Amurum Forest and the Jos Plateau: rock-fig dawn and wet-season song

Jos Plateau indigobird (endemic), rock firefinch, Senegal eremomela, five sunbird species, cliff chat, Fox's weaver-like plateau specialities; Palearctic warblers in winter. Amurum Forest Reserve (APLORI), Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.

Best time: 1 Jun – 30 Sep (June to September). Where: Amurum Forest Reserve – A.P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute (Nigeria). Time of day: From first light to about 09:00.

• Partly on your own
• Low cost
• Binoculars helpful
• Sound 3/5

Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.

When is the best time?

Peak: 1 Jun – 30 Sep. June to September: the wet-season breeding chorus on the plateau; the dry season (Nov–Mar) is quieter but adds Palearctic migrants

Active from 1 Jan to 31 Dec (all year) in a typical year.

Time of day

From first light to about 09:00; a shorter evening song period from 17:00

• Dawn chorus: first light → 09:00
• Evening song: 17:00 → sunset

What will you hear?

A plateau soundscape at 1,200 m: rock firefinches and indigobirds among the boulders, sunbirds in the gallery forest, cisticolas over the grassland, with Jos's mosques and traffic far below on still mornings.

Binoculars?

Binoculars helpful. Firefinches and indigobirds among boulders at close range; binoculars help pick out sunbirds in the gallery forest.

Where to go

• Amurum Forest Reserve – A.P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute — 300 ha reserve with gallery forest, rocky inselbergs and savanna; visits arranged through APLORI at the reserve. Map

How to go on your own, and what it costs

Taxi from Jos to Laminga village (about 15 km); ask at the APLORI gate — visits are by permission, usually free or for a small fee, with a student showing you the trails.

Cost: Permission from APLORI; small fee or donation, check current prices.

Free or no-guide alternative: The inselbergs and grassland along the Laminga road outside the reserve fence are public and hold the same plateau species at dawn.

Field-recording notes

A research reserve: ask APLORI for permission and a student guide, and expect to be asked what you will do with the recordings — the institute runs the Nigerian Bird Atlas and welcomes sound contributions. Quarrying and the Jos ring road are audible from the western edge. Plateau State has had periodic unrest; check current travel advice.

Sources

• A.P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute (APLORI) – Centre for Species Survival Nigeria
• Nigerian Bird Atlas Project

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More: all spectacles in Nigeria · dawn choruses · June · July · August · September