White-throated swallow (Witkeelswael)

Scientific name: Hirundo albigularis

The white-throated swallow is 14–17 cm long. It has glossy dark blue upperparts and a bright chestnut crown. A dark blue-black breast band separates the white throat from the greyish white underparts and underwing coverts. The upper wings, underwing flight feathers and forked tail are blackish-blue, but the undertail has white patches near the feather tips. The white throat and blackish breast band are distinctions from similar Hirundo species.

Pied crow (Witborskraai)

Scientific name: Corvus albus

As its name suggests, its glossy black head and neck are interrupted by a large area of white feathering from the shoulders down to the lower breast but the tail, bill and wings are black. The eyes of a fully matured bird are dark brown. The white plumage of immature birds is often mixed with black. It resembles the White-necked and thick-billed ravens but is much smaller, less stocky and has a smaller bill.
Occurs across sub-Saharan Africa, absent only from areas of Somalia and Ethiopia, as well as much of eastern Botswana, the Northern Cape and western Namibia. It has become prolific, as its numbers and range are expanding especially in the Karoo. It often occupies savanna woodland and bushy shrubland, but it is becoming more and more common in farmland, urban and suburban areas.
It is omnivorous, feeding mainly on plant material such as fruit and seeds, doing most of its foraging on the ground. It also regularly eats animals, such as reptiles, fish, insects, small mammals and birds. In one observation, it caught and ripped apart a small bird in mid flight. It also takes eggs and even whole nests from breeding pairs of smaller birds. Reptiles are mainly taken from the ground (especially when crossing roads) and it may even attack fruit bats at their roosting site.

Steppe Buzzard (Bruinjakkalsvoël)

Scientific name: Buteo vulpinus

The Steppe buzzard has a rufous colour which gives this subspecies its scientific name (vulpes is Latin for "fox"). The tail of vulpinus is paler than the buteo form, and often quite rufous. The upper wings have pale primary patches, and the primary flight feathers are also paler when viewed from below. Adults have a black trailing edge to the wings, and both morphs often have plain underparts, lacking the breast band frequently seen in buteo.
It occurs in all countries of southern Africa, but it is especially common in South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana and Zimbabwe. It generally favours open habitats, such as savanna, grassland and open woodland, often moving into mosaics of croplands.
Its diet in southern Africa is not well-known, but it is thought to consist mainly of insects and small mammals. It does most of its foraging from a prominent perch, such as a tree or telephone pole, dropping onto the ground once it spots prey.

Southern double-collared sunbird (Klein-rooibandsuikerbekkie)

Scientific name: Cinnyris chalybeus

The adult male has a glossy, metallic green head, throat upper breast and back. It has a brilliant red band across the chest, separated from the green breast by a narrow metallic blue band. The rest of the underparts are whitish. When displaying, yellow feather tufts can be seen on the shoulders. As with other sunbirds the bill is long and decurved. The bill, legs and feet are black. The eye is dark brown. The male can be distinguished from the similar greater double-collared sunbird by its smaller size, narrower red chest band and shorter bill.
Endemic to southern Africa, occurring from the far south of Namibia to South Africa, with the bulk of its population centered around the Western Cape.
It generally prefers fynbos and Karoo shrubland, woodland, Afromontane forest, gardens and Eucalyptus plantations.
It mainly feeds on nectar, supplemented with athropods, gleaning prey from vegetation and spider webs and hawking insects aerially.

Cape Bulbul (Kaapse tiptol)

Scientific name: Pycnonotus capensis

The Cape bulbul is 19–21 cm long, mainly dull, blackish brown with a diagnostic white eye-ring, and yellow undertail coverts. The head has a small crest. The short, straight bill, legs and feet are black and the iris is dark brown. The sexes are similar in plumage.
Endemic to South Africa, where it is very common Across much of the Western Cape, extending along the coast to the Northern and Eastern Cape. It generally prefers thickly vegetated fynbos and succulent karoo, as well as coastal scrub, Acacia karoo (Sweet thorn) woodland, suburban parks and gardens.
It mainly eats fruit, supplemented with arthropods, seeds and nectar. It usually forages in pairs or small groups, plucking fruit from the foliage of trees and bushes, while occasionally hawking invertebrate prey.

