تشاد | Tchad | Chad

SUB-REGION
Sahel

SIZE
1,284,000 km² (5th largest country in Africa)

BIRDS AND BIRDING

SPECIES
Diversity
Afrotropical avifauna, but with many Afro-Palearctic migrants
Approximately 580 recorded species

Birds best found in Chad but occurring more widely (BT)
Nubian Bustard
Rusty Bush Lark
Kordofan Sparrow

Birds occurring in only two territories of the ABC region but not near-endemics (1/2)
Chad Firefinch | Reichenow’s Firefinch

Birds best found in two territories but occurring in more (B2)
Red-pate Cisticola

Proposed splits not yet accepted by IOC
Central African Hoopoe
Barbary Falcon
Desert Grey Shrike
Glossy-backed Drongo
Singing Bush Lark
West African Swallow
African Scrub Robin
Black-faced Quailfinch
Grey Firefinch

MAIN HABITATS
Desert, arid savanna, Guinea woodland

BIRD AREAS
8 Important Bird Areas

BIRDING SITES
Ouadi Rimé-Ouadi Achim Faunal Reserve and Ennedi Massif (Fada Archei Faunal Reserve) for Nubian Bustard among other desert or arid savanna species including Stone Partridge, Barbary Partridge, Egyptian Nightjar, Golden Nightjar, Mottled Swift, Pallid Swift, Arabian Bustard, Jacobin Cuckoo, Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse, Spotted Sandgrouse, Crowned Sandgrouse, Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse, Rock Dove (targia), European Turtle Dove (hoggara), African Collared Dove, Namaqua Dove, Common Moorhen, Common Buttonquail, Quail-plover, Cream-colored Courser, Scissor-tailed Kite, Egyptian Vulture, Lappet-faced Vulture, Verreaux’s Eagle, Little Owl (saharae), Northern White-faced Owl, Pharaoh Eagle-Owl, Eurasian Hoopoe (major), White-throated Bee-eater, African Green Bee-eater (flavoviridis), Yellow-breasted Barbet, Little Grey Woodpecker, Fox Kestrel, Lanner Falcon, Great Grey Shrike (leucopygos), Brown-necked Raven, Fan-tailed Raven, Sennar Penduline Tit, Greater Hoopoe-Lark, Desert Lark, Bar-tailed Lark, Black-crowned Sparrow-Lark, Singing Bush Lark (chadensis), Crested Lark (alexanderi), Dunn’s Lark, Pale Crag Martin, Ethiopian Swallow, Desert Cisticola, Cricket Warbler, Yellow-bellied Eremomela, Fulvous Babbler, Chestnut-bellied Starling, Black Scrub Robin, Anteater Chat, Blackstart, White-crowned Wheatear, Pygmy Sunbird, Desert Sparrow, Sudan Golden Sparrow, White-billed Buffalo Weaver, African Silverbill, Cut-throat Finch, Green-winged Pytilia, Trumpeter Finch, White-rumped Seedeater, Striolated Bunting and House Bunting
N’Djamena (Chari River) for River Prinia, Egyptian Plover among other waterbirds including White-faced Whistling Duck, Fulvous Whistling Duck, Allen’s Gallinule, Black Crake, Black-winged Stilt, Spur-winged Lapwing, Greater Painted-snipe, African Jacana, Gull-billed Tern, African Openbill, Reed Cormorant, African Sacred Ibis, Little Bittern, Black-crowned Night Heron, Little Egret, Striated Heron, Squacco Heron, Great Egret, Yellow-billed Egret, Grey Heron and Purple Heron, as well as more widespread and common birds including African Palm Swift, Little Swift, Senegal Coucal, Speckled Pigeon, Mourning Collared Dove, Laughing Dove, Black-headed Lapwing, Western Cattle Egret, Black-headed Heron, Black-winged Kite, Gabar Goshawk, Shikra, Yellow-billed Kite, Western Barn Owl, Blue-naped Mousebird, Abyssinian Roller, Woodland Kingfisher, Malachite Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, Little Bee-eater, Vieillot’s Barbet, Red-necked Falcon, Piapiac, Pied Crow, Common Bulbul, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler (laeneni), Winding Cisticola, Grey-backed Camaroptera, Long-tailed Glossy Starling, Beautiful Sunbird, Northern Grey-headed Sparrow, Village Weaver, Black-headed Weaver, Northern Red Bishop, Bronze Mannikin, Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu, Red-billed Firefinch and Village Indigobird
Zakouma National Park (NP) and Bahr Salamat Faunal Reserve for Common Ostrich, Helmeted Guineafowl, Clapperton’s Spurfowl, Long-tailed Nightjar, White-rumped Swift, Black-bellied Bustard, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Diederik Cuckoo, African Cuckoo, Four-banded Sandgrouse, Vinaceous Dove, Black-billed Wood Dove, Bruce’s Green Pigeon, Black Crowned Crane, Spotted Thick-knee, Bronze-winged Courser, Marabou Stork, Hadada Ibis, Secretarybird, African Harrier-Hawk, Hooded Vulture, White-backed Vulture, Rüppell’s Vulture, Beaudouin’s Snake Eagle, Brown Snake Eagle, Western Banded Snake Eagle, Bateleur, Martial Eagle, Long-crested Eagle, Wahlberg’s Eagle, Ayres’s Hawk-Eagle, Tawny Eagle, African Hawk-Eagle, Lizard Buzzard, Dark Chanting Goshawk, Black Kite, African Fish Eagle, Grasshopper Buzzard, Pearl-spotted Owlet, African Scops Owl, Greyish Eagle-Owl, Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl, Eurasian Hoopoe (senegalensis), Green Wood Hoopoe, Black Scimitarbill, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, Northern Red-billed Hornbill, African Grey Hornbill, Grey-headed Kingfisher, Striped Kingfisher, Giant Kingfisher, Red-throated Bee-eater, African Green Bee-eater (viridissimus), Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, Northern Carmine Bee-eater, Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird, White-headed Barbet, Black-breasted Barbet, Lesser Honeyguide, Greater Honeyguide, Fine-spotted Woodpecker, African Grey Woodpecker, Brown-backed Woodpecker, Grey Kestrel, Meyer’s Parrot, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Orange-breasted Bushshrike, Black-crowned Tchagra, Northern Puffback, Black-headed Gonolek, Brubru, White-crested Helmetshrike, Red-shouldered Cuckooshrike, Fork-tailed Drongo (lugubris), Grey-backed Fiscal, African Paradise Flycatcher, Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark, Wire-tailed Swallow, Northern Crombec, Tawny-flanked Prinia, Green-backed Eremomela, Northern Yellow White-eye, Brown Babbler, Greater Blue-eared Starling, Yellow-billed Oxpecker, African Thrush, Heuglin’s Wheatear, Scarlet-chested Sunbird, Sahel Bush Sparrow, Speckle-fronted Weaver, Little Weaver, Vitelline Masked Weaver, Red-billed Quelea, Black-winged Red Bishop, Black-rumped Waxbill, Pin-tailed Whydah and Sahel Paradise Whydah, as well as waterbirds including Spur-winged Goose, Knob-billed Duck, Egyptian Goose, Little Grebe, Senegal Thick-knee, African Wattled Lapwing, Collared Pratincole, White-winged Tern, Yellow-billed Stork, Saddle-billed Stork, African Woolly-necked Stork, Glossy Ibis, African Spoonbill, Black Heron, Goliath Heron, Hamerkop, Great White Pelican and Pink-backed Pelican
South-west (Sena Oura NP, Zah Soo NP/Binder-Léré Faunal Reserve and Manda NP) for Niam-niam Parrot and Chad Firefinch as well as Double-spurred Spurfowl, Western Plantain-eater, White-crested Turaco, Levaillant’s Cuckoo, Klaas’s Cuckoo, Black Cuckoo, Red-chested Cuckoo, Adamawa Turtle Dove, Red-eyed Dove, Blue-spotted Wood Dove, Ovambo Sparrowhawk, Eurasian Hoopoe (waibeli), Purple Roller, Blue-bellied Roller, Broad-billed Roller, Bearded Barbet, Common Kestrel (rufescens), Senegal Parrot, Brown-throated Wattle-eye, Grey-headed Bushshrike, African Golden Oriole, African Blue Flycatcher, Yellow-billed Shrike, White-shouldered Black Tit, Yellow Penduline Tit, Dark-capped Bulbul, Moustached Grass Warbler, Whistling Cisticola, Dorst’s Cisticola, Rufous Cisticola, Black-backed Cisticola, Red-winged Prinia, Oriole Warbler, Senegal Eremomela, Blackcap Babbler, Yellow-bellied Hyliota, Lesser Blue-eared Starling, Purple Starling, Northern Black Flycatcher, Snowy-crowned Robin-Chat, Western Violet-backed Sunbird, Copper Sunbird, Black-necked Weaver, Yellow-mantled Widowbird, Lavender Waxbill, Black-bellied Seedcracker, Yellow-winged Pytilia, Dybowski’s Twinspot, Brown Twinspot, Black-bellied Firefinch, Bar-breasted Firefinch, Black-faced Firefinch (nigricollis), Barka Indigobird, Exclamatory Paradise Whydah, Yellow-fronted Canary, Brown-rumped Bunting and Cabanis’s Bunting
Aouk NP for Violet Turaco, Blue-breasted Kingfisher, Golden-tailed Woodpecker, Red-headed Lovebird, Yellow-gorgeted Greenbul, Grey Tit-Flycatcher and Spectacled Weaver
Also Siniaka-Minia NP, Goz-Beida NP, Abou Telfane Faunal Reserve, Tibesti Mountains, Lake Chad and Lake Fitri

