Great Apes and Green-Breasted Pittas in Kibale
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Day 4 of a 12-day Uganda “highlights” tour held the promise of the green-breasted pitta, one of the country’s most difficult species, and a short chimpanzee trek.
We left our lodge early. No, I mean seriously early. It was still dark. We spent time stargazing after arriving at Kibale National Park, our birding destination for the day.
Yes, this is how I choose to spend my vacation. I do admit to questioning my choices from time to time, but usually those times are around 4a.m.
Treasure Hunting (for Birders)
I have to admit that I didn’t know much about this pitta. The pittas are almost unmistakable in shape and structure – longish legs and short tails. They’re kinda stocky, and always birds of the understory. And by that, I mean they’re usually secretive little buggers that like to make things difficult. Unlike the many drab antpittas of South America, which I’d seen before, the true “pitta” is usually a patchwork of vibrant colors. The green-breasted pitta is no exception. It’s quite a handsome bird, I must say.
And it is, indeed, a secretive little bugger that likes to make things difficult.
It was made abundantly clear to me that this was a special, rare species. Our guide had not seen it before, so this was a big deal.
We met our Kibale National Park naturalist guide, and we set off to see this rare bird. The entire purpose of our early arrival was an attempt to catch the birds performing a display, which would only occur around dawn (if at all).
So we waited, the group of us. A total of 4 guides at this point and 7 birders. Being as quiet as 11 people can be.
And then… finally…
Nothing happened. Nope. No flashy displays for us.
Back to Basics
So that meant we needed to put in some work. Ah, memories of the good ole days of being a field biologist! We actually lined up and performed a flush survey.
Well, we kinda did. We tried, anyway. Whatever.
The flush survey: evenly spaced people walk, somewhat parallel and at a similar speed, through the preferred habitat. The objective is to flush birds, often to identify the bird species present and their abundance. In this case, we were simply looking to flush a single, specific bird that was likely to occur in our survey area.
And that means we didn’t have to be entirely… uh… precise. Which is great! When people get distracted by caterpillars, butterflies, and any other birds the transects might end up being slightly uneven. I would describe our transects as… squiggly? That’s probably a fitting word. We were squiggly.
Probably due to lack of presence, rather than lack of bird-flushing skills, we were entirely unsuccessful. No pittas for us! Yet…
Going Ape
Denied any super-hard-to-find birds, we moved on to a brief Chimpanzee Trek! This was an exciting bonus for me. I had completely failed to notice this as a component of the itinerary. I don’t have a habit of going over itineraries with a fine-toothed comb, so I’m often surprised by birds/activities on a wildlife tour.
And so our group joined another small pack of tourists for the Chimpanzee trek. The chimpanzee groups have trackers who monitor their locations and try to locate the endangered apes. Each tour of trekkers has a naturalist guide who is in contact with tracker. Their communication allows them to guide the trekking tour to intersect with the movement of the endangered apes.
Most treks will spend a while finding the apes. The group of people we joined had possibly been on the trail for a bit while the chimpanzees were located. But by the time we joined, we had to walk/wait very little time before we encountered our group of chimps.
I’m not sure about the maximum group size allowed on Kibale chimpanzee treks. Without guides, we probably numbered around 15. We didn’t interact very much with the other folks who composed our trekking group, but they sure seemed serious about their chimpanzee experience.
One man had the longest lens I’ve ever seen. The day suddenly seemed more intense. And, of course, the trail was now a bit more crowded.
That was Wild
That’s only important because once you meet your group of chimpanzees, there is a lot of movement. There are moments of almost frenzied activity. Next, they’re running on the ground. They’re climbing in the trees. They’re moving together, separating, and coalescing again.
They stop for moments of quiet, sitting together. We watch several individuals engage in social grooming. Others seemed to keep an observant eye on the other chimps in the group. It’s almost quiet, most noises coming from the shutters of cameras as excited trekkers make the most of the photo opportunity.
Then, the dominant male is screaming, tearing through the forest as he chases one of his own. And the group is up, moving again. And we’re off, trying to stay at a safe distance but also keep up with their surprising movements.
