Imagine you are birding in one of South Africa’s nature reserves and you hear an unfamiliar call of a bird, which species you know it may belong to. Then with today’s modern technology, you open your Sasol or Roberts’s bird app on your phone and find the species. To confirm your identification, you play the species’ call and—there you go—you guessed it right! But have you ever thought how the bird call appeared on your app, where it was obtained or even how recordings of bird calls have been made over the years?

Ever wondered where the scientific or common name of a bird originated or where a bird species was first found and described? In South Africa, most people who are interested in birds are familiar or grew up with editions such as “Roberts” or other old bird books. Most of the information in such publications, including colour plates and sketches, is obtained from specimens collected in the wild and then curated as museum specimens.

This article explores the relationship between the Greater Honeyguides and humans, as well as cooperation between these birds and Honey Badgers.

Since the early 19^th century collecting bird eggs was a popular hobby for naturalists worldwide. Many private collections were later donated to museums for curation.  Egg collecting and the study of eggs is known as oology which is one aspect of ornithological research. Egg collectors mostly collect eggs from birds’ nests for their own private collections.