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The Geladas of Ethiopia

10,000 Birds

This was the local name meaning “ugly” used for these primates by the people of the Gonder area in northern Ethiopia when the German naturalist Rüppell “discovered” this species for science in the 1830’s. Photographing Geladas in Ethiopia’s Simien Mountains by Dave Semler. Mammals Ethiopia Gelada' Photo by Adam Riley.

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Ethiopia’s Endemics

10,000 Birds

Ethiopia , a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa, has firmly established itself as one of Africa’s top birding destinations. Tours groups that I guided to Ethiopia ten years ago had to endure very basic accommodation, almost no surfaced roads and low levels of service. Addis Ababa is a good a site as any for this bird.

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Tribes and Birds of the Lower Omo Valley by Adam Riley

10,000 Birds

Ethiopia, a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa, has firmly established itself as one of Africa’s top birding destinations. My adventure to the Omo Valley started with a flight from Ethiopia’s bustling capital, Addis Ababa, to Arba Minch, the largest city in southern Ethiopia. Yellow-billed Stork. Mursi woman.

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Sanetti Plateau…The World’s Best Commute?

10,000 Birds

The Sanetti Plateau in Ethiopia is a one of Africa’s greatest birding locations. Last year I had the weird (deeply, deeply weird) honour of working on a TV show in Ethiopia. Wattled Ibis are common in Ethiopia, even in the capital, but are a special endemic too. Everything about the Bale Mountains is big.

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Africa’s Barbets

10,000 Birds

The diminutive Tinkerbirds are Africa’s smallest barbets, depicted here is Red-fronted Tinkerbird photographed at Lalibela, Ethiopia. The Banded Barbet is a medium-sized barbet that is endemic to Ethiopia and Eritrea. This image was also taken at Lalibela, Ethiopia. This image was taken at Lake Langano, Ethiopia.

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10 Countries, 10 Top Birds in 2016

10,000 Birds

I went to Ethiopia. Ethiopia: The You Saw What Award? Ethiopia is home to many endemic specialities to make even the most jaded bird salivate. But it’s a species I’ve tried for years to see in Britain and failed to, so of course I saw one finally at the extreme edge of it’s range in Ethiopia.

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Our Favorite Bird Books (and one pair of Binoculars) of 2022

10,000 Birds

And what I am saying here doesn’t only apply to his Sri Lanka guide, but to all the others as well (these include the first dedicated guidebooks to Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Malawi, Ghana, Mozambique, Rwanda, Suriname).

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Exploring the Uncharted Bird World

10,000 Birds

now the pace quickens: USA; Angola, Cameroon, Nigeria, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia; Nepal, Myanmar, Malaysia, Vietnam. Shown as a list, it looks like this: Less than 200 bird species: Antarctica; oceanic islands. 201-400 sp: Madagascar, north African countries; European countries; Asia Minor, Arabian Peninsula, Mongolia. 801-1000 sp. –

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Where Are You Birding This First Weekend of March 2017?

10,000 Birds

Oh to be on the Sanetti Plateau in Ethiopia ! March, at least in my part of the world, is living up to its billing as a ferocious starter. Perhaps the time has come, though, to retire the bit about lions and lambs. Who outside of certain parts of Africa thinks about lions during this time of year?

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Village Weavers

10,000 Birds

In the meantime, in order to rectify this I present some images of the Village Weaver, a widespread African species that ranges from Senegal to Ethiopia and down to South Africa. This situation may change as more species become established around the world. As their name suggests they are happy enough to live close to human settlements.

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Pink in Africa

10,000 Birds

This attractive (for a lark anyway) species is restricted to the dry savannah Somali-Maasai biome of north-east Africa (northern Tanzania, Kenya, southern Ethiopia and Somalia). Pink-breasted Lark. Its specific preference is arid areas with sandy soils and scattered trees.

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10 proofs that rock climbing is birding in disguise

10,000 Birds

The Diplobirder , birding Ethiopia where legends are born. Some birds are not meant to be found, they remain the reason to come back again, to keep on birding, to keep on… Playback is the murder of the impossible. Cover photo by Ben Crampton, a.k.a.

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White-backed Vultures are Proper Birds

10,000 Birds

The populations remain stable in Ethiopia, Tanzania and southern Africa, but have collapsed in West Africa and have declined in other parts as well. The White-backed Vulture is the most common species of vulture in Africa, although these days they are, like most vultures, globally endangered.

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Uganda’s Hard To Miss Monkeys

10,000 Birds

The Mantled Guereza , ( Colobus guereza ) The Mantled Guereza, also known as the Eastern Black-and-white Colobus or Abyssinian Black-and-white Colobus , is a common forest species found across the rain forests and savannah woodlands of central Africa from Cameroon to Kenya, with a separate population across most of Ethiopia.

