article thumbnail

Ten Birds That Changed the World — a review

10,000 Birds

They were barely mentioned in The Voyage of the Beagle and not at all in On the Origin of Species. It’s now known that Charles Darwin did not (contrary to what was once a settled idea) assign great importance to the Galapagos birds that came to be called “Darwin’s finches” (though they’re not true finches at all).

article thumbnail

Exploring the Uncharted Bird World

10,000 Birds

It divides countries into categories, where the next category has 200 more species. In some cases the data are outdated, e.g. Costa Rica has 900 and not 800 species, but I made no corrections, remaining faithful to the original map data. Shown as a list, it looks like this: Less than 200 bird species: Antarctica; oceanic islands.

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

“Peacocks and Picathartes: Reflections on Africa’s Birdlife”

10,000 Birds

And apart from local people, primate researchers sometimes spot it, but it is a species seen by fewer than ten living birders. Simply, many birders liked the idea of birding Africa but did not know enough to choose a single country (or two neigbouring countries, such as Malawi and Zambia). Some are incredibly rare and hard to find.

Congo 264
article thumbnail

Birding the Kruger Park (4): Letaba area

10,000 Birds

As the national bird of Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, the African Fish Eagle is usually very busy whenever it stays in these countries, giving speeches, opening shopping centers, etc. The Latin species name vermiculatus (worm-like) refers to the markings on the upperparts. Of course, the second explanation makes a lot more sense.

Zimbabwe 147
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.

Zambia 163
article thumbnail

Namibia’s 15 key birds

10,000 Birds

The League of Nations thereafter mandated this huge block of land to South Africa to administer and autonomy was only granted after the protracted Namibian War of Independence that was fought between the South African defense force and Namibian freedom fighters based in Angola, Zambia and other neighboring countries.

Namibia 249
article thumbnail

Africa’s Big Five and Little Five

10,000 Birds

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. Prime destinations for seeing African Elephant in the wild include Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Uganda.

Buffalo 200