10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2015

And where all those birds are? This map shows the distribution of the World’s bird species, based on overlying the breeding and wintering ranges of all known species. And it raises a question: if all the birds are having a party over there, am I in the wrong spot? I am talking 600 or 700+ bird species. Why am I here?

Sri Lanka 257

Sri Lanka Botswana Africa Serbia 257

10,000 Birds

JUNE 5, 2012

Birding’s Holy Grails. One of the most highly desirable birds in the world, the Pel’s Fishing Owl is a true phantom. The Okavango Delta of Botswana, however, provides one of the very best opportunities to catch a glimpse. Typically these birds hunt at night and are very shy.

Owls 260

Owls Fish Botswana Barn Owls 260

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 24, 2021

You may have read my recent piece on Birding the Okavango Delta in Botswana here on 10,000 Birds. If you have never thought of India as a birding destination, I’d urge you to give it a good look. Fly into Delhi and within an hour you can be birding the lovely Sultanpur wetland reserve.

India 216

India Wildlife Tigers Eagles 216

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 21, 2014

You probably have to go to a resturant in Botswana or South Africa to find Tigerfish on the menu. So, the other day I was looking at my Twitter feed and noted a story about African Tigerfish eating birds. The Tigerfish eating bird thing does not have the hallmarks of a fantastic thing. One is on the plate, as dinner.

South Africa 229

South Africa Botswana Africa Fish 229

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2012

So any birds that don’t belong to these genera can be considered either ducks or swans or something else. For these birds, the smallest of all waterfowl, belong to the “perching duck” group. These birds are far-removed from geese in the true sense of the word. But they are not just any ducks.

Geese 193

Geese Ducks Botswana South Africa 193

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2012

Obviously, that means a lot of things in a lot of contexts, but here, of course, I’m talking about birding. Exotic locales make for exotic birding and even the most mundane territory can astound the first time visitor. Where will you be this weekend and will you be birding? How does summer look for you? How about you?

Botswana 163

Botswana 2012 Birds Fish 163

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 21, 2014

I am not dissatisfied with guides who do not manage to find the target bird, if they do try with all their heart. I will equally recommend a guide who finds the target bird and the one who does everything within birding ethics to find it and fails. What makes a good bird guide?

Birds 233

Birds Botswana Free Range Leopards 233

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2012

Instead, I’m resigned to marking the arrivals of some of the first birds of spring around here. What will you be doing this weekend and will you be birding? Also be sure to come back Monday to share your best bird of the weekend ! Boy, Botswana is beautiful! Share your plans in the comments below.

Botswana 166

Botswana 2012 United States Birds 166

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2016

Africa), Hwange (Zimbabwe) and, recently, in Chobe national park in Botswana (the one that was considered so safe that the Clintons have visited it as a presidential couple)! Steven had no binoculars, but impressively sharp eyes and great knowledge of birds. Mopane trees can grow up to 18 m / 60 ft and interlock their canopies.

Elephants 206

Elephants Botswana Zimbabwe Africa 206

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

The reserve, in the eastern corner of Botswana near Zimbabwe and South Africa, isn’t open to the public in general, so I figured I’d share a few images here by way of showing off. As well as birds, the reserve holds endangered species like African Wild Dogs. I mean education. Brown-hooded Kingfishers hunt far from water.

Zimbabwe 101

Zimbabwe Botswana South Africa Endangered Species 101

10,000 Birds

APRIL 8, 2015

I say weird because this isn’t a bird that I had ever given a large amount of thought to before. For a long time it was treated as a subspecies of the ubiquitous Black Kite, a species of scavenging bird of prey much hated by my grandfather (they used to steal food from troops during the war, if memory serves).

South Africa 160

South Africa Africa Botswana Wolves 160

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2013

At the time, I was an active volunteer in an organisation soon to become the BirdLife Botswana and have noticed that Brown, Forbes and Symes quoted only two out of five Botswana observations accepted by the Rarities Committee, so I wrote to the Vulture News editor, suggesting that I write a short note on all five observations.

