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Congo

Scarlet-chested Sunbird Nectarinia senegalensis ŠJens Eriksen http://www.sitecenter.dk/birds

You will notice that there is no introduction to this section yet.

I would like to fill this gap with an introduction from a local birder [or someone who is a frequent visitor] for every on of the geographical pages. The many thousands of birders now regularly using these pages prefer to read something written by someone who can see the place from an insider's point of view. They know the best spots, not just the ones that first time overseas visitors usually visit or that are on the normal birding trip itineraries.

Each introduction carries the e-mail address of the contributor so that birders can get in touch with them if, for example, they are planning a trip [unless the contributor is unable to do this].

Please get in touch if you feel you can contribute an introduction to this page - you don't have to be an expert; I'm not!

numbers

Number of bird species:1189

numbers

Number of endemics:17
Congo Peafowl Afropavo congensis Neumann`s Coucal Centropus neumanni Schouteden`s Swift Schoutedenapus schoutedeni Congo Bay-Owl Phodilus prigoginei Itombwe Nightjar Caprimulgus prigoginei Bedford`s Paradise-Flycatcher Terpsiphone bedfordi Itombwe Alseonax Muscicapa itombwensis Prigogine`s Greenbul Chlorocichla prigoginei Kabobo Apalis Apalis kaboboensis Chapin`s Crombec Sylvietta chapini Chapin`s Mountain-Babbler Kupeornis chapini Stuhlmann`s Double-collared Sunbird Nectarinia stuhlmanni Rockefeller`s Sunbird Nectarinia rockefelleri Ruwet`s Masked-Weaver Ploceus ruweti Golden-naped Weaver Ploceus aureonucha Yellow-legged Malimbe Malimbus flavipes Black-faced Waxbill Estrilda nigriloris

useful reading

Birds of Western Africa: An Identification Guide

Nik Borrow and Ron Demey Series: CHRISTOPHER HELM IDENTIFICATION GUIDE SERIES 832 pages, 147 col plates, 1100 dist maps. Christopher Helm
ISBN: 0713639598
Buy this book from NHBS.com

Field Guide to the Birds of Western Africa

Nik Borrow and Ron Demey Series: HELM FIELD GUIDES 496 pages, 150 col plates, 1300 maps. Christopher Helm See Fatbirder Review
ISBN: 0713666927
Buy this book from NHBS.com

useful information

Proact

Coordinator: none (why not apply?) see http://www.proact-campaigns.net/coordinators
Members: None yet!
Join us at http://www.proact-campaigns.net/team

clubs

African Bird Club

http://www.africanbirdclub.org/countries/DRCongo/introduction.html
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC (previously Zaire) has a bird list consisting of 1,139 species following the ABC checklist mentioned below. This is probably the highest species count for any African country. Since 1996 a civil war and political instability have impacted the habitat adversely as well as limiting opportunities for visiting birders. There is much of interest for the birder to see in the DRC, so one can only hope that opportunities to visit will increase in the future...

Democratic Republic of Congo Birding Association

http://www.tommy777.addr.com/DRCBA.htm
The Democratic Republic of Congo Birding Association was formally constituted on March 3rd 1998 by Tommy Pedersen, with valuable help from Marc Languy and Greg Davies.The goal for this organization is to be a medium for people interested in the Congolese avifauna, and will publish the newsletter Afropavo twice a year (There were 4 issues in 1998).

West African Ornithological Society

http://malimbus.free.fr/Country%20pages/Congo.htm
The West African Ornithological Society grew out of the Nigerian Ornithologists Society, which was founded in February 1964. Its object is to promote scientific interest in the birds of West Africa and to further the regions ornithology, mainly by means of its journal Malimbus (formerly the Bulletin of the Nigerian Ornithologists Society). This journal is biannual and bilingual, a unique feature in Africa.The West African Ornithological Society grew out of the Nigerian Ornithologists Society, which was founded in February 1964. Its object is to promote scientific interest in the birds of West Africa and to further the regions ornithology, mainly by means of its journal Malimbus (formerly the Bulletin of the Nigerian Ornithologists Society). This journal is biannual and bilingual, a unique feature in Africa.

reserves

Garamba National Park

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/136
The park's immense savannahs, grasslands and woodlands, interspersed with gallery forests along the river banks and the swampy depressions, are home to four large mammals: the elephant, giraffe, hippopotamus and above all the white rhinoceros...

