Checklist of birds in Bukaleba forest, Uganda

Study Extent

These data are a checklist of birds recorded from Bukaleba forest reserve in Uganda

Sampling

The sampling methodology used for data collection was observation. Observations were made using 8 x 30 and 10 x 40 binoculars. Effort was made to visit as many habitats as possible with maximum coverage occurring in the early morning and towards evening.

Quality Control

Wherever possible, identification was carried out in the field. Birds were identified using Williams and Arlott (1980), Mackworth-Praed and Grant (1957, 1960), Guggisburg (1986), Sinclair et al. (1993), and Brown et al. (1982), Urban et al. (1986), Fry et al. (1988) and Keith et al. (1992). The order and nomenclature used in the original survey reports followed Britton (1980), Carswell and Pomeroy (1984) with revisions made by the Ornithological Sub-Committee of the East Africa Natural History Society (D. Turner, pers. comm.). The order, taxonomy and nomenclature were subsequently revised according to the HBW and BirdLife International checklist taxonomy (del Hoyo and Collar 2014, 2016). According to the original survey reports: “Ranger ornithologists were trained to make detailed field descriptions of their observations, including notes on the appearance, calls and behaviour of birds and the habitats in which they were observed. Each ranger was provided with a shortlist of (generally common, unmistakable) species that did not require verification, but records of any other species were only accepted on submission of one (or preferably two) voucher specimens of each species. During the programme, a comprehensive reference collection was made at Forest Department headquarters. Any difficult specimens were taken to the National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, or the Zoological Museum at Tring, UK for identification.” The geographic coordinates of sampling locations were recorded during the original fieldwork using the Military Grid Reference System (old version). These were converted to a standard UTM format and then to decimal latitude and longitude using GIS based tools.

Method steps

1. The national survey of Uganda forests collected data in 65 forests. The original field survey results including all data were published in a series of reports by the Forest Department of Uganda (Howard et al. 1996). The current dataset comprises records of birds that were mist netted during this survey. We selected a sample of forests that had been surveyed in the Central and Eastern Regions of Uganda in order to digitise the data for GBIF. Electronic copies of the written reports and a separate electronic database of records were made available for this purpose by the original authors of the reports (Peter Howard). We extracted the bird mist netting records from the electronic database and supplemented these with location data provided in the narrative reports. The species names were updated to modern taxonomy by aligning the names and regionally appropriate forms (subspecies) with the HBW and BirdLife International checklist taxonomy (del Hoyo and Collar 2014, 2016) paying particular attention to potential taxonomic splits and lumps that had occurred since the original data were collected. Recent taxonomic revisions have resulted in a number of species reported in the original surveys now being regarded as two or more species. In most cases it is simple to assign the original record to the new species name based on geography. In some cases, it may be harder to decide and so we note here the decisions we made regarding these harder cases during the digitizing of this dataset. • Black Kite Milvus migrans has been assigned to Yellow-billed Kite Milvus aegyptius Yellowbill Ceuthmochares aereus has been assigned to Chattering Yellowbill Ceuthmochares aereus • Black Tit Parus leucomelas has been assigned to Pale-eyed Black Tit Melaniparus guineensis. It is possible that some records refer to Dark-eyed Black Tit Melaniparus leucomelas which has a more westerly distribution in Uganda. • Grey-headed Sparrow Passer griseus has been assigned to Northern Grey-headed Sparrow Passer griseus • African Citril Serinus citrinelloides has been assigned to Yellow-browed Citril Crithaga frontalis. Abyssinian Citril Crithagra citrinelloides occurs eastwards from the Uganda Kenya border. The location data in the original reports were provided in Military Grid Reference System. These were first converted to standard UTM coordinates, noting that the MGRS was using an old datum (MGRS-AL scheme also called "MGRS old"). UTM coordinates were then converted to decimal degrees using an online conversion spreadsheet (https://giscrack.com/download-excel-template-convert-geographic-coordinates-utm/). The converted locations were then checked against Google Maps imagery to confirm that a satisfactory conversion had been made. Species records from each Forest Reserve were checked against the distribution maps in Carswell et al. (2005) and through expert assessment (J. Lindsell) to ensure that no unsubstantiated or extralimital records were included.

