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Fur and Fangs rather than Feathers and Beaks

10,000 Birds

One of my most memorable outings was a night-time game drive in Kenya when we saw an aardvark and a zorilla, so we ticked off both the first mammal in the field guide’s index, and the last. Why the weasel should be the head of the family doesn’t really make sense. Why not the stoat family or the badger family?)

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Costa Rica on a relaxed birding pace

10,000 Birds

Few places boast so many different bird species in such a small area — over 900 species (more than Europe, or all of the United States and Canada combined), including 75 different families, like 51 species of hummingbirds, 48 warblers, and 45 tanagers.

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Soda Lake Shorbs

10,000 Birds

Shorebirds – or “shorbs” for the cuteness factor (as if that needed any enhancement) – remain one of the most fascinating families of birds for me. I had the good fortune to visit Lake Nakuru in Kenya in 2019, one of the high elevation rift valley soda lakes. There is still so much to learn!

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A Brief Tour of Uganda, The Pearl of Africa

10,000 Birds

While Uganda does not have the international reputation of its neighbors Kenya and Tanzania, the experience there is no less extraordinary – and in many ways, particularly for the birder, it’s even more so. Bustards are another quintessential Old World family, with their deliberate gait, fat bodies and long, snaky necks.

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Birding Senegal: Costco ads and Scissor-tailed Kites

10,000 Birds

Called home to the Oregon Coast to operate the family motel, in her free time she leads Tufted Puffin walks and escapes to guide at birding festivals and explore the world as often as possible. Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa are heavily eBirded because Americans regularly visit. eBird is a huge help with that.

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Pink in Africa

10,000 Birds

Its mostly found on the ground in thickets or the edges of dense vegetation and usually in small family parties. 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). Photo by Adam Riley. Pink-breasted Lark.

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Tribes and Birds of the Lower Omo Valley by Adam Riley

10,000 Birds

Here, in south-west Ethiopia’s awkwardly named “Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region”, bordering Kenya and Sudan, the great Omo River dominates this dry savanna valley, resulting in some of Africa’s most well developed and best preserved arid-zone riverine forests.

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