My 12 Favourite Birds of South Africa
10,000 Birds
OCTOBER 17, 2024
Because I lived in South Africa for most of my youth, I have seen a large portion of the huge variety of species in this amazing country. While many of these… Source
Bird Guides of the World: Rene Rossouw, South Africa
10,000 Birds
JULY 30, 2024
What is your favorite bird species? René Rossouw, I live in Nelspruit, South Africa. North-eastern South Africa including the Kruger National Park and the Western Cape How long have you been a bird guide? Summer in South Africa is the best time to bird, as all the migrants are in the country.
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Hornbills of South Africa
10,000 Birds
JANUARY 24, 2022
But for now, I still have the hornbills I saw in South Africa a few years ago. It is a relatively small hornbill, and not very shy – some photos below were taken on the campgrounds of Kruger Park, which more or less seem to be the species’ natural habitat by now. I’ll always have Paris”, I guess.
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Birding the Drakensberg, South Africa
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 23, 2021
One in November 2018 included a one-day birding trip in the Drakensberg area, a mountain range in the border area between South Africa and Lesotho. In fact, this is probably a species that has substantially expanded its original range through the pet shop route and the resulting escapees. Nice not to be a kid, too.
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Birding and Safari-ing South Africa with the ABA
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 4, 2014
And so, I went on the American Birding Association Safari to South Africa. That was easily fixed by adding a post-Safari trip to Eastern South Africa, led by dashing Rockjumper guide Clayton Burne, to my itinerary. The small group was a good counterpart to the large, convivial ABA Safari group of 98 birders.
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An afternoon in the Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa
10,000 Birds
OCTOBER 19, 2023
Photos courtesy of Mosetlha Bush Camp A dusty-red road leads me through Marico bushveld deeper into the 750 square kilometers large wilderness of the Madikwe Game Reserve – the 4th largest reserve in South Africa, home to 350 bird and 66 mammal species, some 4 hours’ drive from Johannesburg.
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Birding St Lucia, South Africa
10,000 Birds
MAY 16, 2022
St Lucia is a small town on the Southeastern coast of South Africa. As this African Green Pigeon shows, the color should offer good camouflage for species living on trees. In case you do not know that brimstone is sulfur, the Brimstone Canary brings the point home by having the Latin species name sulphurata. It shares St.
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Tembe Elephant Park, South Africa
10,000 Birds
JULY 15, 2015
The history of Tembe Elephant Park in South Africa is a slightly unusual one. 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.
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Yellow-billed Kites in South Africa
10,000 Birds
APRIL 8, 2015
For a long time it was treated as a subspecies of the ubiquitous Black Kite, a species of scavenging bird of prey much hated by my grandfather (they used to steal food from troops during the war, if memory serves). A valuable lesson in looking twice at the ubiquitous species. Birds kites South Africa'
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Africa’s endangered species
10,000 Birds
JULY 10, 2012
More than 150 bird species are known to have become extinct over the past 500 years, and many more are estimated to have been driven to extinction before they became known to science. The Gray Crowned-Crane is a new addition to the list of the world’s Endangered species, creeping up a category from Vulnerable.
Birding the Ndumo area, South Africa
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 22, 2022
Ndumo Game Reserve lies in the Easternmost part of South Africa, close to the border of Mozambique and Eswatini. It is not particularly big but has a reported 430 bird species including migrants, though during my short stay it seems I missed most of the key attractions among them. Pel’s Fishing Owl, where were you?
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Wakkerstroom, South Africa: It’s a Lark
10,000 Birds
OCTOBER 21, 2015
I’ve not made spectacular progress writing up my trip to Africa earlier this year, so perhaps I should get on that. So instead let’s talk about South Africa’s best kept birding secret (at least outside of the country) Wakkerstroom. It was also weirdly good for quail, of sorts.
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145 South Africa’s endemic birds
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 13, 2011
My home country of South Africa can only be described as a birding paradise! Originally considered monotypic, two species are now recognized. Cape (or Rufous) Rockjumper is a true South African endemic and restricted to the southwest Cape. Starting off with my favorites (I have to say that!), the Rockjumpers.
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Week 16: South Africa and Kruger National Park
10,000 Birds
MAY 28, 2018
After a very long day of 7 hours of driving, 11 hours flying and then 9 hours more driving, we have arrived at our temporary home here in South Africa. Daily park fees are such that we opted for the annual “Wild Card” that is good not only for Kruger, but nearly every park in South Africa. This pass cost us $3850.00
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Crested and Proud
10,000 Birds
FEBRUARY 19, 2024
Quite a few bird species have crests. Their main use is to display – either to communicate with other members of the species or to scare other species, as a raised crest makes the bird appear larger. In fact, crests occur in at least 20 of the 30 orders of extant birds, and in all major groups of passerines.
