NatureUganda has been conducting biannual Waterfowl counts at Lutembe since 1994, usually in January and July. Occasionally two of these sites Lutembe bay and Nakiwogo bay have also been conducted on a monthly basis. Both sites are designated Ramsar sites. Lutembe bay is a sheltered shallow bay on the northern shores of Lake Victoria near Entebbe International Airport with scattered mud islands often covered by the water hyacinth.  The bay has many Palearctic migrants’ particularly huge congregations of gulls and terns.

The Great Knot
NatureUganda has been able to amass a great deal of information on migration, feeding and roosting patterns both of Palearctic migrants and resident species. As an added bonus we have been fortunate to observe some interesting species like Caspian Tern Sterna caspia,Temminck’s Stint Calidris temminckii and Broad-billed Sandpiper Limicola falcinellus which are vagrant visitors. These have been found by diligently searching the masses of terns, ducks and waders present at these two sites. During one of these counts on 8th December 2010 we found an unusual bird which was clearly worthy of a second look.
The bird appeared to be an adult in non breeding plumage and its general size and dark spotting on the breast sides lead me to think the bird was a Great Knot C. tenuirostris. The bird was located on a muddy Island in a group of other waders; Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa, Ruff Philomachus pugnax, Little stints Calidris minuta, Black-winged Stilts Himantopus himantopus and Curlew sandpipers Calidris ferruginea.Unfortunately the bird flew off before a positive identification could be reached. A second visit on the 20th December 2010 gave us much better views and good photographs were captured that show clearly that the bird is a Great Knot. This constitutes the first record of Great Knot in Uganda.

Roger Q Skeen.
NatureUganda, Kampala