giraffes (reintroduction program) we had a quick birding break to add red-necked spurfowl, white-browed coucal, double-toothed barbet, brown-necked parrots, striped kingfisher and black-headed oriole. A little bit further we had to make another stop for bateleur, red-breasted swallow, buff-bellied warbler, yellow-fronted canary and common scimitarbill. A little bit before the Nshare gate we started the search for the barbet we quickly found bare-faced go-away-bird and spot-flanked barbet and then got red-faced barbet. Unfortunately the light was not very good and the bird flew off before we could get a better angle. We had a search for the barbet but couldn’t relocate it but had woodland kingfisher, grey-headed kingfisher, red-cheeked cordon-bleu, yellow-throated longclaw, arrow-marked babbler, white-backed vulture and crested francolin.

We birded our way back towards the boat launch site and had some stops on the way with Egyptian goose, black-headed heron, crested barbet, yellow-billed oxpecker, grey kestrel and a lovely African scops owl. On the private boat trip we had African fish eagle, white-backed night heron, African finfoot, striated heron, swamp flycatcher and little bittern. So our main target the finfoot was easily found thanks to Moses. We had lunch at the launch site and during the break added holub’s golden weaver and African paradise flycatcher.

In the afternoon we started again around 3 PM and birded on the lake shore track at the east side of the lake. We first stopped around some papyrus area where the best was a singing white-winged swamp warbler besides striated heron, hadada ibis, emerald-spotted wood dove, spur-winged goose, African openbill and a juvenile western banded snake-eagle. We continued on the track and had sooty chat, verreaux’s eagle-owl, arrow-marked babbler, golden-breasted bunting, white-browed scrub robin and spot-flanked barbet. Back in the hotel we saw white-rumped swift, green wood hoopoe and grey crowned crane.

Concerning other animals we had vervet monkey, warthog, zebra, waterbok, impala, olive baboon, bushbuck, slender mongoose, giraffe, banded mongoose, dwarf mongoose, topi, eland, hippo, nile crocodile.

Day 4 Lake Mburo - Kisoro

We had an early start because we drove towards Kisoro and wanted to have some birding time on the road. On the road we had a quick stop when we saw a Giant Kingfisher in a swampy area and also added African stonechat, Bleck-headed heron, Swamp flycatcher and Grey Kestrel. When we got in more hilly terrain we had our first Northern fiscal after many Grey-backed fiscals. A little bit passed Muhanga we stopped at a roadside restaurant to get a packed lunch. Besides Rock martin and Yellow- crowned canary we had our only White-necked ravens of the trip at this spot, a species I expected so see more.

After checking a flock of 23 grey crowned cranes we arrived at 1 PM at lake Bunyonyi. We had lunch where the big road passes the lake and had a search for papyrus canary, with no result. Noon is never the best periode for birding so we were happy with cape wagtail, red-billed quelea, regal sunbird, papyrus gonolek, swamp flycatcher, purple heron, slender-billed weaver, bronzy sunbird, village weaver, black-crowned wasbill, red-chested sunbird and African spoonbill. The papyrus is not very extensive in this area and if I check the observations of Papyrus canary in hindsight they are mostly at the eastern shore some kilometers away from the big road. Our driver proposed to drive over there, but we decided to go for some forest birding a little bit further on the road +/- 30 minutes driving.

We started birding in the northeast where you enter the forest (red area). After a while we had to go to some office to pay a small amount of money because roadside birding is not allowed, unless you pay to the officer. As far as that is true, after that we returned to this part of the forest. We could add Rwenzori batis, Chubb’s cisticola, Regal sunbird, African dusky flycatcher, white-browed crombec, Rwenzori hill babbler and Northern puffback. Because it was our first forest birding in this area, we had a lot of unidentified sounds. Certainly in the second area (blue area) where we were birding it is more bamboo zone, birding was hard. But In my opinion this second stretch where you also have forest at both sides of the road is more interesting. So don’t stop as we did at the first forest you encounter but continue until you have good forest at both sides of the road. We stayed at Travellers Rest Hotel and could bird in the last light of the day in the small garden and had Scarlet-chested sunbird, Streaky Seedeater and white-browed robin-chat. In the garden was also a big tree with a large roost of straw- coloured fruit bat.

Day 5 Mghahinga national park

Local bird guide: Laurian Niwagaba (mail: [email protected], phone: +256779808716)

The road from Kisoro to the entrance of Mgahinga is pretty bad, but we arrived there a little bit after 7 am. This park is not included in some trips, but the landscape is impressive and birding is excellent. During registration we already had cape robin-chat and cinnamon bracken warbler around the office. Next we met Laurian, also a very keen birder and he knows the targets birders come for. We walked the gorge trail towards the Sabinyo gorge. So after white-eyed slaty flycatcher, mountain bulbul and mountain yellow warbler we needed some patience but had splendid views of Doherty’s bushshrike. We continued with cardinal woodpecker, Rwenzori batis, streaky seedeater, white-starred robins, Rwenzori double-collared sunbird and then a handsome francolin came walking right in front of us on the track. We had prolonged splendid views of this francolin, when we continued the francolin stayed in front of us for more than ten minutes before it vanished again in the forest. We continued with Dusky turtle dove and northern puffback when an Archer’s ground robin was heard. We got some glimpse on playback, but when I recorded the birds and played their own song they came immediately in the open and we had again terrific views (download my recording on xeno-canto for this area: https://www.xeno-canto.org/430371).

We continued the climb and found yellow-whiskered greenbul, mountain masked apalis, chubb’s cisticola, yellow-rumped tinkerbird and chestnut-throated apalis when we entered the area for Rwenzori turaco, our main target. We had to search more than an hour where we could only add African olive pigeon when suddenly I found a turaco. And like always once you have found the first, you start seeing them easily and on the way further we had several others as we did on the way down.

When we arrived at the gorge we had our packed lunch but got interrupted by a flock of stripe-breasted tit and a collared apalis. The lunch was quickly finished and we started birding around the gorge, but couldn’t locate shelley’s crimsonwing. We found our first red-faced woodland warblers, strange weaver and mountain sooty boubou. On the way down we had more or less the same species, but of some species better views and again several Rwenzori turacos. We found Dusky crimsonwing, Kandt’s waxbill, green tinkerbird, black saw-wing and African harrier-hawk as extras. So a pretty productive day with a very good guide.

On the drive back towards the hotel we found Mackinnon’s shrike in the arable fields and some cinnamon-chested bee-eaters and yellow-crowned canary on the wires.

Other animals we had on the trip were side-striped bushbuck and black-fronted duiker. The guide pointed also out the sound of golden monkey, but they were too far to get a view unfortunately.

Day 6: Kisoro – Rushaga (Bwindi)

Local bird guide: Benjamin Byamughisa (mail: [email protected], phone: 0782839079)

We started early in Kisoro with the drive towards the Rushaga sector of Bwindi. Although the distance is not that far, the road towards Bwindi is very bad so it took us until a little bit before 8 am to reach Rushaga. At the parking lot we were greated immediately by a calling Barred long-tailed cuckoo and a mountain oriole. At the office we met our guide Benjamin, which was again a terrific and friendly birder. We discussed our target list and started walking, the pretty flat trail opposite the visitor centre. Banded prinia was already added during the check of the target list, so that one was already in and is a common species in this area. We continued with scaly-breasted illadopsis, lühder’s busshrike (also quite common in Bwindi), strange weaver, cardinal woodpecker and rwenzori double-collared sunbird. On a hillside with a little bit more sun mountain masked apalis, yellow-eyed black flycatcher, grey- throated barbet, white-eyed slaty flycatcher, black-billed turaco and cinnamon-chested bee-eater were active. The turaco is pretty vocal and not uncommon, but sometimes it takes some patience and luck to see one. We had several on this walk.