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The Storks of Africa

10,000 Birds

Marabous at Lake Awassa fishmarket, Ethiopia by Felicity Riley A male Saddle-billed Stork (note the dark eye and yellow wattles), St Lucia, South Africa by Adam Riley Second largest, and at the other end of the attractiveness scale, is the stunning Saddle-billed Stork.

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Wattled Cranes

10,000 Birds

The birds are thinly distributed in eleven sub-Saharan African countries and an isolated population possibly still remains in the highlands of Ethiopia. They can reach heights of up to 5 ft 7 inches, taller than many adult humans.

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Finicky Finches

10,000 Birds

Nyer is not grown in the United States and is imported from a variety of places including Burma, Singapore, Ethiopia and Myanmar. The food for finches can go by a variety of names: Thistle or Niger or Nyjer (and that’s just once seed, that doesn’t include all the finch specific mixes on the market).

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A Rehabber’s List of Worst Bird Myths

10,000 Birds

Last year scientists in Ethiopia discovered the jawbone of a 2.8 However – if you go out late at night, you’ll see quite a few people; and while some may be up to no good, they’re not necessarily rabid. The same goes for raccoons. Three: Why would anyone , no matter what their species, want to become tangled in human hair?

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Why Don’t I Have Any Finches At My Feeder?

10,000 Birds

Most of it comes from Singapore, Ethiopia and Burma. I told him that the chances were good that the seed was most likely old and finches will not eat it. Nyjer (also known as Niger and Thistle) is not grown in the US, though it is possible. Once the seed is six months old after being picked, the finches are less likely to eat it.

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Introducing the African Birding Beat

10,000 Birds

The last wild population of critically endangered Northern Bald Ibis or Waldrapp is almost entirely restricted to Morocco Once you’ve joined our ranks and are a confirmed Afrophile, the next level of trips to consider would be: Uganda – Africa’s overlap zone; 1,000 bird species in a tiny country and Mountain Gorillas (spending time with these gentle (..)

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Africa’s endangered species

10,000 Birds

Image by Markus Lilje (Rockjumper Birding Tours) Liben Lark Previously called Sidamo Lark and currently only known for certainty from the tall grass prairie of the Liben Plains near Negele in southern Ethiopia, this species has a population estimated at less than 250 individuals occupying just 30-36 sq km.

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Birds of Kruger National Park and Wildlife of Ecuador: Two WILDGuides Reviewed

10,000 Birds

Both men lead trips for tour company Tropical Birding (Barnes is a founder), and they have also co-authored Wildlife of Madagascar (another WildGuide volume, 2016), Birding Ethiopia (with Christian Boix, 2010) and Wild Rwanda (with Christian Boix, 2015).

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Weavers

10,000 Birds

Its sister species, Chestnut-backed, shows a similar range but in the Miombo woodland zone of south-central Africa, and finally Donaldson-Smith’s occurs in the Somali-Maasai arid zone, with a rather restricted range from northern Kenya to southern Ethiopia and Somalia. Image taken in Kenya by Adam Riley.

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The Bee-eaters of Africa

10,000 Birds

The most accessible site is Samburu/Buffalo Springs in Kenya, but the bulk of its range is in remote and dangerous zones of south-eastern Ethiopia and Somalia. Somali Bee-eater occurs uncommonly within its range, perching inconspicuously on the edge of low bushes in arid savannas.

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Peterson Reference Guide to Seawatching: A Review by an Aspiring Seawatcher

10,000 Birds

He is currently a birding tour guide for Tropical Birding, based in Madagascar, and has co-authored a book on Birding Ethiopia. Ken Behrens was ABA/Leica Young Birder of the Year in 1999, and has worked for the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory and spent parts of three years counting birds at Cape May.

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What is a Catbird?

10,000 Birds

source ) As for the final catbird, Abyssinian Catbird Parophasma galinieri , well, it is a babbler that comes from a monotypic genus and is endemic to Ethiopia. Upon the approach of a female the male drops to the ground and displays.

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Ethiopian Bush-crows Keeping It Cool

10,000 Birds

Scientists have wondered why the outstandingly adaptable Ethiopian Bush-crow ( Zavattariornis stresemanni ) refused to expand outside of its postage stamp-sized range. Apparently, these quasi-corvids are too cool for school and like it that way.

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Best Bird of the Year 2012

10,000 Birds

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. Adam Riley chose a bird that is near and dear to Mike Bergin’s heart.

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Bradt travel guide to Sri Lanka by Philip Briggs – review

10,000 Birds

These include the first dedicated guidebooks to Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Malawi, Ghana, Mozambique and Rwanda, among others, all of which are regularly updated for new editions. In recent years he authored the first English-language guidebook to Suriname and an overhauled 600-page guidebook to Sri Lanka, both published by Bradt.

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Combined Beats’ List – September

10,000 Birds

Through Botswana during the first week of September, then into Ethiopia with a late flourish, he has carried the list to 2191 as at September 30t h. Contributions this month have come from; Costa Rica, USA, Australia, Mexico, Serbia, South Africa, UK, Botswana, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Iran.