Species

Anambra Waxbill Estrilda poliopareia, Vulnerable
Sô-Ava, Lower Ouémé basin, southern Benin, 26 February 2011
Photo: Bruno Portier

Benin has a large variety of habitats from coastal to sahelian ecosystems through to a wide range of forests and savannahs. The range of habitats supports a broad avian diversity and some of the species and families which can be found in each habitat are list below:

Ubiquitous species: commensal species like Common Bulbul Pycnonotus barbatus, Laughing Dove Streptopelia senegalensis, Ethiopian Swallow Hirundo aethiopica and Piacpiac Ptilostomus afer;

Savannah-centered species: many raptors, rollers and bee-eaters;

Forest-centered species: with for instance Fire-bellied Woodpecker Dendropicos pyrrhogaster, Forest Robin Stiphrornis erythrothorax, Fraser's Forest Flycatcher Fraseria ocreata and many more;

Marsh / wetland-centered species: herons and allies, pratincoles, rails, waders and allies;

Outcrop / escarpment species: Rock Martin Ptyonoprogne fuligula, Mocking Cliff Chat Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris, Lazy Cisticola Cisticola aberrans etc;

Seabirds: mainly terns and gulls but this group is poorly known and many more seabirds species are likely to occur offshore. While the warm waters of the Bay of Benin are poor in phytoplanktons and consequently relatively poor in birdlife, it is still worth observing the birdlife.

This is especially true from April to October when the Bay of Benin may be subject to stormy conditions brought about by the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITZC) when wind blowing from the sea may bring pelagic species close to the shore line.

One may find West African residents, Palearctic migrants as well as intra-African migrants from central or south Africa. Two rare Nearctic vagrants were even found recently in Cotonou: American Golden Plover Pluvialis dominica and Buff-breasted Sandpiper Tryngites subruficollis.

Country checklist and status

Excel macro-enabled spreadsheets including the full country list, the coordinates of major birding sites and a template to facilitate fulfilling and submitting of bird records is available for download in either English or French. These were loaded onto the website on 19th January 2012.

While it is difficult to speculate on exactly how many species might be found in the country, it seems probable that it is well over 600. With a current total of 563, the list is certainly beginning to take shape, but there is a lack of detail and work remains to be done to establish its full extent and to fill in the larger picture: breeding, migration, status etc. Trips or studies by competent birders would clearly add a substantial amount of knowledge. Manners (2010) for instance discovered the first Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres for Benin in Cotonou in February 2011 but singles have been regularly encountered since and the species is doubtless annual in small numbers on the coast.

Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres
Cotonou airport beach, Southern Benin, 1st October 2011
Photo: Bruno Portier

Endemic species

There are no true endemic species in Benin however since the recent discovery of the Vulnerable Anambra Waxbill Estrilda poliopareia, formerly endemic to Nigeria, Benin shares with its eastern neighbour this species as a near-endemic.

Threatened species

The table below lists the species at threat at a global (international) level. More species face conservation issues at national level. See Neuenschwander et al. (2011) for more details.

Reference: BirdLife International (2010) The BirdLife checklist of the birds of the world, with conservation status and taxonomic sources.

Damara Terns Sterna balaenarum, Near Threatened
Cotonou harbour, Southern Benin, 11 September 2010
Photo: Bruno Portier

Last page update 20th January 2012