Pages

South Africa

The safari

The people

The animals

The birds

Home

Southern Africa, defined as the area south of the Kunene and Zambezi rivers, has a high bird diversity, and some 951 species have been observed in the region. 144 species are endemic to the region. Although most focus was put on animals during the trip, a bird list of more than 100 species can be found on the bottom of this page, even though all of the "small" birds were omitted from the list. I'm not familiar with all the larks, pipits, warblers, weavers, sparrows etc., and did not attempt to classify smaller birds during the trip (at least if they were lacking a distinct plumage). In July it is winter in this part of the world, and many migrating birds were obviously not present in the region when I was there. Ducks, birds of prey like raptors and falcons, a lot of aquatic waders, swallows and many of the smaller birds had migrated to warmer areas further north in Africa at wintertime.

On this page some of the observed birds are shown, in no particular order. And a list covering some of the birds seen in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe can be found at the bottom of this page.

African skimmers above the Zambezi River

African fish eagle

 

Giant kingfisher

White-backed vultures

 

Marabou stork at a buffalo carcass

 

Secretarybird

 

Kori bustard

 

African barred owlet

 

Blacksmith plover

 

Goliath heron (the world largest heron)

 

Lilac-breasted roller

 

Dark-capped bulbul

 

Yellow-bellied greenbul

 

Helmeted guineafowl

 

Red-billed francolin

 

Yellow-billed stork

 

Saddle-billed stork

 

 

Pied kingfisher

 

White-fronted bee-eater

 

African darter

 

African wattled plover

 

Long-crested eagle

 

Ground hornbill

 

Hooded vulture

 

Grey go-away bird (or lourie)