Exploring the spectacular natural settings of Uganda lead travelers to falling in love with the different wilderness areas, while the opportunity to sight plethora of bird species will add to your unforgettable experiences. Are you an enthusiastic bird watcher or just relish Mother Nature as well as wildlife viewing? Be prepared to see bird colonies as well as species that are endemic to Uganda, the Albertine Rift endemic and other natural habitats thus making the Pearl of Africa a bird watcher’s Paradise.
Uganda is generally home to over 1080 bird species (60% of Africa’s total bird species and 11% of what the entire World offers). Many birders to Uganda are aware of popular birding areas at Bwindi Impenetrable, Mabamba Bay Swamp, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Budongo Forest, Murchison, Semliki, Kidepo Valley and Lake Mburo National Parks.
Top Bird Watching spots in Uganda
Bigodi wetland Sanctuary
Situated in Western Uganda, close to Kibale Forest National Park is one of our vest choices for bird watching spots in Uganda. Bigodi wetland Sanctuary has about 200 bird species that include the Globally-threatened wetland birds such as Great blue Turaco, papyrus canary, and papyrus gonolek alongside the colorful African pitta, Bocage’s bush shrike, Crowned eagles, Black bee-eaters, snowy-crowned robin-chat, Speckle-breasted woodpecker, White-thighed hornbills, western nicator, Yellow-rumped tinkerbird and many others.
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Besides being a wonderful gorilla trekking destination, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is also an unmissable birding spot with over 350 species of birds to look-out for and out of these, 23 species are Albertine Rift endemics. This Park’s outstanding ecosystems that include indigenous dense rainforests, surrounding tea estates, canopy contours, and several transitional draw huge flocks of Birds, hence to the amusement of twitchers.
Some of the species to look-out for are the Neumann’s warblers, Archer’s ground robin, Cassin’s honeybird, Black-faced Prinia, handsome francolin, the Northern double-collared sunbirds, regal sunbirds, Jameson’s antpecker, Bronze-naped pigeon, Grey-chested iladopsis, Rwenzori batis, and strange weavers among others.
Mubwindi Swamp in Ruhija sector is known for its remarkable birding experiences with over 100 bird species expected in a lucky birding day.
Queen Elizabeth National Park
The 1978-square-kilometer Queen Elizabeth National Park has more than 600 bird species and this makes it one of the best birding spots in Uganda. Thanks to its varying ecosystems that include vast savannah grasslands, Lakes, forest, woodlands, wetlands and the Kazinga Channel that birding here takes place at any time of the day. For instance, when you take a simple birding walk between Mweya and Ishasha sector, you are likely to come across African shrikes, hammerkops, grey-crowned cranes, lesser black-backed gulls, Black-headed gonolek and sometimes the sooty chat.
The 2-hour Kazinga Boat cruise does wonders to the birder whereby in such a short time, sights of African skimmers, African fish eagles, great while pelicans, African shrikes, shoebill storks, African jacana, pied and giant Kingfishers, and the pink-backed pelicans are unmissable.
Kibale Forest National Park
Also known as the best “chimpanzee trekking destination in Uganda”, another thing that will surprise you about the 795-square-kilometers Kibale Forest National Park is the fact that it is also a wonderful bird watching destination with over 350 species.
It is surprisingly marked by diverse ecosystems that include tropical rainforest, savannah grasslands, wetlands and open spaces and these are wonderful homes to the rare and sought-after green-breasted pitta, Great blue turaco, Crowned eagles, African pied wagtail, Purple-breasted sunbirds, African grey parrots, white-naped pigeons, brown-chested alethe, Pin-tailed Whydah, Dusky crimsonwing, Kivu ground thrush, African fin foot, Black-capped Apalis, Collard Apalis, and others.
Semliki National Park
Known as one of Uganda’s hidden gems, Semliki National Park is a wonderful birding destination with over 440 bird species living in different ecosystems that include the savannah grasslands, lowland forest, riverine and wetlands.
During your birding safari in this Park, you are likely to come across bird species that are endemic to the Guinea-Congo biome, those endemic to the Lake Victoria Basin biome and the ones that are endemic the Sudan-Guinea savannah biome.
Get prepared to see the Black-casqued wattled hornbills, African openbill, Nkulengu Rail, red-throated bee-eater, Grey ground thrush, Malachite Kingfishers, lesser kestrel, Red-rumped tinkerbird, Blue swallows, Ross turaco, Yellow-throated Nicator, Fire-crested Alethe, Congo Serpent eagles, Kivu ground thrush, Great blue Turacos, African Piculet, Great white pelicans, Purple glossy starlings, to mention but a few.
Murchison falls National Park
Uganda’s largest and oldest National Park is not just a wonderful game viewing destination but also one of the bird watching spots in the country with over 500 bird species. This Protected Area’s Riverine tickets are known for their colonies of malachite kingfishers, black-headed batis, giant Kingfishers, double-toothed barbets, Heuglin’s francolin, swallow-tailed bee-eaters, and the red-throated bee-eaters, while the shoebill storks are popularly found in the wetland areas.
Other unmissable bird watching spots in Uganda is Lake Mburo National Park, Rwenzori Mountains National Park, Mabamba Bay wetland, Kidepo Valley National Park, Lake Bisina, Nyamuriro Swamp, Mount Elgon National Park, Budongo Forest, Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, Echuya Forest Reserve, Sango Bay, Nabugabo wetland, to mention but a few.
Essentials for your next birding watching trip in Uganda
For a birder, advance preparation is Important and for this reason, we bring you the essentials for your next bird watching trip and they include appropriate clothing (safari pants of neutral color, and long-sleeved shirt), a rain jacket, sturdy hiking boots, a waterproof backpack, bird guidebook, a nice camera and extra batteries, binoculars, a re-usable water bottle, a safari hat, and toiletries among others.
Best time for bird watching in Uganda
Bird watching in Uganda is always remarkable and largely depends on what you wish to see and the places you wish to go to. The wet season- March to May and October to November ate the best times for bird watching in Uganda and brings the highest concentration of migratory bird species arriving from Europe, North Africa and other places. This is because food and water are in abundance thus perfect conditions for breeding.
WhatsApp us