Next Benjamin showed us a bocage’s bushshrike and we had vocalizing black-faced rufous warblers. We continued our walk with yellow-whiskered greenbul, fork-tailed drongo, Rwenzori hill babbler,

9 white-browed crombec, yellow-streaked greenbul, Rwenzori batis, mountain oriole, African emerald cuckoo, black saw-wing, African olive pigeon and northern double-collared sunbird. After a the valley becomes more narrow and this was the spot where we had some nice flocks wit slender-billed starling, brown-throated wattle-eye, stuhlmann’s starling, red-headed malimbe and elliot’s woodpecker before the lunch. We had our lunch in the forest with black-billed turaco as background noice. We continued a little bit further in the valley and added grey cuckooshrike, white-headed wood hoopoe, kandt’s waxbill, strange weaver, white-tailed crested flycatcher, African dusky flycatcher and red-faced woodland warbler. In the afternoon it was a little bit more quiet, as usual so we started heading back. The more interesting ones on the way back were little greenbul, green-headed sunbird, chinspot batis, olive sunbird and blue-headed sunbird.

We headed for our hotel which was the very beautifully situated Gorilla Valley lodge. We enjoyed a drink on the terras with views on the rainforest and had yellow-rumped tinkerbird, lesser striped swallow, brown-throated wattle-eye, bronzy sunbird, black cuckooshrike, white-breasted nigrita, green-headed sunbird and slender-billed starling. In the evening African wood owl was calling.

Other animals: Blue Monkey, Black-and-white colobus, Bush squirrel.

Day 7: Rushaga (Bwindi) – Ruhija (Bwindi)

Today was gorilladay, so we were eager to get up and couldn’t wait to start the walk. All the people doing the trekking are gathered at the visitor center and you get some basic information. The most interesting in my opinion is that the population is doing well with a pretty impressive increase and the world population is considered to be over a 1.000. You get divided into groups and Benjamin was again our leader, so you start the walk with 8 people. We walked for 2 hours, had to wait for about 0,5 hour because they were not yet located and then we could go. During the walk there is not much time for birding, but a bocage’s bushshrike was calling when we arrived at the gorilla group.

The gorillas are really fantastic, it was an overwhelming experience. We had two silverbacks, a female and a young of 2-3 years old. They just act as if you are not there and just do their thing, eating leaves. The young one apparently liked my legs, because he came hanging around it. So that was a very close encounter. After that we had lunch and walked back out of the forest and arrived at our hotel. Apparently we were just a couple of hundred meters from our hotel room.

Next we drove towards the Ruhija area where we met our bird guide for the next days: Matthew Twongyeirwe. We stayed in the Broadbill Forest Camp, and this was our coldest area where we stayed in Uganda. So at night it can be quite chilly. After 5 PM we had a short walk in the surroundings and found Augur buzzard, Cassin’s hawk-eagle, Chestnut-throated apalis, mountain masked apalis, mountain oriole, tambourine dove, grey-throated barbet, handsome francolin, yellow-whiskered greenbul, white-eye slaty flycatcher and black-billed turaco.

Other aniamsl: Boehms squirrel, L’Hoest’s monkey, black-and-white colobus.

Day 8: Mubwindi swamp

Local bird guide: Matthew Twongyeirwe (contact on facebook)

Today Mubwindi swamp was on the menu. We started around 7 AM with the decent. Unfortunately it was cold and very windy. Certainly the wind was a problem at times, because this made birding difficult. Certainly with skulkers like illadopsises its almost impossible to find small movements if everything is moving. Nonetheless we started searching for birds and found some red-faced woodland warblers, chestnut-throated apalis, mountain oriole, mackinnon’s shrike, mountain masked apalis, Rwenzori hill babbler, lagden’s bushshrike and heard several mountain illadopsises. It was during one of the searches for a mountain illadopsis, which we never saw in the end, that we suddenly found a bar-tailed trogon.

We continued downhill and added slender-billed greenbul, African paradise flycatcher, black saw-wing, black-billed turaco, northern double-collared sunbird, chinspot batis, yellow-eyed black flycatcher and then another target the dwarf honeyguide. We had seen honeyguides before, but finally one that was up close and good enough for ID. Strange weaver was also active in this area together with white-tailed blue flycatcher. A little bit further we had a magnificent red-chested owlet. But we still had to walk

11 further down, when suddenly we had a big mixed species flock with chinspot batis, yellow-streaked greenbul, northern puffback, dusky tit, petit’s cuckooshrike, Rwenzori batis, grey cuckooshrike and black-throated apalis. Once down the search for the broadbill began. It took some time, because they were not more at their nest. Suddenly a young bird was shortly above us in a tree and was gone in a second. So the species was in, but this is not the way you want to see this magnificent bird. Unfortunately we were unable to relocate it and found only black-billed turaco, black-and-white casqued hornbill, mountain buzzard and white-headed wood hoopoe.

We arrived at the swamp around 11 AM and after watching a blue-headed sunbird focused on the swamp to find some more skulky species. Carruthers’s cisticola was pretty easily found and after a while we also had glimpses of grauer’s rush warbler. Western citril, cape wagtail, regal sunbird, crowned eagle and African harrier-hawk were also active around the swamp.

We had lunch and started the walk back up. It was warmer so bird activity was lower but that was easily forgotten when we found a Doherty’s busshrike and some black-billed turacos. Further up we had a small flock of brown-capped weavers. We added further cinnamon-chested bee-eater and grey- throated barbet.

In the evening we did again a short walk near the hotel and found waller’s starling, yellow-bellied waxbill, crowned hornbill and yellow-crowned canary.

Other animals: Blue monkey and three-horned chameleon.

Day 9: Ruhija – The neck – Buhoma

Local bird guide: Matthew Twongyeirwe (contact on facebook)

We left Ruhija and drove straight towards the neck for birding this area. This is roadside birding, but there is not that much traffic so that’s no problem. We started at the river crossing and in this area black-faced rufous warbler, cassin’s flycatcher, blue-headed sunbird, mountain wagtail, olive sunbird, slender-billed greenbul and speckled tinkerbird were active. We continued on the road and easily added grey apalis, buff-throated apalis, narrow-tailed starling, yellow-crested woodpecker, blue- throated brown sunbird, little green sunbird, dusky tit, red-headed malimbe, black-necked weaver and then we had black bee-eater. Still a big target for one of us. But everyone was happy to see it, because it’s probably one of the more beautiful bee-eaters on earth. Along the road we had several black bee- eaters, so they are pretty easy because they perch in the open and are quite active.

Further along the road we found green-throated sunbird, black-and-white shrike-flyacther, thick-billed honeyguide, grey-headed sunbird, white-chinned prinia, dusky-blue flycatcher and crowned eagle. We had lunch where the road exits the forest. The border between forest and agricultural land is extremely sharp everywhere, so this are two completely different worlds just one meter apart. Next we drove further towards Buhoma where we arrived around 2.30 PM in our hotel Buhoma Community Rest Camp. A nicely situated hotel in the forest, where the restaurant has a nice view over the forest.

