Top 100 Birding Sites of the World

Information

SITE RANK

HABITAT Grassland, woodland savanna, acacia woodland, lakes, mountainsides

KEY SPECIES Common Ostrich, Secretarybird, vultures, Kori, Black-bellied and Buff-crested Bustards

TIME OF YEAR All year round

Big skies and big game – the Serengeti plays host to 2 million Wildebeest for much of the year.

The Serengeti encapsulates most people’s idea of Africa: the open plains dotted with acacia trees; herds of grazing animals running around and kicking up the dust from their feet; the great never-ending battle for survival between the carnivores and grazers, the hunters and the hunted; and the great icons of Africa wandering around, such as elephants, giraffes and rhinoceroses. Probably more footage of wildlife has been taken in this corner of Africa than anywhere else on earth.

The magic of the Serengeti is in no way exaggerated. The national park itself is huge (14,763 sq km) and is contiguous with the Ngorongoro Crater region to the east and the Masai Mara, in Kenya, to the north, so the populations of animals and birds are substantial, and it is perfectly possible to find corners of the national park that you can more or less have to yourself. Besides the plains and savannas, there are saline lakes and rivers, and the park is bordered by hills and mountains; in such areas you can indulge in specialist birding, in search of such unusual birds as the Grey-crested Helmetshrike, Red-throated Tit and Rufous-tailed Weaver.

It is impossible not to be impressed by the hordes of animals. The area is especially famous for its herds of White-bearded Wildebeests which, together with associated Burchell’s Zebras and Thomson’s Gazelles, undertake a remarkable seasonal migration from the Serengeti to the Masai Mara and back each year. During the rainy season (January to April) about two million wildebeests graze the short-grass plains of the south-east Serengeti and drop their calves; as the weather dries they then migrate towards the wetter margins of Lake Victoria to the west, and then spend the bulk of the dry season in the Mara. Oddly, when it rains again, and the grazing improves everywhere, they nonetheless up-sticks and return to the south. Nobody is quite sure why.

As these vast herds travel, some are inevitably picked off by the 3,000 Lions and 9,000 Spotted Hyaenas that occur in the ecosystem, not to mention Cheetahs and Leopards. In fact, with so much prey about, it would be a lazy predator indeed that could not fill its stomach. Indeed, death stalks so many grazing animals that opportunities also abound for the ecosystem’s scavengers. This is where visitors can be distracted from mammals, as they watch the scrums of vultures that develop at carcasses – as much an iconic image of Africa as any other.

For the birder, the differences between the various species of vulture are especially interesting. Carcasses are spotted in one of two ways. White-backed and Rüppell’s Vultures are colonial, and a couple of hours after daybreak each morning members of the colonies fly out to ride the thermals at heights of 200–500 m above the ground. They all spread out and, once a carcass has been found, the message is communicated by the very action of many birds wheeling down to the ground, and a crowd soon gathers. Other species, such as Lappet-faced and White-headed Vultures, are loners and essentially look out for their own needs, often getting by on scraps and road-kill, and even by killing smaller prey items of their own, which could be sick or injured.

However, it seems that neither White-backed nor Rüppell’s Vultures are able to puncture the skin of large ungulates, so it is sometimes not until a Lappet-faced Vulture appears, with its fearsome bill, that the real free-for-all can begin. Once it does, the unseemly and gory scrum can begin: the colonial vultures swarm over the carcass, mainly gobbling up soft flesh and intestines, while the Lappet-faced, White-headed or Hooded Vultures tend to remain in the periphery. As far as the Lappet-faced and White-headed Vultures are concerned, this is because they prefer tougher body parts, such as skin, tendons and other coarse tissues and are content to wait their turn. The smaller Hooded Vulture, unable to compete in the mêlée, merely waits its turn.

Another group of birds that dedicated mammal-watchers cannot fail to notice are those that feed on or at the coat-tails of larger beasts. Good examples of this are the oxpeckers, two members of the starling family that specialize in removing ticks and other invertebrates from the hides of large mammals. The Red-billed Oxpecker, much the commoner of the two (the other is the Yellow-billed), is hardly ever seen away from its favourite hosts, namely buffalos, giraffes and rhinos; it will even roost on their backs. The only small ungulate on which it will graze for parasites is the Impala and, oddly, despite the abundant opportunities that must be present on elephant hides, this is one animal that is always avoided. Apparently, elephants have sensitive skin and will not tolerate the sharp claws of the oxpeckers.

Of course, the grazers are not the only animals that stride around on the grasslands. So does the world’s largest bird, the Common Ostrich. This enormous bird, which has the largest eye of any bird (larger than a small hummingbird), is just big enough, tall enough and fast enough to cut it in thew rough and tumble of the grassland without needing to fly. A fully grown ostrich stands up to 2.2 m tall, and it can run up to 70 km per hour when escaping a predator, weaving from side to side.

Not far behind in sheer size is the Kori Bustard, by most measurements the heaviest flying bird in the world. It stands 1 m tall and big males can weigh as much as 19 kg. Like the Common Ostrich it is largely omnivorous, and is famous for its ability to catch and eat snakes. It is one of several species of bustard that occur in these plains, the others including Black-bellied, Buff-crested and Hartlaub’s.

There are two other quite fearsome, ground-dwelling, predatory birds that stalk alongside these. The Secretarybird is a modified raptor with very long legs, a sharp bill and an equally sharp acceleration when chasing small mammals, reptiles and even birds on the ground. Like the Kori Bustard, it often despatches snakes, even deadly species such as mambas and puff adders. Southern Ground Hornbills, huge black-and-red monsters that only their mothers could truly love, tend to pick on the smaller stuff.

Thus, the celebrated megafauna of the Serengeti is not limited to animals with fur. There are big birds here to rival the big animals. And indeed, many people who have never taken an interest in birds at all finally notice them when on safari, and this can lead to a lifelong interest. After all, when they return home there aren’t many life-or-death battles to witness, except on the bird table.

The Common Ostrich, up to 2.2 m tall, has a remarkable turn of speed and is just as effective as any antelope in outrunning most predators.

A tender moment between two Southern Ground Hornbills. As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

A White-backed Vulture gives away its identity in the midst of the scavenger scrum.