SUB-REGION
Central Africa
SIZE
The total area of Equatorial Guinea, consisting of the mainland territory of Río Muni and five islands in the Gulf of Guinea including Bioko and Annobón, is 28,051 km²
BIRDS AND BIRDING
SPECIES
Diversity
Afrotropical avifauna
Approximately 430 recorded species, 380 in Río Muni, 200 on Bioko (B) and 30 on Annobón (A), including vagrants
Endemics (E)
Annobon Scops Owl (A) (CR)
Fernando Po Batis | Bioko Batis (B) (LC)
Fernando Po Speirops | Bioko Speirops (B) (VU)
Annobon White-eye (A) (LC)
Birds occurring in only two territories of the ABC region but not near-endemics (1/2)
Island Bronze-naped Pigeon | Sao Tome Pigeon (A)
Mountain Saw-wing (B)
Ursula’s Sunbird (B)
Proposed splits not yet accepted by IOC
Verreaux’s Turaco (B verreauxii)
Eastern Piping Hornbill
Eastern Yellow-spotted Barbet
Streaky-throated Barbet
Johnston’s Woodpecker (B johnstoni)
Annobon Paradise Flycatcher (E A smithii)
Petit’s Saw-wing
Cameroon Forest Warbler (1/2 B ESS lopezi)
Western Buff-throated Apalis (B rufogularis)
Gabon Forest Robin (B gabonensis)
Volcano Sunbird (B preussi)
Other taxa of interest on Bioko and Annobón, including endemic subspecies (ESS)
Scarce Swift (B poensis)
Sabine’s Spinetail (B)
Cassin’s Spinetail (B)
Fernando Po Swift (B)
Great Blue Turaco (B)
Blue Malkoha (B)
African Emerald Cuckoo (A insularum, B ESS intermedius)
Cameroon Olive Pigeon | Cameroon Pigeon (B)
Lemon Dove (A, B inornata)
African Green Pigeon (B ESS poensis)
African Finfoot (B)
Buff-spotted Flufftail (B)
Lesser Moorhen (B)
Common Moorhen (A)
Rock Pratincole (B)
Brown Noddy (A, B)
Black Noddy (A)
West African Crested Tern (B)
Bridled Tern (A)
Sooty Tern (A)
White-tailed Tropicbird (A, B)
Cape Gannet (B)
Brown Booby (A)
Western Reef Heron (A, B)
Red-chested Goshawk (B ESS lopezi)
Fraser’s Eagle-Owl (B)
Bar-tailed Trogon (B)
Black-casqued Hornbill (B)
Blue-throated Roller (B)
Chocolate-backed Kingfisher (B)
White-bellied Kingfisher (B)
Blue-moustached Bee-eater (B)
Speckled Tinkerbird (B ESS stellatus)
Yellow-throated Tinkerbird (B ESS subsulphureus)
Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird (B ESS poensis)
Least Honeyguide (B ESS poensis)
Buff-spotted Woodpecker (B ESS poensis)
Tullberg’s Woodpecker (B)
Grey Parrot (B)
Grey-headed Broadbill (B ESS sharpei)
Chestnut Wattle-eye (B)
Black-necked Wattle-eye (B)
Mountain Sooty Boubou | Western Boubou (B ESS poensis)
African Shrike-flycatcher (B)
Grey Cuckooshrike (B)
Black-winged Oriole (B)
Velvet-mantled Drongo (B)
Red-bellied Paradise Flycatcher | Black-headed Paradise Flycatcher (B ESS tricolor)
Grey-necked Rockfowl | Red-headed Picathartes (B)
White-bellied Crested Flycatcher (B)
Slender-billed Greenbul (B)
Golden Greenbul (B)
Yellow-lored Bristlebill (B)
Western Mountain Greenbul (B)
Red-tailed Greenbul (B calurus)
Little Greenbul (B ESS amadoni)
Yellow-whiskered Greenbul (B)
Plain Greenbul (B)
Icterine Greenbul (B)
Cameroon Olive Greenbul (B)
Yellow Longbill (B)
Grey Longbill (B)
Green Hylia (B ESS poensis)
Tit Hylia (B ESS bedfordi)
Black-capped Woodland Warbler (B ESS herberti)
Greater Swamp Warbler (B)
Green Longtail (B ESS mariae)
Black-capped Apalis (B)
Grey Apalis (B sclateri)
Yellow-browed Camaroptera (B)
Olive-green Camaroptera (B ESS granti)
White-tailed Warbler (B ESS lopezi)
Rufous-crowned Eremomela (B)
African Hill Babbler (B ESS claudei)
Forest White-eye (B)
Pale-breasted Illadopsis (B ESS bocagei)
Blackcap Illadopsis (B ESS poensis)
Grey-chested Babbler (B)
Splendid Starling (B ESS lessoni)
Chestnut-winged Starling (B)
Waller’s Starling (B preussi)
Narrow-tailed Starling (B)
White-tailed Ant Thrush (B)
