article thumbnail

Everyone loves owls: African edition

10,000 Birds

There are few families of birds where despite a cosmopolitan distribution I’m always so pleased to see any species of the family. So imagine my delight to seeing a pair of African Scops-owls on the side of the road on a recent trip to Botswana. Who doesn’t love a good owl? Can you see them?

Owls 223
article thumbnail

African Pygmy Geese – Diminutive Ducks

10,000 Birds

True geese belong to the tribe or sub-family Anserini within the larger family Anatidae that encompasses ducks, geese and swans. And the Magpie Geese of the same country are believed to be neither ducks nor geese nor swans and are now placed within their own family Anseranatidae.

Geese 199
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

“The Birder’s Guide to Africa” by Michael Mills

10,000 Birds

Family accounts for all 142 bird families recorded from the region. Since I used to live in and know Botswana, let’s see what the guide says on that country in one and a half pages. The family accounts is the only illustrated chapter and that sudden outburst of photos looks a bit strange compared to the rest of the book.

Africa 192
article thumbnail

What is a Palm-thrush?

10,000 Birds

It all comes back to a split in one of the great bird families, the Turdidae, or thrushes. Once upon a time, when I started birding, this great family included a wide range of species collectively known as the robins and chats. The family reunited in safety. Collared Palm-thrush with no collar visible. They remain little know.

article thumbnail

Birding Botswana’s Borders

10,000 Birds

But I do have rules about whether I can have said to have visited a country, ie does the country “count” which I have inherited from my family, particularly my Dad. I bring this up because birding the Chobe River in northern Botswana gave me the interesting opportunity to bird a country I technically wasn’t in.

Botswana 162
article thumbnail

Where Are You Birding This Second Weekend of June 2012?

10,000 Birds

North of the equator, schools will be letting out for the summer and families will be packing up for adventure. Azure skies over the Okavango Delta of Botswana (Ever seen a Pel’s Fishing Owl ? Obviously, that means a lot of things in a lot of contexts, but here, of course, I’m talking about birding. How does summer look for you?

Botswana 163
article thumbnail

South Africa’s endemic birds

10,000 Birds

Their taxonomic affinities have caused great confusion and debate amongst ornithologists; they were originally assigned to the thrush family, then Old World warblers before being shifted to babblers (the last mentioned a common dumping-ground for any aberrant passerines).