We had a little rest in the restaurant and send some messages home because there was wifi in the restaurant. We would go birding around 4.30 PM when activity was higher. During our rest we had black-and-white shrike-flycatcher, northern double-collared sunbird and a cassin’s honeybird that came up close. On the parking lot two Lühder’s bushshrikes were very active.

In the afternoon we just walked the main trail entering the park along the visitor center. The start was a bit slow with green hylia, plain greenbul, slender-billed greenbil, little greenbul and yellow-rumped tinkerbird. But when we passed the last hotel things became more interesting along a large ant swarm with white-eyed slaty flycatcher, brown-throated wattle-eye, white-spotted flufftail, red-capped robin- chat, grey-winged robin-chat, bocage’s bushshrike, pink-footed puffback, white-tailed ant thrush and petit’s cuckooshrike. The alethe was also present but it was only after a while that we got good views of a red-throated alethe. Besides dusky-blue flycatcher and petit’s cuckooshrike there was also a many- colored bushshrike that turned up and gave splendid views. On our way back we saw Lühder’s bushshrike, white-breasted nigrita, northern double-collared sunbird, green-throated sunbird and tullberg’s woodpecker.

Other animals: L’Hoest monkey, Black-and-white colobus, Tree agame, Red-tailed monkey and black- fronted duiker.

Day 10: Buhoma – Queen Elizabeth National Park

The first hours of the day we birded again the main trail with Matthew, but we went a lot further. The trail narrows to a smaller pathway. This was the only place where we had crested guineafowl and finally got good views of black-faced rufous warbler. On this road we had white-tailed ant-thrush, black-billed turaco, yellow-throated tinkerbird, hairy-breasted barbet, fraser’s rufous thrush, narrow- tailed starling, stuhlmann’s starling, blue-throated brown sunbird, yellow-whiskered greenbul, western bronze-naped pigeon, sooty flycatcher and Lühder’s bushshrike. We ended this walk around 10 AM so we would be in time in Queen Elisbath for a gamedrive. But this was actually to short, you should get in your planning a whole day in this area to have a bigger chance of finding more difficult species like short-tailed warbler. Anyway you can’t get always everything.

Other animals: Yellow-backed duiker, Black-fronted duiker

Just before entering Queen Elisbath we had a short break at Kihihi for fuel and cleaning of the air filter. Rock martin, white-rumped swift, whalberg’s eagle, brown snake eagle and pin-tailed whydah were active here.

We first birded a short while in the Ishasha sector but because it was noon bird activity was low and we had Bateleur, yellow-throated longclaw, plain-backed pipit, western banded snake eagle, white- throated bee-eater and hadada ibis. We decided to drive further towards our hotel the Bush lodge, which is situated with magnificent view on the Kazinga channel. We arrived around 3.30 PM in the hotel and around 4.30 PM we started the gamedrive in the northern sector which is more open. Besides the mammals we had white-backed vulture, black-lored babbler, rüppell’s starling, red-necked spurfowl, black-winged kite, white-browed coucal, African wattled lapwing, black-headed gonolek, collared pratincole, hooded vulture, palm-nut vulture, water thick-knee, lappet-faced vulture, brown snake eagle and black-chested snake eagle.

Animals: Kob (very numerous), waterbuck, hippo, elephant, buffalo, giant hog, lion and warthog

Day 11 Queen Elizabeth national park

We birded the same area by entering through the Katunguru gate. On the grasslands concerning birds we had flappet lark, collared pratincole, crowned lapwing, kittlitz plover, red-capped lark, brown snake eagle, northern black flycatcher, Senegal lapwing, helmeted guineafowl, dwarf bittern (around some mostly dried pools), tawny eagle, white backed vulture and wahlberg’s eagle. We then stopped at the crater lakes where a group of 112 lesser flamingos were roosting. We birded our way back out towards the gate with African sacred ibis, black-winged stilt, white-winged tern, rufous-naped lark, white- headed vulture and finally a group of 110 white-backed vultures. Unfortunately we couldn’t see the kill.

We then drove towards Mweya to eat our lunch and be there in time for the boat trip on the Kazinga channel. In the area we had grey-headed kingfisher, long-crested eagle, yellow-billed stork, alpine swift, pink-backed pelican, spur -winged lapwing, malachite kingfisher and swamp flycatcher.

The boat trip on the Kazinga channel was with a big boat, shared with other tourists. I don’t think it is necessary on this place to get an individual trip. Normally there is a massive amount of mammals around the Kazinga channel, but the big herds were lacking. So just bad luck, although we got up close with some nice mammals. We had the normal things like warthog, elephant, kob, hippo and nile crocodile. Concerning birds we saw little egret, reed cormorant, common sandpiper, olive/Madagascar bee-eater, water thick-knee, great egret, black crake, lesser masked weaver, squacco heron, African fish eagle, red-billed quelea, grey-headed gull, lesser black-backed gull (Baltic), heuglin’s gull, white- breasted cormorant, pink-backed pelican, wire-tailed swallow and common greenshank.

After the boat trip we slowly drove back to our hotel and decided to bird on the hotel grounds which had a nice view over some reeds and a lot of shrubbery. On the hotel grounds around the rooms we had black-headed gonolek, northern black flycatcher, snowy-crowned robin-chat, square-tailed nightjar, speckled and blue-naped mousebird, square-tailed nightjar, little bittern, black-headed weaver, eastern plantain-eater and brown-crowned tchagra.

Day 12 Queen Elizabeth National Park – Kibale

Today was again with a lot of driving towards Kibale. We birded in the morning again around the hotel grounds before breakfast and had more or less the same birds with black-headed gonolek, grey-backed camaroptera, brown-crowned tchagra, speckled mousebird, hooded vulture, red-billed firefinch, striated heron, little bittern and Egyptian goose. After the short birding we had breakfast and had to leave already with brown snake eagle, palm-nut vulture and long-crested eagle.

On the road towards Kibale we stopped around some crater lakes, appartently all tourists take this scenic shortcut and besides African harrier-hawk, pink-backed pelican, northern double-collared sunbird and lizard buzzard we could easily locate some Ross’s turacos in this area. So certainly worth a short stop. On one of the next stops a little bit further a I had a brown flycatcher, which was in my opinion a possible gambaga flycatcher but this doesn’t look wright on this place. Along the road we further added red-chested cuckoo and a yellow-throated tinkerbird.

We arrived around 4 PM in our next hotel Kibale forest camp. This one is nicely situated around some patches of native forest between farmland and eucalyptus trees. There is also a small birdwalk which we tried and further on we birded along the entrance road: little greenbul, green-throated sunbird, African hill babbler, grey-backed camaroptera, great blue turaco, pale flycatcher, yellow-fronted canary, olive-bellied sunbird and copper sunbird were some of the sightings.

Other animals: Red colobus and black-and-white colobus

Day 13 Kibale

In the morning we did the chimpanzee walk. The chimps were after less than 30 minutes located because they were quite vocal. They were feeding high in a fig tree, but after an hour two came down and started to walk towards another group. We followed the walkers for a while and then left them alone when they were getting in thicker bush. On the way back towards the visitor center we encountered another group chimpansees that were feeding on the ground. So we had a lot of terrific views of these animals. A chimp walking, crying and stamping with his feet on the roots of trees is a pretty unforgettable experience.

