Animals-and-Pets
African Birdlife
Burning issue
KYALAMI’S GRASS OWLS
7 min |
November/December 2021
African Birdlife
Twitter Feed
The aloes flowering in our garden have proved to be a popular attraction for the many birds on the wildlife estate in which we live. We planted the aloes specifically to attract birds and the fact that they are waterwise is an added bonus, especially in the dry winter months here in the Lowveld.
2 min |
September/October 2021
African Birdlife
Freeze Frame
I derive great pleasure from being able to share the beauty of the natural world as seen through my lens. As long as I can remember I have loved the outdoors, but it was only in 2015 that I became truly passionate about wildlife photography. I enjoy spending as much time as I can in the bush and over the years I have visited many of the great national parks in southern Africa. Animal and bird behaviour fascinates me and I often try to capture an image that tells a story.
2 min |
September/October 2021
African Birdlife
Living In Luangwa
Zambia’s South Luangwa national park is well known in safari circles for its stunning scenery and abundance of big game. Herds of elephants drink and bathe along the riverbanks, giraffes feed from acacias in the riparian strip and lions pursue vast, dusty buffalo herds through the thickets.
9 min |
September/October 2021
African Birdlife
Specials Overload
Photographing birds between Zaagkuildrift and Kgomo-Kgomo
6 min |
September/October 2021
African Birdlife
Owl Awards 2021
BirdLife South Africa presents worthy recipients with Owl Awards in recognition of their outstanding efforts to help ‘give conservation wings’.
6 min |
September/October 2021
African Birdlife
Sightings In The Subregion
Winter is never an optimal time from a rarities point of view, but in the past some of our most exciting ‘finds’ have occurred during this season. The latest review period was no different, producing a mega first bird for the subregion as well as several other good species to keep twitchers entertained.
3 min |
September/October 2021
African Birdlife
The Enigma Buzzard
The late Leslie Brown, doyen of African raptorphiles, remarks in his African Birds of Prey (1970) that he found the status of the European Honey Buzzard in Africa puzzling. In his own experience he never saw one in Kenya during his 25 years’ residence there. He correctly surmised that birds from Western Europe disappeared into the forests of West Africa and the Congo Basin. This has been recently authenticated by several birds from Germany being tracked with telemetry. But what about the eastern population that crosses into Africa via Eilat? For example, in May 2015 as many as 450 000 individuals were recorded in two days. Any birds seen in southern Africa would be derived from this source.
4 min |
September/October 2021
African Birdlife
Hope For Penguins
The De Hoop Nature Reserve on the south-western coast of South Africa is one of CapeNature’s flagship conservation areas. The associated marine protected area is home to a vast array of marine species, from whales to fish and turtles. And for a short time in the mid-2000s it was home to African Penguins too. A small colony established itself there naturally and was first found on a small headland on the eastern side of the reserve in 2003. Increasing to 18 breeding pairs by 2006, with about 100 other penguins roosting there regularly, the colony seemed off to a promising start. However, penguins are particularly vulnerable to predators when on land. A local caracal soon learnt that there were easy meals to be had and the colony was abandoned by 2008.
4 min |
September/October 2021
African Birdlife
Journey To The End Of The Earth
After being thrown from my bed for the third time, I decided to get up and find a vantage point to better enjoy the storm. As I walked down the swaying corridor and up the stairs with the gait of a drunken sailor, I began to reconsider my decision to go outside. It was a doubt quickly stubbed as I jumped through the heavy metal door leading outside moments before it smashed closed behind me with a deep roll of the ship.
5 min |
September/October 2021
African Birdlife
Birding MBOMBELA
The heart of the Lowveld
8 min |
September/October 2021
African Birdlife
Give & Take
The quest for ascendency on the predatory ladder
6 min |
July/August 2021
African Birdlife
Montagu's Harriers Hunting In The KNP
Montagu’s Harriers hunting in the KNP
1 min |
July/August 2021
African Birdlife
Feather Light
Leucistic White-fronted Plover – or is it?
4 min |
July/August 2021
African Birdlife
Secret Success
South African Shelduck
5 min |
July/August 2021
African Birdlife
Altogether Now!
Living in groups makes you clever
3 min |
July/August 2021
African Birdlife
Hidden Pleasure
Birding the Baviaanskloof
8 min |
July/August 2021
African Birdlife
Birds To Watch
American Cliff Swallow
3 min |
July/August 2021
African Birdlife
Home & Away
COVID-19 WREAKED havoc worldwide and no more so than in the travel industry, where I make my living.
2 min |
July/August 2021
African Birdlife
Ice And Memory
Peregrine Falcon migration
2 min |
July/August 2021
African Birdlife
rara avis
It’s a blustery day at Rondevlei outside Cape Town and a few hardy bird club members have come for the monthly bird outing. Peter Steyn has been birding since before the reserve was founded in 1952, yet he still returns and is as enthusiastic about seeing a Little Bittern skid across the water in front of us as the woman next to me, for whom it is a lifer. Later, as I register an African Spoonbill on my atlas checklist, Peter and I discuss his 1957 record of the first breeding colony of spoonbills in the Western Cape.
6 min |
July/August 2021
African Birdlife
Home Invader
Diederik Cuckoo
6 min |
May/June 2021
African Birdlife
Jackpot Birding
Observing Striped Crakes
4 min |
May/June 2021
African Birdlife
Mixed Messages
Deciphering South Africa’s first Crested Honey Buzzard
6 min |
May/June 2021
African Birdlife
It's A Calling
Warwick Tarboton is a true naturalist and respected as one of the country’s foremost natural history authors and bird photographers. There is little doubt that he has influenced many people to take their interest in birds in particular to the next level.
9 min |
May/June 2021
African Birdlife
The Birds And The Beast
Addo’s bird/mammal associations
6 min |
May/June 2021
African Birdlife
Sightings In The Subregion: Mid-January To Mid-March 2021
After a midsummer that was so busy with rarities, one might have thought that things would calm down somewhat, but the later part of the season continued to deliver a dazzling list of mouthwatering records. Twitchers were kept fully entertained and on their toes!
8 min |
May/June 2021
African Birdlife
Juvenile African Cuckoo Diet
Juvenile African Cuckoo Diet
2 min |
May/June 2021
African Birdlife
Redefining Plett Rage
The call I received from my friend Alastair at 06h00 on a Friday at the start of our year-end holiday was inevitable during the advancing second wave of Covid-19 cases, but it was one I had hoped to avoid. His entire family had just tested positive for the virus and we had just given his son, Alec, a lift from Cape Town to Plettenberg Bay to join us for a few days of holiday. Alec qualified uncomfortably as a close contact, having spent eight hours in the car with us and then slept in the same dorm room as all my kids for two nights.
6 min |
May/June 2021
African Birdlife
A Wahlberg's Summer
Wahlberg’s Eagles have always been close to my heart and when the opportunity arose to photograph a breeding pair at the nest, I grabbed it with both hands. It all started when Marius, my future son-in-law, told me early in 2019 about an eagle’s nest in a thorn tree near the Sand River on the farm where he lives in Limpopo. He sent me a photograph of the two eagles at the nest and I immediately recognised them as a pair of Wahlberg’s. To add to my excitement, one of them was a pale morph.
7 min |