Fraser’s Rufous Thrush | Rufous Flycatcher-Thrush (B ESS fraseri)
African Thrush (B ESS poensis)
Fire-crested Alethe (B)
Fraser’s Forest Flycatcher | African Forest Flycatcher (B)
African Dusky Flycatcher (B poensis)
Yellow-footed Flycatcher (B)
Brown-chested Alethe (B compsonota)
White-bellied Robin-Chat (B)
Short-tailed Akalat | Alexander’s Akalat (B ESS poensis)
African Stonechat (B salax)
Fraser’s Sunbird (B ESS fraseri)
Little Green Sunbird (B ESS seimundi)
Grey-chinned Sunbird (B)
Collared Sunbird (B ESS hypodila)
Blue-throated Brown Sunbird (B ESS cyanolaema)
Cameroon Sunbird (B ESS poensis)
Olive Sunbird (B obscura)
Green-throated Sunbird (B ESS stangerii)
Olive-bellied Sunbird (B)
Tiny Sunbird (B)
Bates’s Sunbird (B)
Olive-naped Weaver (B)
Black-billed Weaver (B)
Maxwell’s Black Weaver (B ESS maxwelli)
Dark-backed Weaver | Forest Weaver (B tephronotus)
Brown-capped Weaver (B)
Red-headed Malimbe (B ESS rufovelatus)
Yellow Bishop (B phoenicomerus)
Shelley’s Oliveback (B)
Green Twinspot (B ESS virginiae)
Red-faced Crimsonwing (B)
White-breasted Nigrita (B)
Grey-headed Nigrita (B)
Pale-fronted Nigrita (B ESS alexanderi)
Black-crowned Waxbill (B ESS elizae)
Oriole Finch (B)
Other taxa of interest in Río Muni
Hartlaub’s Duck
African Pygmy Goose
Black Guineafowl
Plumed Guineafowl
Latham’s Francolin | Forest Francolin
Scaly Spurfowl (squamatus)
Brown Nightjar
Square-tailed Nightjar
Bates’s Swift
Guinea Turaco | Green Turaco
Gabon Coucal
Black-throated Coucal (efulenensis)
Blue-headed Coucal
Yellow-throated Cuckoo
Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo
Olive Long-tailed Cuckoo
Afep Pigeon
Western Bronze-naped Pigeon | Bronze-naped Pigeon
Blue-headed Wood Dove
White-spotted Flufftail
Grey-throated Rail
Nkulengu Rail
Forbes’s Plover
Grey Pratincole
Damara Tern
Spot-breasted Ibis
White-crested Tiger Heron | White-crested Bittern
Congo Serpent Eagle
Cassin’s Hawk-Eagle
Long-tailed Hawk
Chestnut-flanked Sparrowhawk
Red-thighed Sparrowhawk
Red-chested Owlet
Sjöstedt’s Barred Owlet | Sjöstedt’s Owlet
Maned Owl
Akun Eagle-Owl
Pel’s Fishing Owl
Bare-cheeked Trogon
Congo Pied Hornbill
Red-billed Dwarf Hornbill
White-thighed Hornbill
Black-and-white-casqued Hornbill
Western Dwarf Hornbill
Eastern Long-tailed Hornbill
African Dwarf Kingfisher
Shining-blue Kingfisher
Blue-headed Bee-eater
Black Bee-eater
Blue-breasted Bee-eater
Rosy Bee-eater
Grey-throated Barbet (bonapartei)
Bristle-nosed Barbet
Naked-faced Barbet
Red-rumped Tinkerbird
Double-toothed Barbet
Eastern Yellow-billed Barbet
Cassin’s Honeybird
Zenker’s Honeyguide
Willcocks’s Honeyguide
Spotted Honeyguide
Lyre-tailed Honeyguide
African Piculet
Brown-eared Woodpecker
Little Green Woodpecker
Yellow-crested Woodpecker | Golden-crowned Woodpecker
Gabon Woodpecker
Elliot’s Woodpecker (elliotii)
Red-fronted Parrot
Red-headed Lovebird
Black-collared Lovebird
Rufous-sided Broadbill
Gabon Batis | Verreaux’s Batis
West African Batis
White-spotted Wattle-eye
Brown-throated Wattle-eye
Yellow-bellied Wattle-eye (graueri)
Fiery-breasted Bushshrike
Many-colored Bushshrike
Bocage’s Bushshrike | Gray-green Bushshrike
Sabine’s Puffback
Pink-footed Puffback
Red-eyed Puffback
Lowland Sooty Boubou
Lühder’s Bushshrike
Rufous-bellied Helmetshrike
Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher
Purple-throated Cuckooshrike
Blue Cuckooshrike
Mackinnon’s Shrike
Western Oriole | Western Black-headed Oriole
Shining Drongo
Sharpe’s Drongo
Blue-headed Crested Flycatcher
Rufous-vented Paradise Flycatcher
African Blue Flycatcher
Dusky Crested Flycatcher
Dusky Tit
Western Nicator
Yellow-throated Nicator
