Birds of the Congo

List of Common Birds Found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Native Birds

• Abyssinian Roller
• African Crowned Hornbill
• African Fish-eagle
• African Gray Hornbill
• African Gray Parrot
• African Green Broadbill
• African Jacana
• African Paradise Flycatcher
• African Penguin
• African Pied Hornbill
• African Pied Wagtail
• African Pygmy Goose
• African Pygmy Kingfisher
• African Sacred Ibis 
• African Spoonbill
• African Wood Owl
• African Yellow White-eye
• Anchieta’s Barbet
• Angola Cave Chat
• Angola Lark
• Angolan Swallow
• Angola Slaty Flycatcher
• Angola Swallow
• Angola Waxbill
• Bare-cheeked Trogon
• Barn Swallow
• Barred Long-tailed Cuckoo
• Bar-tailed Trogon
• Bates’s Nightjar
• Bearded Vulture
• Beautiful Sunbird
• Bedfords Paradise Catcher
• Black-and-white Casqued Hornbill
• Black-and-white Mannikin
• Black Bee-eater
• Black-bellied Bustard
• Black-bellied Firefinch
• Black-bellied Starling
• Black-bellied Sunbird
• Black-billed Barbet
• Black Bishop
• Black-capped Apalis
• Black-chested Snake Eagle
• Black-collared Barbet
• Black-collared Lovebird
• Black-collared Swallow
• Black Coucal
• Black Crake
• Black-crowned Crane
• Black-crowned Night Heron
• Black Egret
• Black-faced Quailfinch
• Black-headed Bee-eater
• Black-headed Gonolek
• Black-headed Heron
• Black Heron
• Black Kite
• Black-necked Weaver
• Black-rumped Waxbill
• Black Saw-wing
• Black Sparrowhawk
• Black-tailed Oriole
• Black-throated Apalis
• Black-throated Coucal
• Black-winged Red Bishop
• Black-winged Stilt
• Black-winged Swordbill
• Black-winged Whistling Duck
• Blue-bellied Roller
• Blue-billed Firefinch
• Blue-breasted Bee-eater
• Blue-breasted Kingfisher
• Blue-headed Bee-eater
• Blue-headed Sunbird
• Blue-mantled Crested Flycatcher
• Blue-moustached Bee-eater
• Blue Swallow
• Blue-throated Roller
• Bocage’s Akalat
• Bocage’s Weaver
• Bohm’s Bee-eater
• Bohm’s Flycatcher
• Bohm’s Spinetail
• Bonaparte’s Nightjar
• Bradfield’s Hornbill
• Bradfield’s Swift
• Braun’s Bushshrike
• Brown Illadopsis
• Brown Snake Eagle
• Buff-spotted Woodpecker
• Cattle Egret
• Chestnut Wattle-eye
• Collared Sunbird
• Common Bulbul
• Common Hoopoe 
• Congo Peafowl
• Copper Sunbird
• Coppery-tailed Coucal
• Crowned Eagle
• Damara Tern
• Dusky Crimsonwing
• Eastern Chanting Goshawk
• Egyptian Goose
• Gray Crowned Crane 
• Great Blue Turaco
• Hadada Ibis 
• Hamerkop 
• Helmeted Guinea Fowl 
• Hooded Vulture 
• Lilac-breasted Roller 
• Little Bee-eater 
• Marabou Stork 
• Marungu Sunbird 
• Montane Nightjar
• Papyrus Gonolek
• Pied Crow 
• Pied Kingfisher 
• Pin-tailed Whydah 
• Red-collared Mountain Babbler 
• Red-throated Bee Eater 
• Secretarybird 
• Shelley’s Crimsonwing
• Shoebill
• Speckled Pigeon 
• Village Weaver 
• White-backed Vulture
• White-bellied Kingfisher
• White-crested Hornbill
• White-headed Vulture
• White-throated Bee Eater 
• Woodland Kingfisher 
• Yellow-billed Stork
• African Cuckoo
• African Cuckoo-hawk
• African Dusky Flycatcher
• African Emerald Cuckoo
• African Forest-flycatcher
• African Green-pigeon
• African Harrier-hawk
• African River Martin
• African Stonechat
• Albertine Boubou
• Amethyst Sunbird
• Anchieta’s Sunbird
• Ansorge’s Greenbul
• Archer’s Robin-chat