Reducing Your Footprints
One member of our group was concerned about their behavior, so I’ll address that here. The concern stemmed from the animals being so mobile, and the potential that their movements were related to our presence. It’s a legitimate concern.
Think about it: Chimpanzees are charismatic and, to the tourist, exotic. They’re listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. There are continuing threats, like poaching and habitat loss (which can thereby increase human/wildlife conflicts). And so there’s a tremendous amount of conservation attention given to these apes. Which means there is a big tourism demand to see these animals.
Whenever there’s big money to be made from wildlife, we should all probably take a moment to consider the bigger picture. Any wildlife tourist (or eco-tourist, if you prefer) should consider their destinations, where their money is going to, and who profits from the experience. Any tourist, period, should consider if they are supporting a business or business practice that profits from unethical treatment of wildlife.
It would be hypocritical of me to try to deter people from taking wildlife tours. If anything, I encourage it. After all, I am sitting here writing a blog entry about bird tours. Clearly, I like wildlife tours. But I do have some faith that the company I use consistently vets its local partners and uses ethical practices, which gives me some peace of mind. Ecosystems don’t exist in a bubble, and community/public support can be integral to successful conservation efforts. Which means that wildlife tourism can positively contribute to conservation.
Conservative Approach
In Uganda, before ever encountering tourists, groups of chimps are habituated to human presence by trackers. Once they’ve been habituated over a period of time, tourist groups can be introduced to the chimps. But tourist groups are limited in the number of participants. And the chimpanzee trekkers get to spend no more than an hour with the apes, once they’re encountered. The entire time, the trackers and naturalist guides are monitoring them and us – to ensure safety for the tourists and the wildlife (and to ensure over-excited tourists maintain their distance).
Our naturalist guide, Africano, did acknowledge our group’s expressed concerns. The agitation from the dominant male was caused by another member in the chimpanzee group. The movements of the group seemed normal to the guides and to the chimpanzee trackers, who move with the groups before and after the tourist treks occur. It’s just a natural behavior, apparently, for apes to act a little manic.
Which really should be a relief for many of us other great apes… you know who you are.
Pitta? Did Someone Say “Pitta“?
Eventually we did break from the chimpanzee trek. The shared experience did feel a bit frantic, the trails a bit crowded. And some of the other group members just seemed very intense. So we split away, and we headed off moving back toward the old pitta stomping ground of the morning.
At some point, our guide received a call over the radio. Someone spotted a pitta!
And so we’re off! Back through the trails in a different direction, heading to the new sighting. Everyone’s excited, and it turns out the flushing bird was spotted by a different guide from a chimpanzee trek experience.
Once we’re in the correct area, it isn’t long before the bird flushes. I can sometimes take a while to get my bins on a bird, but I got a nice look at this individual before it dropped back to the ground.
Of course, we try to limit the number of times any individual is disturbed. The guides tried to flush the bird just once more, and it obligingly popped up again. This time, it was on a somewhat “open” perch. Everyone who sees it is snapping photos non-stop. I couldn’t get my eyes on it, unfortunately, and a different guide (that I did not know) was persistently trying to point it out to me.
Mischief Managed
It’s hard to describe how much excitement was created due to this bird. I’d already seen it. It was very pretty. I had to extract myself from the overly persistent guide before I panicked, though. It was overwhelming. Luckily, our local birding guide and his assistant were keenly observant. They noticed the interaction, made sure I was fine, and then quickly were able to point out the bird to me. Easy peasy.
Did I get a good photograph? Not at all. But I was elated to just finally be able to find the bird at that point!
There was a small celebration after the bird disappeared. Our tour’s main guide – well, the guide for the tour company, at least – had not seen this bird. Everyone was happy for him. And he probably got more photos than anyone! But eventually we headed back down the trail to end our forest adventure.
We left the park having met our objectives for the day. Kibale National Park left an enduring impression, that the same piece of ground would support such very different, but very sought-after, species. And how impressive that its naturalist guides could so seamlessly cater to such wildly different, but very enthusiastic, pursuits.
