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Islamic Republic of Mauritania

Village Weaver Ploceus cucullatus ©Dubi Shapiro Website

Mauritania is a sovereign country in Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to the north and northwest, Algeria to the northeast, Mali to the east and southeast, and Senegal to the southwest. With a land area of 1,030,000 km2 (400,000 square miles), Mauritania is the 11th-largest country in Africa and 28th-largest in the world; 90% of its territory is in the Sahara. Most of its population of c. 5.3 million live in the temperate south of the country, with roughly 1.65 million concentrated in the capital and largest city, Nouakchott, on the Atlantic coast. Mauritania is culturally and politically part of the Arab world; it is a member of the Arab League and Arabic is the official language. The official religion is Islam, and almost all inhabitants are Sunni Muslims. Despite an abundance of natural resources, including iron ore and petroleum, Mauritania remains poor; its economy is based primarily on agriculture, livestock, and fishing.

It is generally flat; vast, arid plains broken by occasional ridges and clifflike outcroppings. Approximately three-quarters of Mauritania is desert or semidesert, which is expanding. A series of escarpments face southwest, longitudinally bisecting these plains in the centre of the country. They also separate a series of sandstone plateaus, the highest of which is the Adrar Plateau, reaching an elevation of 1,600 feet. Spring-fed oases lie at the foot of some of the escarpments. Isolated peaks, often rich in minerals, rise above the plateaus; the smaller peaks are called guelbs and the larger ones kedias.

Oasis de Tergit – ©Ji-Elle CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The concentric Guelb er Richat is a prominent feature of the north-central region. Kediet ej Jill, near the city of Zouîrât, has an elevation of 3,000 feet and is the highest peak. The plateaus gradually descend toward the northeast to the barren El Djouf, or ‘Empty Quarter’, a vast region of large sand dunes that merges into the Sahara Desert. To the west, between the ocean and the plateaus, are alternating areas of clayey plains (regs) and sand dunes (ergs), some of which shift from place to place, gradually moved by high winds. The dunes generally increase in size and mobility toward the north.

Belts of natural vegetation, corresponding to the rainfall pattern, extend from east to west and range from traces of tropical forest along the Sénégal River to brush and savanna in the southeast. Only sandy desert is found in the centre and north of the country. The Richat Structure, dubbed the ‘Eye of the Sahara’ is a formation of rock resembling concentric circles in the Adrar Plateau, near Ouadane, west-central Mauritania.

Adrar Region – ©Uploader Manu25 CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons

Mauritania has seven terrestrial eco-regions: Sahelian Acacia savanna, West Sudanian savanna, Saharan halophytics, Atlantic coastal desert, North Saharan steppe and woodlands, South Saharan steppe and woodlands, and West Saharan montane xeric woodlands.

Birding Mauritania

Mauritania’s wildlife has two main influences as the country lies in two biogeographic realms, the north sits in the Palaearctic which extends south from the Sahara to roughly 19° north and the south in the Afrotropic realms. Additionally, it is important for numerous birds which migrate from the Palaearctic to winter there. South of this is regarded as being in the Afro-tropical biogeographic realm, which means that species of a predominantly Afro-tropical distribution dominate the fauna. South of the Sahara is the South Saharan steppe and woodlands ecoregion which integrates into the Sahelian acacia savanna ecoregion. The southernmost part of the country lies in the West Sudanian savanna ecoregion.

Wetlands are important and the two main protected areas are the Banc d’Arguin National Park which protects rich, shallow coastal and marine ecosystems which integrates with the arid Sahara Desert and the Diawling National Park which forms the northern part of the delta of the Senegal River. Elsewhere in Mauritania wetlands are mostly ephemeral and rely on the seasonal rainfall, although they can be very important to birds.

Diokha Forest, Rkiz Lake – ©ABDELLAHIBEN CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Common extant mammals include fennec fox, African golden wolves, warthogs, African wildcats, Cape hares and patas monkeys. The rich offshore waters of Mauritania are home to a diverse fauna of cetaceans. Upwellings off the coats create rich feeding grounds for baleen whales and these include blue whale, sei whale and Bryde’s whale, harbour porpoise, Atlantic spotted dolphin, bottlenose dolphin, sperm whale, short-finned pilot whale and orca.

