10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2011

But there is one kind of tick that I genuinely do enjoy, and as I do more and more birding it becomes harder and harder to get; new families. Getting entirely new families is easy when you start birding. Sometimes you may even lose them, like the aforementioned woodswallows which are probably no longer a family.

Family 164

Family Wombats Uganda Fiji 164

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.

Papua New Guinea 231

Papua New Guinea Madagascar Africa Equatorial Guinea 231

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. Excellent sites for seeing this beauty include Bwindi Impenetrable Gorilla National Park in Uganda and Ghana’s Kakum National Park.

Africa 265

Africa South Africa Gabon Uganda 265

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 11, 2012

Africa is famous for its large, charismatic mammals, and the Big Five epitomize the most sought-after of these fantastic beasts. 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.

Buffalo 213

Buffalo Rhinoceros Elephants Leopards 213

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2014

Hornbills are fantastic birds that have fascinated me since I was able to leaf through the big and lavishly drawn Birds, their Life, their Ways, Their World , that was one of my favorite non-dinosaur (or so I thought at the time) books of my childhood (the other was the twin set mammals of the world by National Geographic).

Singapore 176

Singapore Uganda Malaysia Seals 176

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2015

But I do have rules about whether I can have said to have visited a country, ie does the country “count” which I have inherited from my family, particularly my Dad. But you haven’t come here to read my writing about mammals or reptiles, so, yeah, there are also lots of birds. Red Lechwe.

Botswana 162

Botswana Birds Lesotho Elephants 162

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2015

But a a package, if I had to rate the best places I’ve ever been birding, the only place I can think that comes close is Mweya, in Uganda, or maybe Tikal, in Guatemala. The highlight again happened before we left the camp, a family of Crested Firebacks. There are, certainly, places I’ve enjoyed more.

Lemurs 159

Lemurs Family Rhinoceros Fish 159