SUB-REGION
Central Africa
SIZE
622,980 km²
BIRDS AND BIRDING
SPECIES
Diversity
Strongly Afrotropical avifauna
Approximately 750 recorded species
Near-endemics (NE)
Niam-niam Parrot
Birds best found in two territories but occurring in more (B2)
Schlegel’s Francolin
Proposed splits not yet accepted by IOC
Black-shouldered Nightjar
Congo Pied Hornbill
Eastern Piping Hornbill
Western Little Hornbill
Eastern Little Hornbill
Eastern Long-tailed Hornbill
(Western) Grey-throated Barbet
Eastern Yellow-spotted Barbet
Streaky-throated Barbet
Eastern Yellow-billed Barbet
Plain-backed Woodpecker
Western Buff-throated Apalis
Tawny-breasted Camaroptera
Grey-caped Capuchin Babbler
Sangha Forest Robin (would-be endemic)
Neumann’s Weaver
Black-faced Quailfinch
Grey Firefinch
Other taxa of interest
Plumed Guineafowl
Western Crested Guineafowl
Stone Partridge
Latham’s Francolin
Scaly Spurfowl
Heuglin’s Spurfowl
Standard-winged Nightjar
Pennant-winged Nightjar
Great Blue Turaco
Ross’s Turaco
Guinea Turaco
Black-billed Turaco
Denham’s Bustard
Thick-billed Cuckoo
Four-banded Sandgrouse
Afep Pigeon
Blue-headed Wood Dove
African Finfoot
White-spotted Flufftail
Red-chested Flufftail
Forbes’s Plover
Egyptian Plover
Rock Pratincole
Grey Pratincole
White-backed Night Heron
Long-tailed Hawk
Chestnut-flanked Sparrowhawk
Red-thighed Sparrowhawk
Grasshopper Buzzard
Fraser’s Eagle-Owl
Pel’s Fishing Owl
Vermiculated Fishing Owl
White-headed Wood Hoopoe
Black Scimitarbill
Abyssinian Ground Hornbill
Red-billed Dwarf Hornbill
Black-and-white-casqued Hornbill
Black-casqued Hornbill
Chocolate-backed Kingfisher
African Dwarf Kingfisher
White-bellied Kingfisher
Black-headed Bee-eater
Black Bee-eater
Northern Carmine Bee-eater
Sladen’s Barbet
Vieillot’s Barbet
White-headed Barbet
Double-toothed Barbet
Bearded Barbet
Zenker’s Honeyguide
Willcock’s Honeyguide
Least Honeyguide
Spotted Honeyguide
Lyre-tailed Honeyguide
Buff-spotted Woodpecker
Brown-eared Woodpecker
Fine-spotted Woodpecker
African Grey Woodpecker
Brown-backed Woodpecker
Grey Parrot
Red-headed Lovebird
Rufous-sided Broadbill
Grey-headed Batis
Western Black-headed Batis
Chestnut Wattle-eye
Yellow-bellied Wattle-eye
Fiery-breasted Bushshrike
Many-colored Bushshrike
Red-eyed Puffback
Lowland Sooty Boubou
Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher
Red-shouldered Cuckooshrike
Sharpe’s Drongo
Blue-headed Crested Flycatcher
Red-bellied Paradise Flycatcher
Dusky Crested Flycatcher
White-shouldered Black Tit
Dusky Tit
Yellow Penduline Tit
Western Nicator
Rufous-rumped Lark
Red-tailed Bristlebill
Yellow-eyed Bristlebill
Simple Greenbul
Honeyguide Greenbul
White-throated Greenbul
Red-tailed Leaflove
White-bibbed Swallow
Yellow Longbill
Green Crombec
Lemon-bellied Crombec
Green Hylia
Red-winged Prinia
Yellow-browed Camaroptera
Brown Illadopsis
Scaly-breasted Illadopsis
Blackcap Babbler
African Spotted Creeper
Lesser Blue-eared Starling
Splendid Starling
Long-tailed Glossy Starling
Neumann’s Starling
White-tailed Ant Thrush
Fire-crested Alethe
Forest Scrub Robin
White-browed Forest Flycatcher
Grey-throated Tit-Flycatcher
Grey Tit-Flycatcher
Gambaga Flycatcher
Cassin’s Flycatcher
African Dusky Flycatcher
Dusky-blue Flycatcher
Brown-chested Alethe
Grey-winged Robin-Chat
Blue-shouldered Robin-Chat
Sooty Chat
Western Violet-backed Sunbird
Violet-tailed Sunbird
Little Green Sunbird
Blue-throated Brown Sunbird
Green-throated Sunbird
Purple-banded Sunbird
Orange-tufted Sunbird
Palestine Sunbird
Splendid Sunbird
Superb Sunbird
Orange Weaver
Blue-billed Malimbe
Bob-tailed Weaver
Green Twinspot
Woodhouse’s Antpecker
White-breasted Nigrita
Chestnut-breasted Nigrita
Pale-fronted Nigrita
Black-crowned Waxbill
Red-headed Bluebill
Black-bellied Seedcracker
Dybowski’s Twinspot
Brown Twinspot
West African Seedeater
Gosling’s Bunting
MAIN HABITATS
Lowland forest, moist savanna
BIRD AREAS
8 Important Bird Areas
BIRDING SITES
Bangui for Preuss’s Cliff Swallow and Rufous-tailed Palm Thrush
Chinko for Spotted Thrush-Babbler
