User:Drakenwolf

Hello all, I am a 30-year-old South African who lives in Cape Town, South Africa. I count myself fortunate to live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

About Me This user is a member of WikiProject Birds. This user is a participant in WikiProject Plants. This user uses Google as a primary search engine. This user has been on Wikipedia for 15 years, 1 month and 14 days. This user uses Wikipedia as a primary point of reference. This user maintains a strict policy advising against all personal attacks. This user eats biltong. This user would rather drink tea than coffee. This user supports recycling. This user supports renewable energy. This user supports the use of nuclear power. Driver's licenseThis user has a driver's license. This user enjoys reading fiction. This user enjoys reading non-fiction. I have a Bachelor of Business Administration degree (BBA) from UNISA, majoring in Communications and Business Management. I love wildlife, nature, hiking, working out, reading, gardening, games, hanging out with friends, and good food. I am interested in history (both human and natural) and nature, politics, business and current affairs of the world. I enjoy political satire, especially cartoons by Zapiro. Books I like reading books, both fiction and non-fiction. I greatly enjoy reading on my Kindle Fire. These are my favourite genres: Fiction 1. Fantasy Of this genre, I enjoy Harry Potter, the Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, the stories set in Midkemia by Raymond E. Feist (such as the Riftwar trilogy), the Heritage of Shannara by Terry Brooks, and several others. 2. Mystery/Thriller I really enjoyed Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie.I also enjoy the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz and Barry Eisler's espionage novels starring John Rain. I generally do not enjoy science fiction, but I did very much like Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking series. Non-fiction 1. Science (evolution, zoology, ecology, Green issues, etc) Richard Dawkins's The Ancestor's Tale is an excellent book, if a little heavy with the amount of content. 2. History Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel is another excellent book; it attempts to explain why Eurasian civilizations (in which he includes North Africa) have survived and conquered others, while refuting the assumption that Eurasian hegemony is due to any form of Eurasian intellectual, moral or inherent genetic superiority. Another book of his, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, is another good read, and Diamond's exhortation to the reader is a good one, in my opinion: learn from history. 3. Environmental issues and the Human relationship with nature The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley The God Species by Mark Lynas Whole Earth Discipline by Stewart Brand 3. General knowledge The Internet I also frequent several platforms in addition to Wikipedia such as Reddit, Facebook, and Instagram. I follow several nature-oriented blogs, such as Tetrapod Zoology by Darren Naish, and take part in a couple of forums such as Carnivoraforum. Contributions To Wikipedia Note that the lists below do not necessarily follow any particular order. Creation of Articles I have created the following articles, from most recent to least recent: Protea repens Thamnochortus cinereus Erica nana Erica patersonii Watsonia borbonica Cussonia sphaerocephala Picea critchfieldii Leucospermum reflexum Monkey beetle Trichostetha fascicularis Fauna of South Africa (Work in progress) Protea roupelliae ‎ Aloe broomii Erica verticillata Aloe plicatilis Aloe africana Aloe albida Renosterveld Thamnochortus insignis (the first article I ever created) Major Edits I have contributed to and expanded the following articles: Cheetah Protea cynaroides Red-winged Starling African Fish Eagle Tecoma capensis Springbok Klipspringer African Penguin Carpobrotus edulis (added the In South Africa section) Table Mountain National Park Minor Edits I have made some minor contributions to the following articles: Caracal (Lead section and In culture section) Peregrine Falcon (Current Status section) Cheetah Reintroduction in India (Fixed grammar errors) Blyth's