Birds to watch in Namibia: red, rare and endemic species (2015)

Production of all reference maps and species distribution maps was done by JARO Consultancy.

This is the first book detailing all of Namibia’s threatened, endemic and rare species of birds. It is divided into four chapters:

1. an introduction that explains our approach and puts Namibia’s birds into a global conservation context;
2. species accounts of all threatened birds currently recognised in Namibia (“Red Data” species);
3. species accounts of all endemic and near-endemic birds to Namibia that do not qualify as Red Data species (“Amber” species); and
4. summary accounts of all rare and peripheral species that are not threatened according to IUCN Red Data criteria, but occur in small numbers within Namibia’s borders and should, therefore, be monitored (“Rare and Peripheral” species).

There are 687 bird species currently recorded for Namibia, of which 61 species are considered to be vagrants. New species are added virtually every year but the 626 nonvagrant species represent resident or migrant species that regularly or sporadically occur here. The vagrant species are not considered further because there is little that can be done in Namibia to assist their conservation status.

Seventy one species of birds in Namibia are recognised nationally as threatened or near threatened Red Data species, about 11.3% of the total non-vagrant species. At the global level, 44 non-vagrant bird species found in Namibia are listed as threatened or near threatened, i.e. about 7% of the total. By comparison, of all the world’s known 10,425 species of birds, about 24% are listed by the IUCN as threatened or near threatened.

Species summaries on all Namibia’s Red Data birds provide detailed information on population size, threats and current and proposed actions to alleviate those threats. In summary: One species is Nationally Extinct – in this case as a breeding species (the Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus); nine species are Critically Endangered – comprising four wetland, two bird of prey, two marine, one woodland and one grassland species (one is both a wetland and bird of prey species); 25 species are Endangered – eight wetland, eight bird of prey, five coastal / marine, four savanna / woodland and one arid Karoo / Namib species (one is both a wetland and bird of prey species); 13 species are Vulnerable – five coastal / marine, five wetland and four bird of prey species (one is both a wetland and bird of prey species); 23 species are Near Threatened – seven coastal / marine, five bird of prey, five wetland, five savanna / woodland and one arid Karoo / Namib Desert species.

We have a limited number of copies of this book available. Contact us for more info.