8. The Kingfishers



Stork-billed Kingfishers eat mainly fish, using their large heavy bills effectively to catch and kill their prey. From their perch, usually about 2-4 m. above the water, they will plunge into the water. They also eat crabs, insects, frogs, mice, lizards, and birds, along with their eggs. Prey is brought back and whacked senseless against the perch.
 
They usually hunt near freshwater and along coasts and mangroves, particularly in habitats with suitable perches. Unlike the Collared, Stork-billed Kingfishers are rarely found near urban areas.

10. The Northern Cardinal



The male Northern Cardinal may be responsible for getting more people to open up a field guide than any other bird. They're a perfect combination of familiarity, conspicuousness, and style: a shade of red you can't take your eyes off. Even the brown females sport a sharp crest and warm red accents. Cardinals don't migrate and they don't molt into a dull plumage, so they're still breathtaking in winter's snowy backyards. In summer, their sweet whistles are one of the first sounds of the morning.

12. The African Crowned Crane



The Grey Crowned Crane (Balearica regulorum) is a bird in the crane family Gruidae. It inhabits the dry African savannah south of the Sahara, although it nests in somewhat wetter habitats. They can also be found in marshes, cultivated areas and grassy flatlands near rivers and lakes from eastern Uganda and Kenya to South Africa. This animal does not migrate. There are two subspecies. The East African B. r. gibbericeps (Crested Crane) can be found from the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo through Uganda, where it is the national bird, and from Kenya to eastern South Africa. It has a larger area of bare red facial skin above the white patch than the smaller nominate species, B. r. regulorum (South African Crowned Crane), which breeds from Angola down to South Africa.

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