Sudan 245

Sudan Macedonia Botswana Serbia 245

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 21, 2019

Lots of people would prefer other birds. In one of the first of Dee’s observations about gullers he calls them: “men leaving their homes and their families to spend time peering at arsey birds in some of the arseholes of the world.”. Out of 240 pages of the Landfill, only a minor part is about birding the landfills.

Angola 208

Angola United Kingdom Mozambique Botswana 208

10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2012

We are currently filming in Botswana. 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.

Botswana 227

Botswana Zebras Lions Elephants 227

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

18 years ago I moved to Botswana where that gloriously bright sunshine makes observing them easier, while shorebirds themselves ease things further by mostly sporting their wintering plumage. I didn’t know that any bird can do it, but shorebirds have flexible bills: they can bend the upper mandible to easier manipulate their food!

Botswana 133

Botswana 2017 Groups Europe 133

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2019

This bird is known from only a dozen localities, with only a handful of individuals and a very fragmented habitat, hence the critically endangered status in the Red Book. This many birds at the same site (out of 250 of the reserve checklist) have lightened our spirits, but still – no owlet! What are the threats?

India 199

India Owls Tigers Cows 199

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2014

Since I have started to bird by kayak, it took me a lot of time to realise that paddling is not the synonym for birding and that I can bird without a paddle, although I cannot paddle without a pair of binoculars. Which birds can be seen there? But, more than just quantity, this spot offers some quality birding, too.

Serbia 247

Serbia Stray Dog Protection Botswana 247

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2013

Definitely my personal favorite of Africa’s pink birds is the delicate Pink-throated Twinspot. Pink-backed Pelican by Markus Lilje/Rockjumper Birding Tours. A pair of Pink-breasted Lark by Markus Lilje/Rockjumper Birding Tours. Pink-billed Lark by Andrew Stainthorpe/Rockjumper Birding Tours. Pink-throated Twinspot.

Africa 233

Africa Somalia Pelicans Mozambique 233

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2013

Now nearing 50 and duly lost in a mid-life crisis, Dragan Simic took to birding rather late – only half a lifetime ago, after successfully testing his inadequate skills in other life threatening activities, such as rock climbing and vertical caving. And they hide among leaves twice the size of owlet. Rhesus Macaque © Marina Vukovic-Bhardwaj.

India 260

India Owls Tigers Endangered Species 260

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 11, 2012

As visitors’ and the public’s interests expanded from the Big Five, and an appreciation for lesser mammals, birds and smaller wildlife has became more widespread, the term Little Five was coined. Prime destinations for seeing African Elephant in the wild include Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Uganda.

Buffalo 226

Buffalo Rhinoceros Elephants Leopards 226

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2015

My eyes will be returning to the lonely acacia next to a waterhole, trying to spot a large shadow in the sunset.

Rhinos 176

Rhinos South Africa Rhinoceros White Rhinos 176

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2021

We here at 10,000 Birds dedicated the month of February to highlighting a variety of birding tourism companies, destinations, and guides. After all, there are a lot more birding tourism operators who we haven’t posted about yet! Birding Experiences. Bird Uganda Safaris. Birding Expeditions. Costa Rica.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Uganda Greece Ghana 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2021

Collins Birds of the World is “ a must for the travelling birder ,” as the BBC Wildlife Magazine reviewer has put it. When I moved to Botswana, to learn my birds I got myself the thickest local field guide. The book covers all the world’s birds. Collins Birds of the World by Norman Arlott et al.

Birds 262

Birds Botswana Africa Ecuador 262

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2015

White-faced Whistling Duck ( Dendrocygna viduata ); Kasane, Botswana, 1 January. Knob-billed Duck, or Comb Duck ( Sarkidiornis melanotos ); Chobe NP, Botswana, 2 January. Egyptian Goose ( Alopochen aegyptiaca ); Chobe NP, Botswana, 1 January. Egyptian Goose ( Alopochen aegyptiaca ); Chobe NP, Botswana, 1 January.

2015 194

2015 South Africa Botswana Singapore 194

10,000 Birds

JULY 9, 2013

This 15,000 sq mi Kalahari desert reserve straddles the South African and Botswana border regions and was created when two national parks were merged – these being South Africa’s Kalahari Gemsbok National Park and Botswana’s Gemsbok National Park.

