Violet-eared Waxbill
The violet-eared waxbill or common grenadier (Granatina granatina) is a common species of estrildid finch found in drier land of Southern Africa. == Taxonomy == The violet-eared waxbill was formally described in 1766 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Fringilla granatina. Linnaeus took the specific epithet from the earlier description by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson who in 1760 had used the French name Le Grenadin and the Latin Granatinus, meaning "grenadier" in English. Linnaeus mistakenly specified the locality as Brazil. This was an error originally introduced by the English naturalist George Edwards in 1743 who had believed that his specimen had come from Brazil. The locality was amended to Angola by William Lutley Sclater in 1930 and restricted to Huíla Province in Angola by Phillip Clancey in 1959. The violet-eared waxbill is now placed in the genus Granatina that was introduced in 1890 by the English ornithologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe. The species is treated as monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. == Habitat == It is found in subtropical/ tropical (lowland) dry shrubland and savanna habitats in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The…
Nxai Pan National Park
Botswana
+83 birds+19 mammals
Where acacia woodland gives way to sweeping grasslands and stark salt pans, a landscape of raw African beauty unfolds across […]
VIEW NATIONAL PARKPilanesberg National Park
Moses Kotane Local Municipality, South Africa
+130 birds+30 mammals
Where ancient volcanic calderas rise above the surrounding lowveld, a 734-square-kilometre sanctuary unfolds across the North West Province of South […]
VIEW NATIONAL PARKMokala National Park
Siyancuma Local Municipality, South Africa
+123 birds+30 mammals
Where semi-arid savanna meets ancient granite outcrops, a 715-square-kilometre wilderness unfolds across the Northern Cape’s undulating terrain. Mokala’s landscape is […]
VIEW NATIONAL PARKMarakele National Park
Modimolle Local Municipality, South Africa
+122 birds+30 mammals
Where granite gorges slice through the bushveld and ancient mountains rise in weathered majesty, southern Africa’s most underrated wilderness unfolds […]
VIEW NATIONAL PARKWaterberg Plateau National Park
Okambukonde, Namibia
+124 birds+31 mammals
Where ancient sandstone cliffs rise 200 metres above the surrounding bushveld, a fortress of geology creates one of southern Africa’s […]
VIEW NATIONAL PARKMakgadikgadi Pans National Park
Gucta, Botswana
+107 birds+22 mammals
Where salt-crusted flatlands stretch endlessly toward a shimmering horizon, one of Africa’s most extraordinary ecosystems awakens with the rains. The […]
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