EP 8. Hamerkop

In this episode of Birds of Uganda, we explore the Hamerkop—its remarkable nests, cultural stories, and quiet role in our wetlands—through sound, storytelling, and field experiences.

CREDITS

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: GORILLA CREATIVES  INC

PRODUCERS: Ssozi Joseph  I  Bahati Henry I Abdon Karekona V

DIRECTOR: Ssozi Joseph

EDITOR: Ssozi Joseph

SOUND DESIGN & MIX: Ssozi Joseph, Wana Benjamin

PHOTO: Kizito Mudambo

MUSIC: Akanyonyi By Ganda Boys

GUESTS:

Kansiime Patricia, Herbert Byaruhanga, Robert Bahindi, Justus Tumusange, Bahati Henry.

Transcript

SPEAKER_08 0:13

In many Ugandan communities, the hammer cop is not just a bird, it's a sign, a messenger, a keeper of old beliefs. Before it's seen, it's felt, moving quietly along wetlands and rivers. With its hammer-shaped head, building some of the largest and most mysterious nests in the bird world. The hammer cop has inspired stories, respect, and caution for generations. In this episode of Birds of Uganda podcast, we follow its silent movements, uncover its hidden life, and reflect on the fragile waters it depends on.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Also, you don't record that. Okay. You have to get it. Okay. So the hammer cook is this uh medium, relatively small bird, water bird, actually, but is mostly found in the woodlands far some distance away from the water.

SPEAKER_09 1:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

And its general appearance, it is brownish in color with this uh elected crest back at his head. So when you look at it, it looks like a hammer. That's where it gets its name. The hammer-shaped head. It's in if it's family, it is the only one there. It doesn't have a relative. So some people call it um Kamzinzi. That is Roshiga Runyanko Kamzinzi. Yes.

SPEAKER_08 2:08

That's Patricia, one of Uganda's rising female birds. She's part of a new generation mentored by Herbert Biaruhanga and a proud member of the Women Buddha's Club. Scientifically, it's called Scopus Ambreta.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

Okay. And Hamakoop is an African bird, it doesn't exist outside this continent. It feeds almost like Hadada Ibis in terms of food selection. The snails, the frogs, insects. Um at one point it was seen in Gayaza taking a young chick. Like a very, very young chick, chicken, yes. Wow. Grazing away from from the courtyard. It was seen taking away the chicks, but it is uh it takes mollusk molluscs and other amphibians for food.

SPEAKER_08 3:16

Now, if you've listened to our previous episodes, I don't have to reintroduce Robert Bahindi.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

It makes the biggest nest. Its nest measures around 50 kilograms. You can imagine 50 kilograms, and when it is going to nest, it looks for that big tree, yeah, which has big forks or big branches and targets in the middle where it can put all its weight of nest.

SPEAKER_09 3:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

Its nest is described as a doomed, doomed nest. It's a huge thing, and col it collects anything, anything that comes its way.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

One single nest could be having 15,000 bits of pieces and policy bags, people's clothes, metal, wires, whatever it meets at its way.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

So because of all that that puts at its nest, some people fear it.

SPEAKER_08 4:20

Yes, that's because Mr. Yaranga, you can even find bones, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

You can imagine how can a small bird doesn't eat a bone, but the bones are on its nest.

SPEAKER_03 4:32

Uh it can use the same nest over and over because every season they come and renovate.

SPEAKER_08 4:39

That voice you hear belongs to Habert Yaruhanga, widely regarded as the father of birds in Uganda and across East Africa. Hubbard has spent decades studying birds, guiding birders, and mentoring generations of nature lovers. His deep knowledge and lifelong dedication to bird conservation has shaped how many of us see and understand the natural world. I had the chance to record one of his classes while he was mentoring young birders at Lake Embro National Park in southwestern Uganda, where I was one of the students.

SPEAKER_03 5:16

Birders, when they are walking, they're not walking like as if they just died. You are looking for birds, top of the trees, where there are flowers and openings, open branches. That's how they are able to see birds. But if you are walking like you are the villager in your village, it doesn't make sense. You will waste time coming here. We have to learn. When we are walking, we are paying attention. Pay attention to the I'm listening, I'm hearing, I'm trying to listen to everything, and also looking through the branches.

SPEAKER_08 5:42

And right at this spot, up on Anakasha branch, there was a hammer cop nest.

SPEAKER_03 5:48

The hammer cop carries bones. That's why they fear that nest that can carry even the bones of the human being. And you know the the the the the the the witch people, yes, they they you will have bones in their uh ancestral homes. They have bones of people, tails of animals, all sorts of things. Yes, they just scare people. When you go there, they scare you, and you accept and you give them money. But because of that, it carries it carries every material that it finds, everything that nest has lots of materials metallic ones, grasses, clothes, everything. It keeps spiring on top. So guys, take care of your understanding if it is a nesting and has started building a nest, it can carry anything. Yes.

