Birds

The Crowned Eagle is found in sub-Saharan Africa, but tends to be restricted to eastern areas in southern Africa. Its diet is overwhelmingly mammalian, but the type of mammal hunted varies from region to region. These can consist of rock hyrax, small ungulates and from time to time even smaller monkeys and other small primates. Their wingspan of 90cm and their unusually large and powerful talons and legs have given it a reputation of being the most powerful eagle in all of Africa: It can readily take animals such as a bushbuck which weigh up to an astonishingly 30kg which it can kill by [...]

Hornbills are distinctive with a long, curved bill which is brightly coloured with yellow and red being the most common colours. They use this unique bill to break open fruits but being omnivorous they also feed on small animals. Like some other birds in Africa, it is monogamous and breeding and nesting takes place in natural cavities such as trees and sometimes cliffs or in very small caves. They are not generally considered threatened in Africa and are found in abundance throughout sub-Saharan Africa, though evidence shows that they used to inhabit some of the Sahara in the past. Their favourite habitats include open [...]

Flamingos are spread throughout world, but the best place to see them is certainly Africa, where it is found on almost every country with a coastline barring Tunisia and Namibia which do not have adequate lakes that Flamingos inhabit and thrive in.  The distinctive orange/pink Flamingo flocks and feed in lakes or still rivers without much current where it eats fish such as shrimp with it's odd shaped beak designed to filter fish and shrimp out of the water. However, probably the most interesting behaviourally trait is their sleeping habits: Flamingos sleep with only one leg standing down, but only 50% of the bird's body is [...]

The endangered grey parrot has distinctive grey feathers and is a fairly small parrot that weighs only 400 grams and has a length of 30cms, and a wingspan of 46-52cm. Their diet could be described as frugivorous as the vast majority of their diet includes fruits, nuts and seeds, but it occasionally eats insects, tree bark and snails too. It is a native of equatorial Africa, living in dense wet forests running from Cote d'Ivoire in the west and through the Congo to Kenya and Uganda in the east. However, these populations are rapidly decreasing as their habitat is suffering from human-caused deforestation. Another [...]

The African Penguin is found exclusively in South Africa and Namibia. It is related to the infamous Galapagos Penguin that is found in the pacific and is thought to be one of the first penguins discovered by humans. The African Penguin is distinctive from it's clean black and white markings and it's sharp peak, as well as black feet and dot-like markings across it's white chest. Generally speaking the males are slightly larger than the females, but both are fairly the same size as each other making them sometimes indistinguishable. They are the only penguin that does not inhabit places with a very cold [...]

The Fischer's Lovebird is one of the most colourful birds in the world which has a green back, chest and wings. The bird's neck is a sunburst yellow to orange which blends into a deeper shade of orange and then into red. It also sometimes has a blue/purple coloured tail. The lovebird is special not only for it's techni-coloured feathers, but for it's habitat too, found exclusively in north-centra Tanzania only, where they inhabit grasslands, savannahs and scrub forests. They tend to prefer areas where there is a lot of agricultural activity as they have a graminivorous diet, which is a diet of wheat, [...]

Ostriches are known the world over for their unique and striking physical appearance and their inability to fly. However, it's inability to fly is overshadowed by the their sheer speed and power: They are by far the largest bird in the world and has extremely powerful legs that allows it to sprint at speeds of up to 60kph. They regularly weigh in at an impressive 140 to 320lb and stand up to 9 ft tall. Males are coloured black white white wings and tail feathers while the females are a brownish to grey colour. The Ostrich is an adaptable grazer that lives off grasses, [...]

The Wattled Crane has an impressive wingspan of 8 feet and a height of around 5 ft, with a white long neck, black undersides and a bare red face with a black 'hat'. This Omnivorous bird inhabits open wetlands, moist grasslands and floodplains because its main diet consists of aquatic vegetation but it also includes to a lesser extend tubers, seeds, reptiles, frogs and insects. They tend to have a specific courtship dance routine that involves lots of tossing of the head, jumping in the air. But when they find a suitable partner they will then mate and stay with each other their whole [...]

The eagle-owl is an impressively powerful and yet graceful bird of prey, and it is the largest owl in Africa with a length measuring up to 66cm. It is grey in colour and has distinctive pink eyelids. It is found virtually everywhere in sub-Saharan Africa and favours habitats that are dry and include wooded savanna. They are opportunistic hunters with very powerful talons: So powerful that there are reports of domestic cats in certain parts of Africa that the eagle-owl will attempt to hunt! Other reports claim that they are even capable of swooping down and successfully grabbing small goats! Other than this, they [...]

Vultures can be found all across Africa, though in declining numbers that have made them an endangered species. However, they are found in literately every kind of habitat available in Africa. These include wooded areas, arid and semi-arid deserts as well as mountainous areas. They are found in every single African country on the continent. Vultures are a carrion bird, meaning they will scavenge over the carcasses of dead mammals who have died of disease or old age or the remaining meat of an animal a predator such as a lion has killed. They are adept at soaring on the up drafts and have [...]