In November we set offon a great ad-venture to Liuwa in remote western Zambia, just as the first summer rains were due. Liuwa is sandwiched between the Zambezi and Luanginga rivers in Barotseland. The soil is sandy and inundated with floodwaters and, if you time it right, it’s a birding paradise with seasonal pools of water and soil bursting with pink lilies. Collared Pratincoles flock in their thousands, while Wattled and Grey Crowned cranes decorate the grasslands. We knew we’d see some of the 45 000 wildebeest for which Liuwa is renowned, we expected to run into the packs of daytime-hunting hyaenas and we hoped to at least glimpse the last of Liuwa’s lions, Lady Liuwa.
What we did not expect to see was a protracted battle between the most unlikely of combatants, a Western Barn Owl Tyto alba and four Red-necked Falcons Falco chicquera.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der May - June 2017-Ausgabe von African Birdlife.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der May - June 2017-Ausgabe von African Birdlife.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
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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
How photographing birds helps me face adversity
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.
