Birds

As far as African birds are concerned, South and East African birds taken together, account for over 20% of the entire world’s bird species (Southern Africa, almost 1000 species, and Eastern Africa, 1290 – amongst the most varied, numerous, and colourful of anywhere in the world).

Together these two areas contain 90% of all bird species in Africa, from the tiniest ( “Cape”) Penduline-tit at around 10cm long and weighing just 7-8 grams, to the common Ostrich, 2.8 metres tall weighing in at around 140kg.

Thus, both bird-watcher hobbyists and professional ornithologists are spoilt for choice when visiting either of these two areas. However, observing wild birds is one thing while photographing them is another. The latter presents major challenges. Many species are very small, shy, and rarely still for more than a few seconds. They can be well camouflaged in leafy trees or viewed on the move against very bright backgrounds. Perhaps the hardest to get right are BIFs (birds in flight).