article thumbnail

It feels like spring….

10,000 Birds

Striolated Bunting ( Emberiza srtriolata ) This member of the bunting family (that’s bunting, not sparrow. Sparrows are from the family Passeridae. According to the rather odd and quaint rules for collective terms for birds, groups of Striolated Buntings are called a whole bunch.) A whole bunch coming for a drink.

article thumbnail

South Africa’s endemic birds

10,000 Birds

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).