In the afternoon we birded the bigodi swamp. You get a guide of the community, the very friendly female was not the best birder but she knew more than enough of birds to help us around and point at some nice species. We started around 2 PM with still a big heat so birding was a little bit slower in the beginning with mostly common species like African blue flycatcher, yellow-rumped tinkerbird, northern fiscal, black-headed weaver, red-faced cisticola, pale flycatcher, black-necked weaver, grey apalis, buff-throated apalis, blue-throated brown sunbird, red-faced cisticola and little greenbul. When entering the small forest birding became more interesting with first close-up views of black-and-white- casqued hornbill, double-toothed barbet, black-and-white shriek flycatcher, red-bellied paradise flycatcher and grey parrots.

Next we focuses on the swamp, where the water was very low so a lot of muddy spots which were perfect for white-spotted flufftail. There were at least three calling, but it took a while before we finally saw one. After hearing it many times before, it was nice to finally see one. We continued through the ‘swamp’ with black-crowned waxbill, white-chinned prinia, yellow-billed barbet, red-headed malimbe, black-headed heron, eastern plantain-eater, collared sunbird, snowy-crowned robin-chat, thick-billed

15 weaver and the best for last shining-blue kingfisher. We started walking back along the road and had nice views of scaly francolin, great blue turaco and bronzy sunbird.

We drove towards the park headquarters again to make arrangements for the next morning to go and try for the green-breasted pitta. There would be a ranger who would bring you towards the place, so we were again eager to get this big target. In the evening an African wood owl was again calling on the hotel grounds.

Other animals: chimpanzee, black-and-white colobus, red colobus, red-legged sun squirrel and red- tailed monkey.

Day 14: Kibale – Semliki

We first in the early morning towards the visitor center, because for the pitta you have to be early in the forest. So at 6AM we were waiting for the ranger to take us towards the pitta-area. We walked for a while and then waited until the pitta started calling. We didn’t have to wait that long, but then became the search for the pitta. We finally found two pitta’s and we got pretty good views taking in mind you are watching at pitta’s. Another foreign birder that joined us in the morning had big problems finding the pitta because he was not used at forest birding, so that caused some nuisance. But anyway we got pretty good views of this magnificent species. On the way back and along the visitor center we had yellow-throated tinkerbird, blue-breasted kingfisher, great blue turaco, black-and-white casqued hornbill, vieillot’s black weaver and thick-billed seedeater. We also heard several times chimpansees.

We then birded on the big road that goes through kibale forest but this was not that successful with collared sunbird and black-headed oriole. We heard forest elephants but didn’t see them unfortunately.

We drove towards Fort portal to have lunch. At the restaurant we had a Ross’s turaco that was moving around in the trees besides marabou storks.

We then continued towards Semliki, first checked in in our hotel, Vanilla inn. Which is pretty basic compared towards the lodges we were In on the rest of the trip. There was no water and it was smoking hot. We then returned towards the sempaya hot springs. The views are very nice in this area and on the short walk we had fire-crested alethe, palm-nut vulture, African olive pigeon, spur-winged lapwing, African green pigeon, red-tailed ant thrush and black-casqued hornbill.

In the evening we returned towards our hotel. We had to wait more than two hours for our chicken and this was the thoughest chicken I have ever had on all my trips to Africa. It was simply impossible to eat. Besides that a birthday party was going on, so sleeping would be a little bit of a problem. And when you think it is impossible to make more noice they start the generator, which is situated in the center of the hotel and creates so much noice that it seems like you are sleeping on your mowing machine. But this was in fact a good thing, because then we didn’t hear the party anymore. Anyway you just need this kind of hotels to know how luxurious all these other lodges are.

Day 15: Semliki

Today we birded the whole day with a local bird guide, unfortunately he had to go so fast in the evening that we couldn’t ask his contact details. But it was again a terrific bird guide. The heath was enormous, so due to that bird activity was pretty low and it was thanks to our guide we still had quite some interesting birds.

We started birding along the road for a while and had white-thighed hornbill, speckled tinkerbird, piping hornbill and orange-cheeked waxbill. We then started birding on the pitta trail and continued towards the Kirumia trail. Most birds we had were really thanks to our guide, because birding proofed pretty difficult today but we could note blue-throated brown sunbird, red-tailed ant thrush, western nicator, fraser’s rufous thrush, brown-chested alethe, red-rumped tinkerbird, chestnut-capped flycatcher, crested malimbe, forest robin, black dwarf hornbill, yellow longbill, splendid starling, yellow-billed barbet, dusky crested flycatcher, grey-headed sunbird, chestnut wattle-eye, black-bellied seedcracker, brown illadopsis, red-headed bluebill, yellow-lored bristlebill, forest robin, red-tailed greenbul, yellow-whiskered greenbul, red-bellied paradise flycatcher, least honeyguide, olive-green camaroptera, buff-spotted woodpecker, grey apalis, dusky long-tailed cuckoo, African piculet and western bronze-naped pigeon.

We then returned towards our starting point where there was some kind of visitor center for the park, where there was also some basic lodging. The food was basic, but very nice and I probably would sleep on this spot rather than in the town center. We had a little rest during the heat of the day and starting birding again around 4 PM. We did the same tracks to see if something else was moving around in the forest. We had blue-headed crested flycatcher, black-casqued hornbill, African pied hornbill, red-tailed bristlebill, lathma’s francolin, black-crowned waxbill. Certainly the black-casqued hornbills were quite common here and very impressive.

In the evening we ate first again at the visitor center, which was again terrific basic food. The proof that perfectly nice food can be cooked in very basic conditions, like in many other places on the African continent. To sleep we returned to our hotel in the center, luckily the night was not so loud as the previous one and the water was running again so we could flush the toilet.

Day 16: Semliki – Budongo

Today was mostly a driving day, we left very early in Semliki to have breakfast in Fort Portal. On the road we had black-crowned waxbill and black-winged kite. At the restaurant we had eastern plantain- eater, ross’s turaco, jacobin cuckoo and a scarce swift. The rest of the day was more or less drinving with sightings of Wahblberg’s eagle and little swift as one of the scarce birding moments. We stayed in the Budongo Eco Lodge, which is nicely situated inside the national park.

Day 17: Budongo

Local bird guide: Ogen Raymond (no mail; telephone: +256 777319865 or +256 752930065)

The drive form the hotel towards the Royal mile is more than one hour, so be sure to have an early start. But today was the royal mile on the program, so we never couldn’t start to early. It is one of the best forest birding in Africa and in my opinion this is certainly true. We also had a terrific bird guide with a very good knowledge of the birds and certainly the sounds. We first birded around in the farmland around the old sawmill where we quickly found our targets and had lesser blue-eared

18 starling, cabanis’s bunting, black-winged red bishiop, black bisop, grey-headed oliveback, brown- backed scrub robin, black-crowned waxbill and black-bellied firefinch.

