Birds of Botswana

List of Common Birds Found in Botswana

Native Birds

• African Darter
• African Hawk-eagle
• African Jacana
• African Openbill Stork
• African Pygmy Goose
• African Sacred Ibis
• African Skimmer
• African Spoonbill
• African Swamphen
• Bateleur
• Black-breasted Snake-eagle
• Black Crake
• Black Heron
• Blue Waxbill
• Bradfield’s Hornbill
• Bronze-winged Courser
• Burchell’s Starling
• Crested Barbet
• Crested Francolin
• Crimson-breasted Shrike
• Double-banded Courser
• Fork-tailed Drongo
• Golden-tailed Woodpecker
• Goliath Heron
• Gray Go-away-bird
• Gray Heron
• Greater Blue-eared Starling
• Greater Flamingo
• Greater Painted-snipe
• Great White Pelican
• Grey-headed Gull
• Groundscraper Thrush
• Hooded Vulture
• Kittlitz’s Plover
• Kori Bustard
• Lappet-faced Vulture
• Lesser Flamingo
• Lilac-breasted Roller
• Little Bee-eater
• Martial Eagle
• Namaqua Sandgrouse
• Pearl-spotted Owlet
• Pel’s Fishing Owl
• Pied Crow
• Pink-backed Pelican
• Purple Heron
• Red-crested Bustard
• Rufous-bellied Heron
• Secretarybird
• Senegal Coucal
• Slaty Egret
• Sociable Weaver
• Southern Ground-hornbill
• Southern Red-billed Hornbill
• Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill
• Speckled Pigeon
• Spur-winged Goose
• Swallow-tailed Bee-eater
• Tawny Eagle
• Verreaux’s Eagle-owl
• Wahlberg’s Eagle
• Water Thick-knee
• White-backed Mousebird
• White-backed Vulture
• White-crested Helmetshrike
• White-faced Whistling-duck
• Woodland Kingfisher
• Yellow-bellied Eremomela
• Yellow-billed Oxpecker
• Yellow-billed Stork
• African Barred Owlet
• African Black-headed Oriole
• African Broadbill
• African Cuckoo
• African Fish-eagle
• African Golden Oriole
• African Gray Hornbill
• African Harrier-hawk
• African Paradise-flycatcher
• African Penduline-tit
• African Pied Wagtail
• African Pipit
• African Scops-owl
• African Stonechat
• African Wood-owl
• Allen’s Gallinule
• Amethyst Sunbird
• Arnot’s Chat
• Arrow-marked Babbler
• Ashy Flycatcher
• Ashy Tit
• Baillon’s Crake
• Banded Martin
• Banded Snake-eagle
• Bank Swallow
• Barn Owl
• Barn Swallow
• Barred Warbler
• Barred Wren-warbler
• Bar-throated Apalis
• Black-backed Puffback
• Black-chested Prinia
• Black-crowned Night-heron
• Black-crowned Tchagra
• Black Cuckoo
• Black Cuckooshrike
• Black-faced Babbler
• Black-faced Waxbill
• Black-fronted Bulbul
• Black-headed Heron
• Black Kite
• Blacksmith Lapwing
• Black-throated Canary
• Black-winged Kite
• Black-winged Stilt
• Blue-billed Teal
• Blue Quail
• Boulder Chat
• Bronze Mannikin
• Brown-crowned Tchagra
• Brown Firefinch
• Brown Snake-eagle
• Brubru
• Buffy Pipit
• Burchell’s Sandgrouse
• Burnt-necked Eremomela
• Cape Canary
• Cape Crombec
• Cape Crow
• Cape Shoveler
• Cape Sparrow
• Cape Starling
• Cape Teal
• Cape Wagtail
• Cape White-eye
• Capped Wheatear
• Caspian Plover
• Cattle Egret
• Chat Flycatcher
• Chestnut-backed Sparrow-lark
• Chestnut-Vented Warbler
• Chinspot Batis
• Chirping Cisticola
• Cinnamon-breasted Bunting
• Collared Sunbird
• Common Bulbul
• Common Buzzard
• Common House-martin
• Common Ostrich
• Common Reed Warbler
• Common Ringed Plover
• Common Scimitarbill
• Common Waxbill
• Coppery-tailed Coucal
• Coqui Francolin
• Crimson-breasted Gonolek
• Croaking Cisticola
• Crowned Lapwing
• Cut-throat
• Dark Chanting-goshawk
• Desert Cisticola
• Dideric Cuckoo
• Double-banded Sandgrouse
• Dusky Lark
• Dwarf Bittern
• Eastern Clapper Lark
• Eastern Paradise-whydah
• Egyptian Goose
• Eurasian Golden Oriole
• Eurasian Hoopoe
• Eurasian Moorhen
• Eurasian Scops-owl
• Familiar Chat
• Fan-tailed Widowbird
• Fawn-colored Lark
• Fiscal Flycatcher
• Flappet Lark
• Gabar Goshawk
• Gabon Boubou
• Glossy Ibis
• Golden-breasted Bunting
• Gray-backed Sparrow-lark
• Gray-headed Bushshrike
• Gray-rumped Swallow
• Gray Tit-flycatcher
• Great Bittern
• Great Egret
• Greater Striped Swallow
• Greater Swamp Warbler
• Greater Whitethroat
• Great Reed Warbler
• Great Rufous Sparrow
• Great Spotted Cuckoo
• Green-backed Camaroptera
• Greencap Eremomela
• Green-winged Pytilia
• Green Woodhoopoe
