The BBD 2010 was launched on 14th October at the Uganda Museum where a presentation on birds and birding in Uganda was made. The real Birding activity was a 24-hour exercise on 15th October 2010 and the results were announced during the Big Birding Festival on 16th October 2010. A total of 622 bird species were recorded by the 40 bird watching teams covering 38 sites in all regions of the country. The highest record came from Kampala-Entebbe area with 175 species. It was followed by Murchison Falls National Park with 162, QENP with 160 and Kidepo National Park with 150 species. The teams included seven community groups from Katwe-QENP, Ruboni in Rwenzori, Echuya Forest Reserve in Kabale and Conserve Uganda in Katakwi, Mabamba bay, Kasohya Kitomi and Kyambura Wildlife Reserve. Others included Tourist teams, teams from NatureUganda, UWA staff from all national parks, UBGC members and other interested parties.

How the Big Birding Festival 2011 Events were organized
The Big Birding festival was organized as a three day festival from the 29th September 2011 to 1st October 2011 under the theme “Connecting Birds to People and Nature”.

The birding event included guided nature walks throughout the country. We had expert ornithologists and bird guides from among NatureUganda membership and Uganda Bird Guides Club (UBGC) who lead participants at various locations to a competition on Bird watching throughout the country.

A tally centre was set up at NatureUganda to receive all records from all participating teams. It was equipped with computers fully connected with internet, telephone lines and personnel. Results from the birding event were received at the tally centre beginning Friday evening to Saturday morning. The strategy was to receive, compile and analyze all the data and come up with a summary from all the participating sites before the Big Birding Festival on which these results were announced.

The results from the Uganda Big Birding Day indicate a total of 569 species recorded in the 53 sites done by 36 bird racing teams. The highest score was by the teams in Queen Elizabeth NP with 207 species, followed by the Entebbe Peninsula team with 189 species and then the Kidepo Valley NP team with 149 species.

The Big Birding day Festival was the climax of the events. It begun with a morning bird walk around a Ndere centre and members later assembled for the ceremony where presentations were made and results from the Birding exercise were announced. Sponsors of all the events and the best birding teams were awarded. Entertainment for this day included presentations from Ndere troupe, Railways Primary School, Kalinabiri secondary school  and St Joseph's Girls' secondary school, Nsambya.

Expected outcomes
The direct outcomes of this activity include:

The long-term impact of these results from the activity are immense. It is expected that the database will last long beyond the activity’s completion, contributing to improved avian tourism activities across the country.

This activity gives a chance to researchers and the general public to explore a whole new source of information about nature. It also raises environmental awareness and enthusiasm and improve guiding skills useful for promoting tourism in the country. In this way, this activity also empowers the various stakeholders on linkages between environmental sustainability and tourism, which in the long run will lead to generation of income local communities.

The direct outcomes of this activity to sponsors include; recognition of support during the various events, the sponsor has a platform with NatureUganda’s members and various conservation stakeholders in the country sharing the objectives and ideas in alignment to development, investment, and conservation.

Benefit to sponsors
The Birding Festival presents an opportunity for the sponsor to contribute to environmental awareness as well as boost their public image as a social responsible company. By sponsoring this festival, the company specifically receives the following;

1. Branding with avian tourism and biodiversity conservation in general in the country hence building alliance networks or even promoting the company’s services at the venue of the event.
2. Corporate membership to NatureUganda for 12 months which comes with

-A link from the NatureUganda website at www.natureuganda.org to your website
-Sponsor is listed on our publications which include; Annual report, year planner and 3 issues of The Naturalist – a NatureUganda newsletter which has a circulation of between 2,000 – 5,000 copies distributed to individuals and organisations, within and outside Uganda. The recipients include: 2,370 NatureUganda members, Government Departments, Environmental NGOs, the Diplomatic Community and the BirdLife International membership world-wide.

• Sponsor’s logo in the sponsor’s index in all materials developed for the activity.
• Certificate, award or plaque
• Display of signage

To contribute to or sponsor this event please contact NatureUganda on +256 414540719 or E-mail:nature@natureuganda.org.

• Sponsor’s logo in the sponsor’s index in all materials developed for the activity.
• Certificate, award or plaque
• Display of signage

To contribute to or sponsor this event please contact NatureUganda on +256 414540719 or E-mail:nature@natureuganda.org.