adapt & dive

Penguin evolution and conservation

Gone, but Not Forgotten

Finding the Laughing Gull

Follow your leader

Male Caspian Tern parents lead the way

Rest & recover

The diverse functions of stopovers for migrants

The Great Divide

Birding the Swartberg Pass

Gough Island Blues

It was 14 December 2021 and I was feeling pretty good.

Outward Bound

Maputo National Park, Mozambique

Team Work

Cape Gannets eat a diversity of fish and the occasional squid and also scavenge from trawlers.

Conserving Forest Birds

The benefits of protected area status

Blindsided

Adventures in a floating hide

Breaking Point

Widespread decline of Kenya's raptors

TOO SOON TO panic

Are false-alarm flights beneficial?

the other ANGOLA

Atlasing in the Eastern Cape

SEEING THE WOOD FOR THE TREES

Widespread responses of birds to woody encroachment

pride of place

Mauritius Kestrel designated official national bird

ocean wanderers

A collection of seabird images, brought to you by MSC Cruises, to celebrate some of the special species seen on the Flock to Marion voyage.

Sightings in the Subregion

Mid-November 2021 to mid-January 2022 -Summer delivered some top-shelf birds and fortunately a number of the best ones stayed sufficiently long to be twitchable for many birders throughout the region.

Spread-eagled

Brown Snake Eagle’s epic tussle

On track

The Bar-tailed Godwit is re-nowned for having one of the most extreme migrations, flying non-stop from Alaska to winter in New Zealand.

Spectacular!

The recovery of the Spectacled Petrel population

Field of Dreams

Harriers quartering the Devon grasslands

Strike Force

Gannets are supremely adapted for plunge-diving. They lack external nostrils and have air sacs under their skin to cushion the impact of striking the water.

The Eyes Have It

Iris coloration in birds (particularly passerines) is a topic that has intrigued me ever since I started observing the behaviour of different starling species.

The Young & the Restless Peregrine Falcons

It is 04h30 and I am woken from fitful sleep by a clamour of screeching, seemingly right next to my head. It takes a second for me to orientate myself and process what is happening. I am sleeping on a lumpy fold-out chair on the fifth floor of the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital in Rondebosch, Cape Town, and I realise that about a metre above my head is one of the breeding boxes for the hospital’s well known Peregrine Falcons. The juveniles are up early and in a demanding mood.

With This Ring... The Birding Ties That Bind

Most tales that involve a convoluted plot with unlikely twists and turns and a contrived ending are usually found in a Jane Harper novel or an M. Night Shyamalan movie, but this one is real and involves two Russian Western Ospreys.

Tern Around

"The Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, established in 1939, forms a key component of the Table Mountain National Park."

Free for All

"In august 2020 the results of the critical vulture nesting survey held annually in Zululand, northern KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), were sobering."

Clear and Present Dangers

"Like many seabirds, Cape Gan-nets breed only on offshore is-lands, where they are safe from terrestrial predators."

Throwing shade

The challenges of photographing in a forest

Twitter FEED

August sees the greatest flurry of birds at our feeders.