By Kunle Olawoyin
Each year when the rains come and Nigeria’s swamps and floodplains fill with water; migratory birds arrive to remind us that conservation starts with us.
In late September and October, just as the harmattan begins to dust Lagos with a fine, dry haze, something extraordinary happens at Lekki Conservation Centre. The mangroves stir. A sharp, rippling trill —Piping piu-piu-piu-piu — cuts the air. The Wood Warblers (Phylloscopus sibilatrix) have arrived.
Volunteers with binoculars click their tally counters. 7. 8. 11. It is a small bird with typical leafy appearance, with green above and white below with a lemon-yellow breast known for its energetic movement among trees and shrubs and undertakes long-distance seasonal migrations of approximately 4,000 to 7,000 km from breeding grounds in Europe and western Asia to wintering habitats in Nigeria and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, each one counts. Because this year, Every Bird Counts.
And they are not alone. “When the small white birds with long legs come in November, we know the fish will be plenty,” says Malam Idris Yakubu, a fisherman at Hadejia-Nguru wetlands.
“If they stop coming, our nets stay empty. My father taught me to watch them. For him and nearly a million others who depend on Hadejia-Nguru — a Ramsar site in Nigeria’s northeast — the birds are more than visitors. They’re data. They’re proof the wetlands are alive.
Every year, over 2 billion birds use the East Atlantic Flyway — a sky highway from the Arctic to South Africa, with Nigeria as a critical service station. Hadejia-Nguru alone hosts 100,000+ migratory birds annually and 246 recorded species — 28% of Nigeria’s total bird diversity.
For World Migratory Bird Day this year, the message is simple: Your Observations Matter. “Birds don’t see visas,” says Dr. Stella Egbe, an ornithologist and Biodiversity Lead at 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”.
Bird Counts, Better Crops
Take the barn swallow. Scientists sometimes do track these birds flying 300 km in a single day across the Sahara with no food or water, navigating by the stars and Earth’s magnetic field. One storm, one illegal net, and a bloodline that survived the Ice Age can be wiped out. But now, it’s not just scientists doing the tracking.
“Farmers told me, ‘Swallows were fewer last March,” Harry Hanson, Northeast Zonal Officer for NCF, says. Farmers in Hadejia-Nguru already know the link: “When the birds are many, pests are fewer,”. Swallows, swifts, storks, and waders control grasshoppers and locusts that would strip crops, while their droppings enrich floodplain soils.
Nigeria on the Flyway
Nigeria hosts over 200 migratory species.
The Hadejia-Nguru wetlands, the Niger Delta, and even urban spots like UNILAG’s lagoon front serve as five-star hotels for species like the European bee-eater, yellow wagtail, and the striking wood sandpiper. For Malam Idris, diving birds mean fish. For farmers, the Abdim’s stork, white-throated bee-eater, and yellow-billed kite are natural weather forecasters — “their arrival signals time for farm clearing and planting crops.”
Some communities even see storks as “harbingers of abundance” and blessings. “Our fathers taught us that certain birds mark the beginning of farming activities; they are part of our calendar,” a farmer explained to Harry.
Nigeria is rapidly losing its wetlands and wetland resources to farming, urban development, irrigation schemes and climate change. In Hadejia-Nguru, petrol-powered pumps and wheat expansion since the 1980s have sparked conflicts between farmers and pastoralists over land and water. When the stopovers vanish, the journey ends — not just for birds, but for pest control, pollination, and eco-tourism they bring.
“Whenever tourists visit, for birdwatching many of them are excited to see birds that migrate thousands of kilometres from different parts of the world, especially Europe,” says Muhammad Jalo, a Bio-Monitoring Officer at Lekki Conservation Centre. Some visitors even travel from outside Lagos just for that experience. If the mangrove forest disappears, it won’t only affect wildlife but also my livelihood.
These birds support my work, create opportunities for meaningful connections, and continue to draw people to the conservation centre.” Hadejia-Nguru is seeing the same potential, with younger people increasingly aware of birdwatching and research value.
What You Can Do Before Sunset
Conservation here isn’t just for scientists. Today, across Lagos and Hadejia-Nguru, bird clubs are leading counts. Your count is not small. One child logging 12 egrets at UNILAG. One farmer noting the date the first Abdim’s stork arrived. One tourist uploading a photo of a ringed sandpiper.
The data feeds into global tracking that influences hunting laws in Europe and farming policy in the Sahel. Yet gaps remain.
“Not everyone sees their importance because the benefits are not always immediate,” Jalo admitted.
“Economic hardship and weak enforcement still push people toward unsustainable hunting and trapping of migratory birds in Nigeria. But that should change when more communities understand why these birds matter. Protection begins with awareness”, says Dr. Joseph Onoja, Director General of NCF.
“When people see how migratory birds connect their farms, wetlands, and livelihoods to the wider world, they start to act differently”.
At dawn tomorrow, the sandpipers at Lekki will feed, rest, and then lift off again. Some will make it to the United Kingdom by June. Some won’t. But for one more season, Nigeria is part of a story that started before borders existed.
As Malam Idris puts it: “When the birds arrive, we count them. When the numbers stay strong, we know the wetlands are alive again; they show us that the water and the land are still healthy.”
World Migratory Bird Day 2026 asks us to remember: Every Bird Counts – Your Observations Matter. The sky is a shared country. And we’re all citizens — with data.
Olawoyin is the Director of Communications, Policy and Advocacy at the Nigerian Conservation Foundation
