Occurrences of birds in eastern and central Uganda forests, 1993 to 1995

Study Extent

These data are an occurrence dataset of birds recorded from eastern and central Uganda forests including Mabira, South Busoga, Bukaleba, West Bugwe, Igwe-Luvunya, Mpigi, Mpanga and Zika forest reserves.

Sampling

The sampling methodology used for data collection was mist netting. Twenty mist-nets each of 9 m x 3 m were used. Nets were usually opened between 0630 hrs and 0800 hrs and closed between 1800 hrs and 1930 hrs. They were sited to maximise the catch, usually in pairs, and half were moved to a different habitat type every day or every other day

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. 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 582 bird (Aves) occurrences were recorded. Of these, 21 were identified to family level while 561 were identified to species level. 62 species were recorded.

1. Muscicapidae
   rank: family
2. Nectariniidae
   rank: family
3. Ploceidae
   rank: family
4. Pycnonotidae
   rank: family
5. Alethe castanea
   common name: Fire-crested Alethe rank: species
6. Amblyospiza albifrons
   common name: Thick-billed Weaver rank: species
7. Apalis rufogularis
   common name: Buff-throated Apalis rank: species
8. Bleda syndactylus
   common name: Red-tailed Bristlebill rank: species
9. Bleda ugandae
   common name: Yellow-eyed Bristlebill rank: species
10. Camaroptera brachyura
    common name: Bleating Camaroptera rank: species
11. Camaroptera superciliaris
    common name: Yellow-browed Camaroptera rank: species
12. Camaroptera toroensis
    common name: Tawny-breasted Camaroptera rank: species
13. Campethera caroli
    common name: Brown-eared Woodpecker rank: species
14. Campethera nivosa
    common name: Buff-spotted Woodpecker rank: species
15. Centropus superciliosus
    common name: White-browed Coucal rank: species
16. Cercotrichas leucophrys
    common name: White-browed Scrub-robin
17. Chalcomitra senegalensis
    common name: Scarlet-chested Sunbird rank: species
18. Chamaetylas poliocephala
    common name: Brown-chested Alethe rank: species
19. Chrysococcyx caprius
    common name: Diederik Cuckoo rank: species
20. Chrysococcyx cupreus
    common name: African Emerald Cuckoo rank: species
21. Cinnyris chloropygius
    common name: Olive-bellied Sunbird rank: species
22. Cinnyris erythrocercus
    common name: Red-chested Sunbird rank: species
23. Cossypha cyanocampter
    common name: Blue-shouldered Robin-chat rank: species
24. Cossypha natalensis
    common name: Red-capped Robin-chat rank: species
25. Criniger calurus
    common name: Red-tailed Greenbul rank: species
26. Cyanomitra cyanolaema
    common name: Blue-throated Brown Sunbird rank: species
27. Cyanomitra olivacea
    common name: Olive Sunbird rank: species
28. Deleornis axillaris
    common name: Grey-headed Sunbird rank: species
29. Dyaphorophyia jamesoni
    common name: Jameson's Wattle-eye rank: species
30. Elminia longicauda
    common name: African Blue-flycatcher rank: species
31. Eurillas curvirostris
    common name: Plain Greenbul rank: species
32. Eurillas latirostris
    common name: Yellow-whiskered Greenbul rank: species
33. Eurillas virens
    common name: Little Greenbul rank: species
34. Fraseria griseigularis
    common name: Grey-throated Tit-flycatcher rank: species
35. Halcyon malimbica
    common name: Blue-breasted Kingfisher rank: species
36. Hedydipna collaris
    common name: Collared Sunbird rank: species
37. Hylia prasina
    common name: Green Hylia rank: species
38. Illadopsis albipectus
    common name: Scaly-breasted Illadopsis rank: species
39. Illadopsis fulvescens
    common name: Brown Illadopsis rank: species
40. Ispidina lecontei
    common name: African Dwarf-kingfisher rank: species
41. Ispidina picta
    common name: African Pygmy-kingfisher rank: species
42. Lagonosticta rubricata
    common name: African Firefinch rank: species
43. Macrosphenus flavicans
    common name: Yellow Longbill rank: species
44. Mandingoa nitidula
    common name: Green Twinspot rank: species
45. Nicator chloris
    common name: Western Nicator rank: species
46. Nigrita canicapillus
    common name: Grey-headed Nigrita rank: species
47. Phyllastrephus albigularis
    common name: White-throated Greenbul rank: species
48. Pitta reichenowi
    common name: Green-breasted Pitta rank: species
49. Platysteira peltata
    common name: Black-throated Wattle-eye rank: species
50. Ploceus cucullatus
    common name: Village Weaver rank: species
51. Ploceus nigerrimus
    common name: Vieillot's Black Weaver rank: species
52. Ploceus nigricollis
    common name: Black-necked Weaver rank: species
53. Ploceus weynsi
    common name: Weyns's Weaver rank: species
54. Pogoniulus bilineatus
    common name: Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird rank: species
55. Pogoniulus scolopaceus
    common name: Speckled Tinkerbird rank: species
56. Prinia subflava
    common name: Tawny-flanked Prinia rank: species
57. Pycnonotus barbatus
    common name: Common Bulbul rank: species
58. Sarothrura elegans
    common name: Buff-spotted Flufftail rank: species
59. Spermophaga ruficapilla
    common name: Red-headed Bluebill rank: species
60. Stiphrornis xanthogaster
    common name: Yellow-breasted Forest-robin rank: species
61. Stizorhina fraseri
    common name: Rufous Flycatcher-thrush rank: species
62. Sylvietta virens
    common name: Green Crombec rank: species
63. Terpsiphone rufiventer
    common name: Red-bellied Paradise-flycatcher rank: species
64. Terpsiphone viridis
    common name: African Paradise-flycatcher rank: species
65. Turtur tympanistria
    common name: Tambourine Dove
66. Zosterops senegalensis
    common name: African Yellow White-eye

The data was collected from West Bugwe and Igwe-Luvunya, plus South Busoga, Bukaleba, Mabira, Mukono, Mpanga, Gangu, Lwamunda and Kisubi forest reserves. Based on mist netting records.