We obtained excellent views of Uganda’s only endemic bird, the rare and localized Fox’s Weaver (Mark Van Beirs) ULTIMATE UGANDA 31 MAY - 21 JUNE 2021 LEADERS: MARK VAN BEIRS & LIVINGSTONE KALEMA 1 BirdQuest Tour Report: UGANDA 2021 www.birdquest-tours.com It took a while to connect with the enigmatic Shoebill, but then one posed so well together with African Elephants (Mark Van Beirs) Our first tour to Uganda since the start of the pandemic went smoothly as the corona virus had only a minor impact on how the tour operated. While we were in the country, the president decided to start a lockdown, but luckily, that didn’t affect us at all, as tourism was exempted. In fact, the almost empty roads (public transport came to a standstill) were a delight to travel on. We started the tour with a very eager group, as most of us had not been able to travel much recently. The three obvious highlights of our Uganda adventure were Shoebill, Green-breasted Pitta and Grauer’s (or African Green) Broadbill. The Shoebill obliged beautifully next to African Elephants in the north of Murchison Falls National Park, while the Green-breasted Pitta showed well in the forest at Kibale. The tiny Grauer’s Broadbill was located high in a fruiting tree on the hike to the Mubwindi Swamp and allowed good looks. It was a real delight to be able to observe the antics of Fox’s Weavers at a small active colony in the east of the country, as we hadn’t seen this important species for many years. We experienced truly exhilarating and inspiring moments at close range with families of Chimpanzees at Kibale and with Eastern Gorillas at Bwindi. Amongst the many other mouth-watering specialities that we saw were Crested Guineafowl, five Nahan’s Partridges, Heuglin’s and Handsome Francolins, Blue Quail, Black-shouldered and Pennant-winged Nightjars, Rwenzori, Ross’s and Black-billed Turacos, Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo, African Finfoot, African Crake, Greater Painted-snipe, African Skimmer, Dwarf Bittern, White-backed Night Heron, Cassin’s Hawk-Eagle, Mountain Buzzard, Red-chested Owlet, Forest Wood Hoopoe, White-thighed Hornbill, Chocolate-backed and Shining-blue Kingfishers, Red-faced Barbet, Fine-banded and Elliot´s Woodpeckers, Grey Parrot, Ruwenzori and Ituri Batises, Doherty´s Bushshrike, Albertine and Willard´s Sooty Boubous, Lühder´s Bushshrike, Papyrus Gonolek, Petit’s Cuckooshrike, Mountain Oriole, White-tailed Blue Flycatcher, White-winged Black Tit, White-tailed Lark, Kakamega, Olive-breasted (Mountain), Toro Olive and White-throated Greenbuls, White-browed Crombec, Neumann´s (Short-tailed) Warbler, Grauer’s Warbler, Red-faced Woodland Warbler, White-winged and Grauer’s Swamp Warblers, Whistling, Chubb’s, Carruthers’s, Foxy and Long-tailed Cisticolas, Black-faced Prinia, Ruwenzori and Karamoja Apalises, Red-winged Grey Warbler, Lowland and Mountain Masked Apalises, Chestnut-throated Apalis, Scaly-breasted and Mountain Illadopsises, Black-lored Babbler, Ruwenzori Hill Babbler, Sharpe’s Starling, Red-throated and Fire-crested Alethes, Forest Robin, Archer’s Ground Robin, Grey-winged and White-bellied Robin Chats, Equatorial Akalat, Chapin´s Flycatcher, Silverbird, Purple-breasted, Grey-headed, Superb, Blue-headed, Ruwenzori Double-collared, Regal and Red-chested Sunbirds, Shelley’s Sparrow, Strange Weaver, Dusky Crimsonwing, Grey-headed Oliveback, Brown Twinspot, Kandt’s Waxbil and Western Citril. 536 species of birds and 43 mammal species were recorded on the tour. 2 BirdQuest Tour Report: UGANDA 2021 www.birdquest-tours.com The fabulous Grey Crowned Crane is still a common sight in Uganda (Mark Van Beirs) The group gathered in the evening of the final day of May at an airport hotel in Entebbe, situated on the shore of Africa’s largest expanse of water, Lake Victoria. The group was very international and no British citizens were participating, because of the current harsh quarantine laws of the United Kingdom. Early next morning we drove to the nearby Mabamba Swamp, an extensive papyrus marsh in a secluded bay of Lake Victoria. On the drive we flushed a Scaly Spurfowl off the track. At the marsh we noted that water levels were extremely high, as it had rained a lot during the previous weeks. We boarded two canoes fitted with an outboard engine and slowly cruised through the extensive papyrus, Water Lily and Water Hyacinth swamps. 