Ghana

SUB-REGION
West Africa

SIZE
238,533 km² 

BIRDS AND BIRDING

SPECIES
Diversity
Strongly Afrotropical avifauna
Approximately 750 recorded species

Birds best found in two territories of the ABC region but occurring in more (B2), including UGE
White-breasted Guineafowl (UGE)
White-throated Francolin
Long-tailed Hawk
Forest Wood Hoopoe | Forest Scimitarbill
Western Dwarf Hornbill | Western Little Hornbill
Rosy Bee-eater
Brown-necked Parrot
Sun Lark
Fanti Saw-wing
Preuss’s Cliff Swallow | Preuss’s Swallow
Dorst’s Cisticola
Nimba Flycatcher (UGE)
White-crowned Cliff Chat
Red-winged Pytilia

Proposed new species or splits not yet accepted by IOC
Black-shouldered Nightjar
Whistling Long-tailed Cuckoo (BT)
Etchécopar’s Owlet (BT)
Central African Hoopoe
Western Piping Hornbill (BT)
Western Yellow-spotted Barbet (B2)
Togo Yellow-billed Barbet (BT)
Thick-billed Honeyguide
West African Pitta
Fanti Drongo (BT)
Glossy-backed Drongo
Western Square-tailed Drongo
Singing Bush Lark
West African Swallow
Yellow-bellied Crombec
African Reed Warbler
Black-crowned Capuchin Babbler (BT)
Orange-breasted Forest Robin
Ghana Forest Robin (would-be endemic)
Dahomey Forest Robin (occurring in only Ghana and Benin)
Black-faced Quailfinch
Grey Firefinch (B2)
Bannerman’s Pipit

