Scavenging birds of Kampala: 1973–2009

Abstract

Scavenging birds are very conspicuous in Kampala and a number of counts have been made of their numbers since the 1970s. Between the 1970s and mid- 2000s the breeding population of Marabou Storks Leptoptilos crumeniferus increased from about 100 pairs to nearly a thousand, whilst roost counts of Black Kites Milvus migrans also showed large increases. Numbers of Pied Crows Corvus albus and Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus, also counted as they came into communal roosts, showed lower rates of increase; from mid to late 2000s however, Hooded Vultures seem to be decreasing. These increases perhaps reflect the four-fold increase in the human population over the same period, considerably adding to the refuse upon which these birds mainly feed. In view of alarming declines of scavengers elsewhere, especially vultures, we plan to continue monitoring these Kampala birds