We then continued towards the start of the royal mile. This is a pretty open road, bordered by big trees through rainforest which makes that the visibility is pretty good. Birds were coming good with Heuglin’s francolin, white-breasted nigrita, grey parrots, yellow-crested woodpecker, yellow-throated tinkerbird, grey-headed nigrita, chestnut-capped flycatcher, chestnut wattle-eye, African pygmy kingfisher, jameson’s wattle-eye, brown-eared woodpecker, yellow longbill, speckled tinkerbird dusky long-tailed cuckoo, yellow-spotted barbet and then one of my main targets African dwarf kingfisher. We continued with yellow-spotted barbet, Uganda woodland warbler, purple-headed starling, buff- throated apalis, white-thighed hornbill, lemon-bellied crombec and then for our companion one of the big targets a chocolate-backed kingfisher. We birded our way deeper in the forest when we found an ituri batis high in the canopy followed by olive-green camaroptera, red-chested cuckoo, fraser’s rufous thrush, red-tailed greenbul, forest robin, red-tailed greenbul, rufous-crowned eremomela, chestnut- capped flycatcher, grey-throated tit-flycatcher, red-tailed ant thrush, black-throated apalis, plain greenbul, green crombec, fire-crested alethe, white-spotted flufftail and to end one of the most beautiful greenbuls the spotted greenbul.

We then had lunch and after lunch we birderd for a while further in the forest and had red-tailed bristlebill and thick-billed weaver but activity was getting lower at this time. So our guide decided to try on another spot for one of our last targets. We started to walk the road and had purple-headed starling, chocolate-backed kingfisher, dusky long-tailed cuckoo and finally a scaly-breasted illadopsis which showed very well. Other species we had were blue-breasted kingfisher, hairy-breasted barbet

19 and white-thighed hornbill. Back at the hotel grounds we had a green crombec. African wood owl was calling at night.

Other animals: red-tailed monkey, chimpanzee, blue monkey, tree hyrax, red-legged sun-squirrel and long-snouted mongoose (hotel grounds)

Day 18: Semliki – Murchison falls

We left the Budongo Eco Lodge and drove towards the ferry crossing of the nile. On the way we had helemeted guineafowl, white-tailed ant-thrush, Abyssinian ground hornbill, white-headed barbet, orange weaver, African pygmy kingfisher, yellow-mantled widowbird and bateleur. We first had a quick stop at the falls where red-throated bee-eater, African darter, grey-backed camaroptera, rock pratincole, western violet-backed sunbird, grey hornbill and African palm swift were active. At the ferry crossing we had to wait for a short while and could bird the shrubbery for a moment with as a result spotted palm thrush as most interesting one.

After the crossing of the nile birding is more difficult because you have to stay in the car. But we did a gamedrive while slowly going towards our hotel. We had silverbird, speckle-fronted weaver, piapiac, red-necked falcon, grey-backed fiscal, white-faced whistling duck, shelley’s sparrow, northern carmine bee-eater, grey-headed kingfisher, white-backed vulture, ruppell’s vulture (the only one of the trip!), Abyssinian ground hornbill, saddle-billed stork, intermediate egret, goliath heron, woolly-necked stork and knob-billed duck.

We arrived in our hotel at 1.30 PM in the nicely located Fort Murchison. On the hotel grounds during lunch and the break we had African paradise flycatcher, red-cheeked cordon-blue, bronze mannikin, grey-backed fiscal, pin-tailed whydah and copper sunbird.

After lunch we headed back towards the park to continue on the gamedrive. Check the internet for het GPS-locations where we had some interesting birds. We noted northern red bishop, greater blue- eared starling, chestnut-crowned sparrow-weaver, dusky babbler, green wood hoopoe, broad-billed roller, spot-flanked barbet, spur-winged lapwing, martial eagle, great white pelican, pink-backed pelican, fawn-breasted waxbill, black-crowned tchagra, yellow-billed oxpecker, black-headed gonolek, striped kingfisher, palm-nut vulture, black-billed barbet, swallow-tailed bee-eater, grey-headed kingfisher, white-browed sparrow-weaver, crowned lapwing, jacobin cuckoo, little bee-eater, flappet lark, denham’s bustards, heuglin’s francolin, rufous sparrow, black-bellied bustard and blue-spotted wood dove.

Other animals: big herds of a lot animals bushbuck, waterbuck, hippo, giraffe, hartebeest, warthog, buffalo, oribi, elephant, patas monkey, crocodile, spotted hyena, leopard and striped jackal.

Day 19: Murchison falls

Today was the last full birding day already and we planned had two boat rides. We got an early breakfast and then started the drive towards the boat launch site along the nile, which takes almost an hour. For the delta we had a private boat so we could do as much birding as we want. Apparently the wrong boat picked us up, so we had to switch boats in the middle of the nile. But this went very smooth without wet clothes. We started going downriver and had some nice birds long-toed lapwing, black crake, African jacana, Senegal thick-knee, spur-winged goose, hadada ibis, white-winged swamp warbler, purple heron, goliath heron, little bittern, winding cisticola, western banded snake eagle, grey-headed kingfisher, eastern plantain-eater, broad-billed roller, blue-headed coucal, swamp flycatcher, African fish eagle, malachite kingfisher and then at last a magnificent shoebill. The bird was standing in the open along the shore and we were next to it for 15 minutes and then the bird decided to go fishing a little bit further. Terrific views of this magnificent birds. On the way we unfortunately missed a lesser moorhen. On the way back we added red-throated bee-eater, white-breasted cormorant, African fish eagle, grey crowned cranes and grey-headed gull.

We had lunch at the launch site where we saw tawny eagle, black-headed weaver, bar-breasted firefinch, Marabou and white-backed vulture. We then took the big boat towards the falls. The falls are pretty nice and it was a good end of the trip. Birding was not very impressive but we had some sightings of goliath heron, African sacred ibis, white-faced whistling duck, Egyptian goose, knob-billed duck, long-toed lapwing, giant kingfisher, African finfoot was a surprise and rock pratincole at the falls.

On the way back we could add violet-backed starling, purple starling, purple heron, dark chanting goshawk and chestnut-crowned sparrow-weaver. We arrived in our hotel around 6 PM where we had scarlet-chested sunbird and meyer’s parrot.

Day 20: Murchison falls – Entebbe

Today was the day to drive the whole end back towards Entebbe. We had a stop at a roadside restaurant for a coffee where we noted white-browed scrub-robin, African paradise flycatcher, grey- headed kingfisher, pin-tailed whydah, speckled mousebird, broad-billed roller, black-headed gonolek and village weaver. We continued until we encountered some rice fields around noon. We ate our packed lunch along the road and checked the rice fields which contained woolly-necked stork, white stork, saddle-billed stork, African openbill, long-toad lapwing, African sacred ibis, long-crested eagle and black-headed heron.

We arrived nice in time at our hotel, the airport guesthouse, where we could have a shower and dinner before we had to take the plain. In the garden we noted our last birds: 3 grey parrots, bronze mannikin, northern puffback, northern brown-throated weaver, eastern plantain-eater, white-throated greenbul, African paradise flycatcher, northern puffback and red-bellied paradise flycatcher.

After a nice dinner we were transported towards the airport where our plane left nice on time, to land the next day in Brussels.

