Search

The Murchison Falls-Albert Delta Wetland System Ramsar Site, declared in 2006, consists of the River Nile from the Murchison Falls up to and including a small part of Lake Albert. Before entering the lake, the river splits into three main channels passing through an extensive delta supporting a papyrus swamp; the Ramsar site also includes the land within a kilometre of the river banks, north and south. Most is within Murchison Falls National Park. The river, including the channels through the papyrus, supports large numbers of waterbirds of many species. For a year, we undertook monthly waterbird counts along the channels through the delta swamps, and on the section of Lake Albert within the Ramsar site. Overall, we recorded 78 waterbird species and the site regularly supports three globally and another seven nationally threatened species, including Shoebill Balaeniceps rex, Grey Crowned Crane Balearica regulorum and Papyrus Gonolek Laniarius mufumbiri. The site is also important for large numbers of White-winged Black Terns Chlidonias leucopterus on passage. Most of the larger species, such as White-faced Whistling Duck Dendrocygna viduata and Long-tailed Cormorant Microcarbo africanus rarely, if ever breed in this area, instead their numbers drop at the times when they are expected to breed, apparently elsewhere. A number of pairs of Fish Eagles Haliaeetus vocifer breed, and there is a small colony of African Darters Anhinga rufa. The large numbers of easily- seen birds attract increasing numbers of visitors, adding to the site's value. Various industrial activities are planned within the watershed of this Ramsar Site, mainly associated with oil and gas, and our data are expected to provide baseline data for future monitoring of the site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Short communications Grey Crowned Cranes Balearica regulorum are gregarious rather than social It has long been known that Grey Crowned Cranes Balearica regulorum, in common with most other crane species, are usually seen in pairs - or sometimes several pairs together - and are believed to mate for life (Pomeroy 1980a, Urban et al. 1986). Apart from the few months when they are nesting, Grey Crowned Cranes form flocks, occasionally as many as 2000 in Kenya (Gichuki & Gichuki 1991), but the largest in Uganda are only a few hundreds, and most flocks are much smaller. Almost all cranes in Uganda breed on seasonal wetlands outside protected areas (Olupot et al. 2009), and in southern Uganda they can breed in June and July (Pomeroy 1980a), but all possible wetlands within at least 10 km of the roost have been drained and in many cases, built on. [Extracted from the article]

Cattle Egrets Bubulcus ibis, long known for their expanding geographical range, have in recent years also become increasingly urbanized in Kampala, a city with over 1.5 million people, and elsewhere. First recorded roosting in Kampala over 15 years ago, their numbers now exceed 16000, spread across several sites, at most of which they have also been breeding for several years. However, the numbers nesting are far lower than might be expected from those that come nightly to roost. Breeding in Kampala shows bimodal peaks, perhaps because some birds breed twice a year— which would partly explain their rapid increase in numbers. Timing of breeding is linked to rainfall, but shows more variation between sites and between years than might be expected. Some birds may always have fed in the area that is now Kampala. Today, some feed at the city's main land-fill site, but most go to the countryside where their consumption of bush-crickets, grasshoppers and other insects is presumably beneficial to farmers. Overall, for breeding and roosting, and to some extent feeding, Cattle Egrets can now be considered as urbanized in this near-equatorial city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]