Black-eared Ground Thrush Geokichla camaronensis graueri

Black-eared Ground Thrush – Geokichla camaronensis graueri

Black-eared Ground Thrush Geokichla camaronensis graueri

I have been very excited since my friend Patrick Arua, a researcher from Budongo forest, messaged me about their latest finding.

The individual he is holding appears to have a band/ring, which they placed on it sometime back. All sightings of this species have been by mist nets; the Eastern populations are very secretive and, probably, a small population whose figure we need to be sure of. Interstingly, Patrick says, they have only been able to net two individuals, of which one is the regular victim and the other only showed up lately. 

The guinea-congo biome special, which loves tropical moist lowland and tropical moist montane forests, has only been recorded in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Uganda. 

Two of the three, i.e. G. c. graueri and G. c. kibalensis are known to occur in Uganda. The latter is sometimes considered a separate species, namely Kibale Ground Thrush, with only a handful of sightings!

Beautiful bird and an inspiring sighting