What to Know About the Bateleur in Uganda?

The Bateleur in Uganda is one of the African birds in Uganda seen during Birding Tours. The bateleur is a colorful species with a very short tail (ecaudatus is Latin for tailless) which, together with its white underwing coverts, makes it unmistakable in flight.

The tail is so small the bird’s legs protrude slightly beyond the tail during flight. The bateleur is sexually dimorphic; both adults have black plumage, a chestnut mantle and tail, grey shoulders, tawny wing coverts, and red facial skin, bill and legs.

The female additionally has tawny secondary wing feathers. Less commonly, the mantle may be white. Immature birds are brown with white dappling and have greenish facial skin.

It takes them seven or eight years to reach full maturity.

How Does the Bateleur in Uganda Sing and Make Calls?

The bateleur is generally silent, but on occasions it produces a variety of barks and screams.

How Does the Bateleur in Uganda Feed?

The bateleur is diurnal, and hunts over a territory of approximately 250 square miles a day. Bateleurs are hunters and scavengers; birds such as pigeons and sandgrouse are preferred prey items, although it may attack small mammals and also takes carrion.

How Does the Bateleur in Uganda Nest?

It constructs a well-concealed nest in trees, laying a single egg which is incubated by the female for 42 to 43 days, with a further 90 to 125 days until fledging.

Bateleurs pair for life, and will use the same nest for a number of years. Unpaired birds, presumably from a previous clutch, will sometimes help at the nest.

How Does the Bateleur in Uganda Breed?

The bateleur breeds in December–March. Bateleurs pair for life, and will use the same nest for a number of years. Unpaired birds, presumably from a previous clutch.

How Does the Bateleur in Uganda Reproduce?

The female lays a single egg which is incubated by the female for 42 to 43 days, with a further 90 to 125 days until fledging.