Dzanga-Ndoki National Park (NP) for Dja River Scrub Warbler plus lowland forest species including Black Guineafowl, Brown Nightjar, Bates’s Nightjar, Gabon Coucal, Yellow-throated Cuckoo, Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo, Olive Long-tailed Cuckoo, Western Bronze-naped Pigeon, Nkulengu Rail, Spot-breasted Ibis, White-crested Tiger Heron, Cassin’s Hawk-Eagle, Red-chested Owlet, Sjöstedt’s Barred Owlet, Sandy Scops Owl, Bare-cheeked Trogon, Forest Wood Hoopoe, White-thighed Hornbill, Blue-throated Roller, Blue-headed Bee-eater, Bristle-nosed Barbet, Cassin’s Honeybird, Yellow-crested Woodpecker, Gabon Woodpecker, Elliot’s Woodpecker, Red-fronted Parrot, Black-collared Lovebird, Grey-headed Broadbill, Green-breasted Pitta, Gabon Batis, West African Batis, White-spotted Wattle-eye, Bocage’s Bushshrike, Sabine’s Puffback, Lühder’s Bushshrike, Rufous-bellied Helmetshrike, African Shrike-flycatcher, Purple-throated Cuckooshrike, Eastern Wattled Cuckooshrike, Blue Cuckooshrike, Black-winged Oriole, Velvet-mantled Drongo, Shining Drongo, Bates’s Paradise Flycatcher, Grey-necked Rockfowl, Forest Penduline Tit, Yellow-throated Nicator, Golden Greenbul, Yellow-lored Bristlebill, Falkenstein’s Greenbul, Sjöstedt’s Greenbul, Eastern Bearded Greenbul, Red-tailed Greenbul, White-bearded Greenbul, Plain Greenbul, Little Grey Greenbul, Ansorge’s Greenbul, Xavier’s Greenbul, Icterine Greenbul, Grey Longbill, Chestnut-capped Flycatcher, Tit Hylia, Chattering Cisticola, Banded Prinia, Black-throated Apalis, Black-capped Apalis, Gosling’s Apalis, Black-faced Rufous Warbler, Rufous-crowned Eremomela, Forest White-eye, Pale-breasted Illadopsis, Blackcap Illadopsis, Purple-headed Starling, Chestnut-winged Starling, Narrow-tailed Starling, Fraser’s Rufous Thrush, Red-tailed Ant Thrush, Brown-backed Scrub Robin, Fraser’s Forest Flycatcher, Olivaceous Flycatcher, Little Grey Flycatcher, Yellow-footed Flycatcher, Sooty Flycatcher, Lowland Akalat, Fraser’s Sunbird, Reichenbach’s Sunbird, Tiny Sunbird, Johanna’s Sunbird, Bates’s Sunbird, Yellow-mantled Weaver, Maxwell’s Black Weaver, Preuss’s Weaver, Yellow-capped Weaver, Red-crowned Malimbe, Cassin’s Malimbe, Red-bellied Malimbe, Crested Malimbe, Grant’s Bluebill and Western Bluebill
Manovo-Gounda St Floris NP for Niam-niam Parrot plus Clapperton’s Spurfowl, White-crested Turaco, Brown-chested Lapwing, Blue-bellied Roller, Red-throated Bee-eater, Black-breasted Barbet, Speckle-breasted Woodpecker, Fox Kestrel, Senegal Parrot, Yellow-billed Shrike, Emin’s Shrike, Piapiac, Sun Lark, Red-pate Cisticola, Rufous Cisticola, Foxy Cisticola, Red-winged Grey Warbler, Oriole Warbler, Green-backed Eremomela, Purple Starling, Bronze-tailed Starling, White-collared Starling, White-crowned Robin-Chat, Heuglin’s Wheatear, White-fronted Black Chat, Beautiful Sunbird, Sahel Bush Sparrow, Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-Weaver, Heuglin’s Masked Weaver, Grey-headed Oliveback, Lavender Waxbill, Black-rumped Waxbill, Red-winged Pytilia, Yellow-winged Pytilia, Black-bellied Firefinch, Bar-breasted Firefinch, Wilson’s Indigobird, Cameroon Indigobird, Exclamatory Paradise Whydah and Brown-rumped Bunting
TIMING (Jan–Mar)
Best to go when it is dry to avoid access problems (Dec– Apr), which is probably when most forest birds breed
Avoid the main rains (Aug–Oct)
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
Découverte du Nord de la Centrafrique: sur les Terres de la Grand Faune by Willy Delvingt & José L P Lobão Tello (2004)
Central African Republic (République Centrafricaine) by R J Dowsett in Important Bird Areas in Africa and Associated Islands: Priority Sites for Conservation edited by Lincoln D C Fishpool & Michael I Evans (2001)
Les Oiseaux d’Afrique Centrale: Liste Faunistique by Patrice Christy & Jean Pierre Vande weghe (1999)
Articles in Malimbus, Bull. ABC, etc.
Websites
UNESCO World Heritage List: Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park and Sangha Trinational
Sangha Lodge
ORGANISATIONS
There is currently no BirdLife Partner in CAR
Bird or conservation organisations active in CAR include –
Association pour la Protection de la Faune en Centrafrique (APFC)
Réseau des Initiatives Communautaires d’Aménagement et de Gestion Intégrée des Ressources Naturelles de la Forêt de Bangassou (RICAGIRN-FB)
African Parks: Chinko
Chengeta Wildlife
WWF: Dzanga-Sangha
WCS