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a star is born

May/June 2024

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African Birdlife

It’s every producer’s dream to plan a wildlife television series and pick the right characters before filming.

- SUSAN SCOTT

a star is born

Broadcasting executives think viewers love mammals, cats in particular. But birds? Although they’re so vibrant and interesting, we’re constantly told they don’t make the grade. Yet in 1996 David Attenborough, after much persuasion, managed to get The Life of Birds produced. Viewers loved it because, as Sir David pointed out, ‘everyone likes birds’.

With this in mind, Bonné and I planned to film a bird for an episode of our latest series, Bewonder & Bewaar met Bonné de Bod. Last season it was the African Penguin; this season, the Southern Ground-Hornbill is centre stage. So we set off to meet Dr Lucy Kemp at The Baobab Rearing Centre in Loskop Nature Reserve, Mpumalanga.

المزيد من القصص من African Birdlife

African Birdlife

African Birdlife

Southern SIGHTINGS

MID-JULY TO MID-SEPTEMBER 2025

time to read

2 mins

November/December 2025

African Birdlife

African Birdlife

BLUE CRANE

A symbol of pride and vulnerability

time to read

6 mins

November/December 2025

African Birdlife

African Birdlife

CHAOS AT THE KOM

Between 1 and 3 December 2024 there was a remarkable sardine run off Kommetjie on the Cape Peninsula.

time to read

1 min

November/December 2025

African Birdlife

African Birdlife

Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

Whatever form they take, from peatlands to estuaries, wetlands are critical for the survival of waterbirds, such as the White-winged Flufftail, Maccoa Duck and Grey Crowned Crane. They are highly productive ecosystems that are characterised by diverse and abundant food sources and they provide essential feeding, breeding, migratory and resting habitat for numerous species. iSimangaliso Wetland Park, for example, supports more than 500 bird species.

time to read

1 mins

November/December 2025

African Birdlife

African Birdlife

FRAMING wild feathers

WINNERS OF THE BIRDLIFE SOUTH AFRICA PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION 2025

time to read

4 mins

November/December 2025

African Birdlife

African Birdlife

PITTA PILGRIMAGE

Look there - on that branch, behind those green leaves!’ Crouching in thick forest, with sweat dripping, heart pounding and eyes straining, I frantically searched with my binoculars, trying to work out which branch, which green leaves - indeed, which darned tree? I was close to panicking as we had come so far, and yet I just couldn't see where our guide was pointing.

time to read

4 mins

November/December 2025

African Birdlife

African Birdlife

Unlocking a DIGITAL WORLD of bird stories

For more than 75 years, the South African Bird Ringing Unit (SAFRING), now hosted by the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, has woven together the complex life stories of southern Africa's birds.

time to read

1 mins

November/December 2025

African Birdlife

MIRRORLESS MARVEL

Testing Canon's R1 in the field

time to read

3 mins

November/December 2025

African Birdlife

African Birdlife

Is NECHISAR NIGHTJAR a hybrid?

Vernon Head's award-winning book The Search for the Rarest Bird in the World brought widespread attention to the curious case of the Nechisar Nightjar. In 1992, a dead nightjar was found on a dirt road in Nechisar National Park, southern Ethiopia. A wing was collected and the bird was later described as a new species based on its distinctive large white wing patch. Its scientific name, Caprimulgus solala, attests to the fact that it is known only from a single wing.

time to read

2 mins

November/December 2025

African Birdlife

African Birdlife

a TALL Tail

In the high grass of eastern South Africa, midsummer is when the Long-tailed Widowbird transforms the veld into a stage.

time to read

1 min

November/December 2025

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