Star-gazing is a fun pursuit for amateur astronomers, and there are few better places for it than the vast and remote Bokora Wildlife Reserve. Similar to Pian Upe, this reserve is to the north and I would say more wild and remote. Little did we know that we would bump into a Star-spotted Nightjar, the best bird of the trip!
Bokora faces the similar problems to the other northern reserves: rogue cattle herding and indiscriminate bush fires. Until as recently as 2018, this whole region was the land of cattle rustlers. These guys would run around with AK-47's and steal other peoples' cattle, then herd them extremely long distances back to their home areas. Finally the national army came in and put a stop to it by confiscating's everybody's guns. So you could say that the area was not safe for birding until 2018!
This was good news for us as we had some relatively fresh territory to explore for interesting records. I'm a pretty terrible ebirder but this time, I would have no excuse not to upload our lists!
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| Emmy is far outmatched in terms of weapons... |
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| We did our part in disarming the region, by buying this condom catapult from some kids |
Our campsite was nothing but a bare patch of dirt next to the ranger station, but it was rich with birds. We could hear Three-banded Coursers and a Pearl-spotted Owlet by night, and by day we were visited by White-crested Helmetshrikes and a friendly Rufous-crowned Roller.We also found Mouse-coloured Penduline Tit.
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| White-crested Helmetshrikes |
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| Rufous-crowned Roller |
On our first morning, the rangers took us to a huge lookout post used for detecting poachers. It was a truly massive rock that we climbed up for an amazing view. We searched some small crevasses for Puff Adders, but they were not home. We did find a Northern Striped Sand Snake! Walking around the base of the rock, there were birds here and there like Go-away-birds and Brown Parrots.
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| View from the lookout rock |
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| View of the savannah from up on the rocks. We originally flushed the nightjar from there |
Wilson and I split up for a bit, and he called me over because he had flushed a nightjar. We combed the area trying to relocate the bird. Wilson flushed it again and we were able to see it land on the base of the huge rock hill. We got Emmy and carefully stalked it until we had satisfying photos. But which species was this? Definitely a lifer for sure, but we were debating between Plain, Freckled, and dare I say, Star-spotted? Ultimately its field marks led us to the conclusion that this was a Star-spotted Nightjar. I could not find any information on the internet about this species ever being recorded in Uganda, except it is listed on the Avibase checklist of birds of Uganda. Is it a new species for Uganda?
The Star-spotted Nighjar was more than enough validation for visiting Bokora, but our birding rampage was not over yet. We later found Desert Cisticola. The next morning, right beside the road, we found a perched Long-legged Buzzard. This is a scarce northern specialty and the only sighting of the entire trip! Other interesting sightlings in Bokora were 5 species of bustard (Buff-crested, black-bellied, white-bellied, Hartlaub's and Denham's) and some Lappet-faced Vultures.
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| Emmy looked under an empty water tank and found this Striped Sand Snake |
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| Long-legged Buzzard |
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| Lappet-faced Vulture |
Next, we were off to Kidepo Valley National Park, a place I've dreamt of visiting for many years.
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