PUTTING 'COMMUNITY' INTO COMMUNITY BIRD GUIDES

On the face of it, the Community Bird Guide Project is about training bird guides. However, the footprint of this long-running project is much bigger than that.

listing FOR Conservation

Most birders keep some sort of a list. Some don't, but this is the South Africa Listers' Club column so if you're reading this, let's assume that you do.

penguins breeding AT DE HOOP

Seven years after work began to re-establish an African Penguin breeding colony at De Hoop Nature Reserve, a pair of chicks has been observed at a nest at the colony.

MIDDELPUNT a new nature reserve

The White-winged Flufftail is listed as globally Critically Endangered, with an estimated population of fewer than 250 mature individuals.

flock with us!

Flock to Wilderness 24–28 May 2023

twitter FEED

My husband and I were busy in the garden when we heard a commotion. The thrushes had been aggressively defending their terri­tory for the past couple of days, chasing away doves, pigeons and even parakeets.

CANON R7 CAMERA

Premium performance at a reasonable price

take a hike

Birding the Pondo Trail

take cover

You don’t have to be crazy, but it helps…

just wait...

Photographer, author and naturalist Hugh Chittenden is one of southern Africa’s most respected field biologists.

martial law

‘Look at those two vultures,’ said my wife Petra, after noticing something flying towards us. We were at the Kwang waterhole on 19 September 2022, during our visit to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

show & tell

African Broadbill display

sightings IN THE SUBREGION

Mid-September to mid-November 2022

cryptic conundrun

Can you rise to the challenge and identify this African bird species? Consider all the likely variables and then test yourself – it’s not always as easy as it looks! If you enter and your identification is correct, you stand in line to win a pair of binoculars that will help take your birding to the next level…

DDT dangers

Global monitoring in raptors

duck OR dive

Predator-avoidance tactics

synthetic fibre blues

The penduline-tits (Remizidae) are a small family of 11 species in three genera allied to the true tits (Paridae). Most species construct intricately woven nests that are suspended from branches, which explains their common name.

Príncipe Scops Owl

In July 2016, the presence of a scops owl was confirmed on Príncipe, the smaller of the two islands that comprise the tiny island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe in the Gulf of Guinea (African Birdlife 5(1): 10).

cause &effect

Drop in Lesser Kestrel numbers

change your tune

Coping with noisy neighbours

contact tracing

Feather lice transmission between seabirds

adapt-a-bill

Yet more cryptic prions

Thermal BUFFER

Forest birds reveal their physiological secrets

Dancers IN THE desert

The return of Ostriches to the Sahara

Killer moves

After two years of being prevented from visiting Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana because of the pandemic, we were excited to return to this magical wilderness in the first week of December 2021.

Wetland wonder

ABOUT 200 KILOMETRES north of Johannesburg and straddling the floodplain of the Nyl River, Nylsvley Nature Reserve is a much-visited birding destination in Limpopo Province.

Paradise found?

Searching for Taita Falcons in Niassa Special Reserve

Trogon travails

The trials of nesting Narinas

Reno rip-off

It is always fascinating to witness the skill with which Southern Masked Weavers go about building their nests.

DE HOOP ror penguins

For the past five years, BirdLife South Africa has been working to re-establish an African Penguin colony at De Hoop Nature Reserve.