SUB-REGION
West Africa
SIZE
112,622 km²
BIRDS AND BIRDING
SPECIES
Diversity
Strongly Afrotropical avifauna
Approximately 580 recorded species
Birds best found in Benin but occurring more widely
Anambra Waxbill
Proposed splits not yet accepted by IOC
Black-shouldered Nightjar
Etchécopar’s Owlet
Central African Hoopoe
Western Piping Hornbill
Glossy-backed Drongo
Western Square-tailed Drongo
West African Swallow
Yellow-bellied Crombec
Western Buff-throated Apalis
Black-crowned Capuchin Babbler
African Scrub Robin
Dahomey Forest Robin
Black-faced Quailfinch
Grey Firefinch
More Guineo-Congolian endemics or near-endemics occurring in Benin
Ahanta Spurfowl
Guinea Turaco
Black-throated Coucal
Western Bronze-naped Pigeon
White-spotted Flufftail
White-crested Tiger Heron
Red-thighed Sparrowhawk
Vermiculated Fishing Owl
West African Pied Hornbill
Western Long-tailed Hornbill
Blue-throated Roller
Rosy Bee-eater
Speckled Tinkerbird
Yellow-throated Tinkerbird
Hairy-breasted Barbet
Spotted Honeyguide
Buff-spotted Woodpecker
Fire-bellied Woodpecker
West African Wattle-eye
Red-cheeked Wattle-eye
Sabine’s Puffback
Red-billed Helmetshrike
African Shrike-flycatcher
Black-winged Oriole
Red-bellied Paradise Flycatcher
Western Nicator
Red-tailed Bristlebill
Grey-headed Bristlebill
Swamp Palm Bulbul
Simple Greenbul
Western Bearded Greenbul
Red-tailed Greenbul
Plain Greenbul
White-throated Greenbul
Leaf-love
Baumann’s Olive Greenbul
Grey Longbill
Green Hylia
Tit Hylia
Yellow-browed Camaroptera
Olive-green Camaroptera
Brown Illadopsis
Puvel’s Illadopsis
Chestnut-winged Starling
White-browed Forest Flycatcher
Fraser’s Forest Flycatcher
Mangrove Sunbird
Little Green Sunbird
Buff-throated Sunbird
Tiny Sunbird
Superb Sunbird
Chestnut-and-black Weaver
Yellow-mantled Weaver
Red-vented Malimbe
Blue-billed Malimbe
Red-headed Malimbe
Chestnut-breasted Nigrita
Pale-fronted Nigrita
Western Bluebill
Black-bellied Seedcracker
Sudanian endemics or near-endemics occurring in Benin
Violet Turaco
Four-banded Sandgrouse
Beaudouin’s Snake Eagle
Blue-bellied Roller
Red-throated Bee-eater
Bearded Barbet
Fox Kestrel
Senegal Parrot
Yellow-billed Shrike
Emin’s Shrike
Piapiac
Yellow Penduline Tit
Rufous-rumped Lark
Sun Lark
Pied-winged Swallow
Dorst’s Cisticola
Rufous Cisticola
Oriole Warbler
Senegal Eremomela
Blackcap Babbler
Bronze-tailed Starling
Purple Starling
White-crowned Robin-Chat
White-fronted Black Chat
Splendid Sunbird
Sahel Bush Sparrow
Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-Weaver
Heuglin’s Masked Weaver
Grey-headed Oliveback
Lavender Waxbill
Black-rumped Waxbill
Red-winged Pytilia
Black-bellied Firefinch
Bar-breasted Firefinch
Barka Indigobird
Wilson’s Indigobird
Quailfinch Indigobird
Exclamatory Paradise Whydah
West African Seedeater
Brown-rumped Bunting
Other taxa of interest (see also under Birding Sites)
African Pygmy Goose
Stone Partridge
White-throated Francolin
Double-spurred Spurfowl
Plain Nightjar
Long-tailed Nightjar
Standard-winged Nightjar
Mottled Spinetail
African Palm Swift
Western Plantain-eater
Senegal Coucal
Blue Malkoha
Levaillant’s Cuckoo
Diederik Cuckoo
Klaas’s Cuckoo
African Cuckoo
Red-eyed Dove
Vinaceous Dove
Laughing Dove
Black-billed Wood Dove
Blue-spotted Wood Dove
African Green Pigeon
African Finfoot
Greater Painted-snipe
Temminck’s Courser
Grey Pratincole
Dwarf Bittern
White-backed Night Heron
Palm-nut Vulture
African Cuckoo-Hawk
Hooded Vulture
Brown Snake Eagle
Western Banded Snake Eagle
Long-crested Eagle
Lizard Buzzard
Gabar Goshawk
Dark Chanting Goshawk
Shikra
Yellow-billed Kite
Grasshopper Buzzard
Red-necked Buzzard
Pearl-spotted Owlet
African Scops Owl
Northern White-faced Owl
Greyish Eagle-Owl
Narina Trogon
Green Wood Hoopoe
Black Scimitarbill
African Grey Hornbill
Purple Roller
Broad-billed Roller
Grey-headed Kingfisher
Striped Kingfisher
Blue-breasted Kingfisher
Woodland Kingfisher
African Pygmy Kingfisher
Shining-blue Kingfisher
Little Bee-eater
White-throated Bee-eater
Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird
Vieillot’s Barbet
Lesser Honeyguide
