Birds of Serengeti National Park
Birds of Serengeti National Park are recorded to be over 500 species roaming the great Serengeti plains. Serengeti National Park is the best Tanzania national park that has thousands if not millions of travellers visiting year after year to have a glimpse and explore the great and famous plains which host thousands of wildlife, which includes the various bird species.
Serengeti National Park is located in the northern region of the Republic of Tanzania, and makes part of the northern tourist circuit of Tanzania which is coincidentally the most famous and most visited in the country.
Serengeti National Park has a variety of features and different vegetation zones, say swamps, forest galleries, woodland as well as savannah plains all of which are great habitants of various bird species. Birds of Serengeti National Park can be grouped as endemic species to the Serengeti which can only be found in the Mara Serengeti area, Endemic species to Tanzania as well as migratory birds.
Most of the birds can be found in specific areas of the park, say the grey-breasted spurfowl which can be easily found in the Seronera area of Serengeti National Park. Endemic bird species only found in the Mara Serengeti include Usambiro barbet with endemic species only found in Tanzania including Fischer’s lovebird, Grey-breasted spurfowl and the Rufus-tailed weaver.
Near endemic species which can also be found in areas near Tanzania include the grey-crested helmet-shrike, Hildebrandt’s starling, as well as Usambiro barbet.
Most common birds of Serengeti National Park are ducks which include Fulvous Whistling-Duck, African Pygmy-Goose, Hottentot Teal, Northern Shoveler, Yellow-billed duck, Northern Pintail and Maccoa duck among others; common ostriches, greater flamingos, lesser flamingos, Created Guinea fowl, Helmeted Guinea fowl, Scaly Francolin, Hildebrandt’s Francolin, Creasted Francolin, Red-Winged Francolin, Little Grebe, Eared Grebe, Rock Pigeon, Dusky Turtle-Dove, Mourning Collared-Dove, Tambourine Dove, Kori bustard, Denham’s bustard, Black-bellied bustard, Hartlaub’s bustard, Hartlaub’s turraco, Ross’s Turaco, Black cuckoo, Common cuckoo, African cuckoo, pennant-winged nightjar, sombre nightjar, freckled nightjar, Common swift, Nyanza swift, African swamp hen, Grey Crowned-Crane, Spotted Thick-knee, Pied Avocet, Senegal Lapwing, Little ringed plover, lesser sand-plover, Caspian plover, Greater Painted-Snipe, African jacana, Wood Sand piper, African open bill stork, Black stork, Abdim’s stork, white stork, African Darter, Great White Pelican, Hamerkop, egrets, Striated Heron, Glossy Ibis, Hadada Ibis, Secretary bird, Osprey, African Harrier-Hawk, Bearded Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Lapped-faced Vulture, Bat Hawk, African Marsh-Harrier, Common Buzzard, African Fish-Eagle, Augur Buzzard, Mountain Yellow-Warbler, Icetrine warbler, Lesser Swamp Warbler, Fan-tailed Grass bird, Wire tailed Swallow, Grey-Olive Greenbul, Red-chested sunbird, purple-banded sunbird, Red-billed Buffalo-Weaver, Rufous-tailed Weaver, Vitelline Masked-Weaver, Southern Red Bishop, Cromson-rumped waxbill, among so many others.
All these and more birds of Serengeti National Park can be seen with different activities in the park including;
Bird watching
Bird watching has travellers going through some of the already developed trails in Serengeti National Park to spot the various bird species that the park inhabits. Bird watching in Serengeti National Park can be done all throughout the day, in the guidance of a bird guide. Remember to carry good walking shoes, a camera and a good pair of binoculars to have you spot even those birds which may otherwise have been far to see.
Game drives.
During game drives in Serengeti National Park, you shall see a number of Speicies as they roam the park all throughout the day.
Best time to see birds of Serengeti National Park
Bird watching in Serengeti National Park can be done all throughout the year. The best time however to see the birds of Serengeti National Park is during the months of November through April, which is the time of nesting of resident bird species of Serengeti National Park, and also the month of November sees a great number of migratory birds flocking the park, thereby giving birders a wider variety of bird species to see while on a birding safari in Serengeti National Park.
