Birds Of Africa

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Africa has the richest of the world’s avifauna and avid birdwatchers can find almost all the species of birds in the continent. Birds Of Africa. Just like wildlife, the total number of bird species in Africa are varied. The numbers ebb and flow within a year.

The fluctuations are brought about primarily by the migrations of birds within Africa (intra-Africa migrants), and arrival of birds from the northern hemisphere (Palaearctic migrants) each spring. These annual visitors, which number countless millions, depart again in late summer, and return to their breeding grounds or their non-breeding ranges. Some, such as the European Swallow, spend as much as seven months in Africa without breeding, while many of the small warblers seem scarcely to arrive before they again depart. The birds range from the great ostrich, a flightless bird native to Africa and the largest living species of bird; the albatrosses, which are among the largest of flying birds, the grebes which are excellent swimmers in the world of the avian, the petrels which are the smallest of the sea-birds, the gregarious flamingoes, the long crane-like legged secretary bird, the nocturnal nightjars and owls, just a few but to mention. All these birds have a preferred habitat, which are as speckled as the species themselves, and many will disappear entirely if their habitat is destroyed or degraded or encroached upon, because they are unable to adapt to different living conditions. One of the most vulnerable habitat types is that generally known as the wetlands – estuaries, marshes and floodlands, all which are frequently being drained or filled with industrial development and agriculture. Throughout Africa, from the tree-loaded Congo forest to Kenya’s Maasai Mara, and the great Namib Desert, indigenous forests are being increasingly cut back for fringe agriculture, or the trees felled for charcoal production. These animal-rich regions have taken millions of years to reach their present climax, and are irreplaceable. As they disappear the birds that depend on them, and much other animal life besides, disappear too. Thus, African governments, animal right activists and environmentalists must step up the gears and protect the wetlands for Africa to keep on boasting of being an animal-rich continent.