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Mali

Grey-headed Woodpecker Dendrocopus goertae ŠNigel Blake http://www.nigelblake.co.uk/

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:661

numbers

Number of endemics:1
Mali Firefinch Lagonosticta virata

useful reading

Birds of Western Africa

by Nik Borrow & Ron Demey - February 2002 Christopher Helm [an imprint of A&C Black (Publisher) Limited] ?55
See Fatbirder Review
ISBN: 0713639598
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/Mali/introduction.html
Mali contains within its borders huge extremes of habitats, vegetation and avifauna. Key wintering grounds for Palearctic waterbirds and breeding areas for African waterbirds are found where the Niger River forms a large interior delta between the historic cities of Djenne and Timbuktu. The Sahara desert occupies the entire northern half of Mali, and the Sahel zone runs through Mali from east to west, each with its own unique avifauna.

West African Ornithological Society

http://malimbus.free.fr/Country%20pages/Mali.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

IBAs

http://www.africanbirdclub.org/countries/Mali/ibas.html
There are 17 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) and one secondary Endemic Bird Area (EBA) designated by BirdLife International in Mali...

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!

1998 [May] - Tom Harrison

http://www.crosswinds.net/~birdtrips/Mali98.html
I had a quick business trip to Mali, West Africa, at the end of April (1998); and while I would have little free time for birding, I brought my binoculars and an out-of-date West Africa field guide and hoped for the best. I figured, what the heck, when you bird a country for the first time, even the most common birds will turn out to be lifers...

1999 [January] - Bernie Cullen

http://home.flash.net/~bwcullen/birds.txt
The following is a description of the birds I saw while visiting my sister Anne Cullen who is a volunteer in the Peace Corps in the country of Mali in West Africa. I am a novice birdwatcher and I identified about 60 species during my month there...

2004 [April] - Johannes Vermehren

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/ghana/ghana2/ghana-2004.htm
...This was not a birdwatching trip but I spent as much time in the field as possible. During February I attended an exchange program at Accra University, Ghana. I was based at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, from where I made some weekend birding-trips to destinations in the vicinity...

2006 [February] - Callan Cohen & Michael Mills

http://www.birdingafrica.com/africa_tours/trip_reports/tr_mali.htm
This 11-day, exploratory trip was designed to investigate dry-country birding of Mali, combined with visits to Timbuktu and Dogon Country, some of Africas most famous historical sites. The main habitats birded were the fringes of the Sahara desert, the Sahel, Guinea Woodlands and the Niger River and associated wetlands. Highlights from this trip included Pharaohs/Desert Eagle Owl, Cream-coloured Courser, Red-necked Nightjar, Mali Firefinch, Ferruginous Duck, Egyptian Plover, Little Grey Woodpecker, Western Red-billed Hornbill, Sudan Golden Sparrow, Desert Sparrow, Lavender Waxbill, Fulvous Chatterer, White-crowned Black Wheatear, Desert Lark, Great Snipe, House Bunting and Sardinian Warbler...

tour operators

Birding Pal

http://birdingpal.org/Mali.htm
Local birders willing to show visiting birders around their area...

Mali on Birding Hotspots

http://www.camacdonald.com/birding/africamalitripreport.htm
This report summarizes the birds we observed and includes some notes on birding locations found during a business/tourism trip to Mali in fall 2000. We were assigned to scout the popular tourist routes within the country for upcoming general natural history/cultural tours to the region. As a result, we drove way too far for a normal intensive birding trip, but were able to stop mostly whenever we wanted for short walks and to identify top-of-the-tree large birds (as long as we remained somewhat on schedule). Consequently, our list of birds is top-heavy toward the larger roadside species, and a bit lean on the smaller passerines.