Birds in Western Sahara
Our list for Western Sahara has 77 bird species recorded regularly there: 17 winter visitors, 47 passage migrants and 13 scarce visitors
The list comes from 9,280 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
- 77
- In October
- 2
- Common
- 73
- Busiest month
- Mar
This month: October
GBIF · OctMost likely
Share of all bird records in Western Sahara 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 Western Sahara
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barn Swallow | ||||||||||||
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | ||||||||||||
| Great Grey Shrike | ||||||||||||
| House Sparrow | ||||||||||||
| Eurasian Collared Dove | ||||||||||||
| Wheatear | ||||||||||||
| Sandwich Tern | ||||||||||||
| Pied Wagtail | ||||||||||||
| Thekla's Lark | ||||||||||||
| Audouin's Gull | ||||||||||||
| Great Cormorant | ||||||||||||
| Northern Gannet | ||||||||||||
| Little Egret | ||||||||||||
| Yellow-legged Gull | ||||||||||||
| Grey Heron | ||||||||||||
| Greater Flamingo | ||||||||||||
| Short-toed Lark | ||||||||||||
| Rock Dove | ||||||||||||
| Bar-tailed Godwit | ||||||||||||
| Ringed Plover | ||||||||||||
| Chiffchaff | ||||||||||||
| Sanderling | ||||||||||||
| Osprey | ||||||||||||
| Eurasian Spoonbill | ||||||||||||
| Whimbrel | ||||||||||||
| Dunlin | ||||||||||||
| Eurasian Oystercatcher | ||||||||||||
| Grey Plover | ||||||||||||
| Woodchat Shrike | ||||||||||||
| Kestrel |
The year in Western Sahara
Records by month| January | 2,551 |
|---|---|
| February | 1,056 |
| March | 3,509 |
| April | 960 |
| May | 2 |
| June | 125 |
| July | 103 |
| August | 28 |
| September | 116 |
| October | 117 |
| November | 246 |
| December | 467 |
March has the most records (3,509). Records follow birdwatchers as well as birds: a busy month means more people out looking, as well as more birds passing through.
By family
12 of 18- Sandpipers & Snipes18
- Gulls & Terns7
- Plovers & Lapwings4
- Herons & Egrets3
- Skuas & Jaegers3
- Swallows & Martins3
- Sylviid Warblers3
- Wagtails & Pipits3
- Ducks, Geese & Swans2
- Falcons2
- Ibises & Spoonbills2
- Larks2
All 18 families in Western Sahara
How common
All 77 birds, A to Z
- Arctic Jaeger
- Audouin's Gull
- Avocet
- Bar-tailed Godwit
- Barn Owl
- Barn Swallow
- Black-headed Gull
- Black-tailed Godwit
- Blackcap
- Cattle Egret
- Chiffchaff
- Common Redstart
- Common Sandpiper
- Common Snipe
- Common Swift
- Common Tern
- Coot
- Curlew
- Curlew Sandpiper
- Dunlin
- Eurasian Collared Dove
- Eurasian Oystercatcher
- Eurasian Spoonbill
- Eurasian Stone-curlew
Show all 77 birds
- Glossy Ibis
- Great Cormorant
- Great Grey Shrike
- Great Skua
- Greater Flamingo
- Green Sandpiper
- Greenshank
- Grey Heron
- Grey Phalarope
- Grey Plover
- Hoopoe
- House Martin
- House Sparrow
- Kentish Plover
- Kestrel
- Lesser Black-backed Gull
- Little Egret
- Little Grebe
- Little Owl
- Little Ringed Plover
- Little Stint
- Mediterranean Gull
- Moorhen
- Northern Gannet
- Northern Shoveler
- Osprey
- Pallid Swift
- Peregrine Falcon
- Pied Wagtail
- Pomarine Jaeger
- Red Knot
- Redshank
- Ringed Plover
- Rock Dove
- Ruddy Shelduck
- Ruddy Turnstone
- Ruff
- Sand Martin
- Sanderling
- Sandwich Tern
- Sardinian Warbler
- Short-toed Lark
- Spotted Redshank
- Thekla's Lark
- Tree Pipit
- Western Marsh-harrier
- Wheatear
- Whimbrel
- Whitethroat
- Willow Warbler
- Woodchat Shrike
- Yellow Wagtail
- Yellow-legged Gull
Questions
3How many birds are on Birdfact's list for Western Sahara?
77 species, each recorded regularly in Western Sahara (in at least 3 of the 6 years 2019–2024): 17 winter visitors, 47 passage migrants and 13 scarce visitors. The list includes only birds with a Birdfact species guide, so more species occur in Western Sahara, and rarer vagrants are not listed.
What birds can I see in Western Sahara in October?
2 species on our list for Western Sahara are recorded regularly in October. Of these, the most often recorded are Grey Heron and Little Egret.
What are the most common birds in Western Sahara?
Of the birds on our list, the ones birdwatchers record most often in Western Sahara are House Sparrow, Barn Swallow, Yellow-legged Gull, Yellow Wagtail and Avocet.
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