article thumbnail

South Africa’s endemic birds

10,000 Birds

Males of this species are more brightly colored in their non-breeding winter plumage. In 1996, several pipit specimens were collected for DNA analysis and it turned out that there was not one, but two new species to science in this sample! A dancing Blue Crane , South Africa’s national bird.

article thumbnail

Africa’s endangered species

10,000 Birds

More than 150 bird species are known to have become extinct over the past 500 years, and many more are estimated to have been driven to extinction before they became known to science. There has been growth in the breeding population at the colonies in Morocco (now estimated at 106 breeding pairs and approximately 500 birds in total).