• Arnot’s Chat
• Ashy Flycatcher
• Augur Buzzard
• Ayres’s Hawk-eagle
• Baglafecht Weaver
• Banded Martin
• Banded Prinia
• Banded Snake-eagle
• Bank Swallow
• Bannerman’s Sunbird
• Bare-faced Go-away-bird
• Bar-winged Weaver
• Bateleur
• Bates’s Nightjar
• Bates’s Sunbird
• Bat Hawk
• Baumann’s Greenbul
• Beaudouin’s Snake-eagle
• Black-and-rufous Swallow
• Black-backed Cisticola
• Black-backed Puffback
• Black-billed Turaco
• Black-billed Weaver
• Black-billed Wood-dove
• Black-chinned Weaver
• Black-collared Apalis
• Black-collared Bulbul
• Black-crowned Tchagra
• Black Cuckoo
• Black-faced Apalis
• Black-faced Rufous-warbler
• Black-fronted Bushshrike
• Black Goshawk
• Black-headed Weaver
• Black-necked Eremomela
• Black-throated Malimbe
• Black-winged Bishop
• Black-winged Kite
• Blue-billed Malimbe
• Blue-billed Teal
• Blue-headed Coucal
• Blue-headed Wood-dove
• Blue Malkoha
• Blue Quail
• Blue-shouldered Robin-chat
• Blue-spotted Wood-dove
• Blue-throated Brown Sunbird
• Bob-tailed Weaver
• Bocage’s Sunbird
• Böhm’s Flycatcher
• Booted Eagle
• Brazza’s Martin
• Bronze Sunbird
• Brown-backed Scrub-robin
• Brown-capped Weaver
• Brown-chested Alethe
• Brown-crowned Tchagra
• Brown-headed Apalis
• Brown Nightjar
• Brubru
• Bruce’s Green-pigeon
• Bubbling Cisticola
• Buff-bellied Warbler
• Buff-shouldered Widowbird
• Buff-throated Apalis
• Cabanis’s Greenbul
• Cape Crow
• Cape Robin-chat
• Capped Wheatear
• Cardinal Quelea
• Carmelite Sunbird
• Carruthers’s Cisticola
• Cassin’s Flycatcher
• Cassin’s Hawk-eagle
• Chapin’s Flycatcher
• Chattering Cisticola
• Chestnut-backed Sparrow-weaver
• Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-weaver
• Chestnut-throated Apalis
• Chirping Cisticola
• Chubb’s Cisticola
• Cloud Cisticola
• Cloud-scraping Cisticola
• Collared Flycatcher
• Collared Palm-thrush
• Common Buzzard
• Common Cuckoo
• Common House-martin
• Common Nightingale
• Common Quail
• Common Redstart
• Compact Weaver
• Congo Martin
• Congo Moor Chat
• Congo Serpent-eagle
• Congo Sunbird
• Coqui Francolin
• Crested Francolin
• Crested Malimbe
• Croaking Cisticola
• Desert Cisticola
• Dideric Cuckoo
• Doherty’s Bushshrike
• Dusky-blue Flycatcher
• Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo
• Dusky Turtle-dove
• Eastern Bearded-greenbul
• Eastern Miombo Sunbird
• Eastern Mountain Greenbul
• Eastern Plantain-eater
• Emerald-spotted Wood-dove
• Equatorial Akalat
• Eurasian Nightjar
• European Honey-buzzard
• European Pied Flycatcher
• Familiar Chat
• Fan-tailed Widowbird
• Fiery-breasted Bushshrike
• Fiery-necked Nightjar
• Finsch’s Francolin
• Fire-crested Alethe
• Fischer’s Greenbul
• Forest Scrub-robin
• Forest Weaver
• Four-colored Bushshrike
• Foxy Cisticola
• Fraser’s Sunbird
• Freckled Nightjar
• Fülleborn’s Boubou
• Fulvous Whistling-duck
• Gabon Boubou
• Gabon Coucal
• Gambaga Flycatcher
• Garganey
• Golden Greenbul
• Golden-naped Weaver
• Golden-winged Sunbird
• Gosling’s Apalis
• Gray Apalis
• Gray-capped Warbler
• Gray Go-away-bird
• Gray Greenbul
• Gray-green Bushshrike
• Gray-headed Bushshrike
• Gray-headed Sunbird
• Gray-olive Greenbul
• Gray-rumped Swallow
• Gray-throated Tit-flycatcher
• Gray Tit-flycatcher
• Gray-winged Robin-chat
• Greater Double-collared Sunbird