A total of 47 bird (Aves) species were recorded and identified to species level

1. Lagonosticta rubricata (Lichtenstein, 1823)
   common name: African Firefinch rank: species
2. Bycanistes subcylindricus (Sclater, 1870)
   common name: Grey-cheeked Hornbill rank: species
3. Colius striatus Gmelin, 1789
   common name: Speckled Mousebird rank: species
4. Treron calvus (Temminck, 1808)
   common name: African Green-pigeon rank: species
5. Streptopelia semitorquata (Rüppell, 1837)
   common name: Red-eyed Dove rank: species
6. Streptopelia capicola (Sundevall, 1857)
   common name: Ring-necked Dove rank: species
7. Turtur tympanistria (Temminck, 1809)
   common name: Tambourine Dove rank: species
8. Ispidina picta (Boddaert, 1783)
   common name: African Pygmy-kingfisher rank: species
9. Chrysococcyx cupreus (Shaw, 1792)
   common name: African Emerald Cuckoo rank: species
10. Chrysococcyx caprius (Boddaert, 1783)
    common name: Diederik Cuckoo rank: species
11. Chrysococcyx klaas (Stephens, 1815)
    common name: Klaas's Cuckoo rank: species
12. Cuculus solitarius Stephens, 1815
    common name: Red-chested Cuckoo rank: species
13. Centropus superciliosus Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1833
    common name: White-browed Coucal rank: species
14. Numida meleagris (Linnaeus, 1758)
    common name: Helmeted Guineafowl rank: species
15. Pternistis squamatus (Cassin, 1857)
    common name: Scaly Francolin rank: species
16. Sarothrura pulchra (Gray, 1829)
    common name: White-spotted Flufftail rank: species
17. Crinifer zonurus (Rüppell, 1835)
    common name: Eastern Plantain-eater rank: species
18. Corythaeola cristata (Vieillot, 1816)
    common name: Great Blue Turaco rank: species
19. Musophaga rossae Gould, 1852
    common name: Ross's Turaco rank: species
20. Lagonosticta rubricata (Lichtenstein, 1823)
    common name: African Firefinch rank: species
21. Terpsiphone viridis (Müller, 1776)
    common name: African Paradise-flycatcher rank: species
22. Zosterops senegalensis Bonaparte, 1850
    common name: African Yellow White-eye rank: species
23. Ploceus nigricollis (Vieillot, 1805)
    common name: Black-necked Weaver rank: species
24. Camaroptera brachyura (Vieillot, 1820)
    common name: Bleating Camaroptera rank: species
25. Illadopsis fulvescens (Cassin, 1859)
    common name: Brown Illadopsis rank: species
26. Pycnonotus barbatus (Desfontaines, 1789)
    common name: Common Bulbul rank: species
27. Euplectes axillaris (Smith, 1838)
    common name: Fan-tailed Widowbird rank: species
28. Sylvietta virens Cassin, 1859
    common name: Green Crombec rank: species
29. Eurillas virens (Cassin, 1858)
    common name: Little Greenbul rank: species
30. Cyanomitra olivacea (Smith, 1840)
    common name: Olive Sunbird rank: species
31. Cinnyris chloropygius (Jardine, 1842)
    common name: Olive-bellied Sunbird
32. Vidua macroura (Pallas, 1764)
    common name: Pin-tailed Whydah rank: species
33. Eurillas curvirostris (Cassin, 1860)
    common name: Plain Greenbul rank: species
34. Cossypha natalensis Smith, 1840
    common name: Red-capped Robin-chat rank: species
35. Stizorhina fraseri (Strickland, 1844)
    common name: Rufous Flycatcher-thrush rank: species
36. Chalcomitra senegalensis (Linnaeus, 1766)
    common name: Scarlet-chested Sunbird rank: species
37. Lamprotornis splendidus (Vieillot, 1822)
    common name: Splendid Starling rank: species
38. Ploceus nigerrimus Vieillot, 1819
    common name: Vieillot's Black Weaver rank: species
39. Nicator chloris (Valenciennes, 1826)
    common name: Western Nicator rank: species
40. Cercotrichas leucophrys (Vieillot, 1817)
    common name: White-browed Scrub-robin rank: species
41. Bostrychia hagedash (Latham, 1790)
    common name: Hadada Ibis rank: species
42. Scopus umbretta Gmelin, 1789
    common name: Hamerkop rank: species
43. Campethera nivosa (Swainson, 1837)
    common name: Buff-spotted Woodpecker rank: species
44. Pogoniulus scolopaceus (Bonaparte, 1850)
    common name: Speckled Tinkerbird rank: species
45. Pogoniulus bilineatus (Sundevall, 1850)
    common name: Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird rank: species
46. Psittacus erithacus Linnaeus, 1758
    common name: Grey Parrot rank: species
47. Apaloderma narina (Stephens, 1815)
    common name: Narina Trogon rank: species

Bukaleba forest reserve