10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 13, 2021

Think of African safaris and many people will naturally envisage herds of elephants and antelope, alongside some of the largest predators in the world. All very exciting, but for the birder Africa has so much more to offer. In 2019 I joint-led my seventeenth safari in twelve years with Capture Africa, we are a good team.

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Botswana Africa Elephants Angola 181

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 11, 2012

I’m sure you’ve all heard of Africa’s famous Big Five , but do you know there is also an equally fascinating Little Five ? Africa is famous for its large, charismatic mammals, and the Big Five epitomize the most sought-after of these fantastic beasts. This blog post will discuss both the Big and Little members of these quintuplets.

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Buffalo Rhinoceros Elephants Leopards 209

Critter News

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

African elephants being poached in unprecedented numbers. They are disappearing from the continent as the poachers become increasingly militarized. Full story here at the New York Times.

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Africa New York Times Elephants New York 100

Critter News

JUNE 21, 2009

There has been a lot of violence between the elephants and subsistence farmers (unfortunately, I think the violence is pretty one-sided.) Tags: malawi africa animal rescue elephants endangered species. They are being moved to a wildlife sanctuary. From Wildlife Extra News.

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Malawi Elephants International Fund For Animal Welfare Rescue 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2014

Later the continents broke up into smaller regions such as South America, Africa, Asia and such, an a few smaller pieces like Madagascar and New Zealand as well. To be more specific, the Kiwi descends from a bird that FLEW there from Africa or Madagascar and then became the kiwi. Birds Elephant Bird evolution kiwi ratites Vicariance'

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Madagascar Ostriches Elephants New Zealand 207

Critter News

AUGUST 16, 2008

I don't know how to call this one.will it help or hurt the elephant population in the long run? The UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting in Geneva voted in favour of China becoming a licensed importer. Tags: ivory africa CITES poaching china elephants.

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Elephants China Zimbabwe Namibia 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2019

Murchison Falls NP earns all sorts of superlative accolades: most powerful waterfall in the world, top 5 game park in Africa, and some of the most gorgeous sunrises and sunsets you’ve ever seen. The 5,000 sq km of exquisite savanna and bush may hew more closely to your ideal vision of Africa than any other spot on the continent.

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Uganda Senegal Africa Game 195

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 19, 2023

Photos courtesy of Mosetlha Bush Camp A dusty-red road leads me through Marico bushveld deeper into the 750 square kilometers large wilderness of the Madikwe Game Reserve – the 4th largest reserve in South Africa, home to 350 bird and 66 mammal species, some 4 hours’ drive from Johannesburg. And on the road, an elephant rules it.

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South Africa Africa Game Elephants 226

10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2015

I’m a big fan of the antelopes, a group that is most commonly associated with Africa but which also occurs in Asia and, if you stretch the term to be cladistically meaningful, Europe and North America. With an elephant for scale. The delicate markings if two male Nyala. A female Nyala in Imfolozi.

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Africa Hunters Goats Wolves 170

Critter News

AUGUST 29, 2009

From the African Conservation Foundation.the story was actually published earlier in August, but still worth posting A shocking undercover journey reveals that a poaching cartel known as ‘The Crocodile Gang’, led by Zimbabwe’s Emmerson Mnangagwa, is slaughtering rhinos and elephants to fulfill ‘requests’ for horn and ivory.

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Rhinos Elephants Butcher Slaughter 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2015

I get that you’re really angry, I mean, he was a popular lion and yes, his cute widdle cubs will probably die to, but I can’t help feeling you’ve kind of missed the point a bit, and well, ending all hunting in Africa will not solve much and maybe make things worse and… No, no, I’m not a hunter. I’m sorry.

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Lions Hunting Sierra Leone Buffalo 214

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2014

Other species have certainly expanded their ranges, but never in such a rapid and global scale. The Cattle Egret is native to Africa, where it is a familiar sight among herds of large mammals. For reasons that are not quite clear, this species underwent a massive range expansion. This species is primarily an insectivore.

