Welcome to the African Bird Image Database (AFBID).
This is a photographic database which has been developed by the African Bird Club (ABC) in collaboration with Bird Explorers and Birding Africa and managed by ABC since 2005.
AFBID now contains over 25,000 freely available images of more than 2,300 bird species.
Taxonomy and nomenclature follow the IOC World Bird List.
The database was created to bring together high-quality photos taken in mainland Africa and related islands of as many bird species as possible, in a concerted effort to raise awareness and promote the conservation of the colourful and varied birdlife of the ABC region. It was designed with a simple interface that allows photographers to easily upload their images and users to search the collection by keyword or category, peruse the latest photos, browse by species and check out those not yet represented on the database.
You can also register as a photographer, after which you will be able to upload your own photos to AFBID.
Images up to 1024kb can be added and displayed at a maximum of 800 x 600 pixels.
Terms of Use
ABC has the final decision on the inclusion of images in AFBID and on the identification of bird species, as well as the right to delete older images from the database as newer and higher-quality images become available. We must therefore validate your photos before these can be exhibited on the database.
All photos must be of genuinely wild birds and taken in the ABC region. We may at our discretion include photos of birds held in the hand if they have been trapped using recognised, approved methods by a qualified bird ringer. We will not include photos taken outside the ABC region, from zoos or other collections or where we feel that the bird has been caught illegally or harmed in some way.
All the images in the database have been provided by photographers free of charge but they retain the copyright to their images, so if you wish to use these for any purpose you must obtain their permission first.
Photographers’ names and email addresses are listed here in alphabetical order.
Email us at afbid@africanbirdclub.org if you have difficulties using the database or suggestions for improving it, as well as if you need help with adding text to, editing or uploading your photos.
Acknowledgments
ABC would like to thank all the photographers without whose contributions the database would not have been possible.
Kevin Vang and Wojciech Dabrowka of Bird Explorers had the original idea for an African bird image database and have given significant time and resources towards the development of AFBID, which would not exist without their foresight.
The technical work of development and maintenance has been carried out by Tran Corp Online Services since 2008.