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Variable Sunbird Cinnyris venustus
Nairobi, Kenya. April 2005 and June 2008

The Variable Sunbird is a small African species with a notably short, sharply curved bill and beautifully irridescent plumage that occurs in woodlands, forests, and gardens from the Gambia in the west of the continent to the Horn of Africa in the east and down to [...]

Rooiels and Betty’s Bay
30 May 2008
 
Getting up early after such a previously great day’s birding (Birding the Cape: the west coast) is not all that difficult - actually not difficult at all - and when my guide Brian arrived at 07:30 I was raring to go. Unfortunately so was the rain. In fact I’d been [...]

Orange-breasted Sunbird Anthobaphes violacea
Cape Town, South Africa

The beautiful Orange-breasted Sunbird Anthobaphes violacea is endemic to the fynbos of southwestern South Africa, but also occurs in parks and gardens. Often tame and quite approachable (especially in eg Botanic Gardens), the Orange-breasted Sunbird is a common breeder across its limited range, and an altitudinal migrant moving to [...]

Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens, Cape Town
07 September 2006
 
After my exertions of yesterday in the Karoo, I was in two minds whether to go out again - but, what the heck, I’m not likely to be back here again for a while and there were still a couple of very easily seen endemics I hadn’t caught up [...]

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
18 January 2006
 
I’ve not been to Chennai (or Madras as it used to be known) in Tamil Nadu, south-eastern India, for many years. Our trips here are very short with just one free day available, and that coming after a long flight that only gets into Chennai at some horrible time [...]