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Cattle South Korea Suriname Seychelles 170

Critter News

AUGUST 23, 2009

I've been reading a lot about threatened elephants and primate populations in Africa and wondered about lions. Tags: africa Kenya lion endangered species. One rarely hears about how they are doing. But, unfortunately, they are in trouble too. This article talks about the specific situation in Kenya.

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Kenya Lions Endangered Species 2002 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2012

Even in the tropics there are few birds that excel some of our own in elegance and beauty of plumage and we have an unusually large number of species considering the smallness of the area they inhabit. ” (Woodward brothers, “Natal Birds”, 1899) The mighty Drakensberg Mountains run along the western boundary of KwaZulu-Natal province.

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Mozambique South Africa Africa Collecting 191

Critter News

FEBRUARY 24, 2009

Cameroon, with one of Africa’s highest rates of deforestation, has set up a new national park to protect gorillas, chimpanzees, elephants and a rare type of antelope called bongo. Tags: conservation africa park gorillas endangered species cameroon.

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Cameroon Gorillas Apes Endangered Species 100

Critter News

MARCH 13, 2010

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or Cites that opened in the Qatari capital on Saturday will be discussing 42 proposals during the next two weeks. Oh look, more meetings. From Al Jazeera.

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Marine Life Agenda Polar Bears Monaco 100

Animal Person

MARCH 27, 2009

Henican writes: The truth of the matter, of course, is that most city kids will never have the chance to visit the wilds of Africa and Asia, assuming there are any wilds left in the decades to come. The only way most of us will ever see an elephant (or a tiger or a hippo) is on the National Geographic Channel, at a circus or in a zoo.

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Circus Animals New York City Elephants Zoos 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 8, 2015

But if they obeyed the rules, which may be too strict – in the Kruger Park in South Africa, the limit is 50 km/h (31 mi/h) – they would not manage to show tourists much of the reserve in about three hours in the morning and the afternoon, which would reflect on their tip.

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Tigers Boars India Chickens 252

Critter News

AUGUST 18, 2008

Tania Siyam originally operated art import and export businesses in Montreal, Canada, and Cameroon that were fronts for smuggling products from endangered and protected wildlife species, including raw elephant ivory. Tags: ivory canada us fish and wildlife africa smuggling us.

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Cameroon Cleveland Canada Ohio 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2015

The river cruises up the Chobe River are most famous for the dry season aggregations of African Bush Elephants drawn to the year-round water. But even without huge herds of elephants large game is defiantly the major draw for most people on the cruise. In particular, there are lots of waterbirds.

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Botswana Birds Lesotho Elephants 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. We have both resident and migratory species, and this post will briefly discuss each of the 20 species of African bee-eaters.

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Africa South Africa Gabon Uganda 265

4 The Love Of Animals

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

Nat Geo WILD takes viewers around the world to follow dedicated people working to save Nature’s Miracle Babies – often the last hope for critically vulnerable species. The giant panda is one of the world’s most iconic species, but its population numbers are critically low. And Kenya boasts a unique orphanage … for elephants!

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Pandas Leopards Gorillas Zoos 100

Critter News

DECEMBER 23, 2008

In some cases, notably in Africa, biodiversity is threatened by military conflict, or by well-armed gangs of poachers. In some parts of Africa, rangers receive military training and equipment to defend animals (and themselves) from poachers in pursuit of elephants, rhinos, gorillas, and other endangered species.

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Central African Republic Protection Sea Turtles Rhinos 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 11, 2013

A dusty-red road leads me through Marico bushveld deeper into the 750 square kilometers large wilderness of the Madikwe Game Reserve – the 4th largest reserve in South Africa, home to 350 bird and 66 mammal species, some 4 hours’ drive from Johannesburg. Two young bull elephants slowly walk along the road in front of us.

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Africa South Africa Elephants Rhinos 196

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

Pafuri lies in the northernmost part of the Kruger National Park and is described as “some of the most potentially productive birding territory in South Africa” on the SANParks website. A slightly more surprising threat for the vultures comes from elephants. Elephants destroy the trees the vultures live and nest in.

