Rwanda Important Bird Area
Akagera National Park
81 bird species recorded; the most in December.
Louis Dewame · CC BY 3.0
This month here
1 species in January.0 species in February.48 species in March.43 species in April.0 species in May.21 species in June.8 species in July.28 species in August.42 species in September.31 species in October.16 species in November.59 species in December.
The birds you are most likely to see in the month you choose, those that come for the season first. It opens on today's month.
No records for this month.
No records for this month.
VU
No records for this month.
VU
VU- Resident all year
- Summer visitor comes to breed
- Winter visitor comes for the winter
- Passage migrant in spring and autumn
In numbers
81 species, counted.
Our own rating, from the records only: species (50 points), threatened species (20), migrants (20) and protected status — Ramsar, IBA, SPA, observatory (10).
- 81Speciesrecorded more than once
- 33Migrantssummer, winter or passage visitors
- 1ThreatenedVulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered (IUCN)
- 635Recordsopen records within 6 km
- 1,287 mAltitudeabove the sea
- 4Raptors
- 11Waders
- 4Ducks & geese
- 20Herons, ibises & grebes
- 2Storks & cranes
- 22Songbirds
- 18Other birds
From open records (eBird and others, through GBIF, licensed for any use). More birdwatchers mean more records: a quiet place may have more birds than it shows.
The checklist
All 81 species.
By group, with the year in twelve cells: the darker the cell, the more often the bird is recorded that month.
Raptors4 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- African Fish EagleHaliaeetus vocifer
- BateleurTerathopius ecaudatus
- Black KiteMilvus migrans
- OspreyPandion haliaetus
Waders11 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Spur-winged LapwingVanellus spinosus
- African JacanaActophilornis africanus
- Water DikkopBurhinus vermiculatus
- African Wattled LapwingVanellus senegallus
- Wood SandpiperTringa glareola
- Curlew SandpiperCalidris ferrugineaVU
- Common SandpiperActitis hypoleucos
- Common GreenshankTringa nebularia
- Black-winged StiltHimantopus himantopus
- Little StintCalidris minuta
- Bar-tailed godwitLimosa lapponicaNT
Ducks & geese4 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- White-faced Whistling-duckDendrocygna viduata
- Egyptian GooseAlopochen aegyptiaca
- Spur-winged GoosePlectropterus gambensis
- Yellow-billed DuckAnas undulata
Herons, ibises & grebes20 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Black HeronEgretta ardesiaca
- Squacco HeronArdeola ralloides
- Great White EgretArdea alba
- Purple heronArdea purpurea
- Great CormorantPhalacrocorax carbo
- DarterAnhinga rufa
- Goliath HeronArdea goliath
- Glossy IbisPlegadis falcinellus
- Western Cattle EgretBubulcus ibis
- Little EgretEgretta garzetta
- Long-tailed CormorantMicrocarbo africanus
- Grey HeronArdea cinerea
- African Sacred IbisThreskiornis aethiopicus
- Egretta intermediaEgretta intermedia
- Striated HeronButorides striata
- HamerkopScopus umbretta
- HadadaBostrychia hagedash
- Rufous-bellied HeronArdeola rufiventris
- Indian Pond-HeronArdeola grayii
- Black-headed HeronArdea melanocephala
Storks & cranes2 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Openbill StorkAnastomus lamelligerus
- SaddlebillEphippiorhynchus senegalensisNT
Songbirds22 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Rüppell's StarlingLamprotornis purpuroptera
- Black-headed GonolekLaniarius erythrogaster
- Barn swallowHirundo rustica
- Red-billed OxpeckerBuphagus erythrorhynchus
- Fork-tailed DrongoDicrurus adsimilis
- Yellow-billed OxpeckerBuphagus africanus
- Sooty ChatMyrmecocichla nigra
- Grey-backed FiscalLanius excubitoroides
- Sharpe's Pied-BabblerTurdoides sharpei
- African Golden WeaverPloceus xanthops
- Red-shouldered WhydahEuplectes axillaris
- Angolan SwallowHirundo angolensis
- Eurasian Golden OrioleOriolus oriolus
- Red-cheeked Cordon-bleuUraeginthus bengalus
- Grey-capped WarblerEminia lepida
- Pin-tailed WhydahVidua macroura
- Common BulbulPycnonotus barbatus
- Red-billed FirefinchLagonosticta senegala
- Spectacled WeaverPloceus ocularis
- Village WeaverPloceus cucullatus
- Northern Grey-headed SparrowPasser griseus
- Mosque SwallowCecropis senegalensis
Other birds18 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Helmeted GuineafowlNumida meleagris
- Pied KingfisherCeryle rudis
- Bare-faced Go-away BirdCorythaixoides personatus
- Malachite KingfisherCorythornis cristatus
- Red-eyed DoveStreptopelia semitorquata
- Speckled MousebirdColius striatus
- Emerald-spotted DoveTurtur chalcospilos
- Black CrakeAmaurornis flavirostra
- Cinnamon-chested Bee-eaterMerops oreobates
- Bee-eaterMerops apiaster
- African Grey HornbillLophoceros nasutus
- Red-necked SpurfowlPternistis afer
- Lilac-breasted RollerCoracias caudatus
- Ring-necked DoveStreptopelia capicola
- Woodland KingfisherHalcyon senegalensis
- Little Bee-eaterMerops pusillus
- Spot-flanked BarbetTricholaema lacrymosa
- Blue-naped MousebirdUrocolius macrourus
Monthly presence relative to all bird records that month, so a busy month does not inflate every species.
