Some opportunistic birds in the arid Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park have learnt to take advantage of other birds congregating at waterholes.
During a visit to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in 2016 I paid little attention to a Cape Crow pacing the rockery at the 13th waterhole. Red-headed Finches flocked to the water, darting over the crow’s head. Then the corvid snapped at a finch in close proximity. This piqued my interest and I watched as the finches swirled past in another swoop. The crow lunged, scattering the finches. A second crow joined the first and together they made half-hearted leaps in their attempts to capture the finches; between these efforts they bowed and gurgled to each other in a strangely tender display.
That morning both crows caught two birds. They leapt up, often vertically, and seized the small, fluttering finches around the neck, but neither crow appeared to be doing anything more than chasing the finches from the waterhole. I was attempting to photograph the crows’ acrobatic manoeuvres and my finger was already on the shutter when one of the crows darted sideways. I held the camera shutter down, hoping I’d get a half-decent action shot, and only realised what had occurred when the crow pinned the finch down and began plucking it.
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Esta historia es de la edición March - April 2017 de African Birdlife.
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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.
