Spotted thick-knee (Gewone dikkop)

Scientific name: Burhinus capensis

The upper parts of the body and wings have brown, white and black splotches. Wings are brown and grey, tipped with black and have white edges surrounding them. The underpart and the mid throat of the bird is white, and the breast is light brown with black streaks. Green-grey long legs. It hasa short, yellow and brown beak, brownish black streaks on head and back, dark brown streak appears from under the eye to the ear covers and a white streak stretches below the eye to the cheek. White feathers surround the eyes.
 In southern Africa it is fairly common across much of the region, largely excluding Lesotho, southern Namibia and central and northern Mozambique. It generally prefers open habitats, especially savanna and grassland but also woodland fringes, low stony hills and urban habitats, such as parks, playing fields and parks.
It mainly eats insects, doing most of its foraging in a plover-like manner, repeatedly running forward, stopping then jabbing prey with its bill.

Yellow bishop, Cape Bishop, Cape Widow, Yellow-rumped widow (Kaapse flap)

Scientific name: Euplectes capensis

Female and non-breeding

The breeding male is black apart from his bright yellow lower back, rump, and shoulder patches, and brown edging to the wing feathers. He has a short crest, thick conical black bill, and a relatively short tail. In non-breeding plumage, the black plumage is replaced by heavily streaked buffy-brown, and the bill is pale. The yellow shoulders and rump remain, and are a distinction from the female which lacks the contrasting colour patches. The juveniles and females are notoriously difficult to identify in the field, appearing identical to the juveniles and females of several other bishops and widowbirds as well as some seadeaters.

Here it is fairly common in north-central Mozambique, Zimbabwe and in South Africa along the Escarpment, through Lesotho and the Eastern Cape to the Western Cape. It occupies a wide array of habitats, including fynbos, cultivated land, dense vegetation along streams, forest edges and montane grassland.
It eats seeds supplemented with insects, doing most of its foraging on the ground and in patches of grass.

Yellowbilled duck (Geelbekeend)

Scientific name: Anas undulata

These are mallard-sized mainly grey ducks with a darker head and bright yellow bill. The wings are whitish below, and from above show a white-bordered green speculum.
Found mainly in South Africa, where it is very common. It also occurs in patches of Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe, although it is hard to find in these areas. It generally prefers still waters of streams, lakes, swamps, pans, swamps, marshes and sewerage ponds. It avoids saline or highly acidic water and is largely absent from fast-flowing waters.
It feeds mainly on plants, supplemented with animals (which form approximately 17% of its diet). However the juveniles have a diet dominated by animals, eating more plants as they get older.

Yellow-billed kite (Geelbekwou)

Scientific name: Milvus aegyptius

As suggested by its name, the yellow-billed kite is easily recognized by its entirely yellow bill, unlike that of the black kite.
Occurs across sub-Saharan Africa; in southern Africa it is common across much of the region, largely excluding the Karoo, Kahalari and Namib Desert. It can be found in a wide variety of habitats, but it especially favours woodland and rural areas (with a high human population).
It eats a wide variety of animals, typically searching for prey aerially; it uses the style of flight characteristic of kites, as it swivels its tail horizontally to steer accurately. Once it spots something, it rapidly swoops to the ground to catch the prey item.

Cattle egret (Bosluisvoël)

Scientific name: Bubulcus ibis

The cattle egret is a stocky heron with an 88–96 cm (35–38 in) wingspan.  It has a relatively short thick neck, a sturdy bill, and a hunched posture. The non-breeding adult has mainly white plumage, a yellow bill and greyish-yellow legs. During the breeding season, adults of the nominate western subspecies develop orange-buff plumes on the back, breast and crown, and the bill, legs and irises become bright red for a brief period prior to pairing. The sexes are similar, but the male is marginally larger and has slightly longer breeding plumes than the female; juvenile birds lack coloured plumes and have a black bill.
Historically confined to Asia and tropical Africa, but since the late 19th Century it has spread across the world, to southern Europe, north-eastern South America, Australia, New Zealand and sub-Saharan Africa. It is very common across most of southern Africa, while more scarce in the arid parts of Namibia, Botswana and the Northern Cape. It generally prefers open grassland, grassy savanna, man-made fields and agricultural land, occasionally moving to the seashore.
It mainly eats insects, doing most of its foraging by walking on the ground, chasing down and stabbing its prey. As its name suggests, it also associates with livestock and other large mammals, perching on their backs to glean ectoparasites and hawk insects that the mammal disturbs when moving around.