Rock Pigeon, Speckled pigeon (Bosduif, Kransduif)

Scientific name: Columba guinea

This is a large pigeon at 41 cm in length. Its back and wings are rufous, the latter heavily speckled with white spots. The rest of the upperparts and underparts are blue-grey, and the head is grey with red patches around the eye. The neck is brownish, streaked with white, and the legs are red. The call is a loud doo-doo-doo.
With in southern Africa it is common in western and central Namibia, southern Botswana, Zimbabwe (marginally extending into Mozambique), Swaziland, Lesotho and South Africa. It generally prefers rocky areas with mountains, cliffs and gorges, but  it has recently taken to urban and rural buildings, where it often roosts and nests.
Feeds mainly on seeds, rarely eating fruits and leaves. It typically forages on the ground, usually on farmland, lawns or roads.

Kelp Gull, Southern Black-backed gull (Swartrugmeeu)

Scientific name: Larus dominicanus

The adult kelp gull has black upperparts and wings. The head, underparts, tail, and the small "mirrors" at the wing tips are white. The bill is yellow with a red spot, and the legs are greenish-yellow (brighter and yellower when breeding, duller and greener when not breeding). The call is a strident ki-och. Juveniles have dull legs, a black bill, a dark band in the tail, and an overall grey-brown plumage densely edged whitish, but they rapidly get a pale base to the bill and largely white head and underparts. They take three or four years to reach maturity.
In southern Africa it is common along the coast of Namibia and South Africa while scarce in Mozambique, occupying a variety of marine and coastal habitats (including areas disturbed my humans).
Opportunistic forager and scavenger, with individuals differing in their diet preference, although it is usually consists of mainly invertebrates, especially mussels.

Great White Pelican (Witpelikaan)

Scientific name: Pelecanus onocrotalus

The great white pelican is a huge bird. The wingspan can range from 226 to 360 cm (7.41 to 11.81 ft), with the latter measurement the largest recorded among extant flying animals outside of the great albatrosses.
Immature great white pelicans are grey and have dark flight feathers. In flight, it is an elegant soaring bird, with the head held close to and aligned with the body by a downward bend in the neck. In breeding condition the male has pinkish skin on its face and the female has orangey skin.
In southern Africa, it is locally fairly common in eastern and southern Mozambique, Zimbabwe, the northern half of Botswana, Namibia and both the far west and far east of South Africa. It generally prefers shallow lakes, estuaries, flood plain pans, dams, sheltered coastal bays and lagoons.
It almost exclusively eats fish, foraging throughout the day by itself or in a group, since by cooperating they can herd fish shoals into shallow water. The large gular pouch beneath its bill is used to trap fish, so that it can lift or jerk its head to swallow the prey item whole. It also scavenges and kills animals while ashore, often working cooperatively to raid other birds' nests of chicks and eggs. This behaviour appears to be taught from one generation to the next, as in some colonies they do not do it at all.

195 Cape Spurfowl, Cape Francolin (Kaapse Fisant)

Scientific name: Pternistis capensis

The Cape spurfowl, or Cape francolin (Pternistis capensis) is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae. This francolin is endemic to the southwestern Cape of South Africa.

The Cape francolin is a bird of scrubby open areas, preferably close to running water. Its nest is a grass-lined scrape under a bush, and six to eight eggs are laid (but sometimes two females will lay in one nest). This species can become very tame if disturbance is limited, and will feed in gardens, by roadsides, or with farmyard chickens. It will run rather than fly if disturbed, but even while quite small, just a few weeks old, it flies readily and strongly if startled or pressed.

The call is a loud cackalac-cackalac-cackalac.

This large francolin appears all dark from a distance, apart from the red legs, but when seen closer the plumage is finely vermiculated in grey and white, with a plainer crown and nape.

The sexes are similar in plumage, but the male has two leg spurs whereas the female has at best one short spur. The juvenile is similar to the adults, but has duller legs and clearer vermiculations. This large dark francolin is unlikely to be confused with any other species in its range.

425 White-backed Mousebird (Witkruismuisvoël)

Scientific name: Colius colius

The white-backed mousebird (Colius colius) is a large species of mousebird. It is distributed in western and central regions of southern Africa from Namibia and southern Botswana eastwards to Central Transvaal and the eastern Cape.

This mousebird prefers scrubby dry habitats, such as thornveld, fynbos scrub and semi-desert.

This bird is about 34 cm (13 inches) long, with the tail comprising approximately half the length, and weighs 38–64 g (1.3–2.3 oz). The upper parts, head, prominent crest and breast are grey apart from a white back stripe flanked by two broad black stripes and a dark red, or maroon, transverse band at the base of the tail. The white is not visible unless the wings are at least partly open, such as when the birds are alighting, or sometimes in hot weather. The belly is buff in colour. The bill is bluish white with a black tip, and the legs and feet are red.

