Bird species in Lake Mburo National Park

Lake Mburo national park is home to about 350 bird species. The best spots to see birds of this park are; Warukiri and Miriti swamps, Rubanga forest areas and the salt lick.

The birds in lake mburo National are categorized into 3 types that is to say; water birds,  forest birds and Savannah birds.

The best time to book a birding trip to Lake Mburo national park is in April to May and November and October when park hosts several migratory birds from Europe and North Africa. While the best season to encounter wildlife is in June to September and December to February.

The following are some of the notable bird species in Lake Mburo National Park Uganda;

African wattled lapwing

The African wattled lapwing is among the common birds of Lake Mburo national park; and at times known as the Senegal wattled plover or simply wattled lapwing. Its scientific name is the Vanellus senegallus.

An African wattled lapwing is a large, brownish lapwing gifted with yellow wattles that have distinctive fleshy red bases. The juvenile African wattled lapwing has smaller wattles.

Pairs and small groups of the African wattled lapwing can be spotted at marshes and wet grasslands of Lake Mburo national park, as well as the flooded edges of the park.

The African wattled lapwing attracts attention to itself with a loud “peep-peep-peep” call.

The White-crowned Lapwing is similar but for it is smaller, with white belly, and lacks the red bases to the wattles.

Bare-faced go-away-bird

The Bare-faced go-away-bird is also common in the lake Mburo national park and it is under Musophagidae family which is native to the eastern Afrotropics.

This is a gray turaco with a bushy crest and a mostly white head and breast and found in moist savanna, woodland, shrubby cultivation, and gardens around lake Mburo.

The Bare-faced go-away-bird moves in small groups, loud and vocal.

The call for a Bare-faced go-away-bird is a single hollow “khweow” and a maniacal series of cackles and whines given by multiple birds in chorus.

The Bare-faced go-away-bird is similar in shape to White-bellied Go-away-bird and Eastern Plantain-eater, but can be easily distinguished by the white collar and lack of white in the wings and tail.

Black-bellied bustard

The black-bellied bustard is also known as the black-bellied korhaan and it is an African ground-dwelling bird under the bustard family.

The black-bellied bustard is a lithe, medium-sized bustard with black daubs on a mostly tan-colored back. The males have black belly, neck stripe, throat, and face patch while the females are uniform with buff-brown from the belly to the head.

In flight, both male and female black-bellied bustard have white windows in the wings.

Several singles and pairs can be seen in the tall savanna grasslands of Lake Mburo National park Uganda.

Its bizarre display involves the male stretching his neck to make a frog-like “kwoork” croak, and as he retracts his head to the shoulders, follows with a “grrrr” growl and champagne-cork-like “pop” while his head lifts again. The male black-bellied bustard also performs an aerial display with the wings held back firmly and with a puffed throat exposed.

Greater painted-snipe

The Greater painted-snipe is one of the notable bird species but occasional to see in lake Mburo national park Uganda.

Greater painted-snipe is a medium-sized, impressively plumaged shorebird of grassy fields and marshes of Lake Mburo. Both male and female Greater painted-snipe have a bright white “comma” around the eye and white underparts that stretch to an arc above the shoulder.

In phalaropes, the male is much duller than the female. The female has a bright reddish-brown head and greenish-tinged back and wings while the more cryptically colored male has a light brown head and brown upperparts dappled with orange and tan spots, hence more similar to snipe.

Saddle-billed stork

The saddle-billed stork or saddlebill is a large wading bird under the stork family and commonly seen in lake Mburo national park of Uganda.

A saddle-billed stork is lanky, tall, black-and-white stork with a unique red, yellow, and black bill. Males have dark-brown eyes while females have yellow eyes. In flight, the saddle-billed stork’s massive size, and the dark bands in the center of the white wings are diagnostic.

The saddle-billed stork live in single or pairs and normally spotted at shores of Lake Mburo and the adjacent wetlands of the national park; looking favorite food like catfish, frogs, and water insects.

Other bird species in Lake Mburo national park include; African scops owl, Bare-faced go-away bird, Carruthers’s cisticola, Blue-breasted kingfisher, Tabora cisticola, Papyrus yellow warbler, Blue-headed coucal, rufous bellied heron, crowned cranes Brown-chested lapwing, white headed barbet, white parot, Yellow-rumped tinkerbird, African fish eagles, Greater painted-snipe, yellow breasted apalis, Nubian wood pecker, Hairy-breasted barbet, emerald spotted wood, Mosque swallow, Papyrus gonolek, Southern ground hornbill, coqui Francolin, African finfoot, black bellied bustard, Red-faced barbet, ross turaco, long- tailed cisticola, Shoebill, White-winged swamp warbler among others.