Leopards 162

Leopards Cats Namibia Killing 162

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2012

Furthermore we have another very special stork-like bird, the regal Shoebill , previously known as the Whale-headed Stork but now placed in its own family. Further to the east, Asian Openbill displays the same special feature but is mostly a white plumaged bird.

Africa 249

Africa Tanzania South Africa Uganda 249

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2012

“ There is, perhaps, no better place in the world for birds than this country. Despite discovering dozens of bird species, he is however not remembered in any English names of birds. Wahlberg travelled even more extensively and amassed a huge bird collection. Image by Hugh Chittenden. Image by Adam Riley.

Mozambique 206

Mozambique South Africa Africa Collecting 206

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. Jameson’s Firefinch is a beautiful small bird named for what was probably a very bad person, James Sligo Jameson. ” (HBW).

Elephants 147

Elephants Birds Congo Africa 147

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

I started to bird from a kayak. For a while, I birded from the least birdable white water racer, the one with those flares behind the cockpit. And when you spot a bird, you stop paddling and reach for binoculars. Back to spotting a bird. I always take notes of my birds. No birding is complete without a notebook.

Birds 240

Birds Experience Experiments Botswana 240

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2015

If tourists are too dim to tell Sierra Leone from Botswana or Tanzania, do we really want to rely on them to save Africa’s species? I was in Africa earlier this year and the universal message I got was that bookings were down down DOWN because of ebola. Ebola, a disease ravaging the other side of the continent.

Lions 231

Lions Hunting Sierra Leone Buffalo 231

4 The Love Of Animals

APRIL 16, 2009

I also loved the birds of paradise. Linfield: Probably my favorite location was the Okavango Delta in Botswana for two reasons really. We just pulled back, and we pulled back, and we pulled back, and ended with this tiny, tiny dot in the middle of the wide expanse of the Artic Ocean, and it was a very emotional moment for me.

Polar Bears 100

Polar Bears Bears Walruses Norway 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2019

Ecuador or Botswana, respectively). Interestingly, the respondents felt no need to further elaborate why, presuming that everyone knows why they should bird Costa Rica. While Peru was seen as the best country for “birds and ancient sites”, Ecuador was seen as “much safer” and best for its size and easiness of getting around.

Papua New Guinea 214

Papua New Guinea America Costa Rica Sri Lanka 214

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2021

This book is essentially about those birds that breed on the continent south of the Sahara, a topic few birders are familiar with. A few years ago, in the American Birding Association FB group I posted a question: Where would you go if funds weren’t a problem? Some are incredibly rare and hard to find.

Congo 264

Congo Africa South Africa Madagascar 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 12, 2017

Starting in the mid-1990s, there was a “where to watch birds in…” series of five site guides written by Nigel Wheatley and covering South America (1994), Africa (1995), Asia (1996), Europe & Russia (2000) and Central America & the Caribbean (2001). Family accounts for all 142 bird families recorded from the region.

Africa 185

Africa Botswana Nigeria Namibia 185

10,000 Birds

JUNE 19, 2012

There is no raptor quite so removed from the typical confines of what a bird of prey should look and behave like. They are the most terrestrial bird of prey in the world, regularly covering over 20 miles a day in their relentless search for food. So long that they have to crouch to drink or pick up food.

Botswana 242

Botswana Eagles Porcupines Hunting 242

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

There are few families of birds where despite a cosmopolitan distribution I’m always so pleased to see any species of the family. So imagine my delight to seeing a pair of African Scops-owls on the side of the road on a recent trip to Botswana. Who doesn’t love a good owl? owls aren’t rare, but they are seldom easy.

Owls 223

Owls Gambia Somalia Sudan 223

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2012

Its a hard life being a bird but its especially hard if you’re a crane. The Wattled Crane unfortunately finds itself amongst the majority, with an estimated 7,000 birds remaining on the planet. But there is one place in Africa where Wattled Cranes still gather in fair numbers – the Okavango Delta of Botswana.

Botswana 169

Botswana South Africa Africa Ethiopia 169