SUB-REGION
West Africa
SIZE
196,722 km²
BIRDS AND BIRDING
SPECIES
Diversity
Afrotropical avifauna, with a minor Palaearctic element
Approximately 670 recorded species
Birds best found in Senegal but occurring more widely (BT)
Savile’s Bustard
Little Grey Woodpecker | Sahelian Woodpecker
Sennar Penduline Tit
River Prinia
Chestnut-bellied Starling
Black Scrub Robin
Sudan Golden Sparrow
Birds occurring in only two territories of the ABC region but not near-endemics or BT (1/2)
Mali Firefinch
Birds best found in two territories but occurring in more (B2)
Black-headed Lapwing
Western Red-billed Hornbill
African Green Bee-eater
Cricket Warbler | Cricket Longtail
Anteater Chat | Northern Anteater Chat
White-billed Buffalo Weaver
Proposed new species or splits not yet accepted by IOC
Black-shouldered Nightjar
Western Piping Hornbill
Brown-necked Parrot
Desert Grey Shrike
Glossy-backed Drongo
Western Square-tailed Drongo
Singing Bush Lark
Yellow-throated Greenbul
Yellow-bellied Crombec
African Reed Warbler
Grey-hooded Capuchin Babbler
African Scrub Robin (BT)
Black-faced Quailfinch
Vinaceous Firefinch (B2)
Other taxa of interest
African Pygmy Goose
Stone Partridge
White-throated Francolin
Ahanta Spurfowl
Double-spurred Spurfowl
Egyptian Nightjar
Golden Nightjar
Plain Nightjar
Long-tailed Nightjar
Standard-winged Nightjar
Western Plantain-eater
Violet Turaco
Guinea Turaco | Green Turaco
Arabian Bustard
Denham’s Bustard
Black-throated Coucal
Blue Malkoha
Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse
Four-banded Sandgrouse
Adamawa Turtle Dove
African Collared Dove
Bruce’s Green Pigeon
African Finfoot
White-spotted Flufftail
Lesser Moorhen
Black Crowned Crane
Quail-plover
Egyptian Plover
Greater Painted-snipe
Lesser Jacana
Cream-colored Courser
African Skimmer
White-crested Tiger Heron | White-crested Bittern
White-backed Night Heron
Western Reef Heron
Scissor-tailed Kite | African Swallow-tailed Kite
Egyptian Vulture
Rüppell’s Vulture | Rüppell’s Griffon
Beaudouin’s Snake Eagle
Western Banded Snake Eagle
Red-thighed Sparrowhawk
Grasshopper Buzzard
Northern White-faced Owl
Blue-naped Mousebird
Black Scimitarbill
Abyssinian Ground Hornbill
West African Pied Hornbill
Yellow-casqued Hornbill
Abyssinian Roller
Blue-bellied Roller
Shining-blue Kingfisher
Red-throated Bee-eater
Northern Carmine Bee-eater
Red-rumped Tinkerbird
Hairy-breasted Barbet
Vieillot’s Barbet
Bearded Barbet
Cassin’s Honeybird
Spotted Honeyguide
Buff-spotted Woodpecker
Fine-spotted Woodpecker
Little Green Woodpecker
African Grey Woodpecker
Brown-backed Woodpecker
Fox Kestrel
Senegal Parrot
Rose-ringed Parakeet
Senegal Batis
Brown-throated Wattle-eye
Turati’s Boubou
Yellow-crowned Gonolek
Red-shouldered Cuckooshrike
Yellow-billed Shrike
Red-bellied Paradise Flycatcher
Piapiac
African Blue Flycatcher
White-shouldered Black Tit
Yellow Penduline Tit
Western Nicator
Greater Hoopoe-Lark
Black-crowned Sparrow-Lark
Sun Lark
Crested Lark (senegallensis)
Grey-headed Bristlebill
Swamp Palm Bulbul | Swamp Greenbul
Simple Greenbul
Red-tailed Greenbul
White-throated Greenbul
Red-tailed Leaflove | Leaf-love
Fanti Saw-wing
Pied-winged Swallow
Red-chested Swallow
West African Swallow
Northern Crombec
Green Hylia
Greater Swamp Warbler (senegalensis)
Dorst’s Cisticola
Rufous Cisticola
Black-backed Cisticola
Red-winged Prinia
Oriole Warbler
Yellow-bellied Eremomela (alexanderi)
Senegal Eremomela
Brown Illadopsis
Puvel’s Illadopsis
Fulvous Babbler | Fulvous Chatterer
Brown Babbler
Blackcap Babbler
Yellow-bellied Hyliota
Lesser Blue-eared Starling
Bronze-tailed Starling
Splendid Starling
Purple Starling
Long-tailed Glossy Starling
Neumann’s Starling
Yellow-billed Oxpecker
White-tailed Alethe
White-browed Forest Flycatcher
Grey Tit-Flycatcher
Swamp Flycatcher
Snowy-crowned Robin-Chat
White-crowned Robin-Chat
Heuglin’s Wheatear
White-fronted Black Chat
Mangrove Sunbird | Mouse-brown Sunbird
Western Violet-backed Sunbird
Pygmy Sunbird
Beautiful Sunbird
Splendid Sunbird
Yellow-spotted Bush Sparrow
Sahel Bush Sparrow
Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-Weaver
Speckle-fronted Weaver
Olive-naped Weaver
Heuglin’s Masked Weaver
Compact Weaver
Blue-billed Malimbe
Northern Red Bishop
African Silverbill
Chestnut-breasted Nigrita
Lavender Waxbill
Black-rumped Waxbill
Western Bluebill
Crimson Seedcracker
Red-winged Pytilia
Dybowski’s Twinspot
Black-bellied Firefinch
Bar-breasted Firefinch
Wilson’s Indigobird
Sahel Paradise Whydah
Exclamatory Paradise Whydah
White-rumped Seedeater
Gosling’s Bunting
Brown-rumped Bunting
