10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 5, 2019

The Species per Square Mile Approach. While Colombia may have almost 2000 bird species, it is a huge country with, still, complicated long-distance travel logistics. On the other hand, small countries with relatively long bird lists offer higher species densities per square mile. And why 1000?

Gambia 237

Gambia Equatorial Guinea Species Rwanda 237

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2018

It divides countries into categories, where the next category has 200 more species. In some cases the data are outdated, e.g. Costa Rica has 900 and not 800 species, but I made no corrections, remaining faithful to the original map data. Shown as a list, it looks like this: Less than 200 bird species: Antarctica; oceanic islands.

Equatorial Guinea 194

Equatorial Guinea Costa Rica Guyana Central African Republic 194

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2015

Nineteen days later we had racked up an amazing list of 436 species, including some of Africa’s least known birds such as Congo Serpent Eagle , Yellow-footed Honeyguide , Tessmann’s Flycatcher , Yellow-bearded Greenbul , Black-collared Lovebird and much besides. We also knew we had discovered Africa’s next hot birding destination.

Ghana 191

Ghana Hunters Guinea Gambia 191

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2018

When you compare the species richness not per country, but per square kilometre, that is when you get a more realistic picture, and then those tiny tropical countries rightfully stand out in the spotlights. No, I am not talking of Brazil or Columbia, they are not just in the tropics but more importantly, they are officially huge.

Rwanda 212

Rwanda Equatorial Guinea El Salvador Costa Rica 212