With the additional promise of outstanding leopard sightings, it’s little wonder that the megafauna have dominated the headlines.
Zambia’s south luangwa national park
The Luangwa Valley’s birdlife more than matches up to the mammal headliners – abundant in both number and diversity and offering year-round interest. But the area is often overlooked by serious birders, perhaps due to the absence of endemic species, and the mammals continue to hog the limelight. Indeed, when I moved to Zambia, my eyes were firmly fixed on the prospect of close encounters with the big mammals that had filled my dreams as a child. What I discovered was not only the ‘safari’ experience that I had hoped for, but also a large and intact ecosystem where all the niches are filled and the web of interdependency is clear to observe. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the rich diversity of Luangwa’s avian world. Birding had always been part of my life growing up in rural England, but the abundance and availability of birds in the tropics was something new and exciting for me.
I have been very fortunate to live year-round in ‘the Valley’ for the past 12 years. During this time I have seen the seasons come and go and I’ve come to understand the impact and importance of the Luangwa River for the health of the ecosystem. It is one of Africa’s longest free-flowing waterways and this un-dammed state allows for massive changes in the water level across the seasons. While the 10-metre vertical change in level poses some problems for those of us living on the river’s banks, the annual flood is crucial to the area’s wildlife, especially its birds.
この記事は African Birdlife の September/October 2021 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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この記事は African Birdlife の September/October 2021 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
EXPLORING NEW HORIZONS
Keith Barnes, co-author of the new Field Guide to Birds of Greater Southern Africa, chats about the long-neglected birding regions just north of the Kunene and Zambezi, getting back to watching birds and the vulture that changed his life.
footloose IN FYNBOS
The Walker Bay Diversity Trail is a leisurely hike with a multitude of flowers, feathers and flavours along the way.
Living forwards
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CAPE crusade
The Cape Bird Club/City of Cape Town Birding Big Year Challenge
water & WINGS
WATER IS LIFE. As wildlife photographer Greg du Toit knows better than most.
winter wanderer
as summer becomes a memory in the south, the skies are a little quieter as the migrants have returned to the warming north. But one bird endemic to the southern African region takes its own little winter journey.
when perfect isn't enough
Egg signatures and forgeries in the cuckoo-drongo arms race
Southern SIGHTINGS
The late summer period naturally started quietening down after the midsummer excitement, but there were still some classy rarities on offer for birders all over the subregion. As always, none of the records included here have been adjudicated by any of the subregion's Rarities Committees.
flood impact on wetland birds
One of the features of a warming planet is increasingly erratic rainfall; years of drought followed by devastating floods. Fortunately, many waterbirds are pre-adapted to cope with such extremes, especially in southern Africa where they have evolved to exploit episodic rainfall events in semi-arid and arid regions. But how do waterbirds respond to floods in areas where rainfall - and access to water - is more predictable? Peter Ryan explores the consequences of recent floods on the birds of the Western Cape's Olifants River valley.
a star is born
It’s every producer’s dream to plan a wildlife television series and pick the right characters before filming.