MAIN HABITATS
Arid savanna, wetlands
BIRD AREAS
Upper Niger valley Secondary Area
21 Important Bird Areas
BIRDING SITES
Richard-Toll and Les Trois Marigots for Sahelian species
Niokolo-Koba National Park and Dindefelo Nature Reserve for Guinea savanna species and waterbirds including Saddle-billed Stork
Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary, Saloum Delta and Technopôle de Dakar for more waterbirds
Îles de la Madeleine, île de Ngor and the sea off Dakar for Red Phalarope and seabirds including Sabine’s Gull, Slender-billed Gull, Black-headed Gull, Audouin’s Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Caspian Tern, Lesser Crested Tern, West African Crested Tern, Sandwich Tern, Little Tern, Bridled Tern, Roseate Tern, Common Tern, Arctic Tern, Black Tern, South Polar Skua, Great Skua, Pomarine Jaeger, Parasitic Jaeger, Long-tailed Skua, Red-billed Tropicbird, Wilson’s Storm Petrel, White-faced Storm Petrel, European Storm Petrel, Leach’s Storm Petrel, Band-rumped Storm Petrel, Scopoli’s Shearwater, Cory’s Shearwater, Cape Verde Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater, Great Shearwater, Manx Shearwater, Balearic Shearwater, Barolo Shearwater, Boyd’s Shearwater, Bulwer’s Petrel, Northern Gannet and Brown Booby
TIMING (Aug–Sep, Mar)
Being arid, most birds breed at the end of the rains (Sep–Nov)
RESOURCES
Apps
Birds of Africa (iOS or Android)
Field guides
Birds of Senegal and The Gambia by Nik Borrow & Ron Demey (2023)
Birds of The Gambia and Senegal by Clive Barlow & Tim Wacher (2010)
Birds of Western Africa by Nik Borrow & Ron Demey (2014)
Oiseaux du Sénégal by Jean-Marie Dupart (2017)
Sounds
Audio Guide to the Birds of Senegal/Guide Sonore des Oiseaux du Sénégal curated by Bram Piot
Bird Song of The Gambia and Senegal: an Aid to Identification by Clive Barlow, John Hammick & Pat Sellar
Oiseaux d’Afrique/African Bird Sounds Vol 2: Afrique Occidentale et Centrale/West and Central Africa by Claude Chappuis
Site guides
Birding in the Dakar Area by Betsy Hopkins (2005)
Seawatching at N’Gor by Niklas Holmström (2005)
Atlases
Atlas des Oiseaux de Casamance
Further reading
Senegal 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)
Oiseaux Nicheurs sur les Côtes du Parc National du Delta du Sine-Saloum et du Parc National Langue de Barbarie, Sénégal, 1998 by Guido O Keijl, Allix Brenninkmeijer, Frans J Schepers, Robert E Brasseur, Abdoulaye Ndiaye, Eric W M Stienen & Jan Veen (2000)
Oiseaux d’Eau dans le Delta du Sine-Saloum et la Petite Côte, Sénégal, Janvier 1997 by FJ Schepers, G O Keijl, P L Meininger & J B Rigoulot (1998)
Les Oiseaux de Sénégambie: Notices et Cartes de Distribution by Gérard J Morel & Marie-Yvonne Morel (1990)
Land Cover and Avian Biodiversity in Rice Fields and Mangroves of West Africa by Daan Bos, Ion Grigoras & Abdoulaye Ndiaye (2006)
Birding Northern Senegal (St. Louis, Richard Toll and Podor), a trip report by David Karr (2018)
Synthèse des observations ornithologiques faites au Sénégal, a detailed report (1991, in French) by Richard Devisse of observations of 392 species during 53 visits to twelve sites (including one in The Gambia) between 1985 and 1989
Articles in Malimbus, Bull. ABC, etc.
Websites
Les Oiseaux du Sénégal
Seawatching in Senegal
UNESCO World Heritage List: Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary and Niokolo-Koba National Park
Senegal Tours – Ashanti African Tours
Blogs
Senegal Wildlife – Birdwatching and Natural History in Dakar and Beyond/L’Ornithologie et l’Histoire Naturelle de Dakar et Au-delà
ORNITHONDAR – Des Oiseaux et Autres dans le Nord du Sénégal/Birds and More in Northern Senegal
Facebook groups
Nature et Oiseaux Sénégal
Birding Senegal
Parc National des Oiseaux de Djoudj
ORGANISATIONS
Association Nature-Communautés-Développement (NCD) is the BirdLife Partner in Senegal
Other bird or conservation organisations active in Senegal include –
APALIS (Association pour l’Études et la Conservation des Oiseaux de Casamance au Sénégal)/GÉPOC (Groupe d’Études et de Protection des Oiseaux de Casamance)
GIE Niokolo
Comité de Gestion de la Réserve Ornithologique de Kalissaye (ROK)
Association Sénégalaise des Amis de la Nature (ASAN)
Centre de Suivi Ecologique (CSE)
Oceanium de Dakar
Nébéday
Neene Ladde
Innovations Environnement et Développement Durable (IE2D)
Aire Marine Protégée du Gandoule GIE Niowudane (AMPG)
Partenariat Régional pour la Conservation de la Zone Côtière et Marine (PRCM) en Afrique de l’Ouest
Wetlands International Afrique (WIACO)
WeForest
StopDesert