African River Martin - Distribution and Habitat

Distribution and Habitat

The African River Martin breeds along the Congo River and its tributary, the Ubangi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), an area estimated at 47,000 km2 (18,150 mi2). This part of Africa is poorly known, and this martin may also breed on other tributaries, such as the Kasai, or on other suitable rivers. It also breeds in southern Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. The DRC breeding population is migratory, wintering in coastal savanna in Gabon, but it is not known if the birds nesting at the coast are a separate population, or if the migrants are breeding again in the wintering area. Westwards migration from the DRC is from June to early September, with birds arriving at the coast from mid-August to mid-September. Return migration is mainly from December to March. Three or four birds were seen passing through the southern Central African Republic in 1994.

This martin's breeding requirement is forested rivers with islands that have sandy banks for nest burrows, and its habitat in the DRC is tropical forest with over 200 cm (80 in) of rain a year. This area is a patchwork of dry, seasonally flooded and permanently wet woodland, and seasonally flooded savanna, all of which are subject to inundation by the Congo River and its tributaries. The swamp forests contain trees such as Symphonia globulifera, Raffia palms and Mitragyna species, and the riverbanks are often lined with arrowroot. This specialised habitat is shared with two other restricted-range birds, the Congo Sunbird and the Congo Martin. The main coastal breeding area in Gabon, around Gamba, has a similar mosaic of habitats, with mangroves, swamp forests, wet evergreen woodlands and seasonally wet savanna. There are also two large lagoons, and drier areas of grassland and forest. All the breeding areas form part of a belt of forest that stretches from southern Cameroon through Gabon to the northern parts of the Republic of Congo, and extends through most of the DRC up to its eastern mountains. Outside of the breeding season, this martin roosts in reed-beds or riverine vegetation.