Tragopan (Improved structure of article) Brown Fur Seal Chinkara Common Bulbul Mediterranean climate Grassland (Fauna section) Himalayan Tahr (As an Alien Species section) Eastern Gray Squirrel (Introductions section pertaining to South Africa) Mimetes Pachnoda sinuata Oriental Darter African Darter Marbled reed frog (added distribution map) Wild Horse (added Ecology section and minor restructure of the article) Lanner Falcon (expanded Lead section a little) Pictures I have contributed photographs of my own work to the following articles: Red-winged Starling Acacia sieberiana My Species List I have a keen interest in birds and mammals. For now, I will list the wild birds I have seen: Africa Red-winged Starling Common Starling [Introduced to South Africa] Common Myna [Introduced to South Africa] Pied Starling Cape Glossy Starling Burchell's Starling Greater blue-eared starling Red-billed Oxpecker Olive Thrush Groundscraper Thrush Familiar Chat Cape Robin-chat Ant-eating Chat African Stonechat Mocking Cliff Chat ♀ Karoo Scrub-Robin Cape Grassbird Levaillant's cisticola Grey-backed cisticola Lesser Swamp Warbler Karoo Prinia Cape Bulbul Common Bulbul Terrestrial Brownbul Sombre Greenbul Cape Batis Fiscal Flycatcher African Paradise Flycatcher Ashy flycatcher Cape White-eye Cape Sugarbird Orange-breasted Sunbird Southern Double-collared Sunbird Malachite Sunbird Amethyst Sunbird House Sparrow [Introduced to South Africa] Cape Sparrow Southern Masked Weaver Cape Weaver Sociable Weaver Southern Red Bishop Yellow Bishop White-browed Sparrow-weaver Common Waxbill Swee Waxbill Pin-tailed Whydah Shaft-tailed Whydah Cape Canary Yellow canary Red-billed Firefinch Common Chaffinch [Introduced to Cape Town] Red-billed Quelea Pied Crow White-necked Raven Cape Crow House Crow [Unintentional introduction to South Africa] Hartlaub's babbler Southern Fiscal Magpie Shrike Crimson-breasted Shrike Southern Boubou Bokmakierie Black-crowned Tchagra Fork-tailed Drongo Yellow-throated Longclaw Neddicky Red-breasted Swallow Pearl-breasted Swallow Wire-tailed Swallow Cape Wagtail African Pied Wagtail Emerald-spotted Wood Dove Laughing Dove Red-eyed Dove Lemon Dove Speckled Pigeon African Olive Pigeon Feral Pigeon [Introduced to South Africa] Namaqua Sandgrouse Grey Go-away-bird Knysna Turaco Crested Barbet Black-collared Barbet Lilac-breasted Roller Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Southern Carmine Bee-eater Little Bee-eater White-fronted Bee-eater Spotted Eagle Owl Pel's Fishing Owl Cape Vulture White-backed Vulture Lappet-faced Vulture African Fish Eagle Verreaux's Eagle Martial Eagle Long-crested Eagle Bateleur Eagle (juvenile) African Harrier-Hawk Black-winged Kite Yellow-billed Kite Rock Kestrel Peregrine Falcon Lanner Falcon Secretary Bird Cape Francolin Red-billed Spurfowl Helmeted Guineafowl Crested Guineafowl Egyptian Goose White-faced Whistling Duck Red-billed Teal Cape Shoveler Knob-billed Duck Yellow-billed Duck Mallard [Feral, introduced to South Africa] African Black Swift Alpine Swift Sacred Ibis Glossy Ibis Hadeda Ibis African Spoonbill Hamerkop Grey Heron Black-headed Heron Purple Heron Goliath Heron Striated Heron Squacco Heron Cattle Egret Blue Crane Grey Crowned Crane Greater Flamingo Lesser Flamingo Common Moorhen Red-knobbed Coot Denham's Bustard Kori Bustard Marabou Stork Saddle-billed Stork African Openbill African Penguin King penguin (vagrant to Buffel's Bay beach at Cape Point, 30 Oct 2019) Ostrich Kelp Gull Hartlaub's Gull Grey-headed Gull Common Tern Whiskered Tern African Jacana Spotted Thick-knee Water Thick-knee Pied Avocet African Black Oystercatcher White-fronted Plover Crowned Plover Three-banded Plover Blacksmith Lapwing Fiery-necked Nightjar Striped Kingfisher Pied Kingfisher Malachite Kingfisher Half-collared Kingfisher Giant Kingfisher African Hoopoe Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill Southern Red-billed Hornbill Southern Ground Hornbill African Grey Hornbill Great Crested Grebe Eastern White Pelican White-breasted Cormorant Reed Cormorant Bank Cormorant Cape Cormorant African Darter Speckled Mousebird Red-faced Mousebird White-backed Mousebird TOTAL: 168 species Europe Mallard Mute Swan Rook Great Tit Rock Dove Grey Heron TOTAL: 6 species