Last fall I had the good fortune to go on a safari in Botswana (it was spring there below the equator) where I saw some beautiful birds. While Botswana does not have any endemic species of birds, it is nonetheless one of Africa’s top birding areas because of its protection of a number of threatened and endangered species. The best season in Botswana for number of species is during the summer months, when the migrants have arrived, but this is not to say that the winter months are a bad birding time. On the contrary, it is easier to find birds during the dry winter months when their movements are restricted to permanent water sources and pools drying to mud with trapped fish and crustaceans. I have arbitrarily separated the smaller and larger birds into separate posts. As a disclaimer, since the stated purpose of the safari was large mammals, it was challenging to get adequate closeup photos of the smaller birds, I have presented what I have.
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