It was on the 16th of May 2018 when news broke on the Uganda bird guides online forum from a one, Ben Ntale – an amateur nature photographer, about the sighting of the rarest of the rare bird species; Uganda’s only endemic, the Fox’s weaver in the marshes along the shores of Lake Opeta.
At some point, this species was thought to be a mystery since there had not been any concrete records backed with evidence of atleast a “bad photo” for quite a long time. The news was received with a lot of excitement amongst the small Ugandan birding community, dubbed, the ‘Uganda Bird Guides Club’. This prompted a further investigation that was led by Crammy Wanyama with a team of another 6 bird guides from Kampala on the 23rd of May 2018, who set off at 6:00am to Eastern Uganda marshes to confirm this sighting. It wasn’t too long on that day before they posted a video of the Fox’s weaver! The team reliably informed us of a breeding / nesting colony of about 21 individuals that was in their sight at that moment. On 24th May 2018, Paul Tamwenya, a re-known bird guide in Uganda, who was on a birding trip then, shared the news with his client; and they opted to do a detour in order to have that golden opportunity before it could slip-away. The walk to the sight was a teeth-jarring one, as it involved meandering on foot in wetland channels filled with water beyond the knees for over 6km! Finally they were able to get to the site and had a chance to see the species. This was complemented by another sighting of another restricted range species; the Karamoja Apalis. More and more birders here are preparing to go to Eastern Uganda to have a glimpse of the bird.
Since 2004, Nature Uganda – a birdlife international partner in Uganda has been carrying out expeditions to Eastern Uganda to ascertain the presence of the Fox’s weaver and its status with no success at all. Several attempts by many local birders have been leading trips to this part of the country with the Fox’s weaver as the target, but none had ever satisfied the birding fraternity about the sighting. All reports came with no evidence.
For all the birders out there, if you have been to Uganda or were planning to come to Uganda to see our treasured endemic, this is the moment. So far, May/June have been ear-marked as the best months for the species since it has been observed breeding. Feel free to get in touch with us and we shall be delighted to take you on a “guaranteed Hunt” for the Fox’s weaver at a subsidized price.