Close encounters of the bird kind: remarkable new discoveries in Togo, West Africa

14 June, 2025

IBCP mist net team members and rangers in Fazao-Malfakassa National Park; from left to right: Esso-Talon Atokiwondo, Loïs Bouchet, Yendoubouam Kourdjouak, Sylvain Uriot, and Méyeba Tchilabalo Komouboua. Photo by Nico Arcilla.

Sylvain Uriot and Loïs Bouchet joined the IBCP team in Togo from March through May 2025 to lead a mist net project investigating birds in tropical forests, riparian woodlands, and wooded savannas of Togo’s Fazao-Malfakassa National Park. We are very grateful for their efforts to investigate birds and other wildlife the largest protected area in Togo, an Important Bird Area that remains poorly known to science!

A view of the Fazao mountains in the west of Fazao-Malfakassa National Park. Photo by Sylvain Uriot.

In collaboration with the University of Lomé, Togo, and Togo’s Ministry of the Environment and protected area staff, IBCP has been conducting bird research in Fazao-Malfakassa National Park since 2022, including expeditions in 2022, 2023, and 2024. In 2025, Sylvian and Loïs helped IBCP initiate the first study of birds in the park using constant-effort mist netting, together with with IBCP team members Yendoubouam Kourdjouak, Lin-Ernni Mikégraba Kaboumba, Abiola Sylvestre Chaffra, and University of Lomé graduate student Tiwériba Koulon Sonhin.

IBCP mist net team members releasing birds near the site of their capture; from left to right: Nambila Nabagma, Abiola Sylvestra Chaffra, Tiwériba Koulon Sonhin, Lin-Ernni Mikégraba Kaboumba, and Loïs Bouchet. Photo by Sylvain Uriot.

The objectives of this initiative were both to discover new baseline information on bird species and populations in the park as well as to investigate the impacts of human activities (e.g., hunting, logging, charcoal production, cattle grazing, and agriculture) on the conservation status of the park. In total, Sylvian and Loïs identified 241 bird species with certainty, 11 of which were new to the park, two of which were new to Togo, and one of which may have been documented for the first time in West Africa.

The Icterine Warbler (Hippolais icterina), a new species for Togo. Photo by Sylvain Uriot.

On April 13, the team netted two Icterine Warblers (Hippolais icterina) near the Point de Vue ranger station, confirming the presence of this species for the first time both in Togo and the Fazao-Malfakassa National Park. This songbird bird is a Palearctic breeder, mainly found in eastern Europe, with lower densities in the west. The Icterine Warbler’s known wintering grounds are located mainly in East and Southern Africa; data from West Africa are therefore very rare. Both individuals carried fat stores indicating their return migration to Europe was either underway or in preparation.

The Collared Flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis) in Fazao-Malfakassa National Park. Photo by Sylvain Uriot.

The Collared Flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis), shown above, was photographed for the first time in Togo and, more broadly, West Africa. Our documentation of this species confirms a single earlier record in the form of a sighting of a single individual April 2006 in northern Togo. This uncommon Palearctic species breeds mainly in Eastern European countries, with small populations also present in eastern France and Gotland, Sweden; its African wintering grounds appear to be located mainly in central Africa. Our two records in Togo (in two different locations in April) represent only the second time this species has been recorded in Africa west of Nigeria.

White-bellied Kingfisher (Corythornis leucogaster). Photo by Sylvain Uriot.

The White-bellied Kingfisher (Corythornis leucogaster) is endemic to Guinean and Congolese rain forests and evergreen tropical forests. Our captures of six individuals of this species at two sites in the center of the park in April and May represent only the third instance of this species occurring in Togo. Historically, two specimens of this species were collected in 1968, and Françoise Dowsett-Lemaire and Robert J. Dowsett reported an observation of a single individual of this species in Assoukoko forest in March 2011. In Togo, this species appears to be quite rare and strictly localized to this type of habitat, which has become increasingly fragmented and threatened in West Africa, and particularly in Togo.

African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana), an endangered species, in Fazao-Malfakassa National Park. Photo by Nico Arcilla.

This research will thus support efforts to understand, value, and protect the park and its wildlife, which includes Togo’s last populations of endangered and critically endangered mammals including African elephants and white-thighed colobus as well as many rare, declining, and endangered birds. This post will be followed by additional updates, and these data will contribute to future publications on birds in the park and inform conservation outreach.

A view of Mt. Kpéya in Fazao-Malfakassa National Park. Photo by Sylvain Uriot.