Bird of the week – Week 23 : Scarlet-chested sunbird
The male Scarlet-chested sunbird is a magnificent bird. Fairly large for a sunbird, with a length of about 15 cm and a weight of up to 16 g, they are a sooty black overall,...
Category: Bird of the week
Bird of the week – Week 22 : Common greenshank
The Common greenshank is not a particularly big bird, with a length of about 36 cm and a weight around 250 gm, yet those birds that we see in Southern Africa are mainly visitors...
Bird of the week – Week 21 : Cape wagtail
The Cape wagtail is a fairly common and familiar bird in the gardens and urban areas of most of southern Namibia and South Africa. It is less common through the rest of its range,...
Bird of the week – Week 20 : African hoopoe
The mainly rufous-coloured African hoopoe with its fluttering flight, somewhat reminiscent of a giant butterfly, presents a distinctive sight in the woodland, savanna, and gardens of Southern Africa. Its far-carrying, rather mellow call of...
Bird of the Week – Week 19 : Lanner falcon
There are a large number of Cape turtle doves at Nossob in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and they visit the waterhole in their droves, literally scrambling over each other for a position at the...
Bird of the week – Week 18 : Secretarybird
We were driving slowly along the road from Polentswa to Nossob in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park when we saw a Secretarybird in the distance. Although we had seen many Secretarybirds over the previous few...
Bird of the week – Week 17 : Speckled pigeon
What is a “squab” when it is not a short, fat person or a type of cushion? And what is the difference between a “dove” and a “pigeon”? Well, a squab is the term...
Bird of the week – Week 16 : Red-headed finch
The Red-headed finch is about size of a Cape sparrow; hence quite a small bird at just 14 cm in length, yet quite large as finches go. The sexes are dimorphic in plumage; the...
Bird of the week – Week 15 : Southern yellow-billed hornbill
The hornbills are a very distinctive and curious group of birds, with their enormous bills, often decorated by a casque. On the ground, they look as though they should have great difficulty in holding...
Bird of the week – Week 14 : Scaly-feathered finch
Don’t you find “Scaly-feathered finch” an odd and rather unflattering name? I prefer “Baardmannetjie”, this small bird’s Afrikaans name that can be translated as “little man with a beard”. Take a look at the...
Bird of the week – Week 13 : Great egret
The Great egret is the largest of the white egrets. At almost a metre in length and with a wingspan of up to 1.3 metres, it is almost as large as the more familiar...
Bird of the week – Week 12 : Verreaux’s eagle
Visit any part of Southern Africa blessed with mountainous terrain or rocky hills and gorges inhabited by dassies (or hyraxes) at a time when the thermals are rising and there is a good chance...
Bird of the week – Week 11 : Lilac-breasted roller
One of the most delightful avian sights to be seen in the central and northern parts of Southern Africa is that of the male Lilac-breasted roller in his courtship flight. He ascends to up...
Bird of the week – Week 10 : White-tailed shrike
The white tailed shrike is one of the most easily recognized shrikes in the Southern African region. Looking a bit like an overgrown batis in its black, white and grey plumage, it gives the...
Bird of the week – Week 9 : Swainson’s spurfowl
Chicken-sized, brownish francolins and spurfowls are quite common in Namibia. Vaguely similar in size and build, closer examination quickly divides them up into several different species. The Swainson’s spurfowl distinguishes itself from its relatives...
Recent Comments