MAIN HABITATS
Lowland forest, moist savanna, Guinea woodland

BIRD AREAS
Upper Guinea forests Endemic Bird Area
40 Important Bird Areas

BIRDING SITES
Legon Botanical Gardens in Accra for African Palm Swift, Little Swift, Western Plantain-eater, Senegal Coucal, Red-eyed Dove, Laughing Dove, Common Moorhen, Little Grebe, Senegal Thick-knee, Black-winged Stilt, Spur-winged Lapwing, African Wattled Lapwing, Black-crowned Night Heron, Squacco Heron, Western Cattle Egret, Reed Cormorant, Hooded Vulture, Lizard Buzzard, Shikra, Yellow-billed Kite, Green Wood Hoopoe, West African Pied Hornbill, Piping Hornbill (fistulator), African Grey Hornbill, Broad-billed Roller, Woodland Kingfisher, Little Bee-eater, White-throated Bee-eater, Double-toothed Barbet, African Grey Woodpecker, Common Kestrel, Senegal Parrot, Yellow-billed Shrike, Pied Crow, Yellow-gorgeted Greenbul, Common Bulbul, Ethiopian Swallow, Brown Babbler, Splendid Starling, African Thrush, Northern Grey-headed Sparrow, Village Weaver, Bronze Mannikin and African Pied Wagtail
Shai Hills Resource Reserve (RR) for African Barred Owlet (etchecopari) and White-crowned Cliff Chat as well as Stone Partridge, Double-spurred Spurfowl, Swamp Nightjar, Plain Nightjar, Freckled Nightjar, Long-tailed Nightjar, Violet Turaco, Guinea Turaco, Black-bellied Bustard, Levaillant’s Cuckoo, Klaas’s Cuckoo, Vinaceous Dove, Black-billed Wood Dove, Blue-spotted Wood Dove, Black-winged Kite, African Harrier-Hawk, Long-crested Eagle, Red-necked Buzzard, Western Barn Owl, African Scops Owl, Purple Roller, Blue-bellied Roller, Blue-breasted Kingfisher, African Pygmy Kingfisher, Swallow-tailed Bee-eater, Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird, Vieillot’s Barbet, Bearded Barbet, Greater Honeyguide, Buff-spotted Woodpecker, Cardinal Woodpecker, Grey Kestrel, African Hobby, Lanner Falcon, Red-headed Lovebird, Senegal Batis, Brown-throated Wattle-eye, Orange-breasted Bushshrike, Black-crowned Tchagra, Northern Puffback, Yellow-crowned Gonolek, White-crested Helmetshrike, Red-shouldered Cuckooshrike, Fork-tailed Drongo (lugubris), African Paradise Flycatcher, Piapiac, White-shouldered Black Tit, Flappet Lark, Simple Greenbul, Red-throated Rock Martin, Mosque Swallow, Northern Crombec, Croaking Cisticola, Short-winged Cisticola, Tawny-flanked Prinia, Oriole Warbler, Grey-backed Camaroptera, Senegal Eremomela, Puvel’s Illadopsis, Blackcap Babbler, Purple Starling, Violet-backed Starling, Grey Tit-Flycatcher, Northern Black Flycatcher, Snowy-crowned Robin-Chat, Splendid Sunbird, Copper Sunbird, Heuglin’s Masked Weaver, Northern Red Bishop, Yellow-mantled Widowbird and Yellow-throated Longclaw
Coast (Keta Lagoon, Songor Lagoon, Sakumono Lagoon, Densu Delta, Winneba Lagoon, Elmina Saltpans, Brenu Beach, Amansuri Wetlands and Half Assini) for White-faced Whistling Duck, Water Thick-knee, Senegal Lapwing, Kittlitz’s Plover, White-fronted Plover, Collared Pratincole, West African Crested Tern, African Darter, Little Bittern, Striated Heron, Grey Heron, Great Egret, Black Heron and Western Reef Heron among other waterbirds, as well as Black Coucal, Malachite Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, Greater Swamp Warbler, Little Rush Warbler, Winding Cisticola, Black-backed Cisticola (ESS winneba), Zitting Cisticola, Mangrove Sunbird, Reichenbach’s Sunbird, Carmelite Sunbird, Slender-billed Weaver and Orange Weaver, also Striped Crake, Goliath Heron, Marsh Owl and Red-collared Widowbird
Kakum National Park (NP), Antwikwaa and Ebekawopa Forest, Nsuta Forest, Ankasa Conservation Area (including Nini Suhien NP), Atewa Range Forest Reserve (FR), Bobiri FR and Butterfly Sanctuary, Kalakpa RR and Opro River FR for lowland forest species including Upper Guinea endemics
Pra River for White-crowned Lapwing, Rock Pratincole and White-bibbed Swallow
Bonkro for White-necked Rockfowl
Mole NP for White-throated Francolin, Sun Lark, Dorst’s Cisticola, Red-winged Pytilia and Black-faced Firefinch (nigricollis) as well as Spur-winged Goose, Helmeted Guineafowl, Standard-winged Nightjar, Horus Swift, Denham’s Bustard, Diederik Cuckoo, African Cuckoo, Four-banded Sandgrouse, Bruce’s Green Pigeon, Common Buttonquail, Spotted Thick-knee, Forbes’s Plover, Greater Painted-snipe, Bronze-winged Courser, Marabou Stork, Saddle-billed Stork, African Woolly-necked Stork, Hadada Ibis, Black-headed Heron, Hamerkop, White-backed Vulture, White-headed Vulture, Beaudouin’s Snake Eagle, Brown Snake Eagle, Bateleur, Martial Eagle, Tawny Eagle, African Hawk-Eagle, Gabar Goshawk, Dark Chanting Goshawk, Grasshopper Buzzard, African Fish Eagle, Pearl-spotted Owlet, Northern White-faced Owl, Greyish Eagle-Owl, Eurasian Hoopoe (senegalensis), Black Scimitarbill, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, Northern Red-billed Hornbill, Abyssinian Roller, Grey-headed Kingfisher, Striped Kingfisher, Red-throated Bee-eater, Brown-backed Honeybird, Fine-spotted Woodpecker, Golden-tailed Woodpecker, Brown-backed Woodpecker, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Grey-headed Bushshrike, Brubru, White-breasted Cuckooshrike, African Golden Oriole, Emin’s Shrike, African Blue Flycatcher, Yellow Penduline Tit (ESS aureus), Rufous-rumped Lark, Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark, Pied-winged Swallow, Wire-tailed Swallow, Rufous Cisticola, African Spotted Creeper, Yellow-bellied Hyliota, Greater Blue-eared Starling, Lesser Blue-eared Starling, Bronze-tailed Starling, Long-tailed Glossy Starling, Yellow-billed Oxpecker, Gambaga Flycatcher, Swamp Flycatcher, White-crowned Robin-Chat, White-fronted Black Chat, Familiar Chat, Western Violet-backed Sunbird, Pygmy Sunbird, Beautiful Sunbird, Scarlet-chested Sunbird, Sahel Bush Sparrow, Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-Weaver, Little Weaver, Vitelline Masked Weaver, Black-headed Weaver, Red-headed Weaver, Yellow-crowned Bishop, Grey-headed Oliveback, Lavender Waxbill, Black-rumped Waxbill, Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu, Red-billed Firefinch, Black-bellied Firefinch, Village Indigobird, Barka Indigobird, Cameroon Indigobird, Exclamatory Paradise Whydah, West African Seedeater, Yellow-fronted Canary, Brown-rumped Bunting and Cabanis’s Bunting
Tongo Hills for White-crowned Cliff Chat as well as Fox Kestrel, Rock-loving Cisticola (admiralis) and Gosling’s Bunting
White Volta-Nakambé-Nouhao Confluence for Egyptian Plover as well as Speckled Pigeon, Mourning Collared Dove, Namaqua Dove, Black-headed Lapwing, Temminck’s Courser, African Green Bee-eater, Northern Carmine Bee-eater, Black-backed Cisticola (occidens), Chestnut-bellied Starling, White-billed Buffalo Weaver, Speckle-fronted Weaver, Red-billed Quelea, African Silverbill, Cut-throat Finch, White-rumped Seedeater and Golden-breasted Bunting
Kyabobo NP for a mix of forest and savanna species including Western Yellow-billed Barbet (togoensis), Baumann’s Olive Greenbul, Capuchin Babbler (rubiginosus), Yellow-winged Pytilia, Togo Paradise Whydah and Long-billed Pipit (bannermani), as well as Fiery-necked Nightjar (nigriscapularis), African Black Swift and African Barred Owlet (etchecopari)
Also Digya NP, Bui NP, Bia NP and RR, Kogyae Strict Nature Reserve, Boabeng-Fiema Wildlife Sanctuary (WS), Bomfobiri WS, Owabi WS, Assin Attandaso RR, Gbele RR, Lake Bosomtwe, Cape Three Points FR, Damongo Scarp FR and Tano-Offin FR among other FRs

