Kidepo National Park: Birds
Uganda is one of the best places to bird-watch for a few
reasons. Uganda has a variety of ecological habitats from woodland, bushland
and thicket, forest, forest transition, altimontane vegetation, and bushland
and thicket mosaics (I shamelessly copied that from the habitat map of Uganda
from Birds of East Africa field
guide).
The forested area in the west of the country is home to many species of forest birds, especially vibrant since it is the end of the corridor for several West African bird species. The change in habitats in the east and north are home to many varieties of eastern and central African bird species. I am not an avid birder but I have learned to appreciate birds and as my birding friend told me “Birds never let you down…no matter where you are they are there, you just have to pay attention”.
The forested area in the west of the country is home to many species of forest birds, especially vibrant since it is the end of the corridor for several West African bird species. The change in habitats in the east and north are home to many varieties of eastern and central African bird species. I am not an avid birder but I have learned to appreciate birds and as my birding friend told me “Birds never let you down…no matter where you are they are there, you just have to pay attention”.
There were two birds that really got me thinking about how
interesting birds can be. The bird that really opened my eyes to how wonderful
birds can be is the pin tailed whydah, which I frequently saw in Nigeria. The
male whydah has a long tail and looks brilliant when flying and I would often
watch him fly through the air with incredible grace. I remember discussing this
seemingly new bird in Nigeria to a birder and she told me that I was probably
seeing this bird all the while, it was just that now the bird was mating so the
males would grow this tail for display. Much like the female whydah, I seemed
easily swayed by superficial appearance.
There was another bird, but this one I often found to be a nuisance. When I drove on the roads at night there would be nightjars that would seemingly intentionally fly straight towards my motorcycle when I approached them. It was both annoying and frightening and once or twice I thought I was going to crash. When I reported this annoying behavior to a birder, she said that nightjars like to feed on the roads since they get warm during the day and attract insects at night. Their habit of flying towards me was apparently as much my fault as theirs. Nightjars cannot move their neck when they take off from the ground, so they likely were startled by the sound of the motorcycle, turned their body to see what was coming, and subsequently took off when they realized they were about to get run over. Unfortunately, since they were facing me when they took off, they often flew directly at me. For some reason, these two birds and their behaviors sparked my curiosity in birds.
There was another bird, but this one I often found to be a nuisance. When I drove on the roads at night there would be nightjars that would seemingly intentionally fly straight towards my motorcycle when I approached them. It was both annoying and frightening and once or twice I thought I was going to crash. When I reported this annoying behavior to a birder, she said that nightjars like to feed on the roads since they get warm during the day and attract insects at night. Their habit of flying towards me was apparently as much my fault as theirs. Nightjars cannot move their neck when they take off from the ground, so they likely were startled by the sound of the motorcycle, turned their body to see what was coming, and subsequently took off when they realized they were about to get run over. Unfortunately, since they were facing me when they took off, they often flew directly at me. For some reason, these two birds and their behaviors sparked my curiosity in birds.
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| Male pin tailed whyda (left) seduces the female. |
Usually people go to Kidepo to see mammals. Ana, an avid
birder, was equally enthused about seeing birds. Kidepo has over 400 species of recorded birds! I was sure that it would be a
nice supplement to our mammal viewing but birding was difficult for me. Heck,
it was still difficult for me to hold a pair of binoculars with steady hands.
If a bird was not relatively close and stationery, you could forget any chance
of me being able to identify it with any certainty.
Still, I was learning, and birding with a patient birder really helps, not only to help with identification but also make it more interesting by providing facts about their behavior. During the game ride, we were constantly birding. There were huge lapses in the four-hour game ride where there were no mammals present but there were always birds! In the end we saw 70 different species of birds and Ana insists that we could have easily topped 100 if we would have gone out again in the afternoon. My favorite birds that I saw were abyssian ground horn bill, violet-backed starling, helmeted guinea fowl, rose-ringed parakeet, and the pied kingfisher. I was especially happy to see the pied kingfisher because we observed it on a small body of water and watched it hunt for fish and insects. I won’t lie, the other birds I listed were based on appearance alone (I’m a shallow birder), though I was incredibly happy to see the pin tailed whydah again! Apparently the rose ringed parakeet is super rare, something akin to a mammal lover seeing a cheetah in the park, so I was happy about that as well.
Still, I was learning, and birding with a patient birder really helps, not only to help with identification but also make it more interesting by providing facts about their behavior. During the game ride, we were constantly birding. There were huge lapses in the four-hour game ride where there were no mammals present but there were always birds! In the end we saw 70 different species of birds and Ana insists that we could have easily topped 100 if we would have gone out again in the afternoon. My favorite birds that I saw were abyssian ground horn bill, violet-backed starling, helmeted guinea fowl, rose-ringed parakeet, and the pied kingfisher. I was especially happy to see the pied kingfisher because we observed it on a small body of water and watched it hunt for fish and insects. I won’t lie, the other birds I listed were based on appearance alone (I’m a shallow birder), though I was incredibly happy to see the pin tailed whydah again! Apparently the rose ringed parakeet is super rare, something akin to a mammal lover seeing a cheetah in the park, so I was happy about that as well.
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| Violet-backed starling |
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| Helmeted guinea fowel |
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| Rose-ringed parakeet. |
As if the massive amount of species wasn’t enough, one
evening we experienced a huge swarm of a variety of birds coming to feed on an
explosion of white ants from the ground. White ants are much like termites in
that they live underground and during the rains they periodically come out in
large numbers.
There just so happened to be a few huge flocks of Abdim storks that were migrating, and they mixed with large groups of black kites, barn swallows, rufous-chested swallows, swifts and a few other species I could hardly keep track of. It literally looked like it was raining birds and it even felt a little apocalyptic. At one point there were birds on the ground and in the air completely surrounding me, 360 degrees. I was happy to have so many birds zipping around me that I didn’t even need the binoculars to see them up close! As if the amazing variety of species wasn't enough, I was treated to a rare feeding frenzy!
There just so happened to be a few huge flocks of Abdim storks that were migrating, and they mixed with large groups of black kites, barn swallows, rufous-chested swallows, swifts and a few other species I could hardly keep track of. It literally looked like it was raining birds and it even felt a little apocalyptic. At one point there were birds on the ground and in the air completely surrounding me, 360 degrees. I was happy to have so many birds zipping around me that I didn’t even need the binoculars to see them up close! As if the amazing variety of species wasn't enough, I was treated to a rare feeding frenzy!
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