SUB-REGION
East Africa
SIZE
27,830 km²
BIRDS AND BIRDING
SPECIES
Diversity
Strongly Afrotropical avifauna
Approximately 610 recorded species
Albertine Rift endemics (ARE) occurring (at least formerly) in Burundi
[Handsome Spurfowl]
Rwenzori Turaco
[Dwarf Honeyguide]
Rwenzori Batis
Albertine Sooty Boubou
[Willard’s Sooty Boubou]
Stripe-breasted Tit
Neumann’s Warbler
Red-faced Woodland Warbler
[Grauer’s Warbler]
[Grauer’s Swamp Warbler]
Rwenzori Apalis
Mountain Masked Apalis
[Kungwe Apalis]
[Red-collared Babbler]
Yellow-eyed Black Flycatcher
Red-throated Alethe
Archer’s Ground Robin
Blue-headed Sunbird
Purple-breasted Sunbird
Rwenzori Double-collared Sunbird
Regal Sunbird
Strange Weaver
[Shelley’s Crimsonwing]
Dusky Crimsonwing
Proposed splits not yet accepted by IOC
Schuett’s Spurfowl
Cranch’s Spurfowl
Black-shouldered Nightjar
Rwenzori Nightjar (ARE)
Black-faced Go-away-bird
Eastern Black-billed Turaco
Reichenow’s Turaco
White-breasted Cormorant
African Hoopoe
White-faced Barbet
Northern Olive Woodpecker
Grey-headed Parrot
Albertine Bushshrike (ARE)
Kakamega Greenbul
Dark-capped Bulbul
African Reed Warbler
Rufous-crowned Cisticola
Black-faced Prinia
Kivu Ground Thrush (ARE)
Ruaha Chat
Stuhlmann’s Weaver
Northern Red-headed Weaver
Black-fronted Red Bishop
Other taxa of interest (see also under Birding Sites)
[Ring-necked Francolin]
Hildebrandt’s Spurfowl
Eastern Plantain-eater
Purple-crested Turaco
Ross’s Turaco
Grey Crowned Crane
White-fronted Plover
African Skimmer
Pink-backed Pelican
African Marsh Harrier
[Trumpeter Hornbill]
White-fronted Bee-eater
[Blue-breasted Bee-eater]
Southern Carmine Bee-eater
Spot-flanked Barbet
[Red-faced Barbet]
[Papyrus Gonolek]
Black-headed Gonolek
[Souza’s Shrike]
[Rufous-bellied Tit]
Fischer’s Sparrow-Lark
Pale-throated Greenbul
White-headed Saw-wing
Long-billed Crombec
Greater Swamp Warbler
[Papyrus Yellow Warbler]
[White-winged Swamp Warbler]
Highland Rush Warbler
Trilling Cisticola
Chirping Cisticola
[Carruthers’s Cisticola]
Grey-capped Warbler
Miombo Wren-Warbler
Green-capped Eremomela
Hartlaub’s Babbler
Black-lored Babbler
Rüppell’s Starling
Kurrichane Thrush
[Miombo Scrub Robin]
Brown-backed Scrub Robin
Swamp Flycatcher
Collared Palm Thrush
Sooty Chat
Western Miombo Sunbird
Red-chested Sunbird
Slender-billed Weaver
[Northern Brown-throated Weaver]
Golden-backed Weaver
White-collared Oliveback
Orange-cheeked Waxbill
Fawn-breasted Waxbill
Blue Waxbill
[Orange-winged Pytilia]
Red-throated Twinspot
[Broad-tailed Paradise Whydah]
Cape Wagtail
Black-faced Canary
[Papyrus Canary]
National bird
Great Blue Turaco
MAIN HABITATS
Afromontane forest, swamps, savanna
BIRD AREAS
Albertine Rift mountains Endemic Bird Area
5 Important Bird Areas
BIRDING SITES
Kibira National Park (NP) and Teza Tea Plantation, Mount Heha and Bururi Forest Nature Reserve (NR) for Albertine Rift endemics including Montane Nightjar (ruwenzorii), [Lagden’s Bushshrike (centralis) and Abyssinian Ground Thrush (tanganjicae),] as well as Scarce Swift, Great Blue Turaco, Black-billed Turaco (emini), Blue-headed Coucal (fischeri), Blue Malkoha, African Emerald Cuckoo, Barred Long-tailed Cuckoo, African Olive Pigeon, Lemon Dove, Dusky Turtle Dove, Ayres’s Hawk-Eagle, Cassin’s Hawk-Eagle, Rufous-breasted Sparrowhawk, Augur Buzzard, Mountain Buzzard, Red-chested Owlet, Narina Trogon, [Bar-tailed Trogon,] White-headed Wood Hoopoe (jacksoni), Crowned Hornbill, Black-and-white-casqued Hornbill (subquadratus), Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater, [Western Tinkerbird (hildamariae),] Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird (jacksoni), [Least Honeyguide (pachyrhynchus),] Scaly-throated Honeyguide, Fine-banded Woodpecker, Olive Woodpecker (ruwenzori), [African Broadbill (meinertzhageni), Yellow-bellied Wattle-eye (graueri),] Doherty’s Bushshrike, Brown-crowned Tchagra (emini), Northern Puffback (malzacii), Lühder’s Bushshrike, Grey Cuckooshrike (purus), Mountain Oriole, Blue-mantled Crested Flycatcher (vivax), African Paradise Flycatcher (kivuensis), Northern