Klaas's cuckoo (Meitjie)

Scientific name: Chrysococcyx klaas

Female

Male

 Males have a glossy green body with few markings and plain white underparts. Females have a bronze-brown body, greenish wing coverts and faintly barred white underparts. Viewed in flight, the male is largely white with dark primaries and females appear mostly brown. Males and females both have a small white post-ocular patch.
Fairly common across sub-Saharan Africa, absent only from arid desert. In southern Africa it is fairly common in central and northern Namibia, northern and eastern Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland and southern and eastern South Africa. It generally prefers open broad-leaved woodland, especially miombo (Brachystegia) and Mopane (Colosphermum mopane) woodland, but it also occupies dense Acacia thickets, forest edges, gardens and alien tree stands around farmsteads.
Mainly insectivorous, specializing in butterflies and caterpillars. It usually forages in the foliage of trees or bushes, taking insects from leaves and occasionally hawking a flying insect.

Olive thrush (Olyflyster)

Scientific name: Turdus olivaceus

he tail and the upperparts are coloured dull olive brown. The belly is white and the rest of the underparts have an orange hue.
Endemic to southern Africa, with the bulk of its distribution centered on South Africa's eastern and southern coast extending to Limpopo Province and Lesotho, with a smaller population in Zimbabwe's eastern highlands. It generally prefers evergreen forest, forest edges, and suburban and rural gardens, in fact it is the 8th most common bird in Cape Town. It also occupies alien Acacia thickets and commercial orchards.
It mainly eats earthworms supplemented with insects, other invertebrates and fallen fruit, doing most of its foraging on the ground, flicking through leaf litter in search of prey.

Cape rock-jumper (Kaapse berglyster)

Scientific name: Chaetops frenatus

Endemic to South Africa, occurring from Uitenhage, Eastern Cape to Cape Hanklip (absent from the Cape peninsula), north to the Cedarberg mountains and Piketberg. It generally prefers rocky mountain fynbos especially on high, windswept slopes and ridges, but it has occasionally been reported at sea level in the Western Cape.
This rockjumper is 23–25 cm long with a long black tail and strong legs. The male has a dark grey head with a thin white supercilium and a broad white moustache. The back and wings are dark grey, and the underparts and rump are rufous red. The female and juvenile have a paler grey head, upperparts and wings, a duller head pattern, an orange rump, and buff underparts. The call is a loud wheeoo.
It mainly eats arthropods, supplemented with reptiles and rarely amphibians. Most foraging is done on the ground, pecking and scratching the sand at the base of rocks or bushes in search of prey.

Laughing Dove (Rooiborsduif)

Scientific name: Streptopelia senegalensis

In southern Africa it is extremely common and widespread, occupying woodland, farmland, suburban parks, Acacia plantations and gardens.
The laughing dove is a long-tailed, slim pigeon, typically 25 cm (9.8 in) in length. It is pinkish brown on the underside with a lilac tinged head and neck. The head and underparts are pinkish, shading to buff on the lower abdomen. A chequered rufous and grey patch is found on the sides of the neck and are made up of split feathers. The upper parts are brownish with a bluish-grey band along the wing. The African populations senegalensis and phoenicophila have a bluish grey rump and upper tail coverts. The tail is graduated and the outer feathers are tipped in white.
Eats mainly seeds, as well as small fruit, bulbs and insects, doing most of its foraging on the ground.

Blacksmith lapwing, Blacksmith plover (Bontkiewiet)

Scientific name: Vanellus armatus

Blacksmith lapwings are very boldly patterned in black, grey and white, possibly warning colours to predators. It is one of five lapwing species (two African, one Asian and two Neotropical) that share the characteristics of a carpal (wing) spur, red eye and a bold pied plumage. The bare parts are black. Females average larger and heavier but the sexes are generally alike.
Within southern Africa it is common in Namibia, northern Botswana, Swaziland, South Africa and western Mozambique. It generally prefers moist, short grassland, mudflats around dams, sewage pans, lakes, rivers, estuaries, salt pans, road verges, sports fields, airports and heavily grazed areas.
It eats aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates, doing most of its foraging early and late in the day, standing still while intently scanning for prey; once spotted it dashes forward to pluck the animal from the surface of the ground or water. It also searches for insect larvae in dung, sometimes trembling its foot in shallow water to attract prey to the surface.

Hadeda ibis (Hadeda)

Scientific name: Bostrychia hagedash

The hadeda is a large (about 76 cm long), grey-to-partly brown species of ibis. It has a narrow, white, roughly horizontal stripe across its cheeks. This is sometimes called the "moustache" though it does not reach the mouth corners. The plumage over the wings has an iridescent purple sheen. The bird has blackish legs and a large grey-to-black bill with a red stripe on the upper mandible. The upper surfaces of the toes are of a similar red. The wings are powerful and broad, enabling quick take-offs and easy manoeuvring through dense tree cover.
It generally prefers open grassland with well-wooded valleys and patches of dense woodland, also occurring in clearings in forest, marshes with short grass, moist grassland, irrigated croplands with lucerne and clover (Medicago), playing fields, pastures, airfields and lawns in suburbia.