Annex I: sightings

Common name Scientific name

Helmeted Guineafowl Numida meleagris

Western Crested Guineafowl Guttera verreauxi

Nahan's Partridge Ptilopachus nahani

Heuglin's Francolin Pternistis icterorhynchus

Scaly Francolin Pternistis squamatus

Red-necked Francolin Pternistis afer

Handsome Francolin Pternistis nobilis

Crested Francolin Dendroperdix sephaena

Forest Francolin Peliperdix lathami

White-faced Whistling-duck Dendrocygna viduata

Egyptian Goose Alopochen aegyptiaca

Spur-winged Goose Plectropterus gambensis

African Comb Duck Sarkidiornis melanotos

Yellow-billed Duck Anas undulata

Lesser Flamingo Phoeniconaias minor

Speckled Pigeon Columba guinea

Afep Pigeon Columba unicincta

African Olive-pigeon Columba arquatrix

Western Bronze-naped Pigeon Columba iriditorques

Dusky Turtle-dove Streptopelia lugens

Red-eyed Dove Streptopelia semitorquata

Ring-necked Dove Streptopelia capicola

Laughing Dove Spilopelia senegalensis

Emerald-spotted Wood-dove Turtur chalcospilos

Blue-spotted Wood-dove Turtur afer

Tambourine Dove Turtur tympanistria

African Green-pigeon Treron calvus

Mozambique Nightjar Caprimulgus fossii

Scarce Swift Schoutedenapus myoptilus

African Palm-swift Cypsiurus parvus

Alpine Swift Tachymarptis melba

White-rumped Swift Apus caffer

Little Swift Apus affinis

Blue-headed Coucal Centropus monachus

White-browed Coucal Centropus superciliosus

Jacobin Cuckoo Clamator jacobinus

African Emerald Cuckoo Chrysococcyx cupreus

Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo Cercococcyx mechowi

Barred Long-tailed Cuckoo Cercococcyx montanus

Red-chested Cuckoo Cuculus solitarius

African Finfoot Podica senegalensis

White-spotted Flufftail Sarothrura pulchra

Black Crake Zapornia flavirostra

Grey Crowned-crane Balearica regulorum

Black-bellied Bustard Lissotis melanogaster

Denham's Bustard Neotis denhami

Great Blue Turaco Corythaeola cristata

Eastern Plantain-eater Crinifer zonurus

Black-faced Go-away-bird Corythaixoides leopoldi

Rwenzori Turaco Gallirex johnstoni

Black-billed Turaco Tauraco schuettii

Ross's Turaco Musophaga rossae

Marabou Leptoptilos crumenifer

Yellow-billed Stork Mycteria ibis

African Openbill Anastomus lamelligerus

African Woollyneck Ciconia microscelis

White Stork Ciconia ciconia

Saddlebill Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis

African Spoonbill Platalea alba

African Sacred Ibis Threskiornis aethiopicus

Hadada Ibis Bostrychia hagedash

Common Little Bittern Ixobrychus minutus

Dwarf Bittern Ixobrychus sturmii

White-backed Night-heron Calherodius leuconotus

Green-backed Heron Butorides striata

Squacco Heron Ardeola ralloides

Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis

Grey Heron Ardea cinerea

Black-headed Heron Ardea melanocephala

Goliath Heron Ardea goliath

Purple Heron Ardea purpurea

Great White Egret Ardea alba

Yellow-billed Egret Ardea brachyrhyncha

Little Egret Egretta garzetta

Hamerkop Scopus umbretta

Shoebill Balaeniceps rex

Pink-backed Pelican Pelecanus rufescens

Great White Pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus

Long-tailed Cormorant Microcarbo africanus

Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo

African Darter Anhinga rufa

Senegal Thick-knee Burhinus senegalensis

Water Thick-knee Burhinus vermiculatus

Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus

Kittlitz's Plover Charadrius pecuarius

Long-toed Lapwing Vanellus crassirostris

Spur-winged Lapwing Vanellus spinosus

Senegal Lapwing Vanellus lugubris

Crowned Lapwing Vanellus coronatus

Wattled Lapwing Vanellus senegallus

African Jacana Actophilornis africanus

Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos

Common Greenshank Tringa nebularia

Collared Pratincole Glareola pratincola

Rock Pratincole Glareola nuchalis

Slender-billed Gull Larus genei

Grey-headed Gull Larus cirrocephalus

Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus

European Herring Gull Larus argentatus

White-winged Tern Chlidonias leucopterus

Red-chested Owlet Glaucidium tephronotum

African Scops-owl Otus senegalensis

African Wood-owl Strix woodfordii

Verreaux's Eagle-owl Bubo lacteus

Black-winged Kite Elanus caeruleus

African Harrier-hawk Polyboroides typus

Palm-nut Vulture Gypohierax angolensis

Bateleur Terathopius ecaudatus

Black-chested Snake-eagle Circaetus pectoralis

Brown Snake-eagle Circaetus cinereus

Western Banded Snake-eagle Circaetus cinerascens

White-headed Vulture Trigonoceps occipitalis

Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus

White-backed Vulture Gyps africanus

Rüppell's Vulture Gyps rueppelli

Lappet-faced Vulture Torgos tracheliotos

Crowned Eagle Stephanoaetus coronatus

Martial Eagle Polemaetus bellicosus

Long-crested Eagle Lophaetus occipitalis

Tawny Eagle Aquila rapax

Cassin's Hawk-eagle Aquila africana

Wahlberg's Eagle Hieraaetus wahlbergi

Lizard Buzzard Kaupifalco monogrammicus

Dark Chanting-goshawk Melierax metabates

African Marsh-harrier Circus ranivorus

African Goshawk Accipiter tachiro

African Fish-eagle Haliaeetus vocifer

Black Kite Milvus migrans

Augur Buzzard Buteo augur

Mountain Buzzard Buteo oreophilus

Speckled Mousebird Colius striatus

Blue-naped Mousebird Urocolius macrourus

Bar-tailed Trogon Apaloderma vittatum

Northern Ground-hornbill Bucorvus abyssinicus

African Grey Hornbill Lophoceros nasutus

Congo Pied Hornbill Lophoceros fasciatus

Crowned Hornbill Lophoceros alboterminatus

Eastern Little Hornbill Horizocerus granti

Black-casqued Hornbill Ceratogymna atrata

Grey-cheeked Hornbill Bycanistes subcylindricus

White-thighed Hornbill Bycanistes albotibialis

Eastern Piping Hornbill Bycanistes sharpii

Green Woodhoopoe Phoeniculus purpureus

White-headed Woodhoopoe Phoeniculus bollei

Common Scimitarbill Rhinopomastus cyanomelas

Red-throated Bee-eater Merops bulocki

White-throated Bee-eater Merops albicollis

Northern Carmine Bee-eater Merops nubicus

Olive Bee-eater Merops superciliosus

Swallow-tailed Bee-eater Merops hirundineus

Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater Merops oreobates

Blue-breasted Bee-eater Merops variegatus

Little Bee-eater Merops pusillus

Black Bee-eater Merops gularis

Lilac-breasted Roller Coracias caudatus

Broad-billed Roller Eurystomus glaucurus

African Dwarf-kingfisher Ispidina lecontei

