Birders' paradise: 11 new bird species discovered in Uganda

TOURISM           WILDLIFE

Bird watchers coming to Uganda are getting more than what they bargain for. This follows confirmation of 10 new bird species sighted within the last four years.

According to Achilles Byaruhanga, the executive director of Nature Uganda, the scientists also confirmed a species that were first encountered in Uganda in 2012.

Byaruhanga said that the ardent bird watchers also known as birders keep on encountering birds they have not seen before every year. "We keep on adding new species nearly every year," he said.

He added that the scientists' reports on the new species have to be reviewed by their peers and the committee of eminent ornithologists based in East Africa.

Professor Derrick Pomeroy of Makerere University who has trained most of the Ugandan ornithologists is one of the eminent persons sitting on the East African committee that confirmed the new bird species.     

 Speaking ahead of the Big Birding Day at the Uganda Museum on Thursday. Byaruhanga yesterday listed the discoveries over the years to include: new sightings in 2012 .

Lake Mburo National Park: Crested Barbet also known as Trachyphonus vaillantii 

 Crested-Barbet

New sightings in 2016

Murchison Falls National Park: Red-fronted parrot also known as Poicephalus guliemi

Tiny Cisticola

 Queen's Elizabeth National Park: Steppe Gull also known as Larus  barabensis a migrant from Russia in the northern hemishephere

 In Karamoja

Purple Grenadier (Uragaethus ianthinogaster)

The Blue-capped Cordon bleu also known as Uragaethus cynocepharus

Sighted in 2017 in Kabwoya Wildlife Reserve in Hoima

The bird watchers also encountered Blue Cuckoo Shrike also known as Coracina azurea

Blue-Headed bee-eater  also known as Merops muelleri and Eurasian Sparrow Hawk also known as Accipiter nisus

Fox's-weaver

In 2018,  bird watchers encountered Black Collared Barbet  also known as Lybius torquatus in Lake Mburo National Park

Species-rich, big tourism potential

Byaruhanga said a bird watcher spends up to $7,000 (sh26m) and that Uganda should not only promote gorillas but also bird watching.

Purple Grenadier Karamoja

 Over one million birds particularly, the white-winged black terns escape the chilly winter conditions in Europe in October and return in March-April.