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Birding crème de la crème: Africa – Ngorongoro Crater to Queen Elizabeth II National Park

10,000 Birds

The bird-richest region of Africa is its equatorial East: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi (unlike the rest, the last one, Burundi, is politically unstable and not recommendable). Tanzania has 14 400+ hotspots, of which the top-5 have 500+ (the first one, Ngorongoro Conservation Area even with 600+ sp.). 4 Arusha NP 565 sp.

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The Storks of Africa

10,000 Birds

A Marabou Stork arriving at its roost tree, Serengeti, Tanzania by Adam Riley We’ll start off with the largest and ugliest of them all (measuring up to 60in (152cm) in height, a weight of 20 lb (9 kg) and a wingspan of up to 12ft), the Marabou Stork. The Saddle-billed Stork has a similar Africa-wide distribution as the Marabou.

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Pink in Africa

10,000 Birds

Africa’s pelicans can be a bit confusing on the identification front as Great White does show an overall pink blush in its plumage during breeding season whereas the pinkest part of Pink-backed Pelican is its lower back, which is only seen in flight! Great White Pelicans showing the pink flush of breeding plumage. Photo by Adam Riley.

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Tanzania – Africa at its best

10,000 Birds

Tanzania is without a doubt the quintessential African safari nation. Despite being a proud South African, my honest answer is Tanzania. For this post, I have selected what is in my opinion the three essential and must-visit sites in Tanzania and these all fall within the classic Northern Tanzania safari circuit.

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Patch: An Urban Red-tailed Hawk (4 of 4)

10,000 Birds

Replacing feathers is an energy intensive process and most birds try to get through it before migrating, and outside of the breeding season. Molt can be suspended if the energy is needed for other critical functions (I’ve seen this happen in breeding birds). I can’t imagine having another sustained encounter like that.

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Birding the Kruger Park (4): Letaba area

10,000 Birds

Interestingly, the HBW gives different contact calls depending on the country in which the flycatcher lives: “Contact call a simple ‘zeet, zwayt’ (South Africa), ‘ti-twit tee-twit’ (Gabon), ‘zi’zk’zk’ (Tanzania).”

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Ethiopia’s Endemics

10,000 Birds

Flocks of cheerful birds frequent caves and cliffs where they breed. A two-week birding tour could expect around 400 species and up to 550 in 3 weeks, including sightings of most of Ethiopia’s endemic and near-endemic birds. White-billed Starling A beautiful starling belonging to the red-winged starling group.

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