10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2022

Reed Parrotbill (Nanhui, Shanghai, China). Siberian Rubythroat (Nanhui, Shanghai, China). Southern Ground Hornbill (Kruger Park, South Africa). Spotted Redshank (Nanhui, Shanghai, China). Swinhoe’s White-eye (Nanhui, Shanghai, China). Whimbrel (Nanhui, Shanghai, China).

South Africa 147

South Africa China Mauritius India 147

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2022

The Bearded Woodpecker (Mkuze, South Africa) does not really look any more bearded than many other woodpeckers. T he Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker (Tengchong, China) is a tiny bit bigger and looks much soberer. The name of the Cardinal Woodpecker (Letaba, South Africa) is misleading, as not all of them are Catholic or even cardinals.

Woodpeckers 233

Woodpeckers South Africa China Singapore 233

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2020

African Penguin (Cape Town, South Africa, Nov 2018). African Pygmy Kingfisher (Mkuze, South Africa, Nov 2018). Black-tailed Godwit (Nanhui, China, May 2020). Black-throated Tit (Tianmushan, China, Jun 2019). Black-winged Stilt (Nanhui, China, May 2019). Collared Finchbill (Zhenjiang, China, Oct 2015).

South Africa 205

South Africa 2018 2019 China 205

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2020

African Pygmy Kingfisher (Mkuze, South Africa, Nov 2018). Black-capped Kingfisher (Nanhui, China, May 2018). Common Kingfisher (Mumbai, India, Feb 2019 and Nanhui, China, Apr 2020). Crested Kingfisher (HongAn, China, Jun 2015). Malachite Kingfisher (Cape Town and Pafuri, South Africa, Nov 2018).

South Africa 206

South Africa Singapore Malaysia 2015 206

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.

South Africa 227

South Africa Malaysia Africa China 227

10,000 Birds

APRIL 1, 2021

African Penguins, asleep (Cape Town, South Africa). A Burnt out Barn Owl (Kruger Park, South Africa). A Somnolent Speckled Mousebird (Cape Town, South Africa). A Snoozing Spotted Eagle Owl (Kirstenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa). Cat-napping Curlews ( Eurasian Curlew , Tiaozini, Jiangsu, China).

South Africa 164

South Africa Barn Owls Africa Penguins 164

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2022

T he Blue-throated Barbet (Xishuangbanna and Baihualing, Yunnan, China) is probably the barbet species that is the easiest to see in Southern China. The Crested Barbet (Kruger Park, South Africa) looks a bit like a pointillist painting gone wrong. Lucia, South Africa) will be your favorite.

South Africa 207

South Africa Africa India China 207

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 23, 2020

Yellow-breasted Bunting (critically endangered due to trapping in Southern China – what a shame!). And if you are willing to travel a bit further within China, you can see the Crested Bunting , which arguably has a bit more star quality …. Yellow-browed Bunting. The photo was taken at Xiaoyangshan, about 30 km away from Nanhui.

South Africa 179

South Africa China Germany Family 179

Critter News

AUGUST 16, 2008

The UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting in Geneva voted in favour of China becoming a licensed importer. It will allow China to bid for more than 100 tonnes of ivory stockpiled in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe through culling and natural deaths.

Elephants 100

Elephants China Zimbabwe Namibia 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2018

401-600 sp: Honduras, Guatemala, Guyana, Suriname and French Guyana, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay; the Sahel countries (Africa), Namibia and Botswana; Central Asian countries and Cambodia. 1201-1400 sp: Venezuela; China. 1201-1400 sp: Venezuela; China. 801-1000 sp. – 1401-1600 sp: Ecuador, Bolivia; Indonesia.

Equatorial Guinea 197

Equatorial Guinea Costa Rica Guyana Central African Republic 197

10,000 Birds

APRIL 18, 2022

I spent a few hours on Mauritius flying from Shanghai to Cape Town, South Africa, and decided to use this time for a short trip to a nature reserve on Mauritius, the Black River Gorges National Park. You will not be surprised to hear that the Common Waxbill is also introduced – from West Africa this time.

Mauritius 227

Mauritius Birds 2000 South Africa 227

10,000 Birds

MAY 16, 2022

St Lucia is a small town on the Southeastern coast of South Africa. One of the most interesting aspects of watching birds in Africa is to see different members of bird families that I already know from China. So, if I saw this Brown Scrub-Robin in China, I would probably quite easily mistake it for a Forest Wagtail.