TIMING (Oct–Nov, Apr)
Best to travel in the dry season when access is easier and most forest birds breed in the south (Oct–Nov), or at the start of the rains in the north (Mar–Apr)
Avoid the main rains (May–Sep)

RESOURCES
Apps
Birds of Africa (iOS or Android)

Field guides
Birds of Ghana by Nik Borrow & Ron Demey (2022)
Birds of Western Africa by Nik Borrow & Ron Demey (2014)

Sounds
African Bird Sounds Vol 2: West and Central Africa by Claude Chappuis

Site guides
Birding in Ghana by David Moyer (1996)

Further reading
The Birds of Ghana: an Atlas and Handbook by Françoise Dowsett-Lemaire & Robert J Dowsett (2014)
Ghana by Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu, Erasmus H Owusu, David T Daramani & Alfred Ali Nuoh in Important Bird Areas in Africa and Associated Islands: Priority Sites for Conservation edited by Lincoln D C Fishpool & Michael I Evans (2001)
European Swallows and Other Songbirds of Wetlands in Ghana, December 1997 by Symen B Deuzeman, Tom M van der Have, W T de Nobel & Bennie van de Brink (2004)
The Status and Conservation of Threatened Birds in the Upper Guinea Forest by Gary Allport (1991)
Rainforest Birds in South-west Ghana by G Dutson & J Branscombe (1990)
The Birds of Ghana: an Annotated Checklist by L G Grimes (1987)
Articles in Malimbus, Bull. ABC, NKO the parrots (WCG magazine), etc.

Websites
Ghana Tours – Ashanti African Tours
Adventure Birding Tours

Blogs
Bongo News – Ghana Wildlife Society
Ghana – Rainforest Birding on the Brink – 10,000 Birds by Adam Riley (2015)

Facebook groups
Birdwatching Ghana

ORGANISATIONS

Ghana Wildlife Society (GWS) is the BirdLife Partner in Ghana

Wildlife Clubs of Ghana (WCG) is the junior wing of GWS

Other bird or conservation organisations active in Ghana include –
A Rocha Ghana (ARG)
Threatened Species Conservation Alliance (THRESCOAL)
Nature Conservation Research Centre (NCRC)
The Development Institute (DI)
Friends of the Nation (FoN)
Northcode-Ghana (Coalition for Development of Northern Ghana)
Rainforest Rescue Ghana
Green Earth Organisation
The International Bird Conservation Partnership (IBCP)
NABU