Attracting Birds – and Supporting Biodiversity
by Derek & Sarah Solomon While birds are everywhere, they will only set up home in an area that is…
Southern Ground Hornbills
This post falls into two sections: The text and graphics of a BirdLife Zimbabwe presentation given by Peter Makhusa entitled "Where…
Raptor Series: Harriers
Harriers are large rather slender raptors (the body about 50cm long with a wingspan of over a metre) with long and…
Raptor Series – Buzzards
This episode gives examples of three raptors that have the standard English name of "Buzzard". The bad news, however, is that…
Raptor Series: Eagles
Most of the birds we will be looking at in this series are members of the family of birds known as acciptridae (from…
Raptors or ‘Birds of prey’ – An Introduction
Raptors are among the biggest and most easily spotted birds in our countryside. They are also perhaps the most dramatic and exciting. The…
Bar-throated Apalis (and bird lungs)
Apalis thoracica (apalis = soft [Greek], thoracica = of the chest [Latin] Call (duet by male and female) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmFWxXq9Ygs This is the only Apalis in the…
Yellow-throated Petronia
(a.k.a. Yellow-throated Sparrow) Petronia superciliaris (Genus: petronia, Latin = to do with rocks, referring to the habitat of the Rock Sparrow Petronia petronia; species: superciliaris, Latin:…
Yellow-mantled Widowbird (& polygany vs. polyandry)
Euplectes macroura (Genus: Euplectes, Greek = woven, referring to the nests; Species: macroura, Latin = large-tailed)Euplecte a dos d'or (French); Viuva-de-manto-amarelo (Portuguese) Call/song: http://www.xeno-canto.org/309964 Zimbabwe seems…
Egyptian Goose (& ducks vs. geese)
Alopochen aegyptiaca (apolochen = Greek: "fox goose" probably because of the bird's colour; aegyptiaca = Latin: "Egyptian") Call: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-lkSJPOrok The Egyptian Goose is not, in fact,…
