Wings Without Borders: Why Every Nigerian Bird Count Matters

Bennett Oghifo

As the rains return and Nigeria’s swamps and floodplains begin to swell with water, migratory birds once again make their seasonal journey across continents, offering a powerful reminder that conservation begins with local action and collective awareness.

At the heart of this year’s World Migratory Bird Day celebration is a simple but urgent message: Every Bird Counts – Your Observations Matter.

According to Director of Communications, Policy and Advocacy at the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, Kunle Olawoyin, at the Lekki Conservation Centre, the arrival of migratory birds has become an annual spectacle that draws scientists, conservationists and nature enthusiasts alike. In late September and October, as the harmattan haze settles over Lagos, the mangroves come alive with the calls of Wood Warblers (Phylloscopus sibilatrix), tiny birds that travel between 4,000 and 7,000 kilometres from breeding grounds in Europe and western Asia to winter in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Volunteers armed with binoculars and tally counters carefully document every sighting.

“The bird, recognisable for its leafy green upper body, white underside and lemon-yellow breast, has become a symbol of the growing movement encouraging Nigerians to participate in bird counts and environmental monitoring.

“For communities dependent on wetlands, migratory birds are more than seasonal visitors; they are indicators of ecological health and economic survival,” said Olawoyin.

“When the small white birds with long legs come in November, we know the fish will be plenty,” said Malam Idris Yakubu, a fisherman at the Hadejia-Nguru Wetlands. “If they stop coming, our nets stay empty. My father taught me to watch them.”

The Hadejia-Nguru wetlands, designated a Ramsar site in Nigeria’s northeast, support nearly one million people and host more than 100,000 migratory birds annually. With 246 recorded bird species, the wetland accounts for about 28 per cent of Nigeria’s total bird diversity.

According to conservation experts, Nigeria occupies a strategic position along the East Atlantic Flyway, a major migration route stretching from the Arctic to South Africa. Every year, more than two billion birds use the route, relying on wetlands and coastal habitats across Nigeria as critical stopover points.

“Birds don’t see visas,” said Dr. Stella Egbe of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation. “What happens with birds in Kano and Lekki affects them far beyond Nigeria. That’s how linked their migration routes are.”

Experts note that migratory birds also play a vital role in agriculture and food security.

Species such as swallows, swifts, storks and waders help control destructive insects including grasshoppers and locusts, while their droppings naturally enrich floodplain soils.

Scientists tracking barn swallows have observed some travelling up to 300 kilometres in a single day across the Sahara Desert without food or water, navigating using the stars and the Earth’s magnetic field.

“Farmers told me, ‘Swallows were fewer last March,’” said Harry Hanson, explaining how local observations often provide valuable ecological data.

Across Nigeria, migratory birds are deeply woven into cultural traditions and agricultural calendars. In many farming communities, the arrival of species such as the Abdim’s stork, white-throated bee-eater and yellow-billed kite signals the start of planting season.

However, conservationists warn that Nigeria’s wetlands are under mounting pressure from urbanisation, irrigation projects, farming expansion and climate change.

In Hadejia-Nguru, the spread of petrol-powered irrigation pumps and wheat cultivation since the 1980s has intensified conflicts over land and water resources.

Environmentalists caution that the disappearance of wetlands threatens not only migratory birds but also the ecological services they provide, including pest control, pollination and eco-tourism.

At the Lekki Conservation Centre, bio-monitoring officer Muhammad Jalo said birdwatching tourism continues to attract visitors from across Nigeria and beyond.

“Whenever tourists visit for birdwatching, many of them are excited to see birds that migrate thousands of kilometres from Europe and other parts of the world,” he said. “If the mangrove forest disappears, it won’t only affect wildlife but also my livelihood.”

Conservation advocates insist that ordinary citizens have a major role to play.

From schoolchildren counting egrets near the lagoon front at University of Lagos to farmers recording the arrival of migratory species, every observation contributes to global scientific databases used to shape conservation policies and hunting regulations.

Director-General of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, Dr. Joseph Onoja, said greater awareness is needed to curb unsustainable hunting and trapping of migratory birds.

“Protection begins with awareness,” he said. “When people see how migratory birds connect their farms, wetlands and livelihoods to the wider world, they start to act differently.”

As dawn breaks over Lekki once again, sandpipers feed quietly along the wetlands before continuing their long migration northward. Some will eventually return to the United Kingdom by June, while others may not survive the journey.

Yet for another season, Nigeria remains a vital part of a migration story that predates modern borders — a shared ecological heritage linking continents, communities and livelihoods through the flight of birds across the skies.