Birding in Uganda: Trip Report by 56Africa Tours – 12.01.2025 TR01

Birding Location: Kibale National Park & Environs.

We set off from Fort Portal town at 6:30 am on Sunday, 12th January 2025 ready for our birding excursion near Kibale Forest National Park. The journey to the park was smooth, it was a misty morning so we were able to catch the sunrise just as we were approaching the park.

Our arrival to Bigodi trading center which was our meeting point was at 7:30 am, here we met other members of our group Innocent, Lucky and Trust. After exchanging greetings we then proceeded to drive to a trail near Kibale Forest. Our main goal for the day was to bird Kibale and environs so we started by birding alongside the road that leads to Sunbird Hill. The birds that we were able to see/hear while here included the Village Weaver, African Blue Flycatcher and Scarlet-chested Sunbird.

We then continued birding towards Little Monkey Camp and while on our way we came across about 6 Ugandan Red Colobus Monkeys also known as the Ashy Red Colobus. The Ugandan Red colobus monkey is part of the primates of Kibale National Park and they are very social primates that can live in groups of up to 80 individuals, we stopped to watch them as they were leaping through the canopy. The calls of these colobus monkeys are loud and one can occasionally hear them calling from the forest.

As we were approaching Little Monkey Camp we came across a number of Vieillot’s Black Weavers which had nested in the compound at the camp, we spent time watching them and then continued for our next trail of the day which was the Sunbird Hill trail.

The Sunbird Hill trail is a rewarding birding trail that neighbors with Kibale National Park. We started birding at the football pitch where we saw 5 White-throated Bee-eaters as well as Olive Baboons just near the forest. At the football pitch we came across kids from the Village bird club that had just returned from birding, they decided to join us for birding of the Sunbird Hill Trail. While on the Sunbird Hill Trail we looked out for birds while stopping to notice our surroundings and see the plant species and trees in the forest. We came across some giant trees with thick trunks.

Our introduction to this trail was the Red-capped Robin-Chat which we saw perched on a tree branch, we stopped here to watch it for some time. As we continued birding we could hear the call of a White-spotted Flufftail – a very shy bird that is hard to see but often heard calling in the low parts of the forest. The next best place to spot the White-spotted Flufftail is Nkima Forest near Mabamba Swamp, it calls from under cover but does not easily come out.

The trail has a board walk that makes navigating through the forest easy, just on the edge of the board walk we came across elephant foot prints, we spent time observing them and concluded that they must have been left behind a day or two before.

Elephant footprints seen while birding along the Sunbird Hill trail

We then continued birding along the trail as we looked out for more birds and ended our birding for the day at around 12:30 pm near some cultivation areas. The Sunbird Hill trail neighbors some of local’s gardens so we ended our bird walk and were lucky to see a number of species around here including the Yellow-mantled Weaver, Hairy-breasted Barbet and the Double-toothed Barbet.

Below is the list of birds that we were able to see/hear;

Red-eyed Dove

Tambourine Dove

Great Blue Turaco

Klaas’s Cuckoo

African Emerald Cuckoo

Black Cuckoo

Red-chested Cuckoo

White-spotted Flufftail

Lizard Buzzard

Hadada Ibis

African Goshawk

Speckled Mousebird

Crowned Hornbill

Black-and-white-casqued Hornbill

White-throated Bee-eater

Yellow-Throated Tinkerbird

Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird

Yellow-Spotted Barbet

Brown-throated Wattle-eye

Gray Parrot

Cassin’s Honeybird

Double-toothed Barbet

Hairy-breasted Barbet

Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher

Gray-green Bushshrike

Western Black-headed Oriole

Western Nicator

Green Crombec

African Blue Flycatcher

Black-headed Paradise Flycatcher

Green-backed Camaroptera

Buff-throated Apalis

Tawny-flanked Prinia

Black-faced Rufous Warbler

Red-faced Cisticola

Lesser Striped Swallow

Common Bulbul

Willow Warbler

Honeyguide Greenbul

Green Hylia

Scaly-breasted Illadopsis

Red-capped Robin-chat

Superb Sunbird

Scarlet-chested Sunbird

White-tailed Ant-Thrush

Green White-eye

Gray Tit-Flycatcher

Purple-headed Starling

Black-necked Weaver

Village Weaver

Vieillot’s Black Weaver

Yellow-mantled Weaver

Grosbeak Weaver

White-breasted Nigrita

Red-headed Bluebill

Black-and-white Mannikin

Our eBird checklist for this birding excursion came to 56 species.

Our highlights for the day

  • One of the highlights was seeing the Yellow-mantled Weaver carrying nesting material from the trees nearby to the tree where it was building its nest. We spent 30 minutes watching this bird as it carried its nesting material, very beautiful bird with a reddish underbelly and a gold patch on the back.
  • Coming across the Elephant foot prints was also a highlight.
  • Seeing the Ugandan Red Colobus Monkeys.
  • Seeing the African Goshawk carrying food.

It was a great day spent birding!

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