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The following are largely unconfirmed records from Bulletins of the African Bird Club and are for information only.

A belated report was received of a Lesser Spotted Eagle Aquila pomarina along the Bas-Kouilou road, near Pointe-Noire, on 24 May 2003; the only previous records are from Odzala and near Bomassa. Also in the Pointe-Noire area, three Greater Painted-snipe Rostratula benghalensis and a White-browed Coucal Centropus superciliosus were seen at a wetland on 19 April 2005. Bob-tailed Weaver Brachycope anomala was recorded adjacent to the cataracts of the Congo River at Brazzaville on 4 May; this is the southernmost record in the country.

In the Pointe-Noire area at the coast, the following records were made in 2002–2004. Great White Pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus (seen on 27 October 2003), Greater Painted-snipe Rostratula benghalensis (seen on many occasions) and Broad-billed Sandpiper Limicola falcinellus (a group of about six on 27 October 2003 and possibly the same on 28 January 2004), appear to be additions to the Congo list. Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus was seen on 29 January 2004; this species was previously known only from a single, old, inland record. Single Namaqua Doves Oena capensis were observed on 22 November 2002 and 23 May 2003 at two different sites; there are few records of this species for Congo. White-browed Coucal Centropus superciliosus was noted on 26 January and 21 May 2003, also at two different sites; there is only one previous record for Congo, from 1991, also from Pointe-Noire.

A pair of Familiar Chats Cercomela familiaris found at Ngouédi close to the DR Congo border halfway between Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville on 12 September 2004, appears to be another first for the country.

In August–November 2004, over 40 species were added to the Lac Télé list, which now totals almost 340 species, amongst which were Wahlberg's Eagle Aquila wahlbergi (a few migrating through in October), Kurrichane Buttonquail Turnix sylvaticus (common in flooded grassland), Striped Crake Aenigmatolimnas marginalis (two seen), White-winged Tern Chlidonias leucopterus (two on 24 November), Green Turaco Tauraco persa, Marsh Owl Asio capensis, Cassin's Spinetail Neafrapus cassini, Cassin's Honeybird Prodotiscus insignis, Grey-rumped Swallow Pseudhirundo griseopyga, Red-throated Cliff Swallow Hirundo rufigula (common in August–October), Golden Greenbul Calyptocichla serina, White-bearded Greenbul Criniger ndussumensis, Bates's Paradise-Flycatcher Terpsiphone batesi, Reichenbach's Sunbird Anabathmis reichenbachii, Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio and White-collared Starling Grafisia torquata. Other species of interest included Pink-backed Pelican Pelecanus rufescens (a former breeding species apparently hunted to extinction in the 1980s) and Eurasian Hobby Falco subbuteo (c10 passing through in October).

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In the same period, Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus was seen near Impfondo and Hoopoe Upupa epops at Kabo, north of Ouesso. Four Forest Swallows Hirundo fuliginosa were seen near Bomassa, Nouabale-Ndoki National Park in July.

An Ayres’s Hawk Eagle Hieraaetus ayresii, seen at Mbeli Bai on 28 December 2000, apparently constitutes only the second record for the country. The first European White Storks Ciconia ciconia for the country were recorded on 23 February 2000, when eight individuals were sighted in the company of Wooly-necked Storks C. episcopus along the Likouala aux Herbes, at the Bally river mouth in northern Congo.

The first Yellow White-eyes Zosterops senegalensis for the country were found in several places along the Dja and Ngoko rivers from Ndongo to Moloundou in December 1997 and January 1998.

F. Dowsett-Lemaire and R.J.Dowsett added many species to the Congo list. During nine months in Odzala National Park from July 1994, the rare Eastern Wattled Cuckoo-Shrike Lobotos oriolinus was the most exciting and Grey Penduline Tit Anthoscopus caroli perhaps the least expected. Intra-African vagrants included Purple Swamphen Porphyrio porphyrio and White-throated Swallow Hirundo albigularis (the most northerly, apart from a record in Cameroon mentioned in Birds of Africa, for which supporting details cannot be traced). Bronze-winged Courser Rhinoptilus chalcopterus (only one previous record) proved not to be rare. Although clearly off the major Palearctic flight lines, among the vagrants added were Pallid Swift Apus pallidus and Red-throated Pipit Anthus cervinus, while confirming the occurrence of the odd Black-winged Pratincole Glareola nordmanni and Collared Flycatcher Ficedula albicollis. A population of Southern Blue Waxbills Uraeginthus angolensis at Brazzaville seems to be well established. A three-week visit in April and May 1997 to the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in the extreme north of the Congo produced four additions to the country’s list: Ayres’s Hawk Eagle Hieraaetus ayresii, Brown Nightjar Caprimulgus binotatus, Zenker’s Honeyguide Melignomon zenkeri and Grant’s Bluebill Spermophaga poliogenys. The unknown nightjar from south-east Cameroon, which had already been located here in 1996, was found again and tape-recorded.

Last page update 13th November 2007

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