10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 21, 2019

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.”. At the time I was the Secretary of the Botswana Bird Club, and Claire was one of recipients of the club’s ornithological journal The Babbler.

Angola 184

Angola United Kingdom Mozambique Botswana 184

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2013

Its mostly found on the ground in thickets or the edges of dense vegetation and usually in small family parties. Another southern African endemic, this species ranges widely across the dry grasslands of central South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. Once their soft trilling call is learnt, they are easily detected.

Africa 209

Africa Somalia Pelicans Mozambique 209

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 11, 2012

Prime destinations for seeing African Elephant in the wild include Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Uganda. Lions are most easily found in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

Buffalo 201

Buffalo Rhinoceros Elephants Leopards 201

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? Reasonable people can disagree on the conservation impacts on hunting, on the benefits and costs, and on the morality and wisdom of using it as a conservation tool.

Lions 207

Lions Hunting Sierra Leone Buffalo 207

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2012

The famous Verreaux family who made several expeditions into the province through the 1820’s and 1830’s procuring specimens for rich collectors. Gurney’s Sugarbird was discovered by the Verreaux family and named after wealthy English banker and amateur naturalist John Gurney from Norwich. Image by Hugh Chittenden.

Mozambique 187

Mozambique South Africa Africa Collecting 187

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. This colossal bird is now placed in its own family Balaenicipitidae and it forms an ancient link between storks and pelicans.

Africa 239

Africa Tanzania South Africa Uganda 239

4 The Love Of Animals

APRIL 16, 2009

Disneynature’s first film, Earth , which comes out on Earth Day (April 22,2009), follows three animal families across the globe. Linfield: Probably my favorite location was the Okavango Delta in Botswana for two reasons really. It’s a beautiful film by the same directors that brought us the Planet Earth series.

Polar Bears 100

Polar Bears Bears Walruses Norway 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 12, 2017

Family accounts for all 142 bird families recorded from the region. Since I used to live in and know Botswana, let’s see what the guide says on that country in one and a half pages. The family accounts is the only illustrated chapter and that sudden outburst of photos looks a bit strange compared to the rest of the book.

Africa 169

Africa Botswana Nigeria Namibia 169

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? Can you see them?

Owls 221

Owls Gambia Somalia Sudan 221

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2021

As Watson has put it in the Chapter 1, “while the focus of this book is on families of African birds, there are a few individual species that have somehow come to epitomise Africa, even though they have relatives elsewhere, and commentaries on these appear too. He has authored several other books and many articles, largely on natural history.

Congo 264

Congo Africa South Africa Madagascar 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2021

When I moved to Botswana, to learn my birds I got myself the thickest local field guide. of January 2019, which resulted in 10,711 species, 40 orders, 246 families and 2,313 genera. Have you ever used illustrated checklists in the field, as opposed to full scale field guides? The author’s decision was the IOC list, version 8.2

Birds 245

Birds Botswana Africa Ecuador 245

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

One study found that birds living in Botswana had elevated levels of lead in their bloodstreams during hunting season, presumably coming from lead bullets used on animals killed by hunters. ” (HBW). Other – sadly rather common – reasons are habitat loss due to agricultural expansion and the use of some veterinary drugs.

Elephants 147

Elephants Birds Congo Africa 147

10,000 Birds

MAY 27, 2015

It all comes back to a split in one of the great bird families, the Turdidae, or thrushes. Once upon a time, when I started birding, this great family included a wide range of species collectively known as the robins and chats. The family reunited in safety. Collared Palm-thrush with no collar visible. They remain little know.

Mozambique 164

Mozambique Zambia Zimbabwe Namibia 164

10,000 Birds

APRIL 9, 2013

These large seedeaters (belonging to the weaver family) are so named for the generally black plumage of the adult male, resembling a widow in mourning. The 9 species of whydah are brood-parasitic seedeaters belonging to the Indigobird family. A family of Red-faced Mousebirds take a drink in Namibia. Widowbirds. Sugarbirds.

Papua New Guinea 238

Papua New Guinea South Africa Africa Zimbabwe 238

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2011

Their taxonomic affinities have caused great confusion and debate amongst ornithologists; they were originally assigned to the thrush family, then Old World warblers before being shifted to babblers (the last mentioned a common dumping-ground for any aberrant passerines).

South Africa 222

South Africa Lesotho Africa Swaziland 222

10,000 Birds

MARCH 16, 2016

My books weren’t helping much so I had resorted to looking for large green areas on Google Maps on the border of South Africa and Botswana, and I happened on Madikwe. A Shaft-tailed Whydah, a member of a small African family of cuckoo-finches. I had a look at the website and it looked interesting. But they are very cute!

South Africa 147

South Africa Leopards Giraffes Africa 147

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 4, 2017

In particular they evoke the New Hampshire lake my extended family descends upon each summer and has done so from before I was born. Botswana: I Still Have No Idea Award. Common Loons , or Great Northern Divers, are one of those iconic birds that I remember vividly from days before being a birder. I still have no idea.

United Arab Emirates 100

United Arab Emirates Ethiopia 2016 New Zealand 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2011

Families that are endemic to the continent include such strange birds as Shoebill , Secretarybird , Hamerkop , mousebirds and rockfowl ( picathartes ) and delightful groups including bushshrikes, sugarbirds, rockjumpers, woodhoopoes, turacos and hyliotas. What are the must do destinations and what must one see?

Papua New Guinea 219

Papua New Guinea Madagascar Africa Equatorial Guinea 219