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Flock to Marion
10,000 Birds
MARCH 14, 2022
Birdlife South Africa has previously done two of these types of trips before, previously called Flock to Sea – Namibia in 2013 and Flock to Nowhere in 2017, in partnership with MSC Cruises. This cruise rose funds for the Mouse-free Marion project of Birdlife South Africa which will attempt to eradicate house mice from Marion Island.
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Birding the Eshowe area, South Africa
10,000 Birds
JANUARY 23, 2023
The White-eared Barbet is another bird species with an annoyingly sensible Latin species name, leucotis (white-eared). Obviously, my job as a blog post writer would be a lot easier if there was a racist slave-trader named Ernesto Leucotis who somehow got a bird species named after him. But the same species was never found again.
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Top 10 from Home
10,000 Birds
MAY 31, 2011
This ruled out some excellent species like Cape Eagle Owl, Violet Wood-hoopoe, African Finfoot and Half-collared Kingfisher and I was still left with 36 species. I then decided to reduce it further to South African endemics only. The korhaans are a group of small bustards and South Africa has 7 species.
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Not enough Woodpeckers
10,000 Birds
JUNE 20, 2022
Or would be, had I encountered more of them – so far, I have seen only a very small share of the approximately 233 woodpecker species, and got decent photos of an even smaller number – not much more than 10% of all of them. Also, the cap of the females is not even red but black.
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Namibia’s 15 key birds
10,000 Birds
JUNE 12, 2012
Before self-rule it was administered by South Africa and known as South-West Africa. After a brutal colonization that included genocidal campaigns against the Herero (80% killed) and Nama (50% killed) tribes, the Germans lost control when South Africa invaded soon after the declaration of the First World War.
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Shadows of Africa
10,000 Birds
JULY 11, 2013
A dusty-red road leads me through Marico bushveld deeper into the 750 square kilometers large wilderness of the Madikwe Game Reserve – the 4th largest reserve in South Africa, home to 350 bird and 66 mammal species, some 4 hours’ drive from Johannesburg. Trips Mammals South Africa'
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Pycnonotidae: A Critical Review
10,000 Birds
MARCH 18, 2021
A typical description of the family is that of “a tropical African and Asian songbird that typically has a melodious voice and drab plumage”, another is “small, dull-colored passerine birds of Asia and Africa”, yet another states that they are “often rather plain” Individual species get even harsher reviews.
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A few Barbets
10,000 Birds
FEBRUARY 17, 2022
According to the HBW, there are 41 species of African Barbets and 34 species of Asian Barbets. There are also 14 species of New World Barbets and 2 species of Toucan-Barbets (all in South America). The Crested Barbet (Kruger Park, South Africa) looks a bit like a pointillist painting gone wrong.
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The Bee-eaters of Africa
10,000 Birds
AUGUST 14, 2012
The wonderful family Meropidae contains 27 dazzling species, of which Africa is endowed with no less than 20 species, the balance occurring across Asia and with one as far afield as Australia. We have both resident and migratory species, and this post will briefly discuss each of the 20 species of African bee-eaters.
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50 Top Birding Sites in Kenya review
10,000 Birds
OCTOBER 21, 2021
When you mention “Africa” to a birder, it is likely that at least two thirds will instantly think “Kenya”, and for a good reason: it is home to over 1,060 bird species and boasts many globally important birding areas. Each site gets from 2 to 5 pages (but mostly 3-4). Endemics are indicated with a bracket “(E)”.
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264 Rooiels – Funny Name, Serious Birding
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 1, 2011
I don’t think I’ve ever done a post on my home patch of Cape Town, South Africa. The little seaside village of Rooiels is famed for being a wonderful location to pick up some choice South African endemics but it is also one of the most beautiful spots in the Cape.
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African Penguins in Peril
10,000 Birds
JULY 16, 2013
I grew up in one of the most beautiful cities in the world – Cape Town, South Africa. The birdlife in the Cape is nothing short of spectacular, with a healthy dose of charismatic endemic species. In fact, there is no other region in Africa that offers such a fantastic level of endemism in such an accessible location.
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The Storks of Africa
10,000 Birds
MAY 8, 2012
Africa has more than its fair share of storks, with 8 of the world’s 19 species gracing the continent. Storks are typically viewed as wetland species and whilst some storks are restricted to aquatic habitats, others are not. It is also related to Wood Stork of the Americas and Milky Stork of Asia.
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What is a birder?
10,000 Birds
AUGUST 3, 2024
Then, in 2002 I went on my first safari in South Africa’s Kruger park. My true road to Damascus came on the 28 th of January 2009, in another African park: Pilanesberg, South Africa. His objective is to see all the birds presented in Newman’s Birds of Southern Africa, 1991 revised edition.
