The Nigeria Bird Atlas Project (NiBAP) aims to map all of Nigeria’s bird species and describe their status with the help of valued input from Citizen Scientists – volunteer members of the public who are keen to contribute through going birding and submitting their observations to the project. The project has now been running since the end of 2015. A species' distribution is the most fundamental information needed in order to conserve it. However, before NiBAP there has not been any coordinated effort at collating information on the distribution of birds in Nigeria apart from single observations. Therefore this is coming at a time where information from the bird atlas will go a long way to elucidate distributions of bird species in Nigeria.
By pooling the effort of many Citizen Scientist birders, the Nigerian Bird Atlas will tell this story and in so doing provide a powerful tool for conservation.
If you are at all interested in watching birds, have any concern for the conservation of Nigeria’s birds, and enjoy being outside and exploring new places, then the Nigerian Bird Atlas is the project for you! An important part of our activities is done through the various Bird Clubs, contact a bird club near you!
It is an exciting and stimulating project that combines a lot of excellent birding, exploring new and fascinating parts of the country, state-of-the-art technology and communication, and serious science to produce dependable results that can be used to take real action for conservation.
To participate you can register here or by sending your details; name, telephone number, address, and email to Ulf Ottosson, email ulfottossonlux@gmail.com. You will receive an Observer Number and password allowing you to log in to the Nigerian Bird Atlas Project. Your login details will also allow you access to the Animal Demography Unit’s Virtual Museum (http://vmus.adu.org.za) which enables you to help with the mapping of 1000s of other species.
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Nigerian Bird Atlas is a joint initiative of the A. P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute (APLORI) of the University of Jos, SABAP2, and the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology University of Cape Town.
*New* Temporal Dimensions of Data Quality in Bird Atlases: the Case of the Second Southern African Bird Atlas Project, Karis A. Daniel, Leslie G. Underhill, 2023
Annotated Checklist Kimberley, Anderson T., Anderson M., 2023
The African Bird Atlas Project: a description of the project and BirdMap data-collection protocol, Michael Brooks, Sanjo Rose, Res Altwegg, Alan TK Lee1, Henk Nel, Ulf Ottosson, Ernst Retief,-Chevonne Reynolds, Peter G Ryan, Sidney Shema, Talatu Tende, Les G Underhill andRobert L Thomson, 2022
The Woolly-necked Stork (Ciconia episcopus) has been split into two species, the African Woolly-necked Stork (Ciconia episcopus, 14836) and the Asian Woolly-necked Stork (Ciconia episcopus, 14837). Across the BirdMap family of projects (incl. SAFRING and CWAC), the original Woolly-necked Stork species reference number (77) will be retired, and the projects will continue with the two new species reference numbers that have been allocated.
On the BirdLasser app, you will notice an [x] prefixed to the 'old' species: [x] Woolly-necked Stork, starting from 25-03-2025. You will now need to change this species in the trip cards to the applicable one, African or Asian Woolly-necked Stork. Also, make sure you log the correct species going forward (and submitting to SABAP2).
Intermediate Egret has been split into 3 species, the Plumed, Medium and Yellow-billed.
The original species reference (60) has been retired and 3 new numbers assigned.