TIMING (Sep, Jan–Feb)
Best when it is cooler (Nov–Mar), or immediately after the rains when many desert birds are breeding and passage migrants pass through (Sep–Oct)
Zakouma may be inaccessible Jul–Nov

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
Chad by Paul Scholte & Peter Robertson in Important Bird Areas in Africa and Associated Islands: Priority Sites for Conservation edited by Lincoln D C Fishpool & Michael I Evans (2001)
Waders and Waterbirds in the Floodplains of the Logone, Cameroon and Chad, January/February 1999 by Bert Dijkstra, Wim Ganzevles, Gerrit Gerritsen & Selvino de Kort (2002)
Waders and Waterbirds in the Floodplains of the Logone, Cameroon and Chad, February 2000 edited by Wim Ganzevies & Jeroen Bredenbeek (2005)
Articles in Malimbus, Bull. ABC, etc.

Websites
Lakes of Ounianga and Ennedi Massif – UNESCO World Heritage List

ORGANISATIONS

There is currently no BirdLife Partner in Chad

The West African Bird DataBase (WABDaB) accepts records and images of birds from Chad

Bird or conservation organisations active in Chad include –
Alliance des Défenseurs des Droits Humains et de l’Environnement au Tchad (ADHET)
Association des Amis de la Nature pour la Protection de l ‘Environnement (AANPE)
Instances Locales d’Orientations et de Décision de l’Espace Lacustre de Fianga (ILOD/ELF)
ILOD Dari et Goumadji
Sahara Conservation Fund (SCF)
African Parks: Ennedi Natural and Cultural Reserve, Siniaka Minia National Park and Zakouma National Park
Parcs de Noé (PDN): Parc National de Zah Soo