The 10 Most Fascinating Birds in Southern Africa

If it’s your first time in the African bush you’ll most likely be too mesmerised by the Big 5 and other animals to take too much notice of the birds. But that would be a fowl up that you might egret.

For birds are not just… for the birds. They are just as fascinating and beautiful and intriguing as mammals. And if you do develop an interest in African birds, every game drive and bush walk takes on an extra dimension and becomes even more exciting. To give you an idea of what the bird kingdom holds, here are 10 of Southern Africa’s most fascinating birds.

10. Wandering Albatross

The wandering albatross is immense. It’s one of the largest birds in the world and has the largest wingspan of any living bird, typically ranging from 2.5 to 3.5 metres. As a result of its wingspan, it’s capable of remaining in the air without flapping its wings for several hours at a time and travels 22 metres for every metre it drops.

It’s also one of the most far-ranging birds. Some wandering albatrosses have been known to circumnavigate the Southern Ocean three times in one year, covering more than 120,000 km, which is about 75,000 miles.

9. African Bearded Vulture

Bearded vultures, or lammergeiers, are pretty intense birds. They’ve developed a unique and clever method of eating carcass bone marrow. The vultures pick up bones from a carcass as heavy as themselves, fly off and drop them from a tremendous height to shatter the bones into bite-sized pieces and get access to the marrow. This bone breaking technique can take seven years to perfect! Bearded vultures even have favourite breaking spots that are called ossuaries.

Not only that but they also rub soil into their feathers to look more intimidating. They apply the dirt with their claws and then preen for about an hour to ensure a bright orange glow. Told you they were intense.

8. African Skimmer

The African skimmer has a unique bill structure; the lower mandible is much longer than the upper mandible, and is flattened sideways like scissor blades. This is to help them feed. As the name implies, the African Skimmer flies just above water level, with its lower mandible just breaking the surface. When the mandible touches a fish, the skimmer snaps its mouth shut. Its food is small fish, mostly 2-5 cm long. They feed mostly at dawn and dusk. Click here to watch a video of their unique feeding technique.

7. Black Heron

The Black Heron stands out for its ingenious hunting method. The crafty bird wades in water and creates shade with its wings like an umbrella. The fish go to the shade to cool down and as the fish move into this shady location, the black heron scoops down and gulps up the nice, tasty meal. It’s simple yet effective and is a fascinating sight, as you can see in the video below.

While some herons prefer to hunt on their own, on average they will hunt in groups of 50 individuals. And the largest flock of Black Herons on record is 200.

6. Pennant-winged Nightjar

This gorgeous bird must be on most birder’s bucket lists. The pennants of the pennant-winged nightjar refer to the spectacular long white wing streamers, like white handkerchiefs trailing from the tips of their wings, that males develop during breeding season. These pennants grow to greater lengths in successive years, up to twice the body length. They are dropped or broken off quickly upon completion of breeding. You can see a video of this striking bird in flight below.

5. Kori Bustard

Weighing in at a fairly hefty average of 18 kilograms, the kori bustards is said to be the heaviest flying bird in the world. The Kori Bustard is like the fat kid in gym class who was too embarrassed and too lazy to get involved with the climbing net. When alarmed, they’d rather puff themselves up to appear even larger than they are, bark like dogs or run from danger than bother flying.

Sometimes kori bustards are found with  bee-eaters riding on their backs as they stride through the grass. The bee-eaters pick the insects from the bustard’s back that irritate the bustard, a classic interspecies win-win.

4. Sandgrouse

There are few desert birds more finely attuned to living in arid zones than sandgrouse. Their diet consists of dry seeds so they desperately need regular access to fresh water and their chicks are particularly vulnerable. They developed an ingenious solution – carrying water in their belly feathers to take back to their young and will fly up to 60 kilometres to get it. Weight for weight, they hold more water than a kitchen sponge. Once they get back to the nest, the chicks drink their fill from the wet feathers, a little like kittens nursing from their mother.

If that wasn’t impressive enough, they also baffle scientists by being able to predict which days are going to be especially hot and adjust their schedules.

3. Sociable Weaver

Sociable weavers construct the world’s largest nests and perhaps the most spectacular structure built by any bird. As many as 300 to 400 hundred birds will live in a single megastructure. The nests are cooler in the day and warmer in the night to help the birds with the extreme temperatures of the African bush.

Their nests are instantly recognisable, massive and resemble huge apartment blocks. The nest structures can reach heights of up to 4 m. From a distance, the nest may typically look like a haystack stuck up on a large tree or telephone pole. Photographic evidence has proven that some of these nest structures are over 100 years old. The nests are also commonly used by several other bird species, most commonly the pygmy falcon.

2. African Shoebill

This prehistoric-looking bird is a very large stork-like bird and derives its name from its massive shoe-shaped bill. To go with its enormous beak, the shoebill has big feet and is very, very tall for a bird.

Despite weighing as much as 6 kg, the birds can often be found perched on floating vegetation, from where they do their fishing. Shoebills are found in marshy areas in countries like Sudan, Zambia, Rwanda and Uganda.

1. Greater Honeyguide

This has to be one of the world’s most intriguing and innovative birds. Greater honeyguides are so named because they show people where to find bees’ nests, which the people harvest for their honey. The birds then feed on the wax combs left behind.

There are multiple tribes across Africa that have developed their own calls and whistles to communicate with their local honeyguides. As the narrator describes in the video below, “It’s the most developed, co-evolved, mutually helpful relationship between any mammal and any bird.”