The African Bird Club, following the IOC taxonomy, lists 644 bird species for Sierra Leone, of which 579 are regularly occurring; c440 resident and c140 migrant (both inter-continental and intra-African, such as blue-cheeked and white-throated bee-eaters which venture into the capital, Freetown). The dry season of November to March or April, becoming increasingly humid towards the first rains in May, is a good period for both groups.

The southern and eastern parts of the country are within the ‘Western Guinean Lowland Forest’, a part of the wider ‘Guinea-Congolian Regional Centre of Endemism’; of the Central/West African rainforest. This wider area has 278 forest bird species that occur nowhere else; regional endemics. 174 of these occur in Sierra Leone, a number similar to Liberia, Ghana and Ivory Coast and only substantially exceeded by countries more difficult to access; Gabon, Cameroon, Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The more narrowly defined Upper Guinea forests endemic bird area has species confined to the forests between Sierra Leone and south-west Ghana. These, the big 14 target forest species, all occur in Sierra Leone and 12 have been reasonably reliably seen on dedicated birding trips in recent years, including the iconic Picathartes, Gola Malimbe, and Rufous Fishing-Owl.

Classic locations for forest birds, including the Upper Guinea Forest endemics, are Gola Forest National Park and Tiwai Island. These are typical forest reserves where topography combined with conservation action have better protected these forests. As is seen elsewhere in West Africa, much of the more accessible forest has been felled on lower, level ground. An extraordinary outlier is the Western Area Peninsula Forest on the hills above Freetown with around 100 forest bird species (compared to 150 in Gola Forest), including Picathartes.

Forest birding can be difficult, with brief views of species located by calls. But we know where more relaxed birding is possible…

More relaxed birding is possible in the north-west quarter of the country, where forest is largely confined to riverbanks and more open wooded savanna dominates gentle hills. Outamba Kilimi National Park was Sierra Leone’s first national park, established in 1995 primarily to reduce chimpanzee hunting for export and is now the HQ for the Pan Verus Project’s conservation and research activities.

In Outamba Kilimi National Park the bird list tops 300 species and includes such regionals species as the Togo Paradise-Whydah, Turati’s Boubou, Emerald Starling, and Cameroon and Jambandu Indigobirds. Bumbuna, south of Lake Sonfon has similar species and is also on our tours.