The speckled mousebird can be distinguished from this species by its differently coloured beak, legs and upperparts.

The white-backed mousebird is a frugivore which subsides on fruits, berries, leaves, seeds and nectar. It also will feed on the buds of some plants, sometimes to the extent of stripping the branches of ornamentals such as fiddlewoods. Its feeding habits make it very unpopular with fruit farmers and domestic gardeners, which might be why it is very shy as a rule. When it spots a human it either sits quiet in a tree or takes off immediately. Sometimes it will settle quietly on lawns when the grass is flowering and feed on the grass stigmata and stamens. In the wild its fruit-eating habits make it an important factor in disseminating seeds of indigenous berry-bearing plants such as Halleria lucida. However, it also spreads the seeds of invasive aliens such as Cotoneaster.

In handling mousebirds the tail should be avoided, as the long retrices come out so easily as to suggest that it is a sacrificial defence mechanism.

This is a markedly social bird, with small groups of presumably related birds feeding together and engaging in mutual preening. It roosts in groups at night. Its perching habits are amusingly parrot-like; it often almost hangs from its legs rather than squatting on them like most birds, and commonly with each leg gripping a different upright branch.

These sedentary birds may breed at any time of the year when conditions are favourable. The nest is a large cup well hidden in a thicket. Nestlings are fed by both parents and also by helpers, usually young birds from previous clutches.

The white-backed mousebird has a whistled zwee-wewit call. It also has a buzzing or crackling call that might be for alarm or keeping in contact with the group.

601 Cape Robin-Chat (Gewone Janfrederik)

Scientific name: Cossypha caffra

The Cape robin-chat (Cossypha caffra) is a small passerine bird of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It has a disjunct range from South Sudan to South Africa.[2] The locally familiar species has adapted itself to various man-altered habitats. The Cape robin-chat is 16–17 cm long. The adult’s upper-parts are grey, and the face sides in front of and behind the eye are blackish, and is separated from the crown by a white supercilium. The chin, throat, central breast, rump, under-tail coverts and outer tail feathers are orange. The breast is deeper orange in colour during the non-breeding season.[2] The central tail feathers are greyish-brown and the belly is pale grey.

The black bill is short and straight, with a slightly down-curved upper mandible. The legs and feet are pinkish grey, and the eye is brown. The sexes are similar, but the juvenile is dark brown above and buff below, heavily marked with buff on the upperparts and grey-brown on the breast.
It forages close to or on ground level. It prefers the cover of dense vegetation, but is not very shy. Invertebrates, small frogs and lizards are obtained in scrub or on leaf litter. In addition fruit and seeds are plucked from plants or eaten on the ground.[6] Occasionally an insect may be hawked in the air, or invertebrates may be gleaned from leaves, branches or rocks.

Cape Sparrow (Gewone Mossie)

Scientific name: Passer melanurus

The Cape sparrow or mossie (Passer melanurus) is a bird of the sparrow family Passeridae found in southern Africa. A medium-sized sparrow at 14–16 centimetres (5.5–6.3 in), it has distinctive plumage including large pale head stripes. Both sexes are mostly coloured grey, brown, and chestnut, and the male has some black and white markings on its head and neck. It inhabits semi-arid savannah, cultivated areas, and towns, and ranges from the central coast of Angola to eastern South Africa and Swaziland. Three subspecies are distinguished.

Cape sparrows are primarily granivorous, and also eat soft plant parts and insects. The birds typically breed in colonies and gather in large, often nomadic flocks while not breeding. The nest can be constructed in a variety of locations, in a tree or a bush in a hole or an empty nest of another species. A typical clutch contains three or four eggs, and both parents are involved in breeding from nest building to feeding young. The Cape sparrow is common in most of its range and coexists successfully in urban habitats with two of its relatives, the introduced house sparrow and native southern grey-headed sparrow. The population has not been recorded decreasing significantly, so according to the IUCN Red List the species is not threatened.

354 Cape Turtle Dove, Ring-necked (Gewone Tortelduif)

Scientific name: Streptopelia capicola

The ring-necked dove (Streptopelia capicola), also known as the Cape turtle dove or half-collared dove, is a widespread and often abundant dove species in East and southern Africa. Like all doves they depend on surface water. They congregate in large flocks at waterholes in dry regions[2] to drink and bathe.
Their body feathers are darkest on the upper side, where they are coloured in dull tones of grey and brown, with shades of lavender on the nape.[6] It is paler below, where a tint of pinkish lavender is usually present. The lower belly and crissum is white.[4] As with related species, they have white fringes and conspicuous white tips to the otherwise slate grey tail feathers. The tail pattern is particularly noticeable during the display flight.