• Greater Striped Swallow
• Great Spotted Cuckoo
• Green-backed Camaroptera
• Green-backed Eremomela
• Greencap Eremomela
• Green-headed Sunbird
• Green Sunbird
• Green-throated Sunbird
• Grosbeak Weaver
• Guinea Turaco
• Handsome Francolin
• Harlequin Quail
• Hartlaub’s Duck
• Heuglin’s Francolin
• Heuglin’s Masked-weaver
• Hildebrandt’s Francolin
• Holub’s Golden-weaver
• Honeyguide Greenbul
• Icterine Greenbul
• Isabelline Wheatear
• Itombwe Nightjar
• Johanna’s Sunbird
• Joyful Greenbul
• Kabobo Apalis
• Katanga Masked-weaver
• Klaas’s Cuckoo
• Knob-billed Duck
• Kungwe Apalis
• Lagden’s Bushshrike
• Lake Lufira Masked-weaver
• Lappet-faced Vulture
• Latham’s Francolin
• Laughing Dove
• Leaf-love
• Lesser Bristlebill
• Lesser Cuckoo
• Lesser Masked-weaver
• Lesser Spotted Eagle
• Lesser Striped Swallow
• Levaillant’s Cisticola
• Levaillant’s Cuckoo
• Little Flycatcher
• Little Greenbul
• Little Green Sunbird
• Little Sparrowhawk
• Little Weaver
• Loango Weaver
• Long-crested Eagle
• Long-tailed Hawk
• Long-tailed Nightjar
• Long-tailed Widowbird
• Lowland Akalat
• Lowland Sooty Boubou
• Luapula Cisticola
• Lühder’s Bushshrike
• Madagascar Cuckoo
• Malachite Sunbird
• Many-colored Bushshrike
• Marsh Tchagra
• Marsh Widowbird
• Martial Eagle
• Masked Apalis
• Maxwell’s Black Weaver
• Miombo Rock-thrush
• Miombo Scrub-robin
• Miombo Wren-warbler
• Mocking Cliff-chat
• Montane Blue Swallow
• Mosque Swallow
• Mountain Buzzard
• Mourning Collared-dove
• Mouse-brown Sunbird
• Namaqua Dove
• Northern Black-flycatcher
• Northern Brown-throated Weaver
• Northern Double-collared Sunbird
• Northern Masked-weaver
• Northern Puffback
• Northern Red Bishop
• Northern Wheatear
• Olivaceous Flycatcher
• Olive-bellied Sunbird
• Olive-green Camaroptera
• Olive Long-tailed Cuckoo
• Olive Sunbird
• Orange-tufted Sunbird
• Orange Weaver
• Oriole Warbler
• Ovambo Sparrowhawk
• Pale-crowned Cisticola
• Pale Flycatcher
• Pale-olive Greenbul
• Palestine Sunbird
• Palm-nut Vulture
• Pearl-breasted Swallow
• Pennant-winged Nightjar
• Piapiac
• Pied Cuckoo
• Pink-footed Puffback
• Piping Cisticola
• Plain Greenbul
• Plain Martin
• Plain Nightjar
• Preuss’s Swallow
• Preuss’s Weaver
• Prigogine’s Greenbul
• Prigogine’s Sunbird
• Purple-banded Sunbird
• Purple-breasted Sunbird
• Pygmy Sunbird
• Rattling Cisticola
• Red-backed Scrub-robin
• Red-bellied Malimbe
• Red-billed Quelea
• Red-capped Robin-chat
• Red-chested Cuckoo
• Red-chested Sunbird
• Red-chested Swallow
• Red-collared Widowbird
• Red-crowned Malimbe
• Red-eyed Dove
• Red-eyed Puffback
• Red-faced Cisticola
• Red-headed Malimbe
• Red-headed Quelea
• Red-headed Weaver
• Red-necked Buzzard
• Red-necked Spurfowl
• Red-rumped Swallow
• Red-tailed Bristlebill
• Red-tailed Greenbul
• Red-thighed Sparrowhawk
• Red-throated Alethe
• Red-throated Swallow
• Red-tufted Sunbird
• Red-winged Francolin
• Red-winged Gray Warbler
• Red-winged Prinia
• Regal Sunbird
• Reichenbach’s Sunbird
• Ring-necked Dove
• Rockefeller’s Sunbird
• Rock-loving Cisticola
• Rock Martin
• Ross’s Turaco
• Rufous-breasted Sparrowhawk
• Rufous-cheeked Nightjar
• Rufous-chested Swallow
• Rufous-crowned Eremomela
• Rufous-tailed Palm-thrush
• Rufous-tailed Rock-thrush
• Rwenzori Apalis
• Rwenzori Turaco
• Sabine’s Puffback