When to go
The most species in December.
Species recorded in each month, with the usual temperature and rain.
- Jan28°/16°78 mm
- Feb28°/16°80 mm
- Mar27°/16°139 mm
- Apr25°/16°154 mm
- May25°/15°121 mm
- Jun26°/15°43 mm
- Jul27°/14°30 mm
- Aug28°/15°50 mm
- Sep27°/16°88 mm
- Oct27°/16°124 mm
- Nov26°/16°138 mm
- Dec26°/16°92 mm
- Bar: species recorded that month.
- Temperature: average maximum / minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
- Rain: monthly total.
The place
Akagera National Park.
A place where they do tourisme
Akagera National Park is an Important Bird Area (BirdLife) in Rwanda, 1,287 m above the sea.
81 bird species have been recorded here more than once, in 635 open records.
The most recorded are the Black Heron, the Spur-winged Lapwing and the African Fish Eagle.
12 species come for the summer, 19 for the winter and 2 only pass through.
1 are threatened worldwide, including Curlew Sandpiper.
The most species are recorded in December.
Get there and watch
- Official informationAccess, hours and rules from those who manage the place.Official site↗
- Bweyacampsite · 10 km · 1 within 10 km
- Kigali International Airport (KGL)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 81 km in a straight lineCar hire in KigaliDiscover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above
The place and its surroundings.
The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the bird hides, towers and trails that OpenStreetMap shows.
Around, in OpenStreetMap
- 1campsites within 10 kmBweya
- bird hides within 6 km
- observation towers within 6 km
- marked trails within 4 km
- visitor centres within 6 km
- viewpoints within 5 km
- car parks within 3 km
- restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- places to stay within 10 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
In our other atlases
Around Akagera National Park.
The lakes, beaches, islands, rivers and mountains around this place, and its night sky, in the family's atlases.
Peakyas34 mountains within 25 kmButenga · 8.1 kmKageyo · 10 kmMbayayo · 11 kmRukama · 13 kmNgerenke · 14 kmMubali · 20 kmNyamatete · 21 kmKanyamunya · 23 km
Lakeyas5 lakes within 15 kmLake Muhari0.8 km² · 3.8 kmLake Hago18 km² · 8.0 kmLake Kivumba12 km² · 10 kmLac Kazingaine31 km² · 13 kmLake Ruko4.5 km² · 14 km
Darkskyas1 dark-sky places within 30 kmLake IhemaBortle 2 · 28 km
Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Photographs
The place, as people saw it.
Other places nearby.
Akagera National Park
Rwanda
- 47Birdyas Score
- 81Species
- 33Migrants
- 1Threatened
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q116715) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Birds | 635 open bird records within 6 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only; mostly eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology) |
| See these records | gbif.org |
| Species | GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikidata (CC0); Wikimedia Commons |
| Altitude | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Temperature and rain | NASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2) |
| What is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Sister atlases | Peakyas, Lakeyas, Darkskyas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit 
caves
Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skies
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit 
viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit 
birdwatching
Every bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.You are here
forests
Every forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Coming soonVisit