• Grosbeak Weaver
• Hadada Ibis
• Harlequin Quail
• Hartlaub’s Babbler
• Helmeted Guineafowl
• Holub’s Golden-weaver
• Icterine Warbler
• Jameson’s Firefinch
• Kalahari Scrub-robin
• Karoo Thrush
• Klaas’s Cuckoo
• Knob-billed Duck
• Kurrichane Thrush
• Lark-like Bunting
• Lesser Gray Shrike
• Lesser Masked-weaver
• Lesser Moorhen
• Lesser Striped Swallow
• Lesser Swamp Warbler
• Levaillant’s Cisticola
• Levaillant’s Cuckoo
• Little Bittern
• Little Egret
• Little Rush Warbler
• Little Sparrowhawk
• Long-tailed Widowbird
• Long-toed Lapwing
• Luapula Cisticola
• Magpie Shrike
• Mariqua Flycatcher
• Mariqua Sunbird
• Marsh Owl
• Marsh Warbler
• Meves’s Starling
• Meyer’s Parrot
• Miombo Rock-thrush
• Miombo Wren-warbler
• Mocking Cliff-chat
• Monotonous Lark
• Montagu’s Harrier
• Mountain Pipit
• Natal Francolin
• Northern Fiscal
• Olive Thrush
• Orange River Francolin
• Orange River White-eye
• Ovambo Sparrowhawk
• Pale Chanting-goshawk
• Pale Flycatcher
• Pied Avocet
• Pied Cuckoo
• Pink-billed Lark
• Pin-tailed Whydah
• Piping Cisticola
• Plain-backed Pipit
• Pririt Batis
• Purple-crested Turaco
• Purple Indigobird
• Quailfinch
• Rattling Cisticola
• Red-backed Scrub-robin
• Red-backed Shrike
• Red-billed Buffalo-weaver
• Red-billed Duck
• Red-billed Firefinch
• Red-billed Francolin
• Red-billed Oxpecker
• Red-billed Quelea
• Red-capped Lark
• Red-chested Cuckoo
• Red-faced Cisticola
• Red-faced Mousebird
• Red-headed Finch
• Red-headed Weaver
• Red-knobbed Coot
• Red Lark
• Red-winged Starling
• Retz’s Helmetshrike
• Rock-loving Cisticola
• Rock Martin
• Rosy-throated Longclaw
• Rufous-bellied Tit
• Rufous-chested Swallow
• Rufous-eared Warbler
• Rufous-naped Lark
• Rufous-winged Cisticola
• Sabota Lark
• Scaly Weaver
• Scarlet-chested Sunbird
• Sedge Warbler
• Senegal Lapwing
• Shaft-tailed Whydah
• Shikra
• Short-clawed Lark
• Short-toed Rock-thrush
• Small Buttonquail
• South African Shelduck
• Southern Anteater-chat
• Southern Black-flycatcher
• Southern Black-tit
• Southern Boubou
• Southern Brown-throated Weaver
• Southern Cordonbleu
• Southern Fiscal
• Southern Gray-headed Sparrow
• Southern Masked-weaver
• Southern Penduline-tit
• Southern Pied-babbler
• Southern Pochard
• Southern Red Bishop
• Southern White-faced Owl
• Southern Yellow White-eye
• Speckled Mousebird
• Spectacled Weaver
• Spike-heeled Lark
• Spotted Eagle-owl
• Spotted Flycatcher
• Spotted Thick-knee
• Squacco Heron
• Stierling’s Wren-warbler
• Striated Heron
• Sulphur-breasted Bushshrike
• Swainson’s Francolin
• Tawny-flanked Prinia
• Terrestrial Brownbul
• Three-banded Plover
• Tinkling Cisticola
• Tree Pipit
• Tropical Boubou
• Trumpeter Hornbill
• Verreaux’s Eagle
• Village Indigobird
• Violet-backed Starling
• Violet-eared Waxbill
• Wattled Lapwing
• Wattled Starling
• Western Yellow Wagtail
• White-breasted Cuckooshrike
• White-breasted Sunbird
• White-browed Coucal
• White-browed Robin-chat
• White-browed Sparrow-weaver
• White-crowned Shrike
• White Helmetshrike
• White-throated Robin-chat
• White-throated Swallow
• White-winged Widowbird
• Willow Warbler
• Wire-tailed Swallow
• Yellow-bellied Greenbul
• Yellow-billed Duck
• Yellow-breasted Apalis
• Yellow Canary
• Yellow-crowned Bishop
• Yellow-fronted Canary
• Yellow-throated Bush Sparrow
• Yellow-throated Sandgrouse
• Zitting Cisticola

Birds Introduced by Accident

• Corn Crake
• Eurasian Nightjar
• Greater Sand-plover
• Ludwig’s Bustard
• Purple-crested Turaco
• Southern Bald Ibis

The best time to see the various birds Botswana offers varies depending on the time and season. For instance, the dry season – April to October – is the ideal time to see several water birds as they assemble over the few available water sources. Alternatively, during the rainy season – November to March – many birds migrate to the country to breed, and there is an overall increase in activity. Some popular sites to go birding include the Okavango Delta, Chobe National Park, Nata Bird Sanctuary, the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, and the Khwai Concession.