10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2013

This species is a southern African endemic, restricted to, but fortunately not uncommon, in dry woodland and sand forest habitats of northern Zululand, Swaziland, scattered pockets of north-eastern South Africa and southern Mozambique. Great White Pelicans showing the pink flush of breeding plumage. Photo by Adam Riley.

Africa 210

Africa Somalia Pelicans Mozambique 210

10,000 Birds

JULY 9, 2019

Last week, a good friend, Dan Weisz gave me a tip on the location of a family of Burrowing Owls that were extremely easy to access. I can’t begin to tell you how much fun I had sitting and watching the antics of this family of Burrowing Owls. These are the Great Horned Owl fledglings that arrived in our RV Park a few days ago.

Owls 151

Owls Arizona Tucson South Africa 151

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2022

So, it sometimes comes to South Africa to relax and enjoy relative anonymity. While hoopoes are in their own family, DNA studies suggest that the hoopoe diverged from hornbills, and the wood-hoopoes and scimitarbills from the hoopoe. Of course, the second explanation makes a lot more sense.

Zimbabwe 147

Zimbabwe Birds South Africa Benin 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2011

Growing up within an hour of one of the world’s premier shorebird destinations -- West Coast National Park in South Africa -- helped for sure. Filming the plovers of Estero Lagoon Plovers are a significant part of the shorebird family, comprising 66 species worldwide. Firstly, shorebirds present a significant ID challenge.

Florida 190

Florida South Africa 2011 Africa 190

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2012

mi (almost exactly the same size as Indiana), it is one of the smaller provinces of South Africa, but is the second most densely populated with over 10 million inhabitants. The famous Verreaux family who made several expeditions into the province through the 1820’s and 1830’s procuring specimens for rich collectors.

Mozambique 187

Mozambique South Africa Africa Collecting 187

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. By this I mean applying the term antelope to cover all of the family Bovidae, which would include the sheep, goats and ox.

Africa 166

Africa Hunters Goats Sheep 166

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2017

The Species Accounts tell us the birds’ stories, and a lot of information is packed into these paragraphs: appearance; age and gender differences in appearance; how the species differs from similar birds; interesting behavior or nesting notes; whether it is common or uncommon or rare; migratory or resident, breeding or nonbreeding in Kruger N.P.;

Ecuador 172

Ecuador Wildlife Reptiles Birds 172

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2014

With a trip to South Africa on the horizon at the time, I thought I could handle it. Not a great place for a family vacation, though I think Duncan will disagree. Species Accounts are grouped by family, following what appears to be Sibley and Monroe’s 1996 taxonomy. (I Now, I’m not so sure.

Brunei 175

Brunei Birds Asia China 175

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2013

Despite filling very similar garbage disposal related niches, the vultures in North America and the vultures in Eurasia/Africa are really not that closely related. Old World Vultures are nestled within the family Acciptridae along with the hawks and eagles. Cape Vultures in South Africa – Alex Lamoreaux, The Nemesis Bird.

California Condor 181

California Condor Turkey North America Jordan 181

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2011

My home country of South Africa can only be described as a birding paradise! The Cape Rockjumper (here a female) is best sought at Rooiels, on the east coast of South Africa, north of Cape Town. Males of this species are more brightly colored in their non-breeding winter plumage.

South Africa 223

South Africa Lesotho Africa Swaziland 223

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2024

If you see a flock of kestrels in southern Europe, then the chances are that they will be Lessers, for the Common Kestrel never flocks, though occasionally in summer you will see a family hunting together. On their breeding grounds in Spain, Lesser Kestrels are very much city birds, for 95% of the population nests in towns.

Falcons 196

Falcons Spain Europe 2012 196

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2021

I did that with Peacocks & Picathartes – Reflections on Africa’s birdlife (published by Penguin Random House South Africa ). In case you didn’t know, yes, there is an indigenous peacock living in Africa, the Congo Peafowl. So, could sunbirds actually have evolved in Indomalaya and spread west into Africa?”

Congo 264

Congo Africa South Africa Kenya 264

4 The Love Of Animals

MAY 8, 2011

Once gregarious and outgoing, she withdrew from her family and friends, from everyone except her pet cats. Soon people from South Africa to Japan heard about what was happening, and wrote to share their stories, their challenges, and their curiosity about what Henry was learning. Would they help?