SPEAKER_08 6:41

Now you might be asking yourself, how does a bird this small end up building a nest that can weigh up to 50 kilograms? Is it showing off? Is it luxury? Not at all. What's really going on here is about safety, commitment, and the length nature goes to protect life.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

When it lays eggs inside the nest, the surrounding temperature inside the nest facilitates for that egg to hatch faster. If it detects there is not enough temperature, it will keep on adding on top.

SPEAKER_08 7:24

More material.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

Yeah, so the bigger the nest, the higher the success for the young ones to hatch into mature birds, and the smaller the nest is the the the failure of the eggs to hatch. So that huge nest is for it to multiply its population.

SPEAKER_08 7:54

In some parts of Uganda, the hammercop is nicknamed the landlord bird. Yeah, you heard that the landlord. Why?

SPEAKER_03 8:06

But that very nest, it can be used by other birds, like the uh old Egyptian geese, they can come and nest on top. Because hammercop has no business with them and cannot chest them, but it uses it, it enters from the side.

SPEAKER_02 8:22

The eagles like the the wobug's eagle. We use the nest on top to lay the the eggs, the yellow billed stalks. They also use in Budongo, they were using it the when the hammercop is under, there is a yellow bill stalk nest on top, adding on.

SPEAKER_06 8:43

So we are we also met it in Lake Amborough where there were Egyptian geese on top of the uh the nest of the hammer cop, and the hammercop was under.

SPEAKER_05 9:07

Um the scenario is uh there's two pairs of Egyptian geese and they are fighting over rights over uh rent on top of the hammer cops nest. So, but you know it's not their nest, they didn't build it, but they're fighting to keep their nest, so that's I think why we are so much interested in this.

SPEAKER_08 9:38

The primary reason other species use the nests is that building a large weather-resistant nest is energetically expensive. So using a ready-made structure is a sensible breeding strategy for them. You may call it opportunistic occupation. There are some cases where species like the Varexis ego owl, the burn owl, and Egyptian goose have actively evicted the hammer co pair and taken over an active nest. However, those seem to be rare cases.

SPEAKER_03 10:18

As it is, it can fight any other bird that comes near the nest to protect it. It cannot allow any other bird to come there, except those which are not harmful. Yeah, but also they may not be breeding around the same time. Yes, because birds become very aggressive when they have chicks, when they have eggs. That's when they are very, very aggressive. I've seen small birds like the roaras, um bubbits chasing big birds from near their territory because of having chicks.

SPEAKER_08 11:01

The real question is how does this nest look inside?

SPEAKER_03 11:06

I've never opened it, I've never had a chance of opening it because of culture attachment. People think if you touch on that nest, it has a lot of superstition on it, has a lot of, you know, it scares us so much. You know, it scares you so much when you are growing. So I've not had a chance of doing research, and I cut the tree and open myself. I've not had that chance. But if I get a chance, I will open it. I want because they say a lot of things about the camera cop's nest. You know, you always find it in uh protected areas. Here it is protected by law, you cannot cut that tree, you cannot even stamper with it. The rangers will arrest you. Yes, it is not allowed when the communities you can't see it. So it's I would love to see one of you should be able to come and say, I'm gonna I should do research on it and come up with real information. When you're doing research, you can even get an opportunity to open that nest to see what is inside. You don't risk your life, you just there's nothing you can go with to do. It collects everything, fine. You think my hamacup has anything to do with you? Nothing. It's a bird like any other bird.

SPEAKER_08 12:21

It may be just another bird, but its nest is untouchable. The stories carried around it have drawn an invisible line, no one dares to cross.

SPEAKER_03 12:32

So many stories about that. Every location where you are has a different story. Others have stories in Western Uganda that if you put a road across there, the hammer cop will go to fetch water to come and do it because it thinks it's fire. But I don't know whether it is related to real. But that's what people talk about. We found it there and we live with it.

SPEAKER_08 12:53

But beyond the stories and culture beliefs, what does the hammer cop mean to the people who share everyday life with it? To understand that we speak to a fisherman, boat rider, and lockbird guide at Mabamba swamp. Between fishing trips and guiding tourists through the wetlands in search of birds like the shoe bill, he has spent years observing the hammercop and listening to stories surrounding it. He shares what he knows about the bird, including a story about how his in-law got into trouble after cutting down a tree that had a hammercop nest. I once saw someone cut one down. He was my in-law. I told him it was bad luck. He brought a machine and cut down the tree. After it fell, it bounced to the other side, and a branch struck and broke his arm. And there were no other trees around. That's why they say the hammer cop is a bird of bad luck. Us boat riders, whenever it lands on your boat, you quickly chase it away. Even if you are taking tourists and the hammer cop lands on your boat, you won't get a tip.

SPEAKER_07 14:32

Where you live, the Abachiga, so they call it Kamzinzi. This is justice.

SPEAKER_08 14:37

He is one of those rising, promising birds in the country.

