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

10,000 Birds

In case you didn’t know, yes, there is an indigenous peacock living in Africa, the Congo Peafowl. And apart from local people, primate researchers sometimes spot it, but it is a species seen by fewer than ten living birders. Some are incredibly rare and hard to find.

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The Storks of Africa

10,000 Birds

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. This is another wetland species that nests in sometimes huge colonies atop trees bordering rivers and lakes.

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Birding the Kruger Park (5): Pafuri area part 1

10,000 Birds

Bad developments indeed, particularly as the White-backed Vulture was found to be a good avian biomonitor species – if it does badly, most likely the environment as a whole will do badly, too. Vultures, therefore, tend not to nest in areas with high elephant populations ( source ).

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From Today's New York Times

Animal Ethics

To the Editor: Re “ Ebola Imperils Gorilla Species in Congo Republic ” (news article, Dec. In 2003, I was in the sanctuary described in your article and collected samples from those dead animals. Historically, these diseases have been studied only when they affect human populations or domestic animals.

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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.

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The New “Birds of Thailand”

10,000 Birds

Perhaps you don’t know it yet, but with more than 1000 bird species, palm-fringed sandy beaches, developed tourism infrastructure, moderate prices and political stability, Thailand is a country you definitively want to visit. Among them are 20 endemics and near-endemics, and 58 vagrant species. And what do you need to pack?

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Weavers

10,000 Birds

The IOC world birdlist recognizes 90 species that bear the name “weaver” or “malimbe” Not all of these are true weavers as we will discuss below. There are currently 64 recognized species in this genus, a remarkable number indeed, and this includes the 5 Asian and 2 Malagasy species.

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