The airport runway splits central Bukoba in half. It begins close to the centre of town and terminates just before the Lake Victoria shore. The beach south of the end of the airstrip is usually bustling with people doing all sorts of things (fishing, picnicking, swimming (not advisable with Biharzia snails present). There are birds here but not many and not much variety. Birding is always problematic when there are lots of people around. You never know how they might react to wazungu with binoculars and cameras.
North of the airstrip there is a 1 km stretch of quiet beach and swampy grassland with few people and lots more birds. Jenny and I have walked this a couple of times now for Tanzanian Atlas surveys.
The two visits have yielded 37 species. Some of the more interesting are: Egyptian Goose, Yellow-billed Duck, Hamerkop, Black Crake, Western Osprey, Spur-winged Lapwing, Common Ringed Plover, African Jacana, African Snipe, Black-tailed Godwit, Grey-hooded Gull, Little Bee-eater, Grey-backed Fiscal, Lesser Striped Swallow, Spotted Flycatcher and Western Yellow Wagtail.
A few photos:
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| African Jacana, Speke Bay, Lake Victoria |
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| Common Ringed Plover, Bukoba, Lake Victoria |
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| Egyptian Goose, Speke Bay, Lake Victoria |
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| Grey-backed Fiscal, Lake Mburo National Park, Uganda |
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| Grey-hooded Gull, Bukoba, Lake Victoria |
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| Lesser Striped Swallow, Bukoba, Lake Victoria |
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| Western Yellow Wagtail (ssp. lutea), Bukoba, Lake Victoria |
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| Yellow-billed Duck, Bukoba, Lake Victoria |
Saturday 13 November, Bukoba
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