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Madikwe; Paradise Restored
10,000 Birds
MARCH 16, 2016
Madikwe , in South Africa, wasn’t a site of importance before it came into existence. And so South Africa’s fifth largest park came to be (it’s worth remembering that its largest park, Kruger, is the size of Israel) on marginal land that no one in particular could do much with. Yes, there are birds.
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Everyone loves owls: African edition
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 23, 2016
There are few families of birds where despite a cosmopolitan distribution I’m always so pleased to see any species of the family. This was only the second time I had ever seen this species in all my time on the continent. The species is a common one, found from the Gambia to Somalia and from the Sudan to South Africa.
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223 Africa’s Big Five and Little Five
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 11, 2012
Elephant The big – two species of elephant are now recognized as occuring in Africa, the smaller and more secretive Forest Elephant and the larger, more familiar African or Bush Elephant. The African Elephant used to occur throughout Africa outside of the rainforest zones, where its close relative the Forest Elephant replaces it.
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Pink in Africa
10,000 Birds
MAY 12, 2013
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”. Definitely my personal favorite of Africa’s pink birds is the delicate Pink-throated Twinspot. Another not very pink species is the Pink-footed Puffback.
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237 KwaZulu-Natal
10,000 Birds
MARCH 13, 2012
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.
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210 The Little Big Year 2018: Best Birds of the Year!
10,000 Birds
JANUARY 9, 2019
In the end, I truly did set out to reduce the number of birds that I feature here from 1302, my years total species, down to 10-12. Our first Day In South Africa, I spotted the Burchell’s Courcal, as it flew across the road in front of us we entered Kruger National Park. I present to you, my favorite birds of 2018.
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Remotest Endemic Birds
10,000 Birds
AUGUST 13, 2013
Does the word define a species within country terms, regional terms etc? Is the term defined at the sub-species or full species level in terms of classification? The species must be listed as a separate, full species by both of the most widely used ornithological bird lists, Sibley/Monroe and Clements.
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Wagbachniederung & Saalbachniederung
10,000 Birds
MARCH 23, 2024
Although an attractive bird, this species was not of particular interest to me as I’ve seen it countless times when I lived in South Africa (and is not present there at this time of year anyway), but the area has much more on offer.
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Feed me or I’ll die, and possibly take you with me!
10,000 Birds
APRIL 16, 2013
More recently a study of Babblers in South Africa may have demonstrated a similar kind of extortion. We are speaking of the Pied Babbler ( Turdoides bicolor ) of the Kalahari in South Africa. . “If you don’t feed me right way, I’m taking off this wing and your reproductive success is done!”
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“Peacocks and Picathartes: Reflections on Africa’s Birdlife”
10,000 Birds
AUGUST 26, 2021
I did that with Peacocks & Picathartes – Reflections on Africa’s birdlife (published by Penguin Random House South Africa ). In case you didn’t know, yes, there is an indigenous peacock living in Africa, the Congo Peafowl. So, could sunbirds actually have evolved in Indomalaya and spread west into Africa?”
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264 Back from the Second Birding Rally Challenge in Northern Peru
10,000 Birds
JULY 10, 2013
The 1,500 km route included a great diversity of habitat types, elevations along the west and east facing slopes of the Andes, jaw dropping landscapes, contrasting microclimates, cultural diversity and a potential list of well over 1,000 species. Official presentation of our team: The Zululanders from South Africa.
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Wagbachniederung in Late Spring
10,000 Birds
JUNE 15, 2024
While I’ve heard and seen both species multiple times, these atmospheric songs in the humid dawn, with songs of other species and the sound of water dripping through the foliage in the background, was already a highlight of the day. Common Nightingales and Common Cuckoos where calling everywhere.
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240 The plovers of Estero Lagoon, Florida
10,000 Birds
MARCH 8, 2011
Growing up within an hour of one of the world’s premier shorebird destinations -- West Coast National Park in South Africa -- helped for sure. Getting to know the subtleties in differences between closely related species takes years of dedication and practice. For me, there’s a few things that drive this fascination.
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Stamps in a Weathered Passport
10,000 Birds
FEBRUARY 25, 2024
We saw dozens of small, brown birds hopping in and out of the vegetation like Sickle-winged Chat , Mountain Pipit , various lark species, a Southern Bald Ibis that only a mother could love, and fewer raptors like Bearded Vultures and Cape Griffon. The post Stamps in a Weathered Passport first appeared on 10,000 Birds.
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15 expat-friendly countries for a birder to move to
10,000 Birds
AUGUST 20, 2015
This map shows the distribution of the World’s bird species, based on overlying the breeding and wintering ranges of all known species. I live in the southeast of Europe, for a while lived in the south of Africa and also have extensively birded western and central India. Which leaves only East Africa. And it shows.
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