Projects of the Avian Demography Unit

Mozambique Bird Atlas Project

The Mozambique Bird Atlas Project is undertaken in collaboration with the Endangered Wildlife Trust. The Avian Demography Unit's contribution is to provide data services; this involves provision of checklists for observers, and all aspects of data processing and curation.

Mozambique is one of Africa's ornithological "black holes". Even in the best-known area, southern Mozambique, previous research was scattered, and badly out-of-date. The conservation status of several species is indeterminate because of our lack of knowledge of distribution and numbers in this region. The Mozambique Bird Atlas Project aims to transform this country into one of Africa's better-known avifaunas.

The cover of The Atlas of the Birds of Sul do Save, Southern Mozambique features the Oliveheaded Weaver, from a painting by Philip Clancey, the ornithologist who made pioneering studies in the region. A Portuguese translation of this atlas is also available

Most of the fieldwork in Mozambique is undertaken by Vincent Parker, but there are increasing volumes of contributions from the many birders who visit Mozambique. This is an important trend, and one we wish to support and encourage. All the contact details are listed below.

It was not possible to include Mozambique in the Southern African Bird Atlas Project, because of the civil war taking place there during the mid and late 1980s. By the time peace returned to the country in 1995, Vincent Parker was already there, undertaking fieldwork under the most difficult of circumstances: loss of infrastructure, especially roads, and prior to the clearing of landmines.

Vincent's plan was to cover the country in three sections: southern Mozambique is that part of the country south of the Save River, known as Sul do Save; central Mozambique, between the Sabi and Zambezi Rivers, including Tete Province, the the westernmost part of the country, sandwiched between Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi; northern Mozambique, the area between the Zambezi River and Tanzania. Vincent's ten-year timetable was to spend three years doing fieldwork in each section, and a year to write up the results. As Vincent's fieldwork for the southern and central sections was completed, the plan was to produce an interim atlas, and to write The Atlas of the Birds of Mozambique on completion of all the fieldwork. The final atlas would include any additional data collected by birders in southern and central Mozambique after the publication of the interim atlases.

Vincent has been able to stick reasonably closely to his original timetable, and would be on track had bureacracy not reared its ugly head. An inordinate amount of fieldwork time has been lost obtaining visas and moving vehicles across borders.

Fieldwork in southern Mozambique was undertaken from 1996 to 1999, with the first of the interim atlases, The Atlas of the Birds of Sul do Save, Southern Mozambique, being published in 1999. A Portuguese translation followed in 2000. These can be purchased from Horizon Book Services; see Publications on this website.

Vehicle import restrictions resulted in the start of fieldwork in central Mozambique being delayed until August 1999. Rapid progress was made until frustrating visa problems prevented Vincent from re-entering Mozambique towards the end of 2000. All the problems are resolvable, but take time and effort. Fieldwork resumed in 2001, and reports are published regularly on this website.