• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Map
• Reference and further resources

Site description (2001 baseline)
The shallow Lake Bisina covers an area of about 192 km², and is some 32 km long by 6 km wide, with a thin strip of fringing papyrus (Cyperus papyrus) swamp. The major river entering the lake is the Apedura, which flows from the north. It has a 30-km long and up to 6.5-km wide flood-plain. The IBA includes the marsh at the south-western end of the lake, beginning with a shallow part dominated by submerged and partially submerged plants such as Nymphaea, Najas and Ceratophyllum. The lake edge is covered by floating grass Vossia that extends into seasonal Hyparrhenia-dominated grassland. Echinochloa grass also grows extensively in the swamp, forming strong mats on the edges of the marsh

Key biodiversity
See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species. Ploceus spekeoides appears to be common in the vicinity of water, at least during the breeding season. A total of 47 nests were counted in early August 1996, but it has not been recorded breeding since. The type-specimen was obtained from Nariam in central Teso. However, the swamp around Nariam has since been drained. The status of this species is not well-known, but its distribution seems to be restricted to the north-eastern part of Uganda. There have been unconfirmed records from Rhino Camp in Arua and south of Lake Kyoga near Nakasongola.Ploceus castanops breeds extensively in the short papyrus fringing the lake. Other notable papyrus species include Bradypterus carpalis, Cisticola carruthersi and Serinus koliensis. There is suitable habitat for the globally threatened Chloropeta gracilirostris, but the species has yet to be recorded.

Non-bird biodiversity: Local communities hunt the ungulate Tragelaphus spekii (LR/nt).

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Lake Bisina (Uganda). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/lake-bisina-iba-uganda on 22/11/2024.