In the whole world, Africa is the most interesting destination for any birders and wildlife enthusiasts because of the proximity, topography, and weather. All these make it easier to find and watch birds in the car, boat and on foot.
However, in the whole of Africa, Uganda holds the number one position for anyone looking for a variety of birds and animal species because of her various habitats in the same place. Birding in Uganda makes the whole tour a fun because finding different birds is done in several ways. Walking through the forests and savannas, driving in the safari vans, and sailing on water. All these bring out different and interesting experiences.
The most interesting and unique experience on the whole birding tour is when we are searching for one special and most sought-after bird species known as the Green-breasted Pitta. It's a medium sized bird with a general green plumage and beautiful white spots on the outer wing coverts. The bird feeds on the ground, in the green grasses in the middle of the forest. A couple displays between 6:45am and 7:00am and this is only during the breeding period. Any other display is done when the couple has been separated by flashing one away.
This behavior makes me call the search for this bird a game in the forest because it's the day we enter the forest earliest on the whole tour and how we begin looking for the bird. After the display, we start looking for the bird on the ground in the grasses. It's interesting on a Uganda birding tour that the bird looks like grass and while on the search, there is fear for other animals however it's a rewarding game because once you have seen the bird, it always gives time on a lucky day. The real game begins when the bird has been seen as everyone wants to see it but it's running in to the thickets and grasses, well camouflaged and shy. People begin kneeling and falling with one purpose of seeing the Pitta.
This takes between three to five hours depending on how first you find the Pitta, the weather that morning and how strong everyone is. After this, we always continue and find the chimpanzees. It becomes easier because in the process of looking for the Pitta, we always hear them calling and hitting trees then we look out for other bird species of the forest.