It mainly eats invertebrates, doing most of its foraging on moist ground, probing for prey or taking them from the soil surface.

African darter (Slanghalsvoël)

Scientific name: Anhinga rufa

The male is mainly glossy black with white streaking, but females and immature birds are browner. It is recognizable by its very long neck with a thin white lateral neck stripe against a rufous background colour. The pointed bill should prevent confusion with cormorants.
In southern Africa it is fairly common in Zimbabwe, northern and eastern Botswana, South Africa and patches of Namibia and Mozambique. It generally favours still or slow-moving bodies of freshwater, especially with dead trees, rocks or banks where it can rest. It is rarely found in fast-moving rivers, estuaries and coastal lagoons.
t eats fish, using its webbed feet to dive underwater before stabbing the fish with its bill. It swims more slowly than cormorants, but it compensates by being more stealthy, gliding through the water with just its neck showing and barely producing a ripple. Its feathers are much more water absorbent than most water birds, making it less buoyant and prone to death by cold. It combats this by drying itself after foraging, spreading its wings in the sun. It sometimes hangs motionless in the water, ambushing the fish then coming to the surface to toss it in the air and swallow. The prey may be lost in the process of this manoeuvre: in one case the caught fish was just to large, so after struggling for 30 minutes to swallow it gave up.

Cape shoveller (Kaapse slopeend)

Scientific name: Anas smithii

This species has a large spatulate bill. Adults have speckled grey-brown plumage and dull orange legs. As with many southern hemisphere ducks, the sexes appear similar, but the male has a paler head than the female, a pale blue forewing separated from the green speculum by a white border, and yellow eyes. The female's forewing is grey.
The Cape shoveller is found manly in South Africa, where it is particularly common in the Western Cape and Kruger National Park.Generally prefers shallow, plankton-rich freshwater wetlands, such as tidal estuaries, saline lagoons and saltpans. It is also very common in sewage pans, such as the Strandfontein Sewage Works.
It mainly feeds on animals, although it varies greatly between different individuals. It usually feeds by filtering water while swimming, although it also upends and dabbles.

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.

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.

Common starling, European starling (Europese spreeu)

Scientific name: Sturnus vulgaris 

The plumage is iridescent black, glossed purple or green, and spangled with white, especially in winter. The underparts of adult male common starlings are less spotted than those of adult females at a given time of year. The throat feathers of males are long and loose and are used in display while those of females are smaller and more pointed. The legs are stout and pinkish- or greyish-red. The bill is narrow and conical with a sharp tip; in the winter it is brownish-black but in summer, females have lemon yellow beaks while males have yellow bills with blue-grey bases.
 It mainly occurs in the southern half of South Africa, and is by far the most common in urban and agricultural areas.
It mainly eats arthropods supplemented with fruit, seeds and nectar, doing most of its foraging on the ground, plucking food items up or probing the soil for underground prey.

African Sacred Ibis (Skoorsteenvieër)

Scientific name: Threskiornis aethiopicus

An adult individual is 68 cm (27 in) long with all-white body plumage apart from dark plumes on the rump. The bald head and neck, thick curved bill and legs are black. The white wings show a black rear border in flight. Sexes are similar, but juveniles have dirty white plumage, a smaller bill and some feathering on the neck. This bird is usually silent, but occasionally makes some croaking noises, unlike its vocal relative, the hadada ibis.
 It generally prefers the margins of inland freshwater wetlands, coastal lagoons, the intertidal zone, offshore islands, grassland, open habitats and man-made habitats, such as cultivated land, dams, sewage works, lawns, farmyards, refuse tips and abattoirs.
It mainly eats invertebrates, doing most of its foraging on moist ground, probing the soil or snapping up prey from the ground surface.

White-breasted Cormorant (Witborsduiker)

Scientific name: Phalacrocorax lucidus

The White-breasted Cormorant (Phalacrocorax lucidus) is much like the widespread Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) and if not a regional variant of the same species, is at least very closely related. It is distinguished from other forms of the great cormorant by its white breast and by the fact that subpopulations are freshwater birds.[1] Phalacrocorax lucidus is not to be confused with the smaller and very different endemic South Australian black-faced cormorant, which also is sometimes called the white-breasted cormorant.
It mainly eats fish, doing most of its foraging 10-200 metres from the shoreline (when foraging at sea), diving in stints of up to about 82 seconds, although considerably less in freshwater. Its jaw is adapted to handling bottom-dwelling slow-moving fish, but it may catch faster fish that live closer to the surface. Smaller fish may be swallowed underwater, but with larger fish it has to take them to shore: in one case a bird died of suffocation after attempting to swallow a large Carp.