By Charlotte Beauvoisin
Counting vultures in and around Kampala’s
abattoirs is one of the more unusual days out I have had courtesy of
NatureUganda. It is also one of my favourite - if you can bear the smell!
This year I was delighted to take my friend
Hope. I enjoyed listening to her Rukiga village names for the birds that we
spotted. Our team opted for route three led by tour guide Ronald Sekiziyivu.
Three groups surveyed Kampala’s abattoirs,
fish factories and the Kampala city council dumping site in Kitezi. Visits to
these glamorous hangouts were challenging! Nonetheless, between us, we recorded
127 Hooded Vultures, 2,456 Marabou Storks, 295 Pied Crows, 108 Black Kites, and
2 Palm-nut Vultures. The numbers were down on previous years; the heavy rain
certainly did not help.
We could hear the sound of Pied Crow behind
us as we counted the Marabou among Makerere University’s buildings and
on trees. We admired the pretty Speckled Pigeons scavenging amongst the rubbish
along the road inside the University.
There was an unconfirmed sighting of a Palm
Nut Vulture near the golf course. We all craned our necks trying to see it; we
even pulled over and all jumped out of the matatu (commuter taxi), but alas, we
did not spot it again.
.jpg) |
| Vulture Count at the Kampala Abattoir |
Even on the pavement opposite meat-packers,
we watched a Black Kite and a Pied Crow fighting over a scrap of meat that they
must have pulled off a carcass a few hundred metres away.
Ronald wanted to be thorough, so we did not
start counting until we had driven past the abattoir and parked next to the
railway line.
“You are free to see other birds,”
announced Ronald, as he pointed out a Cisticola and a Grey-backed Fiscal in the
bushes next to it.
By this time it was raining. The committed birders did not give up - even with the rain coming down on us and the smell of carcasses from the abattoir.
.JPG) |
| Team of birders taking part in the Vulture Count at the Kampala Abattoir |
By this time it was raining. The committed birders did not give up - even with the rain coming down on us and the smell of carcasses from the abattoir.
Vultures, vultures everywhere! It was quite
difficult to exactly count their number. We looked up at the electricity pylon
and counted to 10, 11 and 12. We had to check our figures more than once, to
agree on the number. Getting an accurate figure of the Marabou was surprisingly
difficult. Even though they are so big and easy to spot, some would fly off
just as thought you had the right total. (Did I count those already?)
Next September, keep the first Saturday
free and join NatureUganda on this fascinating day out and help contribute to
the research and protection of these important species. More importantly, tell
your friends about the threat to vultures’ survival.
The International Vulture Awareness Day
aims to educate the general public on this ecologically vital group of birds.
Vultures are the most crucial avian scavengers in the world. Eating carcasses
of dead animals helps maintain the health of our environment, so we all depend
on them. Tragically, many vultures are poisoned, not always intentionally, but
by farmers that lay poison down for other animals. The vultures’ position at
the apex of the food chain - eating other animal carcasses - makes them acutely
vulnerable to poisoning.
NatureUganda’s Vulture monitoring
programmes include the road raptor counts, the carcass counts conducted in four
national Parks (Lake Mburo, Queen Elizabeth, Murchison Falls and Kidepo Valley)
and the annual Kampala Vulture Counts.
For more on birding and conservation stories,
visit Diary of a Muzungu | Uganda travel blog. You might want to read Charlotte's previous Vulture Count at Kampala's abattoirs in a Disgusting Day Out. I am happy to write the occasional story for NU