Fiscal (capelli), Mackinnon’s Shrike, White-necked Raven, White-tailed Blue Flycatcher, White-tailed Crested Flycatcher, Slender-billed Greenbul, [Shelley’s Greenbul (kakamegae),] Kikuyu Mountain Greenbul, Yellow-whiskered Greenbul, Plain Greenbul, [Cabanis’s Greenbul (sucosus),] Yellow-streaked Greenbul (olivaceogriseus), Black Saw-wing, Red-throated Rock Martin, Angola Swallow, African Red-rumped Swallow, White-browed Crombec (chloronota), Mountain Yellow Warbler, Cinnamon Bracken Warbler, Chubb’s Cisticola, Short-winged Cisticola (ankole), Banded Prinia (obscura), White-chinned Prinia (reichenowi), Black-throated Apalis, Chestnut-throated Apalis, Grey Apalis, [Black-faced Rufous Warbler (vulpinus),] Rwenzori Hill Babbler, Green White-eye (stuhlmanni), [Brown Illadopsis (ugandae),] Mountain Illadopsis, Grey-chested Babbler, Slender-billed Starling, Waller’s Starling (elgonensis), Stuhlmann’s Starling, [Sharpe’s Starling,] African Thrush (graueri), Abyssinian Thrush (bambusicola), White-eyed Slaty Flycatcher (toruensis), African Dusky Flycatcher (pumila), White-starred Robin (ruwenzorii), Brown-chested Alethe (vandeweghei), Equatorial Akalat, Grey-winged Robin-Chat, Miombo Rock Thrush, African Stonechat (axillaris), Collared Sunbird (garguensis), Green-headed Sunbird (viridisplendens), Olive Sunbird (ragazzii), Bronze Sunbird, Malachite Sunbird, Northern Double-collared Sunbird (reichenowi), Variable Sunbird (igneiventris), Baglafecht Weaver (stuhlmanni), Black-billed Weaver (stephanophorus), Dark-backed Weaver (kigomaensis), [Brown-capped Weaver,] Yellow-bellied Waxbill (kilimensis), [Abyssinian Crimsonwing (ruwenzori),] Red-faced Crimsonwing (ocularis), Grey-headed Nigrita (schistaceus), Black-crowned Waxbill, Kandt’s Waxbill, [Red-headed Bluebill,] Dusky Twinspot (graueri), Mountain Wagtail, Thick-billed Seedeater (tanganjicae), Streaky Seedeater (graueri), Western Citril and Yellow-crowned Canary (sassii)
Rusizi NP, Ruvubu NP and Lake Rwihinda NR for swamp and savanna species, as well as waterbirds
Also Kigwena Forest NR, Rumonge NR, Karera Falls and Nyakazu Fault
TIMING (Jun–Aug)
Best in the main dry season when most montane birds breed (Jun–Sep)
The height of the rains (Mar–Apr, Dec) is best avoided
RESOURCES
Apps
Birds of Africa (iOS or Android)
eGuide to Birds of East Africa
Field guides
Birds of East Africa by Terry Stevenson & John Fanshawe (2020)
Sounds
African Bird Sounds Vol 2: West and Central Africa by Claude Chappuis
Further reading
Burundi by Samuel Kanyamibwa & Jean-Pierre Vande weghe in Important Bird Areas in Africa and Associated Islands: Priority Sites for Conservation edited by Lincoln D C Fishpool & Michael I Evans (2001)
Burundi’s Important Bird Areas: Status and Trends 2008 compiled by Léonidas Nkezabahizi & Dieudonné Bizimana (2009)
Burundi’s Important Bird Areas: Status and Trends 2009 compiled by Léonidas Nkezabahizi & Arsène Manirambona (2010)
Burundi’s Important Bird Areas: Status and Trends 2010 compiled by Léonidas Nkezabahizi & Arsène Manirambona (2011)
Articles in Scopus, Bull. ABC, Malimbus, Inyomvyi (ABN newsletter), etc.
ORGANISATIONS
Association Burundaise pour la Protection de la Nature (ABN), formerly Association Burundaise pour la Protection des Oiseaux, is the BirdLife Partner in Burundi
The East African Rarities Committee assesses records of new and very rare birds occurring in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi
Other bird or conservation organisations active in Burundi include –
Albertine Rift Conservation Society (ARCOS)
Association Assemble pour la Protection de l’Environnement (ASEPE) Dukingire Ibidukikije Asbl
Association des Amis de la Nature (AAN)
Association Protection des Ressources Naturelles pour le Bien-Être de la Population au Burundi (APRN/BEPB)
Association pour la Gestion Durable de la Biodiversité au Burundi (AGDB)
Association Catholique pour la Protection de l’Environnement au Burundi (ACAPE-Burundi)
Association Dusanurivyasambutse de Mubaragaza
Twizeyegukira (Rukoma Site Support Group)