Panama 1004 Just slightly below the 1000 mark were Angola with 998 and Cameroon with 979 (followed by Australia and Nigeria, both with 970), and these contenders may join the club soon. What I truly hate about the pandemic is that it mentally puts me back into the 1990s in the Balkans. MORE

The League of Nations thereafter mandated this huge block of land to South Africa to administer and autonomy was only granted after the protracted Namibian War of Independence that was fought between the South African defense force and Namibian freedom fighters based in Angola, Zambia and other neighboring countries. Only in the far northern border regions with Angola and Zambia, where the mighty Okavango and Zambezi Rivers flow, is the country home to higher population densities. MORE

Angola Swallow – Hirundo angolensis. Despite last month being a record month by every measure we could think of, the cumulative total for the year had barely scraped past 2,400. I approached The Management to seek their opinion. Something needed to be done. MORE

Its restricted range extends from the very northern parts of Angola, eastern People’s Republic of Congo and western DRC with a few records from Central African Republic, but even within this range, it has been recorded only in isolated patches. Weavers are truly magical birds, combining bright plumages with ingenious weaving talents and cheerful, noisy social lives. MORE

White-chested Tinkerbird is one of Africa’s avian mysteries, known only from a single specimen collected in 1964 at Mayau in north-west Zambia, close to the borders of Angola and the DRC. White-headed can be found in huge fig trees in woodlands of east and central Africa with a tiny isolated population in Angola. Barbets are a group of medium sized, chunky, generally colorful, frugivorous, hole-nesting near-passerines, that are popular targets for anyone birding in the tropics. MORE

However during a summer visit to the far northwest of Zambia on the DRC-Angola border, I filmed pipits with young that Richard Liversidge, just before his untimely passing, confirmed were Long-tailed. My home country of South Africa can only be described as a birding paradise! MORE

The African or Angola Pitta is the holy grail of the Southern African birder and definitely the “most-wanted” bird in our region. As 2015 comes to a close and birders the world over start thinking about what 2016 will bring we here at 10,000 Birds would like to take a moment to celebrate our best birds of 2015. Each Beat Writer was given the opportunity to share their Best Bird of the Year for 2015 and, as usual, we had some pretty solid birds. MORE

Rainfall in Angola forms a myriad of waterways which converge to form the Cubango River which flows southwards into Botswana where it becomes the Okavango River, the fourth longest river in southern Africa. MORE

Image by Adam Riley Ludwig’s Bustard This attractive dry country bustard ranges across western South Africa, Namibia and just into southern Angola. Although extinction is a natural phenomenon, experts have determined that the current rate of bird extinction is somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 times the background rate. MORE

Claire (not that Dee mentions that) has waited for the civil war in Angola to end, only to go searching for a lost bird, described in Angola in 1960s and then lost during the war. I have visited my local landfill for the last seven years, usually several times per winter, only to recently stumble upon a book called the Landfill! While I have written several blogs on the topic (e.g., here and here ), Tim Dee devoted an entire book to it and I just had to read it. MORE

An expanse of habitat as vast as Murchison Falls NP in Uganda, as excessively generous in beauty and biodiversity, permits endless ways to experience both its birds and animals. MORE

Two subspecies exist, the nominate breeds across Madagascar, the Comoros Islands and isolated parts of East Africa, whilst a more range restricted second form breeds in a narrow belt along the Cunene River which forms the border between Angola and Namibia. 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. MORE

now the pace quickens: USA; Angola, Cameroon, Nigeria, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia; Nepal, Myanmar, Malaysia, Vietnam. Summer is normally the vacation season, for ordinary tourists at least. Birders follow different patterns of bird migration and their local activities and travel accordingly. But – where? I discovered this cover-photo map somewhere at the BirdLife International’s website. It illustrates the bird richness per country. MORE

Adam has traveled extensively to all 7 continents, leading tours to numerous countries ranging from Colombia to Egypt, Angola to Papua New Guinea and Antarctica to Alaska. Friends, birders, and globe-trotters, lend me your ears. Better yet, offer up your eyeballs because we have a powerhouse post here that deserves, nay demands your full attention. MORE