Bird watching/ birding in Queen Elizabeth National Park is one of the recreational safari activities that involves observing the birds of Uganda in their natural environment.

Queen Elizabeth National park has the highest number of species of Ugandan birds, that is, over 600 out of the estimated 1,096 species. It is therefore one of the most impressive and renowned bird-watching areas where you can do extra-ordinary bird-watching in Uganda.

The park’s union of the savanna and forest, linking to the expansive forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo allows visitors on bird-watching safaris in Uganda to spot both the East as well as Central African bird species.

The park has many threatened and/ or sought-after Ugandan bird species like the elusive Shoebill and the Uganda Crested Crane bird (Uganda’s national bird). The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classified both birds as endangered and vulnerable respectively.

During your bird watching activity, you will encounter the big five birds in Uganda which include:

• Shoebill
• Great Blue Turaco
• Gray-Crowned Crane
• Long-Crested Eagle
• Black-and-White-Casqued Hornbill

Queen Elizabeth National Park is also a bird migration corridor. It hosts many of the over 300 annual migratory bird species to Uganda, from all over the world. These birds migrate into the park between November and April and they come from Europe and South Africa. The migrant birds that you will see in the national park are both global and intra-African and they include the following:

• Common Cuckoos
• Madagascar Pond Herons
• Lesser Flamingoes
• Greater Flamingoes
• African Spoonbill
• African Cuckoo-Hawk

Birding in the national park is an endless adventure, one that is expertly proven to be both fun and healthy