Kahuzi-Biéga National Park

http://maps.geog.umd.edu/carpemapper/PDFs/CL10_Maiko.pdf
Avifauna include the endemic Rockefeller`s sunbird Nectarinia rockefelleri (VU); Grauer`s broadbill Pseudocalyptomena graueri (VU); Grauer`s warbler Bradypterus graueri (VU) and Shelley`s crimsonwing Cryptospiza shelleyi (VU)...

Odzala National Park

http://www.cybertracker.co.za/Odzala.html
Located in the heart of the great Congo basin rainforest, the Odzala National Park, recently extended to cover 13.600 km2, is one of Africa's least known and most extraordinary tropical forest ecosystems...

Salonga - Lukenie - Sankuru Forest

http://maps.geog.umd.edu/carpemapper/PDFs/CL8_Salonga.pdf
Notable birds include: the endemic Congo peafowl (Afropavo congensis), cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis), yellow-billed stork (Mycteria ibis), and black stork (Ciconia nigra)...

Virunga National Park

http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=63
Virunga National Park (covering an area of 790,000 ha) comprises an outstanding diversity of habitats, ranging from swamps and steppes to the snowfields of Rwenzori at an altitude of over 5,000 m, and from lava plains to the savannahs on the slopes of volcanoes. Mountain gorillas are found in the park, some 20,000 hippopotamuses live in the rivers and birds from Siberia spend the winter there...

Western Congolian swamp forests

http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildplaces/congo/index.cfm
This ecoregion, combined with the neighboring Eastern Congolian Swamp Forests, contains one of the largest continuous areas of swamp forest in the world...

Zaire - Parks

http://www.africanet.com/africanet/country/zaire/parks.htm
e.g. Savannah. 400,000 hectares. Access by poor roads from Isiro or Bunia or by light aircraft usually from Goma. Basic accommodation available in the park. Animals living in the park include antelope, baboon, buffalo, hippopotamus, elephant, giraffe, leopard, lion, warthog, white rhinoceros (very rare); and a wide variety of birds.

trip reports

Travelling Birder
http://www.travellingbirder.com
The Travellingbirder.com birding trip report search engine guides you to 7,000+ birding trip reports on the Internet. You can search for trip reports from a specific country and time of year. Not all these reports are in English. So, if you cant find the trip report you want on this Fatbirder page give them a try!

2003 [June] - Alex Georgiev

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/Democratic-Republic-Congo/DCR1/Congo-june-03.htm
Late November 2002 I traveled as a volunteer to the DRC from Nairobi, Kenya to join a bonobo (Pan paniscus) research project, run in the interior of the country by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. I didn`t have any bird guides for the area so I took the Svenson & Fanshawe Field Guide to the Birds of East Africa. It proved that since it covers also Uganda`s rainforest species it was of good use in the heart of the Congo, too

Northeast Congo Basin Moist Forests

http://www.worldwildlife.org/expeditions/car/ncbfact.html
A WWF Filed trip report... ...You might spy two birds restricted to this forest: the long- tailed Bedford`s paradise flycatcher, which catches its prey in midair, or Turner`s eremomela, a small warbler...

A Congolese endemic; Prigogine`s Greenbul, a brief encounter.

http://www.tommy777.addr.com/ABC-article.htm
In 1993 - 1994 there were three birders living in Goma, eastern Congo (formerly Zaire); Marc Languy, Laurent Esselen and myself. Situated in the centre of the Albertine Rift, we enjoyed some excellent birding...

Birding the Congo

http://www.tommy777.addr.com/Index.htm
This site is meant as a tool to aid future birders in birding the Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). The site was started on October 26th 1996, and will be updated regularly, so please visit often - and drop a line in my guest book. Always nice to see who checked in! After working in the D.R.C. (then it was still called Zaďre) as an airline pilot from 1990 to 1996, and birding most of the time, I thought it was time to share my experiences with the rest of the birding world. The only birders that I knew living in Zaďre during these years were Marc Languy of WWF, Laurent Esselen of TMK and myself. Not many birders in a country the size of western Europe, and no local ornithologists.

Endemic Species in the Democratic Republic of Congo

http://www.tommy777.addr.com/Endemics.htm
Clickable list...

Profile on Congo

http://www.africanconservation.com/congo.html
Birdlife includes the predatory eagle, hawk, and owl, the scavenging vulture, and the wading heron.

artists

Gallery - Field Museum Photo Gallery

http://www.fmnh.org/congo/phobird.html
The eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is home to over 900 species of birds. Many lowland forest species typical of West Africa reach their eastern limit here and many savanna species typical of eastern Africa reach their western limit. Endemic species have evolved in the montane habitats. Here are some photos of the species from the region...