A young woman in Nigeria (can you say Shell Oil?) There is one horrifying scene where the young woman in Nigeria is cleaning several live fish (at first I thought they were dead, but then they started moving) with detergent, because they are too filthy to eat. Did you ever wonder why people become subjects in a documentary when they know that they're going to look like fools? Or maybe they don't know that, and that's why they participate. MORE

During last month, beat lists have been shared from Mexico, Australia, Nigeria, Costa Rica, Russia, UK, Canada and USA. April was a good month for the list with a couple of our big–hitters weighing in to boost the numbers and The Management engaged in a beat recruitment drive in a cynical attempt to swell the catalogue. As at May 7th, the total stands at 1661 with the main thrust of the migration still to come. MORE

Panama 1004 Just slightly below the 1000 mark were Angola with 998 and Cameroon with 979 (followed by Australia and Nigeria, both with 970), and these contenders may join the club soon. What I truly hate about the pandemic is that it mentally puts me back into the 1990s in the Balkans. MORE

This tiny passerine winters in Africa, places like Tanzania, Nigeria, Somalia. Birds fascinate us for many reasons. Flight, beauty, the glimpse into the world of dinosaurs, to mention but a few of those reasons. The migration stories of many of those birds is another. Who doesn’t marvel at Arctic Terns flying from one polar region to another, twice, every single year. MORE

Redgannet missed an opportunity to contribute when he was completely washed out at Lekki Conservation Centre in Nigeria. Contributions this month have come from; Costa Rica, USA, Australia, Mexico, Serbia, South Africa, UK, Botswana, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Duncan has been in Africa, sweeping all before him like a brush fire. MORE

Now if you get one from the brother in law of the recently deceased Finance Minister of Nigeria, that's probably real. We are once again getting a lot of hits over the saga of Cookie and Coco. They are two dogs that once needed to be adopted. They eventually were (in 2007, I believe. But, the story won't die. You can read about our coverage of it here. People keep forwarding this chain email around. Since our site comes up number two in Google, they find out the story from this website. MORE

December’s numbers looked like this; 10 beats visited 11 countries (Bahrain, New Zealand, USA, UK, Costa Rica, China, Mexico, Australia Nigeria, Uganda and Serbia) during December. They came home exhausted. MORE

Leventis is a businessman from London involved in wildlife conservation in Africa, including the establishment of an avian research institute in Nigeria and an amateur photographer. Starting in the mid-1990s, there was a “where to watch birds in…” series of five site guides written by Nigel Wheatley and covering South America (1994), Africa (1995), Asia (1996), Europe & Russia (2000) and Central America & the Caribbean (2001). MORE

Nyjer (aka Thistle) for goldfinches was introduced from Nigeria–someone had to experiment with that. Something has always puzzled me in my years working in the bird feeding industry: why don’t we offer more fresh fruit to birds in our yards? Oh sure, you can find mixes with dried fruit like banana chips and raissins. Heck you can even find mixes with heavy fruit flavoring…but why don’t we offer fresh fruit scraps to birds on tray feeders instead? MORE

It occurs from south-west Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea (both mainland and on the island of Bioko), Cameroon and Gabon. If you would rather seek the somewhat less-reliable Red-headed Picathartes, Korup National Park is as good a site as any, although I do believe there are some very reliable sites in Nigeria, however navigating that difficult country might prove to be a nightmare not worth attempting. MORE

The birds have dispersed rather widely: Four of the birds have already crossed the Sahara; two are in southern Chad, one is in northern Nigeria and the fourth one is in Burkina Faso. Tiny satellite tracking tags allowed scientists from the British Trust for Ornithology to track five cuckoos on their 5,000 km migration to Africa. MORE

Whatever it was it was killed by hunters in Nigeria, it had the following inscription, I assume on one or both of the rings: “9287963- Reseng Meseuom.hom @ Sweden,” and it made the internet. What do you think the “strange big black bird” that had “two rings on its legs and a phone-like tracking device manufactured in Columbia” was? MORE

now the pace quickens: USA; Angola, Cameroon, Nigeria, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia; Nepal, Myanmar, Malaysia, Vietnam. Summer is normally the vacation season, for ordinary tourists at least. Birders follow different patterns of bird migration and their local activities and travel accordingly. But – where? I discovered this cover-photo map somewhere at the BirdLife International’s website. It illustrates the bird richness per country. MORE

Mountain Gorillas are best observed in Uganda or Rwanda And to avoid – currently, one needs to be very cautious if planning a trip to Ivory Coast, Somalia, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo (the People’s Republic or Congo-Brazzaville is however safe), Burundi, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and a few other unstable nations. Friends, birders, and globe-trotters, lend me your ears. MORE

12 beats visited 12 countries (USA, UK, Costa Rica, Ghana, Nigeria, New Zealand, Serbia, Ireland, Australia, Mexico, China and Argentina), sharing 148 lists along the way and noting 844 species (old and new). eBird have applied their new taxonomy as of July/August 2019. What a boon for listers. Desk-top birders have been anxiously awaiting the new catalogue, hoping for splits to boost numbers rather than lumps to reduce them. MORE