3 BirdQuest Tour Report: UGANDA 2021 www.birdquest-tours.com We picked up good birds like Lesser Moorhen, African Swamphen, Grey Crowned Crane, Long-toed Lapwing, African Jacana, African Marsh Harrier, lots of Pied Kingfishers, Blue-breasted Bee-eater, Red- faced and Winding Cisticolas, Swamp Flycatcher, Red-chested and Superb Sunbirds, Slender-billed, Northern Brown-throated and Black-headed Weavers and Fan-tailed Widowbird, but of our main target, the Shoebill, not a sniff. It had obviously retreated to a quiet corner of the marsh, as it was not encountered despite four hours of intensive searching. A real pity. Other species noted included Knob-billed and Yellow- billed Ducks, Blue-headed Coucal, Grey-headed Gull, African Openbill, Reed Cormorant, Squacco, Black- headed and Purple Herons, Great, Intermediate and Little Egrets, Hamerkop, Pink-backed Pelican, Black- winged Kite, African Harrier-Hawk, Hooded Vulture, Malachite Kingfisher and Brown-throated Wattle-eye. We enjoyed our picnic at a quiet spot near the shoreline and then hit the road toward the town of Jinja. The heavy traffic around Kampala impeded a swift drive, but we did pick up a nice selection of birds on the journey. These included Eastern Plantain-eater, Speckled Pigeon, Marabou Stork, White-breasted Cormorant, African Sacred Ibis, Hadada Ibis, Long-crested Eagle, Lizard Buzzard, Black-and-white-casqued Hornbill, Broad-billed Roller, Woodland Kingfisher, Sooty Chat and African Pipit. A short stop at the Jinja golf course gave us a cracking African Hobby, some perched Grey Parrots, Piapiac, Splendid and Rüppell’s Starlings and Scarlet-chested Sunbird. Our hotel overlooked the Victoria Nile, close to where it starts its journey at Lake Victoria. African Marsh Harrier and Swamp Flycatcher showed well at the Mabamba Swamp (Mark Van Beirs) Next morning, as we started driving to the nearby Mabira Forest, we first spotted a pair of dainty Red-necked Falcons, while not much further we could admire a pair of African Hobbies with a fledgling. Great stuff. In the Mabira Forest we were welcomed by a party of smart Forest Wood Hoopoes, quickly followed by several Sabine’s Spinetails overhead. We only managed to walk a few hundred meters during our morning session as the forest was literally brimming with birds. Some of the goodies included Great Blue Turaco, African Pied Hornbill, fabulous Black-and-white-casqued Hornbills, Speckled and Yellow-throated Tinkerbirds, Yellow- spotted, Hairy-breasted and Double-toothed Barbets, Buff-spotted and Yellow-crested Woodpeckers, Chestnut Wattle-eye, African Shrike Flycatcher (a female), Purple-throated Cuckooshrike, Western Nicator, Yellow and Grey Longbills, Buff-throated Apalis, Fraser’s Rufous Thrush, a fabulous Fire-crested Alethe, Black-necked, Vieillot’s Black and Yellow-mantled Weavers and a beautiful Red-headed Malimbe. We encountered a great selection of confusing Greenbuls which included Slender-billed, Red-tailed, Little Grey and White-throated. We also found a nice bunch of Sunbirds including Grey-headed, Little Green, Collared, Blue-throated Brown and Olive. More widespread species like Eastern Plantain-eater, African Green Pigeon, Grey-backed Fiscal and Western Oriole were also observed as was the rather widespread Red-tailed Monkey. In the afternoon we drove towards the northeast, sighted renowned Mount Elgon and overnighted close to Lake Kyoga. The only bird of note was a Grey Kestrel. 4 BirdQuest Tour Report: UGANDA 2021 www.birdquest-tours.com Red-necked Falcon and the smart-looking Double-toothed Barbet performed in the Jinja area (Mark Van Beirs) The following day started with a Bat Hawk flying over our hotel at dawn. Our man on the spot took us to a marshy area on the northern shore of Lake Opeta, where after a little bit of searching, we found several active nests of the much sought after Fox’s Weaver, Uganda’s only endemic. We obtained great looks at displaying and nest-building birds at close range. This very localized species seems to nest for several years at one suitable spot and then disappears for years on end, till it is found again at another location. All the nests we found were within the thorns of the distinctive Acacia drepanolobium, unlike the usually hanging nests of most other weaver species. We admired this speciality for quite a while and also had great looks at several spritely Karamoja Apalises, which performed very well in the same acacias. Three exquisite, rarely observed Dwarf Bitterns allowed great looks. We had terrific looks at male and female Fox’s Weavers (Mark Van Beirs) Other goodies in the area included White-faced Whistling Duck, Clapperton’s Francolin, Black-bellied Bustard, Senegal and Black Coucals, Diederik Cuckoo, Vinaceous and Namaqua Doves, Black Crake, African Wattled Lapwing, Bateleur, Dark Chanting Goshawk, Shikra, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill (a female collecting nesting material), Abyssinian Roller, Abyssinian Scimitarbill, Northern White-crowned Shrike, 5 BirdQuest Tour Report: UGANDA 2021 www.birdquest-tours.com Moustached Grass Warbler, Short-winged Cisticola, Northern Black Flycatcher, Silverbird, Superb Starling, Shelley’s Sparrow, White-browed Sparrow-Weaver, Thick-billed and Golden-backed Weavers, Cardinal Quelea, smart-looking displaying Northern Red Bishops, Black-rumped Waxbill and Yellow-throated Longclaw. A party of attractive Patas Monkeys showed well. Around midday we returned to our accommodation, packed up and spent the whole afternoon driving towards the town of Masindi. On the journey we were entertained by Olive Baboons and Vervet Monkeys and as we rolled into town at dusk dozens of African Straw-coloured Fruit-bats darkened the skies.