About Ursula Franke-Bryson

Ursula Franke-Bryson found her passion in ringing birds. Her teachers Steven Piper and Kobie Raijmakers peaked her interest for research into birds' moult strategies. Together with her husband she is collecting data to support research on birds throughout southern Africa. Her 500th species ringed: Bar-winged Weaver.

Sparrow Hybrids

By |2020-05-16T15:20:00+02:00May 11th, 2016|Birds, Identification, Illustration|

How common is hybridization really? Probably more common than you think. Some estimates suggest that at least 9% of all bird species have interbred in the wild. A case-in-point is this apparent male hybrid between a Great Sparrow and Cape Sparrow that Ursula Franke-Bryson ringed in Namibia. I hope that this short guest blog from Ursula will entice birders to keep an eye open for the unusual – even with birds as everyday as sparrows!

Swifter than Swifts: Eurasian Hobby

By |2020-05-16T15:20:00+02:00May 10th, 2016|Birds, Migration|

The swift and fearsome Eurasian Hobby migrates south from Eurasia into Africa, while its dragonfly prey, the Globe Skimmer, migrates across the Indian Ocean with the monsoon winds. These two species meet in Namibia, where ringer Ursula Franke-Bryson had an incredible encounter. In this guest post, Ursula highlights the distribution, migration, food and feeding strategies of this astonishing little falcon.

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