San Diego 100

San Diego Kittens Emotional Cats 100

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. Carmine bee-eaters occur throughout most of Subsaharan Africa, and many populations migrate widely post breeding.

Africa 264

Africa Gabon South Africa Uganda 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 9, 2013

Africa’s impressive Long-tailed Widowbird by Adam Riley. 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. A male Long-tailed Widowbird in heavy flapping display flight low over the grassland in South Africa by Adam Riley.

Papua New Guinea 239

Papua New Guinea South Africa Africa Zimbabwe 239

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. Another member of the stork family, the African Openbill , looks like it is could benefit from a good orthodontist. And sadly, it is listed as Endangered.

Ostriches 147

Ostriches Parrots Birds Eggs 147

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 12, 2024

Said Blue-throated Barbet – maybe lacking an altimeter – indeed could be seen very close to its family member at Tongbiguan. A paper on the Chestnut-vented Nuthatch titled “Nest-Site Features and Breeding Ecology of Chestnut-Vented Nuthatch Sitta nagaensis in Southwestern China” has 8 authors.

Birds 175

Birds China Woodpeckers Breeding 175

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2020

The goal of Around the World For Penguins is simple: Describe the 18 species of penguin and their breeding grounds “from the perspective of a traveller.” But, unlike most books focused on a bird family, this one is organized geographically. A scientific analysis of the bird family was written by Lloyd S.

Penguins 278

Penguins Georgia New Zealand Albatross 278

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2023

The species are taxonomically divided into two families: Tytonidae, Barn-Owls, and Strigidae, Owls, encompassed in one order, Strigiformes. The chapters on courtship and breeding and roosting and migration are the longest, which isn’t surprising. They are also hunted. This is a great summer read.

Owls 211

Owls Science Barn Owls Penguins 211

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

By Luca Feuerriegel Family holidays to nature reserves and the abundance of nature books including bird guides at home paved the way for Luca to be a committed birder by the time he was in his early teens. Growing up in Namibia, South Africa, and Sri Lanka provided the perfect setting for this interest.

Sri Lanka 213

Sri Lanka Birds Netherlands Namibia 213

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2013

I was attending the 3rd Global Bird-watching Conference in Gujarat and suddenly surrounded not just be species that were completely new, but entire families of birds. Second, I was in India, which, had you told me even one month prior that I’d be going to India, I would have said you were crazy.

2013 167

2013 Birds Costa Rica India 167

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2012

Each male builds numerous nests, most of which are rejected by the female, who will eventually select a nest she is happy with, allow the proud architect who usually hangs under his masterpiece to mate with her and then begins the breeding process. Photo taken by Adam Riley in South Africa. Photo taken by Adam Riley in Ghana.

Tanzania 221

Tanzania Buffalo Kenya Namibia 221

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2011

I had spent several holidays with my family in the USA in the 1980′s and then worked in Maine during the summer of 1985-beware the poison ivy and the snapping turtles! We have never been to South Africa, but it is a lovely book to look at and dream!

South Africa 158

South Africa United States Austin Alligators 158

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2015

I was in contact with a group of birders for whom I arranged and guided an annual tour to Africa. We already had South Africa, Zambia and Uganda under our belts, but my clients’ request for the next year came right out of the blue: Ghana! During each trip we would discuss a destination for the following year.

Ghana 192

Ghana Hunters Gambia Guinea 192

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2011

Outside of the tropics, nesting would usually take place in the spring (in the southern hemisphere, spring and the height of the breeding season occurs before Christmas); these pictures were taken in March as the weather in Cape Town is beginning to cool. A multi-part trip report from Cape Town can be found at Redgannet, March 2011.

2011 164

2011 Deer Africa Peru 164

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2012

2012 has certainly been a bumper year for me with an estimated year list of around 3,000 species after extensive travels to South Africa, Ethiopia, South Korea, Indonesia, the Russian Far East, United Kingdom, Peru, Guatemala and Panama. Secretive, silent and undetectable outside of its breeding season, found only in the U.S.

2012 148

2012 Birds Guatemala Florida 148

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2015

Penguins are also bellweathers of climate change; dwellers of remote areas you’ve (probably) never heard of; creatures who have developed unique, innovative ways of adapting to the harsh environments where they breed and rear chicks and the water environments in which they feed and swim.

Penguins 198

Penguins New Zealand South Africa Albatross 198