African Pygmy-kingfisher Ispidina picta

Malachite Kingfisher Corythornis cristatus

Shining-blue Kingfisher Alcedo quadribrachys

Giant Kingfisher Megaceryle maxima

Pied Kingfisher Ceryle rudis

Chocolate-backed Kingfisher Halcyon badia

Grey-headed Kingfisher Halcyon leucocephala

Striped Kingfisher Halcyon chelicuti

Blue-breasted Kingfisher Halcyon malimbica

Woodland Kingfisher Halcyon senegalensis

Crested Barbet Trachyphonus vaillantii

Yellow-spotted Barbet Buccanodon duchaillui

Grey-headed Barbet Gymnobucco cinereiceps

Speckled Tinkerbird Pogoniulus scolopaceus

Western Green Tinkerbird Pogoniulus coryphaea

Red-rumped Tinkerbird Pogoniulus atroflavus

Yellow-throated Tinkerbird Pogoniulus subsulphureus

Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird Pogoniulus bilineatus

Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird Pogoniulus chrysoconus

Hairy-breasted Barbet Tricholaema hirsuta

Spot-flanked Barbet Tricholaema lacrymosa

White-headed Barbet Lybius leucocephalus

Red-faced Barbet Lybius rubrifacies

Black-billed Barbet Lybius guifsobalito

Double-toothed Barbet Pogonornis bidentatus

Eastern Yellow-billed Barbet Trachylaemus purpuratus

Cassin's Honeybird Prodotiscus insignis

Dwarf Honeyguide Indicator pumilio

Least Honeyguide Indicator exilis

Lesser Honeyguide Indicator minor

African Piculet Verreauxia africana

Nubian Woodpecker Campethera nubica

Fine-banded Woodpecker Campethera taeniolaema

Buff-spotted Woodpecker Campethera nivosa

Brown-eared Woodpecker Campethera caroli

Cardinal Woodpecker Dendropicos fuscescens

Yellow-crested Woodpecker Dendropicos xantholophus

Elliot's Woodpecker Dendropicos elliotii

Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus

Grey Kestrel Falco ardosiaceus

Red-necked Falcon Falco ruficollis

Grey Parrot Psittacus erithacus

Brown Parrot Poicephalus meyeri

Red-headed Lovebird Agapornis pullarius

Green-breasted Pitta Pitta reichenowi

Grauer's Broadbill Pseudocalyptomena graueri

Western Black-headed Oriole Oriolus brachyrynchus

Eastern Black-headed Oriole Oriolus larvatus

Mountain Oriole Oriolus percivali

Grey Cuckooshrike Ceblepyris caesius

Black Cuckooshrike Campephaga flava

Petit's Cuckooshrike Campephaga petiti

African Shrike-flycatcher Megabyas flammulatus

Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher Bias musicus

Rwenzori Batis Batis diops

Chinspot Batis Batis molitor

Ituri Batis Batis ituriensis

Chestnut Wattle-eye Dyaphorophyia castanea

Jameson's Wattle-eye Dyaphorophyia jamesoni

Brown-throated Wattle-eye Platysteira cyanea

Pink-footed Puffback Dryoscopus angolensis

Northern Puffback Dryoscopus gambensis

Brown-crowned Tchagra Tchagra australis

Black-crowned Tchagra Tchagra senegalus

Many-coloured Bush-shrike Chlorophoneus multicolor

Bocage's Bush-shrike Chlorophoneus bocagei

Orange-breasted Bush-shrike Chlorophoneus sulfureopectus

Mountain Sooty Boubou Laniarius poensis

Albertine Sooty Boubou Laniarius holomelas

Lühder's Bush-shrike Laniarius luehderi

Tropical Boubou Laniarius aethiopicus

Black-headed Gonolek Laniarius erythrogaster

Papyrus Gonolek Laniarius mufumbiri

Doherty's Bush-shrike Telophorus dohertyi

Fork-tailed Drongo Dicrurus adsimilis

Eastern Crested-flycatcher Trochocercus bivittatus

African Paradise-flycatcher Terpsiphone viridis

Red-bellied Paradise-flycatcher Terpsiphone rufiventer

Mackinnon's Shrike Lanius mackinnoni

Grey-backed Fiscal Lanius excubitoroides

Common Fiscal Lanius collaris

Piapiac Ptilostomus afer

White-necked Raven Corvus albicollis

Pied Crow Corvus albus

Dusky Crested-flycatcher Elminia nigromitrata

White-tailed Crested-flycatcher Elminia albonotata

African Blue-flycatcher Elminia longicauda

White-tailed Blue-flycatcher Elminia albicauda

Dusky Tit Melaniparus funereus

Stripe-breasted Tit Melaniparus fasciiventer

Rufous-naped Lark Mirafra africana

Flappet Lark Mirafra rufocinnamomea

Red-capped Lark Calandrella cinerea

Western Nicator Nicator chloris

Northern Crombec Sylvietta brachyura

Red-faced Crombec Sylvietta whytii

Green Crombec Sylvietta virens

Lemon-bellied Crombec Sylvietta denti

White-browed Crombec Sylvietta leucophrys

Moustached Grass-warbler Melocichla mentalis

Yellow Longbill Macrosphenus flavicans

Rufous-crowned Eremomela Eremomela badiceps

White-chinned Prinia Schistolais leucopogon

Rwenzori Apalis Oreolais ruwenzorii

Black-faced Apalis Apalis personata

Black-throated Apalis Apalis jacksoni

Chestnut-throated Apalis Apalis porphyrolaema

Buff-throated Apalis Apalis rufogularis

Grey Apalis Apalis cinerea

Buff-bellied Warbler Phyllolais pulchella

Bleating Camaroptera Camaroptera brachyura

Yellow-browed Camaroptera Camaroptera superciliaris

Tawny-breasted Camaroptera Camaroptera toroensis

Grey-capped Warbler Eminia lepida

Red-faced Cisticola Cisticola erythrops

Whistling Cisticola Cisticola lateralis

Chubb's Cisticola Cisticola chubbi

Rattling Cisticola Cisticola chiniana

Winding Cisticola Cisticola marginatus

Carruthers's Cisticola Cisticola carruthersi

Stout Cisticola Cisticola robustus

Croaking Cisticola Cisticola natalensis

Wing-snapping Cisticola Cisticola ayresii

Black-faced Rufous-warbler Bathmocercus rufus

Banded Prinia Prinia bairdii

Mountain Yellow Warbler Iduna similis

Grauer's Swamp-warbler Bradypterus graueri

White-winged Swamp-warbler Bradypterus carpalis

Cinnamon Bracken-warbler Bradypterus cinnamomeus

White-headed Saw-wing Psalidoprocne albiceps

Black Saw-wing Psalidoprocne pristoptera

Lesser Striped Swallow Cecropis abyssinica

Rufous-chested Swallow Cecropis semirufa

Mosque Swallow Cecropis senegalensis

Red-rumped Swallow Cecropis daurica

Wire-tailed Swallow Hirundo smithii

Angola Swallow Hirundo angolensis

Red-throated Rock Martin Ptyonoprogne rufigula

Slender-billed Greenbul Stelgidillas gracilirostris

Red-tailed Bristlebill Bleda syndactylus

Yellow-eyed Bristlebill Bleda ugandae

Spotted Greenbul Ixonotus guttatus

Eastern Mountain Greenbul Arizelocichla nigriceps

Yellow-whiskered Greenbul Eurillas latirostris

Little Greenbul Eurillas virens

Grey Greenbul Eurillas gracilis

Plain Greenbul Eurillas curvirostris

Red-tailed Greenbul Criniger calurus

White-throated Greenbul Phyllastrephus albigularis

Yellow-streaked Greenbul Phyllastrephus flavostriatus

Common Bulbul Pycnonotus barbatus

Uganda Woodland-warbler Phylloscopus budongoensis

