
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!