Africa - Liberia

Liberia is a small country with a bird list of about 617 species, a number of which are found in Liberia and a few adjacent countries only. There have been few ornithological expeditions to Liberia however, and much still remains to be discovered about the distribution of Liberian birds.

Almost the whole of Liberia falls within the Upper Guinea forests Endemic Bird Area (EBA) and all 15 of its endemic species are found. It also lies entirely within the Guinea-Congo Forest biome and 184 species, characteristic of this biome have been found herein. Liberian Greenbul has only been recorded from a limited area in the east of the country, while Gola Malimbe is almost entirely confined to Liberia. This serves to highlight the importance of Liberia’s high forests which a few years ago still covered some 40% of the land area.

Sapo National Park is Liberia's first and only fully protected area. Sapo has been the focal point of conservation efforts in Liberia since its creation in 1983. Covering 107,300 ha, the Park consists of lowland rainforest including swampy areas, dry land and riparian forests. It represents one of, if not the most intact forest ecosystem in Liberia. The Park remains reasonably connected by forested corridors to several other forest areas to the north, west and south-east, extending into Côte d'Ivoire. It is thus at the heart of the largest remaining forest block of the Upper Guinean Forest ecosystem, providing habitat to species that need to range over large areas, such as forest elephants. A faunal monitoring program was established at the Park in 2001. It quickly became clear that the Park harboured some of the richest and least disturbed wildlife in West Africa's rainforests.

Text supplied by the African Bird Club

Western Bearded Greenbul, Liberia © Nik Borrow