Serengeti national park birds are distributed across the open savannas of the endless plains of the park. The park has different habitats that has attributed to the wide range of bird species found at the park. Serengeti national park is one of the best birding destinations in Africa with over 500 bird species recorded. Out of that 500 bird species 34 of them are raptors making it one of the protected areas with the highest number of raptors in the world. The different park habitats include: Swamps, Woodlands, thickets, forest galleries, open Savannah grasslands, Acacia trees and others.
The large size of the park that is divided in to four sectors those are Ndutu area which is near the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Seronera area, Grumeti river area and the Mara area. These great size has attributed to the wide spread of bird species at the park. The Serengeti national park birds enjoy great privilege of peace and resting minds. The park hosts permanent residents and also receives some migratory birds across the glob that come for breeding at the park.
Serengeti national park birds are divided in to different sections those are Endemic species. The endemic species are birds that are only found in Tanzania. Some of these birds are found in Serengeti national park. For example Fischer’s lovebird, Rufous-tailed weaver and Grey-breasted spurfowl. The other group is Near Endemic bird species they include: Grey-Crested helme-shrike, Usambiro barbet and Hildebrandt’s starlling.
Serengeti national park birds can be grouped according to their families. This helps for easy identification. Different Serengeti national park birds families stay in different habitant. For example all web-leged birds leave on water catchment areas while the raptors leave in open savannah grasslands. This is attributed their feeding, each bird likes to leave near where it can get its food from.
Serengeti national park birds check lists
Ducks family
These include: White-faced whistling –duck, Fulvous whistling-duck, Egyptian Goose, Knob-billed duck, Spur-winged goose, African pygmy goose, African black duck, Yellow-billed Duck, Cape teal duck, Red-billed duck, Maccoa duck and many more.
Ostriches
Serengeti national park birds includes the Maasai ostrich. Their sex can be identified by their feather colors. The black Maasai ostrich is the male one and the grey Maasai ostrich is the female one.
Flamingoes
Serengeti national park hosts all the two species of Flamingoes those are Lesser flamingo and Greater flamingo.
Pigeons and doves
Some of the easily sighted Serengeti national park birds are the pigeons and dove family. They are distributed across all the habitants of the park. Some are easily even sighted in the compounds of the camps. They are the most friendly bird families in Serengeti national park. Some of the bird in this family include: Rock pigeon, Dusky Turtled-dove, Speckled pigeon, Mourning Collared-dove, Red-eyed dove, Laughing dove, Ring-necked dove, Emerald-spotted wood dove, Namaqua dove, African green pigeon, Tambourine dove and others.
Bustards
This is the family of the park birds that constitutes of the largest flying birds on earth. They include Kori bustard, Denham’s Bustard, White-billed bustard, Buff-crested bustard, Balck-billied bustard, Hartlaub’s Bustard and many more.
Plovers and lapwings
These are birds that can survive both on water and on land. They have long tinny legs that makes them easily walk on water or on land. Some of the examples are: Long-toed lapwing, Black-bellied plover, blacksmith lapwing, Spu-winged lapwing, white-headed lapwing, Senegal lapwing, Balck-winged lapwing, crowned lapwing, brown-chested lapwing, wattled lapwing, lesser sand plover, Caspian plover, Kittlitz’s plover, common ringed plover, three-banded plover, little ringed plover, white-fronted plover and chestnut branded plover.
Sandpipers and Allies
These are the park birds that lie on this category include: Whimbrel, Eurasian curlew, black-tailed Godwit, Ruddy turnstone, Curlew sandpiper, Temminck stint, Sanderling, Jack snipe, little Stint, Terek Sanpiper, African Snipe, Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Spotted redshank, Common, greenshank, Wood sanpiper, Marsh sandpiper and others.
Other Serengeti national park birds include: Common bulbul, African darter, Long-tailed Cormorant, Great Cormorant, Pink-backed pelican, hammerkop, Saddled-billed stork, White stork, Yellow-billed stork, Marabou stork, Balck stork, Open billed stork, Abdim’s stork, Wooly-necked stork, Black-headed gull, Gray-headed gull, White-winged tern, African skimmers, Gulll-billed tern and many more
Guest can enjoy the long list of Serengeti national park birds through our long birding safaris. The birding safaris can be done all year around though the most preferred period is around rainy season. The rainy season also known as the green season is the breeding season for birds. This is also the time the park is less congested hence making it more quite which is more convenient for the birders to enjoy.