Red-faced Woodland-warbler Phylloscopus laetus

Chestnut-capped Flycatcher Erythrocercus mccallii

Green Hylia Hylia prasina

Rwenzori Hill-babbler Sylvia atriceps

African Hill-babbler Sylvia abyssinica

African Yellow White-eye Zosterops senegalensis

Brown Illadopsis Illadopsis fulvescens

Mountain Illadopsis Illadopsis pyrrhoptera

Scaly-breasted Illadopsis Illadopsis albipectus

Black-lored Babbler Turdoides sharpei

Dusky Babbler Turdoides tenebrosa

Brown Babbler Turdoides plebejus

Arrow-marked Babbler Turdoides jardineii

Yellow-billed Oxpecker Buphagus africanus

Slender-billed Starling Onychognathus tenuirostris

Waller's Starling Onychognathus walleri

Stuhlmann's Starling Poeoptera stuhlmanni

Narrow-tailed Starling Poeoptera lugubris

Rüppell's Starling Lamprotornis purpuroptera

Splendid Starling Lamprotornis splendidus

Lesser Blue-eared Starling Lamprotornis chloropterus

Greater Blue-eared Starling Lamprotornis chalybaeus

Violet-backed Starling Cinnyricinclus leucogaster

Purple-headed Starling Hylopsar purpureiceps

Red-tailed Ant-thrush Neocossyphus rufus

White-tailed Ant-thrush Neocossyphus poensis

Rufous Flycatcher-thrush Stizorhina fraseri

Abyssinian Thrush Turdus abyssinicus

African Thrush Turdus pelios

Fire-crested Alethe Alethe castanea

Brown-backed Scrub-robin Cercotrichas hartlaubi

White-browed Scrub Robin Cercotrichas leucophrys

African Dusky Flycatcher Muscicapa adusta

Gambaga Flycatcher Muscicapa gambagae

Swamp Flycatcher Muscicapa aquatica

Cassin's Flycatcher Muscicapa cassini

Sooty Flycatcher Bradornis fuliginosus

Dusky-blue Flycatcher Bradornis comitatus

Pale Flycatcher Agricola pallidus

African Forest-flycatcher Fraseria ocreata

Grey-throated Tit-flycatcher Fraseria griseigularis

Silverbird Melaenornis semipartitus

White-eyed Slaty-flycatcher Melaenornis fischeri

Yellow-eyed Black-flycatcher Melaenornis ardesiacus

Northern Black-flycatcher Melaenornis edolioides

Cape Robin-chat Dessonornis caffer

Archer's Robin-chat Dessonornis archeri

White-starred Robin Pogonocichla stellata

Red-throated Alethe Chamaetylas poliophrys

Brown-chested Alethe Chamaetylas poliocephala

White-browed Robin-chat Cossypha heuglini

Red-capped Robin-chat Cossypha natalensis

Snowy-crowned Robin-chat Cossypha niveicapilla

Yellow-breasted Forest-robin Stiphrornis xanthogaster

Spotted Palm-thrush Cichladusa guttata

Grey-winged Akalat Sheppardia polioptera

Common Stonechat Saxicola torquatus

Sooty Chat Myrmecocichla nigra

Familiar Chat Oenanthe familiaris

Grey-headed Sunbird Deleornis axillaris

Eastern Violet-backed Sunbird Anthreptes orientalis

Little Green Sunbird Anthreptes seimundi

Collared Sunbird Hedydipna collaris

Green-headed Sunbird Cyanomitra verticalis

Blue-throated Brown Sunbird Cyanomitra cyanolaema

Blue-headed Sunbird Cyanomitra alinae

Olive Sunbird Cyanomitra olivacea

Green-throated Sunbird Chalcomitra rubescens

Scarlet-chested Sunbird Chalcomitra senegalensis

Bronze Sunbird Nectarinia kilimensis

Olive-bellied Sunbird Cinnyris chloropygius

Rwenzori Double-collared Sunbird Cinnyris stuhlmanni

Northern Double-collared Sunbird Cinnyris reichenowi

Regal Sunbird Cinnyris regius

Red-chested Sunbird Cinnyris erythrocercus

Superb Sunbird Cinnyris superbus

Variable Sunbird Cinnyris venustus

Copper Sunbird Cinnyris cupreus

White-browed Sparrow-weaver Plocepasser mahali

Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-weaver Plocepasser superciliosus

Speckle-fronted Weaver Sporopipes frontalis

Thick-billed Weaver Amblyospiza albifrons

Red-billed Quelea Quelea quelea

Black Bishop Euplectes gierowii

Black-winged Bishop Euplectes hordeaceus

Northern Red Bishop Euplectes franciscanus

Yellow-mantled Widowbird Euplectes macroura

Fan-tailed Widowbird Euplectes axillaris

Baglafecht Weaver Ploceus baglafecht

Slender-billed Weaver Ploceus pelzelni

Little Weaver Ploceus luteolus

Spectacled Weaver Ploceus ocularis

Black-necked Weaver Ploceus nigricollis

Strange Weaver Ploceus alienus

Holub's Golden Weaver Ploceus xanthops

Northern Brown-throated Weaver Ploceus castanops

Village Weaver Ploceus cucullatus

Vieillot's Black Weaver Ploceus nigerrimus

Weyns's Weaver Ploceus weynsi

Black-headed Weaver Ploceus melanocephalus

Compact Weaver Ploceus superciliosus

Brown-capped Weaver Ploceus insignis

Red-headed Malimbe Malimbus rubricollis

Crested Malimbe Malimbus malimbicus

Northern Red-headed Weaver Anaplectes leuconotos

Black-bellied Firefinch Lagonosticta rara

Bar-breasted Firefinch Lagonosticta rufopicta

Red-billed Firefinch Lagonosticta senegala

Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu Uraeginthus bengalus

Red-headed Bluebill Spermophaga ruficapilla

Black-bellied Seedcracker Pyrenestes ostrinus

Fawn-breasted Waxbill Estrilda paludicola

Orange-cheeked Waxbill Estrilda melpoda

Black-rumped Waxbill Estrilda troglodytes

Common Waxbill Estrilda astrild

Black-crowned Waxbill Estrilda nonnula

Kandt's Waxbill Estrilda kandti

Dusky Crimsonwing Cryptospiza jacksoni

Yellow-bellied Waxbill Coccopygia quartinia

Grey-headed Oliveback Nesocharis capistrata

White-breasted Nigrita Nigrita fusconotus

Grey-headed Nigrita Nigrita canicapillus

Bronze Mannikin Spermestes cucullata

Black-and-white Mannikin Spermestes bicolor

Pin-tailed Whydah Vidua macroura

House Sparrow Passer domesticus

White Nile Sparrow Passer shelleyi

Northern Grey-headed Sparrow Passer griseus

Plain-backed Pipit Anthus leucophrys

African Pipit Anthus cinnamomeus

Yellow-throated Longclaw Macronyx croceus

Mountain Wagtail Motacilla clara

Cape Wagtail Motacilla capensis

African Pied Wagtail Motacilla aguimp

Yellow-browed Citril Crithagra frontalis

Yellow-fronted Canary Crithagra mozambica

Streaky Seedeater Crithagra striolata

Thick-billed Seedeater Crithagra burtoni

Yellow-crowned Canary Serinus flavivertex

Cabanis's Bunting Emberiza cabanisi

Golden-breasted Bunting Emberiza flaviventris

Annex 2: target list

Colors: blue means mentioned in ‘where to watch birds in Uganda, red means mentioned in The birders guide to Africa, purple means mentioned in both

Species names: species in bold red means Albertine rift endemic = top target, species in orange means Uganda is best country to see species, species in green means Uganda is second best country in the world to see species