List of birds of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Congo peafowl - the national bird of the DRC

This is a list of the bird species recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The avifauna of the Democratic Republic of Congo include a total of 1188 species, of which twenty-one are endemic, and one has been introduced by humans. This country has the greatest avian biodiversity of any African country.

This list's taxonomic treatment (designation and sequence of orders, families and species) and nomenclature (common and scientific names) follow the conventions of The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 2022 edition.[1] The family accounts at the beginning of each heading reflect this taxonomy, as do the species counts found in each family account. Introduced and accidental species are included in the total counts for the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The following tags have been used to highlight several categories. The commonly occurring native species do not fall into any of these categories.

  • (A) Accidental - a species that rarely or accidentally occurs in the Democratic Republic of Congo
  • (E) Endemic - a species endemic to the Democratic Republic of Congo
  • (I) Introduced - a species introduced to the Democratic Republic of Congo as a consequence, direct or indirect, of human actions


  1. ^ Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/updateindex/october-2022/ Retrieved November 1, 2022.