South Africa 202

South Africa Africa Saint Lucia Birds 202

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2019

Visited this month were; Germany , France , Austria, South Africa, Hong Kong, USA, UK, Serbia, Costa Rica, Australia, China, Indonesia , Switzerland and Singapore). The year list has reached 2403 , a boost of 174 and the life list now stands at 3875 after beats’ efforts in Indonesia, South Africa and China added 39 ticks.

2019 116

2019 China Battery Jamaica 116

Critter News

OCTOBER 2, 2009

Officials say the sales have fuelled demand for ivory in Asian countries, especially China, contributing to a sharp increase in elephant poaching. Some wildlife experts have attributed the increase in elephant poaching to the presence of Chinese workers in Africa. Elephants are being screwed by Asian demand for ivory. It's a mess.

illegal 100

illegal Kenya Laos Elephants 100

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. In other bird science news, we should be concerned about waterfowl in China. ” they seemed to be saying.

South Africa 184

South Africa Fowl Africa China 184

10,000 Birds

MARCH 25, 2011

The Black Stork ( Ciconia nigra ) has a very wide distribution in the Old World, ranging from Spain (an isolated population) and northern France through central and eastern Europe all across northern and central Asia to the Pacific coast of Russia and China.

Germany 151

Germany Asia China Russia 151

10,000 Birds

MARCH 30, 2014

Some of the migratory shorebirds will make a stopover in the Mai Po Nature Reserve and the Deep Bay area of Hong Kong, China. Another useful website in China is here. The routes that the Cuckoos have taken each year have varied due to changing environmental conditions in Africa.

Belarus 162

Belarus Cameroon Taiwan China 162

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. Carmine bee-eaters occur throughout most of Subsaharan Africa, and many populations migrate widely post breeding.

Africa 264

Africa Gabon South Africa Uganda 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2023

Cattle Egrets are thoroughly modern birds – they were among the first species to ditch mailed letters for faxes, then switched to email early, and now (at least in China) mostly communicate by WeChat. So, I can always show some photos of the species, even if I have nothing new to say about them. It sometimes looks a bit risky though.

Birds 130

Birds Eggs Breeders Breeding 130

Critter News

AUGUST 29, 2009

China of course! Tags: organized crime africa zim poaching rhino elephants. This is big, scary business out there, not some struggling poor people trying to survive. Like in arms dealing and drug smuggling, we are talking dangerous and powerful criminals. And where is the demand coming from? He's got a lot more guts than I have.

Rhinos 100

Rhinos Elephants Butcher Slaughter 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 11, 2021

learning to swim” A baby bird ( Robin Accentor , Dulan, China). Several baby birds ( Little Egret , Shanghai, China). Black-necked Crane , Qinghai Lake, China. White-naped Crane , Nanhui, China. An Oriental Turtle Dove (Wolongshan, China). Lucia, South Africa). Best line: “I’m like a T.V.

South Africa 228

South Africa China Germany Birds 228

4 The Love Of Animals

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

We’ll see ambitious programs to save diverse species from the outback of Australia, the savannahs of East Africa, the Brazilian Amazon and some of the most successful zoo breeding programs in the world. Each animal they raise to adulthood is a step away from extinction, with the ultimate challenge to return them to the wild.

Pandas 100

Pandas Leopards Gorillas Zoos 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 25, 2021

Or the Asian Barred Owlet (Hangzhou, China) – though I am happy this allows me to include some owl photos into this post. When birdwatching together, my friend Steve once pointed out that we saw the only two bird species starting with the word Amur on the same day (at Tianmushan, China, by the way). What a sad lot we are.

South Africa 322

South Africa China Nevada Africa 322

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

I do not get too many comments on my blog posts, but it seems that whenever I write about jacanas – whether in Africa, Australia, or Asia – there is an unusually high number of reactions (well, maybe one or two rather than the usual zero) from female readers. This is ok as birds do not have teeth anyway).

Birds 162

Birds South Korea Japan Abandon 162

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2014

The prinias are a group of around 25 Old World warbler species found in Africa and Asia. It inhabits rather dry areas within a region notorious for being one of the rainiest parts of the world, and is thus patchily distributed from Burma through Laos, Cambodia, parts of Thailand and south China, all the way to Vietnam.

