History - BirdLife South Africa

Photograped at Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa

The Orange-breasted Sunbird (Anthobaphes violacea) is native to the shrub and heathland habitat of South Africa. (Marcus Conway @ Flickr)

Know about birds living in South Sudan. Find out which birds are native to South Sudan, which were introduced to the country by accident, and its national bird.

Know about birds living in Zambia. Find out which birds are native to Zambia, which were introduced to the country by accident, and its national bird.

Kruger hosts a wide variety of colourful species, but there is no bird more revered than the LILAC-BREASTED ROLLER. Amazingly this species is widespread and easy to see as it perches in on small bushes and shrubs in the open savanna. The are half a dozen bee eater species possible in summer but in winter when we visited, only two are likely. These cozy WHITE-FRONTED BEE EATERS are the most widespread and common species then, with LITTLE BEE EATER also present in small numbers. Shrikes and…

Cinnyris afer, Greater Double-collared Sunbird. Breeds in southern South Africa. Mainly resident, but partly migratory in the northeast of its range. Common in gardens, fynbos, forest edges and coastal scrub. It lives mainly on nectar from flowers, but takes some fruit, and, especially when feeding young, insects and spiders. It has the habit of hovering in front of webs to extract spiders. It gives a wheezy, repeated grating “skeet” call and a high-pitched song of up-and-down notes.

The crimson-breasted shrike is a colourful bird of arid areas. This one was photographed at the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park of South Africa. It forage mostly for insects in trees and on the ground.