PAOC AT VICTORIA FALLS

No fewer than 13 staff members of BirdLife South Africa travelled to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, to attend the 15th Pan African Ornithological Congress (PAOC) from 21 to 25 November 2022.

Image Conscious

How photographs benefit birders

Challenge Accepted

Photographing swallows in flight

Hatch & Dispatch

Diederik Cuckoo breeding strategy

WHERE AND WHEN TO go?

Questions for nomadic birds

Beneath THE canopys

The Congo's Odzala-Kokoua National Park

Chasing Rainbows

In pursuit of the African Pittal

Serendipity

Embracing the Patagonia Picnic Table Effect

GOING ALL OUT

A really big birding year

Sightings IN THE SUBREGION

Midsummer produced a wealth of good and entertaining birding and some mouth-watering specials that had twitchers dropping everything to rush off and see them.

THE winds OF change

The start of 2023 saw two major changes at the Fitz.

EXPLOSIVE SPECIATION

The rapid radiation of white-eyes

FOLLOW THAT SHIP

Albatrosses refine their ship-following behaviour

A pillar of conservation

Ntsikeni Nature Reserve

A bird of the forest Cape Parrot

With the announcement of the Cape Parrot Poicephalus robustus as BirdLife South Africa’s Bird of the Year 2023, there was great excitement that the country’s only endemic parrot was finally getting the recognition it deserves.

guts&gory

One might not slow down for a Lilac-breasted Roller in the Kruger Park any more, but a Martial Eagle gets a full stop. Let’s face it, there is something arresting about raptors, beyond their talons and mastery of flight.

showcase

We receive remarkable images on a regular basis, but are not always able to find space for them in our pages. So because we would like to share them with you, we have decided to display some of the best that we receive.

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.

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

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…

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).

change your tune

Coping with noisy neighbours

contact tracing

Feather lice transmission between seabirds

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.