Burma 161

Burma Laos Birds Indonesia 161

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2014

I asked if the butterfly stood a chance of returning to the shore, to find out that it is a long range migrant, braving the winds of the North Atlantic while traveling all the way from Africa to Iceland! After a light seafood lunch and some local brew, we went to the hills surrounding the Finikas.

Greece 235

Greece Malta Croatia Birds 235

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 10, 2022

Notes on bird species and locations shown: Amur Paradise Flycatcher (Nanhui, China). Bar-tailed Godwit (Tiaozini, China). Barn Swallow (Nanhui, China). Daurian Redstart (Nanhui, China). Eastern Buzzard (Nanhui, China). Curlew (Tiaozini, China). Eurasian Oystercatcher (Tiaozini, China). Eurasian (?)

China 217

China India South Africa Homelessness 217

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2014

With a trip to South Africa on the horizon at the time, I thought I could handle it. Karen studied graphic design in London and has illustrated a number of books on Asian birds, plants, and wildlife, including the mammoth A Field Guide to the Birds of China (co-authored with John MacKinnon, Oxford Univ. Now, I’m not so sure.

Brunei 175

Brunei Birds Asia China 175

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 18, 2021

In Africa, Larsonidae are represented by the African Penguin. Finally, in my current home continent of Asia, specifically in China’s Yunnan province, broadbills are another example of the adaptability of Larsonidae to different habitats. This applies to both Long-tailed Broadbills … … And Silver-breasted Broadbills.

Birds 233

Birds China Penguins Asia 233

10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2022

The falcon breeds in south-eastern Siberia and Northern China but winters in Southern and East Africa. And those we see constantly stop passers-by to ask for the way to either Siberia or South Africa, depending on the season.

Falcons 244

Falcons Japan China South Africa 244

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 12, 2024

A paper on the Chestnut-vented Nuthatch titled “Nest-Site Features and Breeding Ecology of Chestnut-Vented Nuthatch Sitta nagaensis in Southwestern China” has 8 authors. While the HBW describes their presence in China as “very local”, they seem to be very common at Tongbiguan. ” Oh my, are we important.

Birds 177

Birds China Woodpeckers Breeding 177

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 4, 2020

December’s numbers looked like this; 10 beats visited 11 countries (Bahrain, New Zealand, USA, UK, Costa Rica, China, Mexico, Australia Nigeria, Uganda and Serbia) during December. They came home exhausted. They contributed 150 lists accounting for 1032 species and more than 36,000 individual birds.

2019 169

2019 Chile Texas Sanctuary 169

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2023

It was a busy one, with birding trips not only to Europe, but also Central America, East, West and Southern Africa, South-East Asia and Australia. Though trips to Borneo, Argentina and Sri Lanka gave plenty of new ticks, I most enjoyed birding in Africa. In the early 80s I led a trip to South Africa when we saw more than 400 species.

Sri Lanka 235

Sri Lanka Kenya San Francisco Greece 235

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2019

The Management are still in Africa, suffering the buffering that comes with remoteness. They ranged across 10 countries (Costa Rica, USA, UK, India, Australia, China, Brazil, Mexico, Serbia and Uganda). Their Ugandan contribution reached 258 before contact was lost. Ticks for November numbered 973 from 120 lists shared by 11 beats.

2019 139

2019 Farming Sparrows Charlotte 139

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2020

China 1410 9. Kenya (Masai Mara, Lakes Nakuru and Baringo, Arabuko-Sokoke Forest) and northern Tanzania (Ngorongoro, Serengeti) combined are the birding staple of East Africa. Colombia 1959 bird species 2. Brazil 1847 sp. 3. Peru 1838 4. Indonesia 1761 5. Ecuador 1690 6. Bolivia 1433 7. Venezuela 1417 8.

Uganda 250

Uganda Bolivia Ecuador Indonesia 250

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2022

A study found that for Plain Prinia , egg characteristics in a mainland China location with many cuckoos make it much easier to spot cuckoo eggs than in a Taiwan location with few cuckoos ( source ). Thus, the disparaging term “Hottentot” became a standard identifier of the inhabitants of southwest Africa” ( source ).

Birds 209

Birds Eggs Bangladesh China 209