Well over 500 species of bird have been recorded. Specialities and spectacular species include Scissor-tailed Kite, Houbara, Nubian and Arabian Bustard, Egyptian Plover, Golden Nightjar, Chestnut-bellied Starling, Kordofan Lark and Sudan Golden Sparrow.

The coastal wetlands are of immense importance for over two million wintering Western Palaearctic waders, from fifteen different species including Dunlin, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew Sandpiper and Common Redshank each numbering over 100,000 birds. Other wintering species include more than 30,000 Greater Flamingos. Breeding birds include Great White Pelican, Reed Cormorant, Gull-billed tern, Caspian, Royal and Common Tern, together with two unique subspecies – Grey Heron Ardea cinerea monicae and Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia balsaci and an outpost of Western Reef Heron.

Contributors
Number of Species

  • Number of bird species: 580

    (As at February 2025)
Checklist

  • Avibase

    PDF Checklist
    This checklist includes all bird species found in Mauritania , based on the best information available at this time. It is based on a wide variety of sources that I collated over many years. I am pleased to offer these checklists as a service to birdwatchers. If you find any error, please do not hesitate to report them.

  • E-Bird

    PDF Checklist
    This checklist is generated with data from eBird (ebird.org), a global database of bird sightings from birders like you. If you enjoy this checklist, please consider contributing your sightings to eBird. It is 100% free to take part, and your observations will help support birders, researchers, and conservationists worldwide.

  • Wikipedia

    Annotated List
    This is a list of the bird species recorded in Mauritania. The avifauna of Mauritania include a total of 577 species, of which one has been introduced by humans. 24 species are globally threatened.
Useful Reading

  • Birds of Mauritania - Oiseaux de Mauritanie

    | By Paul Isenmann | Societé d'Etudes Ornithologiques de France | 2010 | Paperback | 408 pages, colour photos | ISBN: 9782916802022 Buy this book from NHBS.com

  • Birds of Western Africa

    | By Nik Borrow & Ron Demey | Christopher Helm | 2014 | Edition 2 | Paperback | 592 pages, 266 plates with colour illustrations; colour distribution maps | ISBN: 9781472905680 Buy this book from NHBS.com

  • Birds of Western and Central Africa

    | By Ber van Perlo | Princeton University Press | 2003 | Paperback | 384 pages, 109 plates with colour illustrations; colour & b/w illustrations, 1500+ b/w distribution maps, colour maps | Out of Print | ISBN: 9780691007144 Buy this book from NHBS.com

  • The Birds of the Banc d'Arguin

    | By Paul Isenmann | La Fondation Internationale du Banc d'Arguin | 2006 | Paperback | 191 pages, colour photos | Out of Print | ISBN: 9782951491472 Buy this book from NHBS.com
Organisations

  • African Bird Club

    Website
    Relatively few birders have been to Mauritania and ornithological surveys have been largely restricted to the coastal zone. With the Sahara Desert covering over 60% of the country and the resulting travel difficulties, this is hardly surprising. However, Mauritania has some of the most important coastal wetlands in Africa and with a species list of over 500, the intrepid birdwatcher will be well rewarded

  • Nature Mauritania

    Website
    Nature Mauritania is a non -governmental organization associative nonprofit based in Mauritania, West Africa , concerned the integrated management of wetlands , their resources and sustainable development.

  • West African Ornithological Society

    Website
    The West African Ornithological Society grew out of the Nigerian Ornithologists
Reserves

Abbreviations Key

  • *Protected areas of Mauritania

    InformationSatellite View
    Interactive list of nature reserves etc...

