Welcome to the Birds of Southern Africa group This group is dedicated to any and all wild birds that can be found in southern Africa. Southern Africa is defined as the area south of the Kunene and Zambezi rivers, encompassing Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland and southern and central Mozambique, as well as oceanic waters within 200 nautical miles of the coast. Mozambique north of the Zambezi River is excluded, as its avifauna has closer ties to that of east Africa than it does to that of the regions further south. (definition of southern Africa taken from SASOL Birds of southern Africa, 3rd edition) This group was created with a two fold purpose. 1. To create a place were people can post photos of birds taken in southern Africa for which they need an identification. 2. To create a place where people can post and view photos of the beautiful bird life of southern Africa as well as discuss the birdlife of the region. 3. Create an indexed online photographic record of as many of the birds that occur in the region as possible. The administrators and moderators of this group all have a keen interest in birding as a hobby although some seems to bird more than they do any real work. If we or any of the other members cannot identify a bird posted we also have a base of knowledgeable birders we can refer the photos too. We trust that you will enjoy this group and hopefully learn something about the birds of our great region at the southern end of Africa. __________________________ Group rules 1. Only photos of wild, non caged birds that appear on the southern Africa species list will be accepted. For a list by Roberts visit this link for either an Excel or PDF version. 2. When posting a photo for identification Make use of the relevant identification discussion topic to post your request. To help with the identification process certain information is helpful. So to ensure an accurate identification we suggest that you include as much of the following information as possible with your photo. Number 1 and 2 being the more important ones. i. Where the photo was taken i.e. country and if in South Africa which province ii. Date or month or season the photo was taken iii. What type of habitat you saw it in e.g. rocks, mountain, trees, grassland iv. Approximate size e.g. size of a sparrow, dove, guinea fowl etc. v. What was the bird doing when you saw it? 3. When posting a photo of a bird of which you know the name of please consider doing the following to add value to the group i. Tag your image with the English common name and if you know it also the Latin name (scientific name) ii. If you know the name of the bird in other languages you may also include that. iii. If possible also add some additional information about the bird in the description of your photo. 4. Members are allowed to post a maximum of 20 bird photos per day. 5. The administrators reserve the right to periodically clean up the photo pool. __________________________ Invitations Please use the code below to invite other photos of birds that occur in southern Africa to this group. Just copy and paste the code into your message. ************************************************************************* <b>Chirping image! Please add it to the Birds of Southern Africa group</b> <b><a href=http://www.flickr.com/groups/birdssa>Birds of Southern Africa</u></a></b> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/francoisdreyer/2328015343/" title="Birds of southern Africa icon small by Francois Dreyer, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3254/2328015343_d475195e13_o.jpg" width="48" height="42" alt="Birds of southern Africa icon small" /></a> ************************************************************************* The invite will look like this: Chirping image! Please add it to the Birds of Southern Africa group Birds of Southern Africa __________________________ Photo comments You can make use of the following comment footer when commenting on a photo in the Birs of Southern Africa photo pool. Just copy and paste the code below into your message. ************************************************************************* <b>This chirping image was seen in the Birds of Southern Africa pool</b> <b><a href=http://www.flickr.com/groups/birdssa>Birds of Southern Africa</u></a></b> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/francoisdreyer/2328015343/" title="Birds of southern Africa icon small by Francois Dreyer, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3254/2328015343_d475195e13_o.jpg" width="48" height="42" alt="Birds of southern Africa icon small" /></a> ************************************************************************* The comment will look like this: This chirping image was seen in the Birds of Southern Africa pool Birds of Southern Africa