Birds in Sierra Leone
Our list for Sierra Leone has 40 bird species recorded regularly there: 7 winter visitors, 19 passage migrants and 14 scarce visitors
The list comes from 13,000 birdwatchers' records from 2019–2024, shared through the eBird Observation Dataset on GBIF. A bird is listed when it was recorded in at least 3 of the 6 years and has a Birdfact species guide, so more species occur here than are listed; the months show when it is recorded most years.
- Species on our list
- 40
- In October
- 3
- Common
- 21
- Busiest month
- Jan
This month: October
GBIF · Oct
Share of all bird records in Sierra Leone in October, 2019–2024. “Arriving now” are the birds whose share rises most from last month. Each month links to that month’s page.
The bird calendar for Sierra Leone
Month by monthWhen each bird is around, through the year. The darker the square, the closer that month is to the bird’s busiest. Filter by summer or winter visitors to see the seasons turn over.
| Bird | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pied Crow | ||||||||||||
| Cattle Egret | ||||||||||||
| Barn Swallow | ||||||||||||
| Common Sandpiper | ||||||||||||
| Rock Dove | ||||||||||||
| Common Swift | ||||||||||||
| Yellow Wagtail | ||||||||||||
| Whimbrel | ||||||||||||
| Lesser Striped Swallow | ||||||||||||
| Great White Egret | ||||||||||||
| Little Egret | ||||||||||||
| Sandwich Tern | ||||||||||||
| Osprey | ||||||||||||
| Greenshank | ||||||||||||
| Grey Heron | ||||||||||||
| African Jacana | ||||||||||||
| Whinchat | ||||||||||||
| European Pied Flycatcher | ||||||||||||
| Squacco Heron | ||||||||||||
| Willow Warbler | ||||||||||||
| Sand Martin | ||||||||||||
| Fork-tailed Drongo | ||||||||||||
| Senegal Thick-knee | ||||||||||||
| Common Reed-warbler | ||||||||||||
| Ringed Plover | ||||||||||||
| Grey Plover | ||||||||||||
| Tree Pipit | ||||||||||||
| Sanderling | ||||||||||||
| Green Sandpiper | ||||||||||||
| Barn Owl |
The year in Sierra Leone
Records by month| January | 4,459 |
|---|---|
| February | 1,578 |
| March | 957 |
| April | 1,090 |
| May | 383 |
| June | 319 |
| July | 150 |
| August | 137 |
| September | 186 |
| October | 479 |
| November | 1,137 |
| December | 2,325 |
January has the most records (4,459). Records follow birdwatchers as well as birds: a busy month means more people out looking, as well as more birds passing through.
By family
7 of 7How common
All 40 birds, A to Z
- African Jacana
- Barn Owl
- Barn Swallow
- Black Tern
- Black-crowned Night-heron
- Cattle Egret
- Common Reed-warbler
- Common Sandpiper
- Common Snipe
- Common Swift
- European Honey-buzzard
- European Pied Flycatcher
- Fork-tailed Drongo
- Great White Egret
- Green Sandpiper
- Greenshank
- Grey Heron
- Grey Plover
- Gull-billed Tern
- House Martin
- Lesser Striped Swallow
- Little Egret
- Osprey
- Peregrine Falcon
Questions
3How many birds are on Birdfact's list for Sierra Leone?
40 species, each recorded regularly in Sierra Leone (in at least 3 of the 6 years 2019–2024): 7 winter visitors, 19 passage migrants and 14 scarce visitors. The list includes only birds with a Birdfact species guide, so more species occur in Sierra Leone, and rarer vagrants are not listed.
What birds can I see in Sierra Leone in October?
3 species on our list for Sierra Leone are recorded regularly in October. Of these, the most often recorded are Pied Crow, Whimbrel and Common Sandpiper.
What are the most common birds in Sierra Leone?
Of the birds on our list, the ones birdwatchers record most often in Sierra Leone are Pied Crow, Cattle Egret, Rock Dove, Osprey and Barn Swallow.
Data: EOD – eBird Observation Dataset (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), accessed via GBIF.org, CC BY 4.0. Records from 2019–2024, aggregated and filtered by Birdfact. How these lists are made