  • IBAs

    WebsiteSatellite View
    The Saharan-Sindian biome covers much of the north and centre of the country whilst the southern third of the country falls within the Sahel biome. 14 species belonging to each of these biomes has been recorded. In addition, small elements of the Sudan-Guinea Savanna biome are found in the extreme south of the country and 12 species of this biome have been recorded. The most important site ornithologically is the Banc d

  • NP Banc d'Arguin

    InformationSatellite View
    The World Heritage Site is a major breeding site for migratory birds, including flamingos, broad-billed sandpipers, pelicans and terns. Much of the breeding is on sand banks including the islands of Tidra, Niroumi, Nair, Kijji and Arguim. The surrounding waters are some of the richest fishing waters in western Africa and serve as nesting grounds for the entire western region.

  • NP Diawling

    InformationSatellite View
    Until the sixties the lower delta of the Senegal river was an area of extraordinary ecological richness. Consisting of a mosaic of dunes, floodplains and estuarine zones with mangroves, the area was known for its rich birdlife (Naurois 1969) and important fisheries (Reizer 1971). Several tens of thousand of people, practising a variety of activities, found a livelihood there. Since then the environmental quality has deteriorated, first by the diminishing floods and rainfall, later by the alterations brought about by the large-scale hydraulic engineering works under the authority of the OMVS, Organisation pour la Mise en Valeur du Fleuve Sénégal, a trilateral organisation grouping Mali, Senegal and Mauritania.

  • NR Réserve naturelle de sel iodé

    InformationSatellite View
    It a small nature reserve in Nouakchott of brackish wetland
Sightings, News & Forums
Guides & Tour Operators

  • Kanaga Adventure Tours

    Local Tour
    An extension along Mauritania’s Atlantic coast, following the rhythm of the tides, between the sandy coast and the Imraguen fishing villages, where the women prepare and sell mullet roe, until you reach the Banc d’Arguin National Park, which gives refuge to thousands of migratory birds every year.

  • Mauritanian Best Tours

    Local Tour
    Discovering Banc d’Arguin: Your Ultimate Tour Experience

  • TourHQ

    Local Guides
Trip Reports

  • 2018 [02 February] - Hans Meltofte

    PDF Report
    Annotated list.

  • 2018 [03 March] - Rupert Hafner

    PDF Report
    On the other hand we have been lucky to find quickly Abyssinian Roller, Grey-headed Gull and Blue-naped Mousebird. All in all it was a fantastic trip with a lot of experience for all of us. On the whole tour we never had any unsafe feeling!

  • 2018 [04 April] - Bob Swann

    PDF Report
    This was a privately organised trip initiated by Dan Pointon. Participants were Dan, Josh Jones, Kris de Rouck, Peter Stronach and myself. We contacted Justus Buma at justusbuma@yahoo.com based at Bab Sahara in Atar, who arranged the logistics (at 750 Euro pp). Dan booked flights by Air Mauritania from Gran Canaria to Mauritania, and we arranged our own flights to and from Gran Canaria. …

  • 2023 [12 December] - Heikki Karhu

    PDF Report
    The desert shortcut following the Iron Ore Railroad was good for Dunn´s Lark: 4 + 2 + 1 birds. A Cricket Warbler at Toujounine Oasis was surprisingly the only one of the whole trip. No Blue-naped Mousebird there or the very briefly watched Choum area, but two groups of them at NE of Ouadane. A new bird there, perhaps? We have not noticed it on earlier reports. The African Green Woodpecker was heard only, at a 2018 nesting site at NE of Ouadane.

  • 2024 [04 April] - Eric Jan Alblas

    PDF Report
    Diary and annotated list
Other Links

  • Biodiversity in Mauritania

    Information
    Mauritania has several National Parks and Nature Reserves. Banc d`Arguin is probably the most famous. It has been put on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1989.

  • Mauritania Information

    Website
    Mauritania is a bird watcher`s paradise: starlings, weaver birds, pelicans, cormorants, herons, terns and ducks are among the birds which can be seen. A variety species of birds can be found in the Banc d`Arguin National Park
Blogs

  • Birding Rob - Birding For A Lark

    BLOG
    I now live comfortably in Bulgaria and in Spain but have worked in other countries - Azerbaijan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Oman and now Mauritania. No longer spending hours commuting I have more time to indulge my passions. That mostly means bird watching and travel.

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