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Elephants Birds Congo Africa 147

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

And besides, it’s nice to see something that isn’t the same 12 (now 13) species of seabird (plus Molly Meep Meep, a Black Brant ) There may not be as many as in October, but they are there, and they can be cool. It was astonishing, like a game drive in the savannah of Africa. Mostly Humpback Whales , but also Blue Whales.

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Whales Whaling Sharks Bats 157

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2011

Nowhere else in Africa do the preconceived ideas of the continent really exist in such living detail; tall, red-robed Maasai herding their skinny cattle, endless grasslands studded with flat-topped Acacia trees and grazed by herds of zebras and wildebeest, and dramatic volcanic calderas brimming with big game and fierce predators!

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Tanzania Africa Stud Leopards 223

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2015

Ethiopia, a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa, has firmly established itself as one of Africa’s top birding destinations. Its great diversity of habitats hosts an incredible bird count of over 900 species, including Africa’s 2nd highest list of endemics and near-endemics (after South Africa).

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Ethiopia Sudan Leopards Birds 246

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2020

Knowing that there are reserves with long lists of 600 or more species, I set my threshold at more than 600 birds… and found only a few such hotspots. In early November 2020, there were 15 countries with more than 1000 species eBirded so far. Other than that, there are barely a few hotspots with over 500 species.

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Asia Malaysia Papua New Guinea Thailand 275

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2022

There are quite a few raptor species around Skukuza. Most likely, the devil, not god created this species. While some bustards are the largest bird species capable of flight, the Black-bellied Bustard is only mid-sized. There is also a much older blog post on 10,000 Birds (by Adam Riley) specifically on Africa’s Barbets.

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Birds Africa Eagles Barn Owls 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 25, 2015

I have to admit, I didn’t think it could when I left for Africa last year. I had a copy of Sasol’s eBirds of Southern Africa on my iPhone (and iPad), but I had bought it to brush up on my African birds in my spare time, like on bus trips or particularly long meetings. There had also been a number of splits.

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Africa South Africa Zimbabwe Penguins 153

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2022

The one bird I did not see here, however, was the Bateleur Eagle … One highlight in the area is the Saddle-billed Stork , likely to be the tallest species in the stork family. The African Spoonbill is one of the six global spoonbill species, and the main African one (there are also some Eurasian Spoonbills in Africa).

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Ostriches Parrots Birds Eggs 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Frigatebirds (Fregatidae) Five species of frigatebird ply the planet’s tropical skies and seas. Ringer Cormorants and Shags (Phalacrocoracidae) Cormorants are more speciose than other families in the order; 30-40 species range widely on every continent and many islands. Make up your mind, Ringer!

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2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 154

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2016

I’ll never forget my introduction to the mammals of Kruger National Park, South Africa. We –participants of the ABA South Africa Safari—were on a small plane when one Lori Conrad looked out the window and screamed, “There are elephants down there!” Species that belong to the famous “Big Five” get special badges.

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Rhinos Mammals Animal White Rhinos 244

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2022

It may indicate, however, that the form of government in Eswatini – it is Africa’s last remaining absolute monarchy – is not ideal. The HBW allows itself a rare moment of dry humor when discussing the sounds of the species: “Most vocalizations of this species are harsh and unmusical.

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Swaziland Landlord Birds Sweden 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2012

What this land-locked country lacks in endemic birds it more than makes up for in accessibility of tough species, numbers of birds and the overall wildlife experience. It is also home to the largest concentration of African Elephants on the planet and over 450 bird species. We are currently filming in Botswana.

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Botswana Zebras Lions Elephants 211

10,000 Birds

MARCH 16, 2016

Madikwe , in South Africa, wasn’t a site of importance before it came into existence. And so South Africa’s fifth largest park came to be (it’s worth remembering that its largest park, Kruger, is the size of Israel) on marginal land that no one in particular could do much with. There are very few trees left.

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South Africa Leopards Giraffes Africa 155