Queen Elizabeth National park is the destination in Uganda that harbors more wildlife animal species ranging from mammals, reptiles, and amphibians to various species of birds. Among the animals that are found in Queen Elizabeth National Park include the lions, baboons, hippos, forest hogs, elephants, huge Nile crocodiles, warthogs banded mongoose, the waterbucks, the Uganda kobs buffaloes, chimpanzees the white and black colobus monkeys, vervet monkeys and among several species of animals.
Additionally, the park houses more than 612 species of birds that including the African fish eagle, the pied kingfisher, cattle egrets among other animal species. It is because of these species that the park has become one of the largely visited animals in the whole of Uganda and the whole east African region. In case you’re on safari to Queen Elizabeth National Park, you will drive to the western part of Uganda in Kasese or Rubirizi district to get into the Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Bird watching in Queen Elizabeth National Park is at its best since you will be able to encounter a lot of the birds from different habitats within the park. All the water birds, backwoods dwellers, woodland birds, and transitory birds are just a few of the species that constitute the queen Elizabeth National park, Uganda’s top birding destination. In many places, including the recreation area, birding should be available. It is very hard to talk about Queen Elizabeth National Park without talking about the mystery of the Kazinga channel which is one of the highlights of Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Areas for bird watching in Queen Elizabeth National Park
The birding at Kazinga a channel is at its extremely top as the channel attracts several birds, the birding watching on Kazinga channel can be easily done during the boat cruise safaris and the boat are takes in the morning at around 10 am and then the afternoon boat cruise which is enjoyed and liked by many visitors. Some of the animals that will be seen on the Kazinga channel will include African shoebill, and black, grey-capped warbler, yellow-backed weaver, Pin-tailed whydah, slender-billed weaver grey-headed kingfisher, pygmy kingfisher, swamp nightjar, African mourning dove, black-headed gonolek, and other several species.
Another important place that you shouldn’t overlook during the bird watching safari in Queen Elizabeth National Park include
the Mweya peninsular is found within on the banks of the Kazinga channel at the point where the Kazinga channel pours the water into lake Albert. The peninsular is covered with thick vegetation cover and while at the peninsular, you will be able to spot animals such as elephants, buffaloes, mongoose, warthogs, and others that you will see in your free time. In Queen Elizabeth National Park, mweya is a key birding site and there is a lot of bird here on the peninsula, get ready to see bird species such as the red-capped lark, Nubian woodpecker, scarlet chested sunbird, pin tailed whydah, lesser masked weaver, grey-headed kingfisher, and blue napped mousebird, African mourning dove among others.
Another important birding destination in Queen Elizabeth National Park is called the Kasenyi plains. These are situated in the Northeast of the queen Elizabeth National Park and you will pass the Kasenyi gate to go and enjoy the birding watching the Kasenyi plains. These plains are bounded by Lake George and this offers the visitors a variety of birds that are coming from various habitats including water grasslands among others. The Kasenyi plains are the known destination for the game drives and as you’re doing the game drives, you will be able to see the unique species of birds such as the African crake, the long-crested eagle, white-tailed lark, brown snake eagle, yellow-throated long crow, spur fowls, black-headed gonolek, African wattled eagle among several species of birds, get ready for these great attractions in the Kasenyi plains.
As if this is not enough, the bird watching in Queen Elizabeth National Park is also done within the great maramagambo forest that is situated close to the park in Bushenyi District. The forest is an important birding destination and it starts to form the escarpments of Kichwamba and extends further to Lake Edward.
The forest also features a lot of primates such as the baboons, chimpanzees, monkeys, and several species of birds that can be visible, and these include the Forest flycatchers, white napped pigeons, dark caped warblers, fawn breasted wax-bills, bat hawks, Rwenzori Turacos, African green pigeons, black-headed batis, ross’s turacos, red-tailed bristle, African emerald cuckoos, white-winged warblers, Chapin’s flycatchers, and African broadbill.
Bird watching in Queen Elizabeth National Park is also done in the Ishasha sector. Ishasha is the sector that is known for the tree-climbing lions and this means that visitors will get a chance to see these lions as they are of the bird watching mission in the Ishasha sector of the Queen Elizabeth National Park. in the Ishasha, birds such as Senegal plover, Ross’ turaco, striped kingfisher, more noteworthy honey aide, white cooked robin talk, green woodpecker, lappet confronted vulture, African crake, helmeted guinea fowl, wide charged roller, white-headed barbet, hooded vulture, dark supported monetary, twofold toothed barbet can be seen in the wide savannah field, forest, and bogs in the Ishasha area, which is also a birding destination.
Bird watching in Katwe crater areas; Katwe is the best area for one to engage in the bird watching activities in Queen Elizabeth National Park. These are the places where the local people locally mine the salt using the rudimentary tools and the activity is done by both the male and female but with the female taking the lead. The lake is found in the northern part of the area and it features several animals’ species which among others include Elephants, warthogs, and hippos, as well as flamingos, African skimmers, Chapin’s flycatchers, papyrus gonoleks, pink-upheld pelicans, military falcons, papyrus canaries, African broadbills, and yellow-throated cuckoos, are among the untamed life species that inhabit the lake.
When can I go bird watching in Queen Elizabeth National park
Bird watching in Queen Elizabeth National Park is done all the time and this means that the visitors have the chance to do the bird watching activity any time they feel like doing the safari activity.
In most cases when it rains much some of the road and the trails become a bit hard for the visitors to access the park well but when you manage it then you will get a chance to see a lot of the birds because this is the time regarded as the breeding period for the birds and when you can see more bird species. There will also be enough food, so you will want to see a lot of birds, as opposed to the long stretches of walk from November to April, when there is a lot of precipitation, making birding difficult. Anyway, birding in the recreation area should be doable during various months such as May and June, when you’ll want to view colorful birds because those are the rearing and nesting months, and November, which is a windy season but wonderful for spotting transitory birds.
