List of birds of Africa


This is a list of the bird species recorded in Africa. The area covered by this list is the Africa region defined by the American Birding Association's listing rules. In addition to the continent itself, the area includes Madagascar, Mauritius, Rodrigues, Seychelles, Cape Verde, the Comoro Islands, Zanzibar and the Canary Islands, São Tomé and Príncipe and Annobón in the Gulf of Guinea. It does not include Socotra in the Arabian Sea, Madeira or the Azores.
This list is that of the African Bird Club supplemented by Bird Checklists of the World.
This list's taxonomic treatment and nomenclature are those of the IOC World Bird List. Taxonomic changes are ongoing. As more research is gathered from studies of distribution, behaviour, and DNA, the names, sequence, and number of families and species change every year. Differences in common and scientific names between the Clements taxonomy and that of the ABC are frequent but are seldom noted here.

By the numbers

This list contains 2712 species. Individual endemic species found in a single country are tagged ; the rest of the endemics are tagged or noted in text. The countries that have endemics and the number in each are listed below.
Places with endemic species:
  • Algeria
  • Aldabra
  • Angola
  • Ascension
  • Cameroon
  • Canary Islands
  • Cape Verde
  • Comoros
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • Djibouti
  • Equatorial Guinea
  • Ethiopia
  • Gough Island
  • Inaccessible Island
  • Kenya
  • Madagascar
  • Mauritius
  • Mayotte
  • Namibia
  • Nigeria
  • Nightingale Islands
  • Réunion
  • Rodrigues
  • Saint Helena
  • São Tomé and Príncipe
  • Seychelles
  • Somalia
  • South Africa
  • Sudan
  • Tanzania
  • Tristan da Cunha
  • Uganda
  • Zambia
The sources classify vagrants; they are tagged. Some of them occur fairly frequently but are far outside their normal ranges; several have only a single record.

Ostriches

Order: StruthioniformesFamily: Struthionidae
The ostriches are flightless birds native to Africa. They are the largest living species of bird and are distinctive in appearance, with a long neck and legs and the ability to run at high speeds.
Order: AnseriformesFamily: Anatidae
Anatidae includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl, such as geese and swans. These birds are adapted to an aquatic existence with webbed feet, flattened bills, and feathers that are excellent at shedding water due to an oily coating.
Order: GalliformesFamily: Numididae
Guineafowl are a group of African, seed-eating, ground-nesting birds that resemble partridges, but with featherless heads and spangled grey plumage.
Order: GalliformesFamily: Odontophoridae
Despite their family's common name, two species are native to Africa.
Order: GalliformesFamily: Phasianidae
The Phasianidae are a family of terrestrial birds. In general, they are plump and have broad, relatively short wings.