article thumbnail

Pink in Africa

10,000 Birds

Of course Africa could not to be left out of the pink weekend so I have researched all African species whose official or alternative names include the word “pink”. This attractive (for a lark anyway) species is restricted to the dry savannah Somali-Maasai biome of north-east Africa (northern Tanzania, Kenya, southern Ethiopia and Somalia).

Africa 243
article thumbnail

KwaZulu-Natal

10,000 Birds

Even in the tropics there are few birds that excel some of our own in elegance and beauty of plumage and we have an unusually large number of species considering the smallness of the area they inhabit. ” (Woodward brothers, “Natal Birds”, 1899) The mighty Drakensberg Mountains run along the western boundary of KwaZulu-Natal province.

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

Birding Eastern Zimbabwe

10,000 Birds

Due to the large number of specialty and range-restricted species it is a must-visit destination for any South African birder who wants to surpass the 800-mark of a Southern African life-list. Situated slap-bang on the Zim/Mozambique border, this used to be one of the most productive birding sites in the country.

Zimbabwe 227
article thumbnail

Getting the Bill – Taste, Touch and Smell in Birds

10,000 Birds

But how birds use these different senses, like the diversity in bill size and shape, varies almost as much from species to species. Chickens come in at around 24, pigeons have around 40-50 and some duck species may have a whopping 400. The longest bird bill relative to body-size.

Mammals 249
article thumbnail

What is a Palm-thrush?

10,000 Birds

Once upon a time, when I started birding, this great family included a wide range of species collectively known as the robins and chats. They are a single genus, Cichladusa , with three species, found mostly in Central and Eastern Africa. It all comes back to a split in one of the great bird families, the Turdidae, or thrushes.

article thumbnail

Business Birding Basics – part II

10,000 Birds

The antwren had been elevated to species level and Hilton is just a sucker for anything Paulista, and besides, who needs a reason to go birding? I have been guided by David Letsoale and Paul Nkhumane for Cape Parrot and other difficult forest species. It is possible to clutch victory from the jaws of defeat.

article thumbnail

Tembe Elephant Park, South Africa

10,000 Birds

It was founded as a safe place for refugees from the Mozambique Civil War , which ran from 1977 to 1992. It is a good place for South African birders, as several species are found here and nowhere else in South Africa, and it holds a small number of endemics that it shares with the Mozambique lowlands.