Birding in Uganda: Trip Report by 56Africa Tours – 17.01.2025 TR02
Birding Location: BEARC Trail, Bigodi
We started our day from Fort Portal town at 6:35 am arriving in Bigodi trading centre at around 7:30 am. At Bigodi we met Innocent (a fellow birder) and headed to the Bigodi Eco Tourism and Research (BEARC) office which was our main meeting point. We waited here for other local guides and trainees in Bigodi who were interested in joining us for our birding excursion. As we waited for them we saw 2 Common Bulbuls, heard a Tropical Boubou calling and saw a Black-and-white-casqued Hornbill in flight, we started birding right away.
The BEARC trail is a community run trail in Bigodi and offers amazing opportunities to look out for birds especially birds that like to forage near human settlements. The trail is usually combined with birding in Kibale National Park for a rewarding birding safari in Uganda. We started the trail from the area near the office, here we had a few introductions as we were meeting some of the people for the first time and then started our day.
As we walked we could hear the call of a Green-backed Camaroptera, heard two Black-and-white-casqued Hornbills and stopped to see the Green Crombec that was calling from the lush canopy. We then continued with our walk coming across a tree that was a great indicator of the symbiotic relationship between trees and parasites, we stopped here to observe the relationship between the two then continued with the trail.
As we proceeded we could hear a Nubian Woodpecker calling from one of the local’s garden neighboring the trail, We decided to follow a side trail that led us to the garden, stopped here but were unable to see it. The interesting thing about birding is that although we weren’t able to see the woodpecker, we came across great sightings while here. The garden had a tree where we were able to see Gray-green Bushrike, Olive-bellied Sunbirds and a nest of a Spectacled Weaver.
We then left this area and joined the main BEARC trail and continued with our birding. We came across Black-and-white Colobus monkeys along the trail (about 4 in number with a young one). While here we saw the Red-headed Malimbe which was foraging in the tree just behind the monkeys, very stunning bird that hops around quickly so the best way to see it is to stand still and focus on seeing it as it moves around. After spending about 20 minutes watching it we continued birding. We had sightings of the Great Blue Turaco, African Goshawk, Eastern Plaintain-eaters, African Harrier-Hawk that perched on one of the eucalyptus trees, Gray Parrot, Snowy-crowned Robin-Chat, Bronze Sunbird, Green Hylia, and Common Bulbuls among others.
African Harrier-Hawk
We ended our bird walk at 12:40 pm at the BEARC office and went to the trading centre for lunch and relaxation before heading out for evening birding.
Our evening birding session started at about 5:30 pm and we spent an hour and half birding along the Rwengobe Chinese walks. It was a sunny day so our sightings were few but rewarding. Right as we started our birding session we saw 2 Woodland Kingfishers far off perched in a tree, luckily one of them came shortly after and perched on an electricity pole along the road. We spent enough time watching this stunning bird and taking in its beauty. We then continued birding heard calls of Red-eyed doves, saw a Speckle-breasted Woodpecker perched on a tree on the opposite side of the road and a Speckled Mousebird in the same tree. We then were able to see and hear calls of other birds that I will list below. After a great day of birding we bid farewell to our friends and headed back to Fort Portal arriving at 8:30 pm.
Woodland Kingfisher
Below is the list of birds that we were able to see/hear on the BEARC Trail (morning bird walk);
Great Blue Turaco
Red-eyed Dove
Tambourine Dove
Eastern Plantain-eater
Klaas’s Cuckoo
Hadada Ibis
Red-headed Malimbe
African Goshawk
Black-and-white-casqued Hornbill
African Harrier-Hawk
Yellow-throated Tinkerbird
Nubian Woodpecker
Double-toothed Barbet
Brown-crowned Tchagra
Green Crombec
Pied Crow
Tropical Boubou
Gray-green Bushrike
Gray Parrot
Tawny-flanked Prinia
Green-backed Camaroptera
Gray-capped Warbler
Lesser Striped Swallow
Pale-throated Greenbul
Green Hylia
Green White-eye
Common Bulbul
African Thrush
Dusky-blue Flycatcher
Snowy-crowned Robin-Chat
Black-necked Weaver
Olive-bellied Sunbird
Bronze Sunbird
Green-headed Sunbird
Baglafecht Weaver
Vieillot’s Weaver
Bronze Mannikin
Our eBird checklist for this morning session came to 38 species.
Below is the list of birds that we were able to see/hear on the evening bird walk;
Woodland Kingfisher
Red-eyed Dove
Speckle-breasted Woodpecker
Meyer’s Parrot
Topical Boubou
Common Bulbul
Wattled Lapwing
Speckled Mousebird
Gray-crowned Crane
White-browed Coucal
African Wolly-necked Stork
Angola Swallow
Ruppell’s Starling
Bronze Sunbird
Black-and-white Mannikin
White-browed Robin-Chat
Our eBird checklist for this afternoon session came to 16 species.
Our highlights for the day
- Seeing the Red-headed Malimbe and the Woodland Kingfisher.
- Coming across Black-and-white colobus monkeys while on the BEARC trail.
It was a great day spent birding!
