Exploring new horizons

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Keith Barnes, co-author of the new Field
Guide to Birds of Greater Southern Africa,
chats about the long-neglected birding
regions just north of the Kunene and
Zambezi, getting back to watching birds,
and the vulture that changed his life.

Big little liars

“It’s the start of the rains in southern Zambia and a small, glossy black finch is singing incessantly from
the top of an exposed tree. The song is mostly a hurried ramble of chatters and scratchy warbles, but
occasionally the bird intersperses trills and tinkling notes that sound nearly identical to those of a local
species of firefinch. This seemingly inconsequential observation hints at a fascinating evolutionary
story unfolding in woodlands and savannas throughout Africa.”

A black and white answer: Bird fatalities at wind farms; How low can you go: Cooling off period for hummingbirds; Hot stuff: Red-billed Queleas rewrite the record books; Windswept; On the shelf

“Birds and Renewable Energy Specialist Group”|”Black Metaltail”|”Bronze-tailed Comet”|”Diomedea exulans”|”Dominic Rollinson”|”Grey-headed Albatrosses “|”Sasol Birds of Southern Africa”|”University of Pretoria”|”Warwick Tarboton”|”White-tailed Eagle “|ageing|Albert Froneman|American Kestrels|Andrew McKechnie|biologging|BirdLasser|Blair Wolf|body temperature|book review|collisions|Common Poorwill|Crozet Archipelago|David Allan|David Ambrose|David Hlosi Sishozonke Maphisa|Faansie Peacock|Falco sparverius|fatalities|foraging|Giant Hummingbird|guide|Haliaeetus albicilla|Hummingbirds|hyperthermia|Ian Sinclair|Ian-Malcolm Rijsdijk|Kalahari|Lesotho Annotated Bibliography|Marc Freeman|Marsh Tits|National University of Lesotho|Niall Perrins|Peter Ryan|Phil Hockey|Quelea quelea|raptors|Red-billed Queleas|Roberts|SABAP|Samantha Ralston-Paton|senescence|Sparkling Violetear|Thalassarche chrysostoma|Tommy Clay|torpor|tracking|turbines|University of Maryland|Wandering Albatross|Weimerskirch|William Hodos