Fine-spotted Woodpecker
African Grey Woodpecker
Grey Kestrel
African Hobby
Lanner Falcon
Senegal Parrot
Red-headed Lovebird
Senegal Batis
Brown-throated Wattle-eye
Grey-headed Bushshrike
Orange-breasted Bushshrike
Black-crowned Tchagra
Northern Puffback
Tropical Boubou
White-crested Helmetshrike
Red-shouldered Cuckooshrike
African Golden Oriole
African Paradise Flycatcher
Pied Crow
African Blue Flycatcher
Yellow-gorgeted Greenbul
Common Bulbul
Ethiopian Swallow
Lesser Striped Swallow
Mosque Swallow
Preuss’s Cliff Swallow
Moustached Grass Warbler
Northern Crombec
Red-faced Cisticola
Singing Cisticola
Whistling Cisticola
Short-winged Cisticola
Tawny-flanked Prinia
Red-winged Prinia
Yellow-breasted Apalis
Grey-backed Camaroptera
Northern Yellow White-eye
Brown Babbler
Violet-backed Starling
African Thrush
Grey Tit-Flycatcher
Northern Black Flycatcher
Snowy-crowned Robin-Chat
Green-headed Sunbird
Scarlet-chested Sunbird
Variable Sunbird
Copper Sunbird
Northern Grey-headed Sparrow
Little Weaver
Olive-naped Weaver
Village Weaver
Red-headed Quelea
Black-winged Red Bishop
Yellow-mantled Widowbird
Bronze Mannikin
Orange-cheeked Waxbill
Red-billed Firefinch
African Firefinch
Village Indigobird
Cameroon Indigobird
Pin-tailed Whydah
African Pied Wagtail
Yellow-fronted Canary
MAIN HABITATS
Grassy river valleys, Guinea woodland, lowland forest, arid savanna
BIRD AREAS
6 Important Bird Areas
BIRDING SITES
Lower Ouémé and Sô Floodplain for Anambra Waxbill, also Swamp Nightjar and Marsh Owl, as well as Blue-headed Coucal, Black Coucal, Red-chested Flufftail, African Crake, Allen’s Gallinule, Black Crake, Senegal Lapwing, Forbes’s Plover, Collared Pratincole, Pied Kingfisher, Marsh Tchagra, Yellow-crowned Gonolek, Northern Fiscal, Red-breasted Swallow, Greater Swamp Warbler, Little Rush Warbler, Winding Cisticola, Black-headed Weaver, Compact Weaver, Yellow-crowned Bishop, Northern Red Bishop, Orange-breasted Waxbill, Cuckoo-finch, Yellow-throated Longclaw and Plain-backed Pipit
Lama Forest, Lokoli Swamp Forest, Pobè & Niaouli Forests for Guineo-Congolian species, as well as Western Crested Guineafowl, African Emerald Cuckoo, Black Cuckoo, Tambourine Dove, Red-chested Goshawk, Black Sparrowhawk, African Wood Owl, Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, Little Green Woodpecker, Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher, Purple-throated Cuckooshrike, Slender-billed Greenbul, Little Greenbul, Yellow-whiskered Greenbul, Ashy Flycatcher, Collared Sunbird, Olive Sunbird, Olive-bellied Sunbird, Thick-billed Weaver, Black-and-white Mannikin and Grey-headed Nigrita
Ouémé River for Egyptian Plover, as well as Senegal Thick-knee, White-crowned Lapwing, Rock Pratincole, Striated Heron and Giant Kingfisher
Ouémé Supérieur, Ouari Maro & Monts Kouffé Forests for a mix of forest and savanna woodland species including Black-bellied Bustard, Thick-billed Cuckoo, Swallow-tailed Bee-eater, Willcocks’s Honeyguide, Golden-tailed Woodpecker, Cardinal Woodpecker, Brown-backed Woodpecker, White-breasted Cuckooshrike, White-shouldered Black Tit, Yellow-bellied Hyliota, Lesser Blue-eared Starling, Pale Flycatcher, Western Violet-backed Sunbird, Red-headed Weaver and Cabanis’s Bunting
Pendjari National Park (NP) & W NP for Sudanian, other savanna woodland and Sahelian species including Helmeted Guineafowl, Horus Swift, Denham’s Bustard, White-bellied Bustard, Savile’s Bustard, Black Coucal, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Jacobin Cuckoo, Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse, Four-banded Sandgrouse, Speckled Pigeon, African Mourning Dove, Namaqua Dove, Bruce’s Green Pigeon, Black Crowned Crane, Common Buttonquail, Spotted Thick-knee, Black-headed Lapwing, Bronze-winged Courser, Hadada Ibis, Marabou Stork, Abdim’s Stork, Black-headed Heron, Secretarybird, Scissor-tailed Kite, White-backed Vulture, Rüppell’s Vulture, White-headed Vulture, Lappet-faced Vulture, Bateleur, Martial Eagle, Wahlberg’s Eagle, Tawny Eagle, African Hawk-Eagle, Ovambo Sparrowhawk, Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl, Pel’s