Birding on Socotra: The 11 Endemic Birds and Where to See Them

Socotra has a short bird list and a high share of birds found nowhere else. Richard Porter's 2020 update put the archipelago list at 225 species, and AviBase counted 234 species in 58 families by 2025. Eleven of them are endemic, and most of those can be seen on the same route that every trip to the island already follows.

This guide covers which birds they are, where to look for them, how each one is doing, and the one species a standard trip will not reach. There are photographs of all of them on our wildlife page.

The eleven endemic birds

The number depends on which list you use. The 2008 World Heritage nomination counted six endemic birds. The 2020 OSME checklist counts eleven, after the Socotra white-eye was recognised as a separate species. A 2022 paper by the same authors gives twelve. The 2020 checklist is the one most birders use, and it is the one used here.

Socotra buzzardManuel Schwarz · CC BY 4.0 Socotra scops owlJames Eaton · CC0 Socotra golden-winged grosbeakJames Eaton · CC0 Socotra cisticolaJames Eaton · CC0 Socotra warblerJames Eaton · CC0 Socotra white-eyeJames Eaton · CC0 Socotra starlingJames Eaton · CC0 Socotra sunbirdJames Eaton · CC0 Socotra sparrowJames Eaton · CC0 Socotra bunting (plate, 1903)Public domain Abd al-Kuri sparrowJames Eaton · CC0

Bird	Scientific name	Worth knowing
Socotra buzzard	Buteo socotraensis	Only described as a separate species in 2010
Socotra scops owl	Otus socotranus	Active at night; split from the African scops owl
Socotra golden-winged grosbeak	Rhynchostruthus socotranus	Males have bright yellow patches on the wings and tail
Socotra cisticola	Cisticola haesitatus	Over a quarter of the population lives on the north coast plain
Socotra warbler	Incana incana	The only species in its genus
Socotra white-eye	Zosterops socotranus	Treated as a race of the Abyssinian white-eye until 2014
Socotra starling	Onychognathus frater	Nests in hollow branches of dragon's blood trees
Socotra sunbird	Chalcomitra balfouri	Lives in shrubland from the lowlands to the mountains
Socotra sparrow	Passer insularis	Also found on the smaller islands of Samhah and Darsah
Socotra bunting	Emberiza socotrana	A bird of the mountains and uplands
Abd al-Kuri sparrow	Passer hemileucus	Found only on the island of Abd al-Kuri

Where to look

In 2016 Porter and Suleiman mapped 21 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas across the archipelago and counted how many of the endemics each one holds. Their figures are the best guide to where to spend your time.

• Jabal Ma'alah holds 9 of the 11, the most of any site.
• The Diksam plateau, the Haghier mountains and their north slopes, the Noged plain and the limestone plateau above Siko each hold 8.
• Firmihin holds 7, and has the highest breeding concentration of Socotra buzzards.

Diksam and Firmihin are on every trip we list, so most visitors already pass through ground that holds seven or eight endemics. What makes the difference is time there: an early start, a slow walk through the trees, and a driver who knows you want to stop.

Some species have narrower ranges:

• Socotra cisticola. More than a quarter of the world population lives on the north coast plain between the airport and Di Selmeho. You can start looking on the drive from the plane.
• Golden-winged grosbeak. Widespread in woodland and wadis, including Wadi Ayhaft and Firmihin.
• Socotra bunting. Found at mountain and upland sites, including the Haghier and Diksam.
• Socotra scops owl. Recorded at 10 of the 21 sites, across the centre and north of the island. It is active at night, so look and listen after dark.

The one you are unlikely to see

The Abd al-Kuri sparrow lives only on Abd al-Kuri, an island about 100 km west of Socotra. BirdLife International's 2022 assessment gives its entire world range as 244 km², with 250 to 999 mature birds and a falling population. It is listed as Vulnerable.

No standard Socotra itinerary goes to Abd al-Kuri, so at most ten of the eleven endemics are within reach on a normal trip. If a trip promises all eleven, ask how it plans to get to Abd al-Kuri. For a realistic benchmark, a natural-history tour in February 2025 recorded 8 of the 11 endemics in eight days, along with about 67 bird species in total.

Abd al-Kuri sparrows, female above and male below, drawn in 1903Henrik Grønvold · Public domain

How the endemics are doing

These are the current global Red List assessments shown on BirdLife International's species factsheets on 10 September 2026.

Bird	Category	Last assessed	Mature birds	Trend
Socotra buzzard	Vulnerable	2022	250 to 500	Decreasing
Abd al-Kuri sparrow	Vulnerable	2022	250 to 999	Decreasing
Socotra bunting	Near Threatened	2017	About 2,500	Stable
Socotra cisticola	Least Concern	2022	About 6,000	Stable

The buzzard is the endemic in most trouble on Socotra itself. Naturalists knew it for more than a century, but it was only described as a separate species in 2010, and there are now no more than about 500 mature birds. The cisticola's listing has changed: a 2015 regional assessment for the Arabian Peninsula put it at Near Threatened, and the 2022 global assessment puts it at Least Concern.

Birds and the dragon's blood trees

The dragon's blood forest at FirmihinHardscarf · CC BY-SA 4.0

The best birding sites and the best dragon's blood forests are largely the same places. Firmihin holds more than 40% of all the world's dragon's blood trees, and Diksam is where the island's tree nursery is. The Socotra starling nests in hollow branches of the trees and eats their berries, which helps to spread the seeds. If you are visiting the forests anyway, you are also in the right place for most of the endemic birds. Our dragon's blood tree guide covers the forests themselves.

Beyond the endemics

Egyptian vultureGerry & Bonni · CC BY 2.0 Socotra grey shrikeManuel Schwarz · CC BY 4.0 Socotra cormorant (plate, 1903)Henrik Grønvold · Public domain

Egyptian vulture. Endangered globally, and abundant on Socotra. It is the bird a non-specialist is most likely to notice. Roosts of more than 350 birds gather on the north slopes of the Haghier, more than 20 pairs breed in the Haghier, and birds feed and roost at Wadi Ayhaft. It is recorded at 12 of the 21 Important Bird Areas.

Socotra cormorant. Despite the name, it is not an endemic. It breeds on islands across the Gulf and the Arabian Sea. The archipelago's strongholds are Kal Farun, with about 2,500 pairs, more than 2% of the world population, and Sabuniya, with about 250 pairs. Up to 12,000 have been counted on the Falang to Momi coast. It also nests at Detwah Lagoon, where about 32 species of waterbird have been recorded.

Socotra grey shrike. Sometimes described as a twelfth endemic, but its status as a separate species was still under review in September 2026, so it is not counted here.

Jouanin's petrel. The only known breeding colony in the world is in the archipelago, with more than 4,000 birds. The species is Near Threatened.

When to go

No published source gives the best months for seeing each endemic. The travel season runs from October to April, when the flights operate, and the monsoon closes the island from about May to September. For weather and flights through the season, see our when to visit guide.

Practical notes

• Tell your operator that birds matter to you when you book, so that stops at Firmihin and Diksam can be timed for the morning.
• Bring binoculars. Most of the endemics are small birds in scrub and woodland.
• Watch for the cisticola early. The plain between the airport and Di Selmeho holds more than a quarter of its population.
• Stay up for the scops owl. It hunts at night, and has been seen catching moths at dusk.

Where this fits in a trip

Every trip on our packages page visits Firmihin and the Diksam plateau, and the 15-day expedition adds the Haghier mountains. The wildlife page has photographs of the endemic birds alongside the island's trees, reptiles and sea life.