When I started my journey into bird photography over a decade ago, I focused most of my weekly efforts in Gauteng and the neighbouring provinces. The best thing I did in those early days was to buy a copy of Birding Gauteng by Marais and Peacock. This book gave me the knowledge and confidence to explore new areas and find many of the exciting birds on offer.
What gripped me immediately was the chapter on Zaagkuildriftto KgomoKgomo. I had never heard of Dwarf Bitterns, Lesser Moorhens, Allen’s Gallinules or Striped, African, Spotted and Baillon’s crakes and the many other specials that arrive in this area when it is in flood. I was so excited about the prospect of the route that I started to explore it well before the conditions were ideal. Even without the flooded grassland/ wetland ‘specials’, this location soon became one of my favourite weekend birding outings. After a couple of years, I finally got to experience the location at its best and, without a doubt, it was worth the wait.
Eleven years later and I can comfortably say that I know the route extremely well and have learnt not only where to find the special bird species, but also how to approach the area from a photographic perspective.
Esta historia es de la edición September/October 2021 de African Birdlife.
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Esta historia es de la edición September/October 2021 de African Birdlife.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
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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.