Fishing Owl, Eurasian Hoopoe (senegalensis), Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, Northern Red-billed Hornbill, Abyssinian Roller, African Green Bee-eater, Northern Carmine Bee-eater, Greater Honeyguide, Red-necked Falcon, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Yellow-crowned Gonolek, Brubru, Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark, Flappet Lark, Crested Lark, Fanti Saw-wing, Brown-throated Martin, Grey-rumped Swallow, Red-chested Swallow, Winding Cisticola, Croaking Cisticola, Zitting Cisticola, Black-backed Cisticola, Greater Blue-eared Starling, Long-tailed Glossy Starling, Chestnut-bellied Starling, Yellow-billed Oxpecker, Black Scrub Robin, Swamp Flycatcher, Heuglin’s Wheatear, Pygmy Sunbird, Beautiful Sunbird, White-billed Buffalo Weaver, Speckle-fronted Weaver, Vitelline Masked Weaver, Black-headed Weaver, Red-billed Quelea, Yellow-crowned Bishop, Northern Red Bishop, African Silverbill, Quailfinch (atricollis), Cut-throat Finch, Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu, Green-winged Pytilia, Yellow-winged Pytilia, Sahel Paradise Whydah, White-rumped Seedeater and Golden-breasted Bunting, as well as Spur-winged Goose, Knob-billed Duck, Streaky-breasted Flufftail, Lesser Moorhen, Spur-winged Lapwing, African Wattled Lapwing, Yellow-billed Stork, Saddle-billed Stork, African Woolly-necked Stork, African Sacred Ibis, Goliath Heron, Hamerkop and African Fish Eagle among other waterbirds
Inselbergs for Freckled Nightjar, Red-throated Rock Martin, Rock-loving Cisticola (admiralis), White-crowned Cliff Chat, Familiar Chat and Gosling’s Bunting
Coast (Grand-Popo, Bouche du Roy, Lake Nokoué & Porto-Novo Lagoon) for waterbirds including White-faced Whistling Duck, Common Moorhen, African Swamphen, Water Thick-knee, Black-winged Stilt, Spur-winged Lapwing, Kittlitz’s Plover, White-fronted Plover, African Jacana, African Skimmer, Damara Tern, West African Crested Tern, Grey-headed Gull, African Openbill, Reed Cormorant, Little Bittern, Black-crowned Night Heron, Black Heron, Little Egret, Western Reef Heron, Squacco Heron, Great Egret, Yellow-billed Egret, Grey Heron and Purple Heron, as well as Malachite Kingfisher, Double-toothed Barbet, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Zitting Cisticola, Splendid Starling, Long-tailed Glossy Starling, Long-legged Pipit, Carmelite Sunbird, Slender-billed Weaver and Orange Weaver
TIMING (Oct–Nov, Apr)
Best to travel in the dry season (Sep–Apr) when access is easier and Afro-Palearctic migrants are present
Most birds breed Apr–Jul
Avoid the middle of the rains (May–Jul)
RESOURCES
Apps
Birds of Africa (iOS or Android)
Field guides
Birds of Western Africa by Nik Borrow & Ron Demey (2014)
Sounds
African Bird Sounds Vol 2: West and Central Africa by Claude Chappuis
Further reading
The Birds of Benin and Togo: an Atlas and Handbook by Françoise Dowsett-Lemaire & Robert J Dowsett (2019)
Les Oiseaux du Complexe WAP by Gilles Balança, Daniel Cornélis & Roger Wilson (2007)
Benin by R A Cheke in Important Bird Areas in Africa and Associated Islands: Priority Sites for Conservation edited by Lincoln D C Fishpool & Michael I Evans (2001)
Articles in Malimbus, Bull. ABC, etc.
Websites
W-Arly-Pendjari Complex – UNESCO World Heritage List
Benin Tours – Ashanti African Tours
Facebook groups
Birds of Pendjari , W and Arly Parks
ORGANISATIONS
There is currently no BirdLife Partner in Benin
Bird or conservation organisations active in Benin include –
Nature Tropicale (NT-ONG) – Musée des Sciences Naturelles à Cotonou
Benin Environment and Education Society (BEES-ONG)
SOS Savane
Amis de l’Afrique Francophone-Bénin (AMAF-BENIN)
Africa Mobile Nature (AMN-ONG)
Eco-Bénin
Union des Associations Villageoises de Gestion des Réserves de Faune (U-AVIGREF)
Coordination pour la Recherche et le Développement en Environnement (CoRDE-ONG)
Centre de Recherche et de Gestion de la Biodiversité et du Terroir (CERGET)
African Parks: Pendjari National Park and W National Park
IITA-Benin