Red-tailed Bristlebill
Pale-throated Greenbul
Spotted Greenbul
Swamp Palm Bulbul | Swamp Greenbul
Falkenstein’s Greenbul | Yellow-necked Greenbul
Simple Greenbul
Honeyguide Greenbul
Sjöstedt’s Greenbul | White-tailed Greenbul
Eastern Bearded Greenbul
White-bearded Greenbul
Little Grey Greenbul | Gray Greenbul
Ansorge’s Greenbul
White-throated Greenbul
Xavier’s Greenbul
Square-tailed Saw-wing
White-bibbed Swallow | White-throated Blue Swallow
Red-chested Swallow
Forest Swallow
Preuss’s Cliff Swallow | Preuss’s Swallow
Green Crombec
Lemon-bellied Crombec
Chestnut-capped Flycatcher
Uganda Woodland Warbler
Chattering Cisticola
Banded Prinia
White-chinned Prinia
Gosling’s Apalis
Black-faced Rufous Warbler
Brown Illadopsis
Violet-backed Hyliota
Purple-headed Starling
Red-tailed Ant Thrush
Black-eared Ground Thrush
White-browed Forest Flycatcher
Grey-throated Tit-Flycatcher
Cassin’s Flycatcher
Olivaceous Flycatcher
Little Grey Flycatcher | Little Flycatcher
Dusky-blue Flycatcher
Tessmann’s Flycatcher
Sooty Flycatcher
Blue-shouldered Robin-Chat
Lowland Akalat
Mangrove Sunbird | Mouse-brown Sunbird
Violet-tailed Sunbird
Reichenbach’s Sunbird
Carmelite Sunbird
Johanna’s Sunbird
Superb Sunbird
Black-necked Weaver
Orange Weaver
Vieillot’s Black Weaver
Yellow-mantled Weaver
Preuss’s Weaver
Red-crowned Malimbe
Cassin’s Malimbe | Black-throated Malimbe
Rachel’s Malimbe
Blue-billed Malimbe
Red-bellied Malimbe
Crested Malimbe
Woodhouse’s Antpecker
Chestnut-breasted Nigrita
Black-headed Waxbill
Western Bluebill
Black-bellied Seedcracker
Long-legged Pipit
Cabanis’s Bunting
MAIN HABITATS
Montane forest on Bioko, lowland forest in Río Muni
BIRD AREAS
Annobón Endemic Bird Area (EBA)
Cameroon mountains EBA (Bioko)
Cameroon and Gabon lowlands EBA (Río Muni)
5 Important Bird Areas
BIRDING SITES
Pico de Basilé and Caldera de Luba on Bioko Island for the endemic speirops and batis
Annobón Island for the endemic scops owl and white-eye
Afro-American University of Central Africa (AAUCA), Monte Alén and Altos de Nsork in Río Muni for lowland forest species
TIMING (Jan–Mar)
Best when it is dry and easier to get around, which is when most forest birds breed (Dec–Apr)
Avoid the main rains (Jun–Oct)
RESOURCES
Apps
Birds of Africa (iOS or Android)
Field Guides
Birds of Western Africa by Nik Borrow & Ron Demey (2014)
Las Aves de Bioko, Guinea Ecuatorial: Guia de Campo by Jaime Pérez del Vaz (1996)
Sounds
African Bird Sounds Vol 2: West and Central Africa by Claude Chappuis
Further reading
Equatorial Guinea by Jaime Pérez del Vaz in Important Bird Areas in Africa and Associated Islands: Priority Sites for Conservation edited by Lincoln D C Fishpool & Michael I Evans (2001)
Monte Alén – Guinea Ecuatorial by Manuel Merino (2002)
Les Oiseaux d’Afrique Centrale: Liste Faunistique by Patrice Christy & Jean Pierre Vande weghe (1999)
A Revised Bird Checklist for the Oceanic Islands of the Gulf of Guinea (Príncipe, São Tomé and Annobón) by Ricardo F de Lima & Martim Melo (2021)
The Birds of São Tomé & Príncipe with Annobón: an Annotated Checklist by Peter Jones & Alan Tye (2006)
Les Oiseaux des Îles du Golfe de Guinée (São Tomé, Príncipe et Annobon)/As Aves das Ilhas do Golfo da Guiné (São Tomé, Príncipe e Ano Bom) by René de Naurois (1994)
Articles in Malimbus, Bull. ABC, etc.
ORGANISATIONS
There is currently no BirdLife Partner in Equatorial Guinea
Bird or conservation organisations active in Equatorial Guinea include –
Biodiversity Initiative
Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program (BBPP)
Gulf of Guinea Biodiversity Center (GGBC)/Centro de Biodiversidade do Golfo da Guiné (CBGG)
WCS