About DaleForbes

I have always felt at home in nature. She has always been there for me. I started birdwatching as a young kid. Then got in to ornithology. Then more conservation biology. I grew as a birder, loving it more with every day.

I now work for Swarovski Optik making awesome toys for birders (product/marketing manager) and am an obsessed digiscoper. My inability to look at birds as a collection of specific ID features, seems to be a downfall which means I will never be a great birder. But I really do love it.

Dale also writes a regular post at 10,000 Birds every second Tuesday.

The stunning Javan Pond Heron

Gulls do not excite me. I am slowly starting to develop an addiction to waders, but Pond Herons, they really do it for me. I am a late-comer to Pond […]

Alex Vargas joins BirdingBlogs.com

Alex Vargas’ photos always really stood out to me on facebook. And over the years I have spent more and more time exploring his various galleries to see what he […]

A Bird Photo Hide in Thailand (part 1)

Thailand offers a rich splendour of wildlife and birding opportunities and Kaeng Krachan National Park (แก่งกระจาน) is one of its absolute greatest. Bird photographer and ex-bird guide Alex Vargas very […]

The 50 best birds in Africa (part 1)

Africa has tons of great birds to offer, from the reclusive Grey-necked Rockfowl, to the super-DIY Weavers, and the powerful and enigmatic Martial Eagle. But what qualifies a bird to […]

South Africa’s 8 Vultures

South Africa has 8 regularly occurring and breeding vulture species, from the southern African endemic Cape Griffon Vulture (Gyps coprotheres), to the wide-spread and wide-ranging African White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus). […]

Pilansberg National Park, South Africa

Pilansberg Game Reserve (and National Park) lies just 1.5-2hrs drive west of Johannesburg/Pretoria and has received some measure of fame through the bordering Sun City and Lost City (luxury casino, […]

Reed Cormorant in Spain

Spain’s only record of the Pygmy Cormorant (Microcarbo pygmaeus) is from a single cormorant collected in Catalunya in 1855, with no known records since. The large numbers of Pygmy Cormorants […]

A Drakensberg Good-morning

The Drakensberg is a mountain range stretching some 1000km along the eastern side of South Africa, with its highest peaks being 3,482 metres (11,424 ft) above sea level. On our way up […]

South African Shrikes

South Africa has 21 regularly occurring shrike species; including 3 skulking Tchagras, 6 colourful Bush-shrikes and 2 vociferous hoodlum Helmet-shrikes. The boldest of them all have got to be the […]

We’re going to South Africa!

My boet (brother) is getting married so we are going down to South Africa for 10 days; and I am really looking forward to being in Africa again. I love […]

Charlie Moores joins birdingblogs.com

That’s right, the incredibly brilliant Charlie Moores is to join our humble ranks. Charlie started “Charlie’s Bird Blog” in 2004 and quickly made a name for himself in the bird […]

Super-rare Amsterdam Albatross a new species

The Amsterdam (Island) Albatross Diomedea amsterdamensis was first described in 1983 – breeding on only one Indian Ocean island, Amsterdam Island – and its identity and taxonomic relationships have been […]