Individual plumage variation is high, with some light and others almost sooty.[5] Males and females look alike, although the males are slightly bigger. They measure 25–26.5 cm (9.8–10.4 in) in length[4] and weigh 92–188 g (3.2–6.6 oz).[7][8][9] The eyes are almost black, the bill is black and the feet are dark purple.[4][5]

An immature is duller[10] and lacks the semi-collar of an adult. It also has buff edges to all the upper part and wing covert feathers, while the plumage below is broadly edged greyish-white.
These doves are usually found alone or in pairs, although they do form larger flocks around roosts or sources of food and water,[3][4] sometimes comprising hundreds of birds. They are quite noisy in these groups, not only for the various calls they make throughout the day, or often into (mainly moonlit)[6] nights, but also due to the loud clatter[4] of their wings when they take flight.

Their song is a loud and harsh[2] “kuk-COORRRR-uk, ...”They feed mainly on seeds (of grasses, cereal grains, lupins, milkweeds,[5] alien acacias and pines), but also on broken fruit and berries (of oaks, gums, currants and Lantana), and insects on occasion (earthworms, termites, weevils and other).[6] Other recorded food items include small sedge bulbs, fleshy succulent leaves, aloe nectar and sugary aphid secretions.[6]

713 Cape Wagtail (Gewone Kwikkie)

Scientific name: Motacilla capensis

The Cape wagtail (Motacilla capensis) is a small passerine bird in the family Motacillidae, which includes the wagtails, pipits and longclaws.

This species breeds in much of Africa from eastern Zaire and Angola across to Kenya and south to the Cape in South Africa.This is an insectivorous bird of open country, often near habitation and water. It prefers bare areas or short grass for feeding, where it can see and pursue its prey. In urban areas it has adapted to foraging in gardens or paved areas such as car parks. Pairs make bulky nests in crevices in natural and man-made structures, and lay up to seven eggs.

The Cape wagtail is a slender bird, 19–20 cm in length, with the characteristic longish, constantly wagging tail of its genus. The adult is plain grey-brown above, apart from pale wing edges and a short white supercilium. It has off-white underparts, with a dark grey band across the breast. Young birds are duller and have yellowish underparts. Cape wagtail has a tsee chee chee call and a trilled whistled song.

This wagtail forages energetically for insect on the ground, alone or in pairs, moving with a characteristic bobbing motion that causes the tail to swing up and down. Feeding is often near water, including garden ponds, and this bird will eat tadpoles or tiny fish if the opportunity arises.

1 Common Ostrich (Struthio camelus)

Scientific name: Struthio camelus

The ostrich or common ostrich (Struthio camelus) is either one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member(s) of the genus Struthio, which is in the ratite family. Starting in 2014, the Somali ostrich is now considered a full species separate from the common ostrich.[1]

The ostrich shares the order Struthioniformes with the kiwis, emus, rheas and cassowaries. However, phylogenetic studies have shown that it is the basal extant member of Palaeognathae and is thus equally closely related to flighted tinamous.[3][4] It is distinctive in its appearance, with a long neck and legs, and can run at up to about 70 km/h (19 m/s; 43 mph),[5] the fastest land speed of any bird.[6] The ostrich is the largest living species of bird and lays the largest eggs of any living bird (extinct elephant birds of Madagascar and the giant moa of New Zealand laid larger eggs).

The ostrich's diet consists mainly of plant matter, though it also eats invertebrates. It lives in nomadic groups of 5 to 50 birds. When threatened, the ostrich will either hide itself by lying flat against the ground, or run away. If cornered, it can attack with a kick of its powerful legs. Mating patterns differ by geographical region, but territorial males fight for a harem of two to seven females.

356 Namaqua dove (Namaqua duif)

Scientific name: Oena capensis

The Namaqua dove is a tiny sparrow-sized pigeon, typically 22 cm in length with a 28–33 cm wingspan, and weighing 40g. It has a very long black tapered tail, and the size and shape have led to comparison with the budgerigar. The plumage is mostly grey apart from a white belly, and chestnut primary feathers which are visible in flight.

The adult male has a black face, throat and breast, and a yellow and red beak. The adult female lacks the black and has a red-based grey bill. Young birds are dark blotched on the wings and shoulders, and otherwise resemble the females.

The song is a quiet, short, double hoo, higher on the longer second note kuh-whooo, mournful and frequently repeated.