Most Beautiful Birds of Africa: 10 Stunning Species That Will Take Your Breath Away

Africa, after South America, has the highest number of bird species of any continent, and the number of these wonderfully dramatic-looking creatures is astonishing. Electric blues, molten oranges, feathers that catch the light like glass — these are not birds you look at once and move past. Here are 10 of Africa's most beautiful birds and the reasons why each one is worth stopping for. For beginner birders, East Africa offers the most accessible starting point.

If you've ever looked through pictures of African safaris, then you've probably seen this bird without knowing what it is. The lilac-breasted roller has at least eight different colors on its body—turquoise wings, a lilac throat, an olive-green crown, and a tail that flashes deep blue in flight. Photographers pursue it, not least because it sits out in the open, on fence posts and bare branches, as if it knows it's being watched. It is found throughout East and Southern Africa, from the savannas of Kenya to the Kruger region of South Africa.

The grey crowned crane crowns itself with stiff golden feathers, which fan out like a halo; a white patch on the face; and a red throat pouch. It's not a subtle one. The pairs perform a complex courtship dance of bowing, jumping, and wing-flapping that seems more choreographed than instinctive. Uganda adopted it as part of its national flag, and healthy populations still exist in wetlands across east and southern Africa, although numbers have declined as a result of habitat loss.

Most red feathers in nature contain pigments called carotenoids that come from the diet. The violet turaco is one of the few exceptions, with red flight feathers containing a copper-based pigment called turacin, found almost nowhere else in the bird world. Add a glossy violet-blue body and a bright red bill and you've got a bird that looks almost unreal in the West African rainforest canopy.

Carmine bee-eaters nest colonially, sometimes in the thousands, burrowing into sandy riverbanks. All at once a departing colony turns the sky into a moving wash of pink, red, and turquoise. That's not all showy: the bright plumage assists flocks in recognizing one another in flight at speed. Zambia's Luangwa Valley and Botswana's Okavango region are two of the best and most reliable places to see a colony in action.

Don't be fooled by the name; this is no exaggeration—the superb starling well deserves it. It has iridescent blue-green upperparts, a chestnut belly, and a prominent white breast band, making it one of the most eye-catching birds across the savannas of Kenya and Tanzania. You can often spot them near lodges and campsites, so if you've been on safari in East Africa, it's likely that one hopped by your breakfast table without you realizing its significance.

Africa has no hummingbirds, but sunbirds fulfill a similar niche, and the scarlet-chested sunbird is one of the most spectacular. The male has metallic green on the crown, black on the body, and a patch of pure, saturated red on the chest. They eat nectar, using a thin curved bill, hovering briefly at flowers like a hummingbird would, but usually they perch to feed rather than hovering for long. They are found in gardens, at the edges of forests, and in savanna woodlands throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

The secretarybird is tall and long-legged with black quill-like crest feathers that look like pens stuck behind an ear—hence the name—and looks more like a cartoon than a real animal. It is a foot hunter, stamping snakes and rodents to death with surprisingly powerful kicks. Its unique silhouette and grassland habitat across sub-Saharan Africa have made it a symbol on several national coats of arms, including those of Sudan and South Africa.

Sometimes, hundreds of thousands of lesser flamingos live in Kenya's soda lakes, especially Lake Nakuru and Lake Bogoria, and from a distance, the shoreline is painted in deep pink. They obtain their color directly from the algae and crustaceans that they filter-feed on; captive flamingos that don't get that diet gradually fade to white. The lesser flamingo is the smallest and most numerous of the African species of flamingo, and their synchronized feeding and flying are as dramatic as their color.

It's not what people typically consider "beautiful," but that's exactly why the shoebill deserves a spot on this list. It stands nearly five feet tall, with a massive bill shaped like a clog and an unblinking stare, as if it had stepped out of the Pleistocene. The bird is found in the swamps of Uganda, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It hunts by standing motionless for hours before striking at lungfish and even small crocodiles. Birders come to the Mabamba Swamp in Uganda specifically for a chance to see one.

The malachite kingfisher is only five inches long and easy to miss until it moves. Its back and wings are a deep turquoise-blue, contrasting with a rust-orange breast and a bright red bill and legs. It lurks low over rivers and ponds in sub-Saharan Africa, plunging headlong for small fish at a rate that makes it difficult to photograph with a slow shutter.

East Africa is the easiest place for the beginner birder to get started. Most of the species on this list you can cover in a single trip to Kenya's Lake Nakuru, Tanzania's Serengeti, and the wetlands in Uganda. Large numbers of carmine bee-eaters and rollers grace the Okavango Delta and Kruger National Park of southern Africa. If you want to see rarer birds like the shoebill or violet turaco, you'll need to take a more directed trip to a specific swamp or rainforest habitat—they're not animals you're likely to stumble across on a general safari route.

You don't need to go to remote reserves to see Africa's most beautiful birds—many of them can be seen around lodges, wetlands, and even city gardens if you know where to look. Start with the common and easy-to-see lilac-breasted roller and superb starling and work your way up to rarities such as the shoebill as you go.