Eritrea

SUB-REGION
Horn of Africa

SIZE
117,600 km²

BIRDS AND BIRDING

SPECIES
Diversity
A blend of Afrotropical and Palaearctic species
Approximately 590 recorded species

Proposed splits not yet accepted by IOC
Archer’s Francolin
Abyssinian Nightjar
Ethiopian Goshawk (1/2)
Northern Red-fronted Tinkerbird
Ethiopian Puffback
Arabian Grey Shrike
Singing Bush Lark
Blue Saw-wing (1/2)
Eastern Crombec
Mangrove Reed Warbler
Ethiopian Stout Cisticola (1/2)
African Scrub Robin
Rusty-breasted Wheatear (1/2)
Spectacled Quailfinch

Other taxa of interest
Common Ostrich (camelus)
Stone Partridge (major)
Clapperton’s Spurfowl
Yellow-necked Spurfowl
Sombre Nightjar
Nubian Nightjar
Plain Nightjar
Long-tailed Nightjar
Nyanza Swift
Eastern Plantain-eater
Arabian Bustard
Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse
Spotted Sandgrouse
Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse
Four-banded Sandgrouse
African Collared Dove
Dusky Turtle Dove
Bruce’s Green Pigeon
Black-headed Lapwing
Black-winged Lapwing
Crab-plover
Brown Noddy
White-eyed Gull
Sooty Gull
Caspian Tern
Greater Crested Tern
Lesser Crested Tern
Saunders’s Tern
Bridled Tern
White-cheeked Tern
Red-billed Tropicbird
Masked Booby
Brown Booby
Socotra Cormorant
Eurasian Spoonbill (archeri)
Western Reef Heron
Bearded Vulture
Egyptian Vulture
Rüppell’s Vulture
Little Owl (spilogastra)
Abyssinian Owl
Cape Eagle-Owl (dillonii)
Black-billed Wood Hoopoe
Black Scimitarbill
Northern Red-billed Hornbill
Eastern Yellow-billed Hornbill
Hemprich’s Hornbill
Abyssinian Roller
Collared Kingfisher
Ethiopian Bee-eater
African Green Bee-eater
Black-throated Barbet
Vieillot’s Barbet
Black-billed Barbet
Yellow-breasted Barbet
Nubian Woodpecker
Brown-backed Woodpecker
Sooty Falcon
Grey-headed Batis
Western Black-headed Batis
Rosy-patched Bushshrike
Ethiopian Boubou
Black-headed Gonolek
Red-shouldered Cuckooshrike
Cape Crow
Brown-necked Raven
Somali Crow
Fan-tailed Raven
White-winged Black Tit
Sennar Penduline Tit
Greater Hoopoe-Lark
Desert Lark
Black-crowned Sparrow-Lark
Thekla’s Lark
Ethiopian Swallow
Brown Woodland Warbler
Clamorous Reed Warbler
Red-pate Cisticola
Graceful Prinia
Cricket Warbler
Buff-bellied Warbler
Red-fronted Prinia
Green-backed Eremomela (abyssinica)
Arabian Warbler
Heuglin’s White-eye
Abyssinian White-eye
Fulvous Babbler
White-rumped Babbler
White-headed Babbler
Lesser Blue-eared Starling
Rüppell’s Starling
Chestnut-bellied Starling
Slender-billed Starling
Somali Starling
Red-billed Oxpecker
Abyssinian Thrush
Black Scrub Robin
Rüppell’s Robin-Chat
Little Rock Thrush
White-fronted Black Chat
Blackstart
Brown-tailed Rock Chat
Abyssinian Wheatear
White-crowned Wheatear
Nile Valley Sunbird
Tacazze Sunbird
Shining Sunbird
Yellow-spotted Bush Sparrow
Sahel Bush Sparrow
Swainson’s Sparrow
House Sparrow (rufidorsalis)
Sudan Golden Sparrow
White-billed Buffalo Weaver
Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-Weaver
Speckle-fronted Weaver
Baglafecht Weaver
Rüppell’s Weaver
Northern Red Bishop
Yellow-bellied Waxbill
Crimson-rumped Waxbill
Black-rumped Waxbill
African Silverbill
Sahel Paradise Whydah
African Citril
White-rumped Seedeater
Brown-rumped Seedeater
Streaky Seedeater
Yellow-crowned Canary
Striolated Bunting

MAIN HABITATS
Montane moorlands and forest, coastal deserts, savanna

BIRD AREAS
Central Ethiopian highlands Endemic Bird Area
14 Important Bird Areas

BIRDING SITES
Filfil Rainforest for forest and escarpment species
Massawa area and Dahlak Islands for coastal, marine and desert species
Akurdet for White-headed Babbler

TIMING (Oct, Feb–Mar)
Best in spring and after the rains in the coastal deserts (Mar–Apr) and at the start of the rains in the highlands, when most birds start to breed (Mar–May)
Afro-Palearctic migrants are present Oct–Mar or on passage Sep-Oct and Mar-Apr
Avoid the hottest months at the coast (May–Sep)

RESOURCES
Apps
Birds of Africa (iOS or Android)

Field guides
Birds of the Horn of Africa by Nigel Redman, Terry Stevenson & John Fanshawe (2011)
Birds of Eastern Africa by Ber Van Perlo (2009)

Atlases
Birds of Ethiopia and Eritrea: an Atlas of Distribution by John Ash & John Atkins (2009)

Further reading
Eritrea by N D Coulthard in Important Bird Areas in Africa and Associated Islands: Priority Sites for Conservation edited by Lincoln D C Fishpool & Michael I Evans (2001)
A Guide to Endemic Birds of Ethiopia and Eritrea by José Luis Vivero Pol (2001)
Wings over the Red Sea: the Birds of the Eritrean Islands by Giuseppe De Marchi, Giorgio Chiozzi & Dawit Semere (2009)
Articles in Scopus, Bull. ABC, etc.

Websites
Birdwatching in Eritrea

ORGANISATIONS AND GROUPS

There is currently no BirdLife Partner in Eritrea

The BirdLife International UNDP/GEF Migratory Soaring Birds Project works in Eritrea

We know of no non-governmental bird or conservation organisations active in Eritrea