SPEAKER_07 14:43

Yeah, Kamzinzi, it's because of its movements that uh what gives it um the cultural attachments whereby they say, in case you find the nest in the tree, even if it is uh on top of your house, uh you're not supposed to cut the tree or to destroy the nesting.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

Reason being zinc uh the daily movement you cut the tree or destroy the nest, your family or relatives, they will keep moving.

SPEAKER_07 15:26

They will never say the body also keeps moving every day. And another thing they say that uh when you destroy or cut in the tree where the nest is it will be dropped by thunder. And uh that has lowered more efforts towards conservation of this body where many people fear and they conserve their body.

SPEAKER_08 15:51

Cultural stories and myths where our first conservation laws you know passed down by our great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers. They taught respect for nature long before conservation had a name.

SPEAKER_07 16:06

I actually appreciate the efforts of our great-great um grandparents because uh they saw the bird is not eating people's clubs, it's not destroying the houses or settlements of people. And uh they were like, How can you go and just destroy the nest? The bird is in its harmony, it's not abusing you, it's not destroying any of your property. How do you go and destroy? And then they brought that knowledge wisely to conserve these birds.

SPEAKER_08 16:47

Before we close this episode, it's worth pausing to appreciate just how much intention goes into the hammer cob's family life. Here in East Africa, breeding can happen almost all year, though it often peaks around the drier months. When the time is right, a pair commits weeks, sometimes months, to build one of the most remarkable nests in the bird world. Inside that nest, the female lays between three and seven eggs, and for about 30 days, both parents take turns incubating them. When the chicks hatch, the work continues. Both parents feed and protect them until they are ready to leave the nest at around seven weeks. But even then, the bond doesn't break immediately. The younger ones keep returning, roosting there, learning the rhythms of the world just a little longer. And then there are behaviors that make the hammer cop even more intriguing. One of them is known as false mounting. This is when two birds, and sometimes even more, take turns jumping onto each other's backs, flapping their wings, and calling loudly without actually mating. It may look confusing at first, but researchers believe this behavior helps strengthen bonds between pairs and acts as a form of social communication. A way of saying we belong together in a world where cooperation is key. And I asked Abdon, the co-founder of the center, what inspired the choice?

SPEAKER_04 19:01

Thank you, Brother Sozie, for asking about the naming of the Hammer Cop cottage of at Impanga Nature Center. The story behind is uh is an interesting one. We agreed as uh the co-founders to name all the structures at the center after the biologically distinctive species, and particularly birds. Uh of course, the hammercope is not a forest bird, but we thought uh visitors and even tourists would be interested in this very uh distinctive species. So that's the simple uh background about the naming. But on a personal level, a couple years ago, and I've been a tour guide for so many years for the last 20 years, I did get a special request of someone from the United States who was interested in backing off his list uh two species, but you are the hammer cop and the camper pigeon. So he arrived in Uganda, we got to see the hammer cop very quickly. We actually got it in uh in Mavamba. Uh it uh there happens to be a nest of hammer cop as well, right there. So that was uh easy. So we made some money on this, and some of that money actually came to the to to the construction of this very uh cottage. Uh maybe to extrapolate this. I did go on a long trip to look for the other species that he wanted on his list. Uh marked off, this was the pamper pigeon. So we took the road trip all the way to the pamper islands in the western Indian Ocean. And I couldn't, despite all the uh all the help from the local tour guides, I couldn't find the pamper pigeon. It's a very endangered, and uh, we hope that the hammer cock doesn't follow that the trend. Maybe to end this, I know your uh listeners will probably be interested. We look forward to actually make these corrections with all the young learners and students who visit us should be able to see and learn more about these distinctive species at the center. Thank you again.

SPEAKER_08 21:22

Mpanga Nature Center is a conservation and nature education hub located on the edge of Mpanga Forest. The center offers guided forest walks, birding experiences, environmental education programs, and community-led conservation activities. Visitors can also enjoy local cuisine, stay in eco-friendly cabins named after forest birds, or camp under the forest canopy. Through tourism, learning, and community involvement, Banga Nature Center works to protect the forest while creating meaningful connections between people. And nature. As the sun lowers and the wetlands grow quiet, the hammer cop returns to its nest. Stone by stone, story by story. In its wings live the echoes of our ancestors, the lessons they left behind, and a reminder that caring for nature begins with listening. May we remember these stories, protect the places they come from, and carry this respect forward. For the birds, for the land, and for those yet to come. If you enjoy Birds of Uganda Podcast, please subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and share it with friends and family. You can also support the podcast by donating through the link in the description. Your support helps us continue researching, recording, and sharing stories that celebrate and protect Uganda's birds and natural heritage. I want to continually improve the Birds of Uganda podcast. So I would love to hear your thoughts and comments you have about the show. Let me know by sending an email to Sozie at goreacreatives.org. Sozie with a double S.