• Salvadori’s Eremomela
• Sassi’s Greenbul
• Scaly Francolin
• Scarlet-chested Sunbird
• Schalow’s Turaco
• Semicollared Flycatcher
• Senegal Coucal
• Shelley’s Francolin
• Shelley’s Greenbul
• Shelley’s Sunbird
• Short-tailed Akalat
• Siffling Cisticola
• Simple Greenbul
• Singing Cisticola
• Sjostedt’s Greenbul
• Slender-billed Greenbul
• Slender-billed Weaver
• Slender-tailed Cisticola
• Snowy-crowned Robin-chat
• Sooty Chat
• Sooty Flycatcher
• South African Swallow
• Southern Black-flycatcher
• Southern Boubou
• Southern Masked Weaver
• Southern Red Bishop
• Spectacled Weaver
• Splendid Sunbird
• Spotted Flycatcher
• Spotted Greenbul
• Spotted Morning-thrush
• Spur-winged Goose
• Square-tailed Sawwing
• Standard-winged Nightjar
• Steppe Eagle
• Stout Cisticola
• Strange Weaver
• Stuhlmann’s Sunbird
• Sulphur-breasted Bushshrike
• Superb Sunbird
• Swamp Flycatcher
• Swamp Greenbul
• Swamp Nightjar
• Tabora Cisticola
• Tambourine Dove
• Tanganyika Masked-weaver
• Tawny Eagle
• Tawny-flanked Prinia
• Terrestrial Brownbul
• Tessmann’s Flycatcher
• Thick-billed Cuckoo
• Thrush Nightingale
• Tinkling Cisticola
• Tiny Sunbird
• Toro Olive-greenbul
• Trilling Cisticola
• Tropical Boubou
• Turner’s Eremomela
• Variable Sunbird
• Vieillot’s Black Weaver
• Vinaceous Dove
• Violet-tailed Sunbird
• Vitelline Masked-weaver
• Wahlberg’s Eagle
• Western Miombo Sunbird
• Western Plantain-eater
• Western Violet-backed Sunbird
• Weyns’s Weaver
• Whinchat
• Whistling Cisticola
• White-backed Duck
• White-bearded Greenbul
• White-bellied Robin-chat
• White-breasted Sunbird
• White-browed Coucal
• White-browed Forest-flycatcher
• White-browed Robin-chat
• White-chinned Prinia
• White-crested Turaco
• White-eyed Slaty-flycatcher
• White-faced Whistling-duck
• White-fronted Black-chat
• White-headed Robin-chat
• White-headed Sawwing
• White-necked Raven
• White-starred Robin
• White-throated Blue Swallow
• White-throated Francolin
• White-throated Greenbul
• White-throated Swallow
• White-winged Widowbird
• Whyte’s Francolin
• Winding Cisticola
• Wing-snapping Cisticola
• Wire-tailed Swallow
• Xavier’s Greenbul
• Yellow-bearded Greenbul
• Yellow-bellied Eremomela
• Yellow-bellied Greenbul
• Yellow-billed Turaco
• Yellow Bishop
• Yellow-breasted Apalis
• Yellow-breasted Forest Robin
• Yellow-browed Camaroptera
• Yellow-capped Weaver
• Yellow-crowned Bishop
• Yellow-eyed Black-flycatcher
• Yellow-footed Flycatcher
• Yellow-legged Weaver
• Yellow-mantled Weaver
• Yellow-mantled Widowbird
• Yellow-necked Greenbul
• Yellow-streaked Bulbul
• Yellow-throated Cuckoo
• Yellow-throated Greenbul
• Yellow-whiskered Bulbul
• Zitting Cisticola

Non-native Birds

• Arctic Tern
• Black Tern
• Cape Teal
• Dunlin
• Gadwall
• House Sparrow
• Nyanza Swift
• Parasitic Jaeger
• Pied Avocet
• Terek Sandpiper

The Congo Basin is home to many bird species, making it a fantastic destination for birdwatching enthusiasts. Some of the best birding sites include Odzala-Kokoua National Park, Virunga National Park, and Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, with the last being a UNESCO World Heritage site. The best time to see birds generally corresponds to the dry season when bird activity is high, and the weather is more favorable.