I know at least 17 birders who wake up regularly at night and wonder: “What is Africa’s most challenging bird family in terms of identification?”. All these people are in therapy, so please do not worry about them more than necessary. The question is, of course, highly relevant. The Nearctic has its sparrows (not sparrows), the Neotropics have woodcreepers and Eurasia has leaf warblers. All have the same characteristics: many species, uniformly dull in colour and most likely only distinguishable by listening to their calls.
In Africa two families jump out from the crowd: cisticolas and greenbuls. In my very biased opinion, greenbuls are the more difficult to identify. Cisticolas are very finicky about their habitat, but greenbuls are all in some forest. And forests look the same to all but the most knowledgeable botanist. Now, I can hear you say: “But Peter, I know my African forest types and can distinguish between my mushitu and my mopane, my mangrove from my miombo”. You have my sympathy.
The most popular African countries/regions for birding are Kenya, Ghana, Gambia, Southern Africa and Ethiopia. The number of greenbul species stands out in two of those countries: Ghana and Kenya. List fetishists, hold on to your armrests, because here’s the Ghanaian list: Ghana Slender-billed Greenbul, Golden Greenbul, Red-tailed Bristlebill, Green-tailed Bristlebill, Gray-headed Bristlebill, Yellow-gorgeted Greenbul, Spotted Greenbul, Swamp Greenbul, Simple Greenbul, Honeyguide Greenbul, Western Bearded-Greenbul, Red-tailed Greenbul, Yellow-bearded Greenbul, Little Greenbul, Yellow-whiskered Greenbul, Plain Greenbul, Gray Greenbul, Ansorge’s Greenbul, White-throated Greenbul, Icterine Greenbul, Leaf-love and Baumann’s Greenbul.
The Kenyan list is similarly impressive, one might argue even more so (Kenya has more brownbuls). So check out Avibase and pick your own top 10, book a trip and one of the great guides we showcase on this website and check for yourself. Oh, you wanted me to pick the top 10 for you? What’s the fun in that?
The labelling of greenbuls as extremely boring as well as the pictures were authored by Kai Pflug. Disagreement and gratitude, respectively.
Leave a Comment