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I’m off to one of my favourite birding destinations tomorrow - South Africa. I’m only there for a couple of days before coming home, but I’m planning to rent a car as usual and go and have a look at some truly superb sites like Suikerbosrand, Marievale, the Zaagkuildift Road etc etc. I’ll also take [...]

Right. Hands up all those of you fed-up with Mike and Corey’s posts on tens of thousands of wood-warblers migrating through various parks and forests in New York. Anyone? Do I see a hand, any hand…just one would do…how about you sir, over in the corner? No? There must be someone…? I guess not - [...]

We often mention the Ramsar Convention (Ramsar) on 10,000 Birds (most often in the failure of South Korea - a Ramsar signatory - to recognise the Saemangeum wetlands as a Ramsar site, and most recently in our Latest News post about BirdLife’s “Think Pink” campaign to protect Tanzania’s Lake Natron), but I would guess that [...]

African Snipe Gallinago nigripennis
Marievale Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa. 14 October 2005 and 11 January 2006
 
The only gallinago Snipe to breed in Africa, the African Snipe is essentially a sub-Saharan resident, though it may disperse from its breeding grounds.

Very similar to Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago, this species is generally darker coloured and has [...]

African Reed Warbler Acrocephalus baeticatus
Marievale Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa. 11 January 2006
 
The African Reed Warbler is common, summer breeding inter-African migrant to Gauteng. The first birds arrive in August, with the main mass of breeding birds arriving in September. After breeding, numbers drop off gradually with most birds having departed by the last week [...]

Orange-throated (Cape) Longclaw Macronyx capensis
Marievale, Gauteng, South Africa (October).
 
The beautiful Orange-throated (or Cape) Longclaw is a southern African endemic, occurring in Zimbabwe and southern and eastern South Africa. The species is common in coastal and mountain grassland. Usually found in pairs throughout the year, stalking the ground for insects and some seeds. Unobtrusive rather than [...]