What got you started in birding? I was born in the area behind Moria, the Zionist Christian Church (ZCC) in Limpopo, but I grew up in Magoebaskloof and went to Appel Farm School and ZCC Secondary School. When I left school, I trained as a petrol and diesel mechanic, but work was hard to find and I didn’t like the big city, so I took a job as a pottery assistant in Magoebaskloof in 1996. My employer gave me the task of feeding the birds that came to her feeder. When I began asking questions about them, she gave me a gift, a Roberts bird book. At first I found birding a little boring on my own, so I started little bird clubs at local schools – the learners really enjoyed it.
I began reading bird magazines and joined a bird club in Tzaneen as well as the environmental club in Haenertsburg. They had a talk about Blue Swallows by Steven Evans, then manager of the Blue Swallows Working Group, and he was fascinated to see a young black guy among all these senior citizens! He invited me to join him on a visit to a grassland the next morning, but I couldn’t because I didn’t have transport to get there at 5am, so some club members very kindly came to pick me up. Between 1998 and 2002 Steven and I remained in contact and he realised that I was seeing special birds in the area, so he started sending birders to me because there were no guides there. He then put my name forward for bird guide training at Wakkerstroom. The rest, as they say, is history…
Esta historia es de la edición May/June 2023 de African Birdlife.
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Esta historia es de la edición May/June 2023 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.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
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.
Living forwards
How photographing birds helps me face adversity
CAPE crusade
The Cape Bird Club/City of Cape Town Birding Big Year Challenge
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.
FULL skies
High summer brings high entertainment to Botswana's Mababe Community Concession and Kazuma Pan.
specials IN THE MIST
With a distinct habitat and climate, Zimbabwe's Eastern Highlands are a must-visit destination for any birder wanting to see a bevy of special birds.
IN TOO DEEP...again
The annual sardine run along South Africa's east coast is a thrill and a challenge for underwater photographers, especially if you throw birds and inclement weather into the mix.
Southern SIGHTINGS
The midsummer period lived up to its reputation as the busiest time for rarities in southern Africa and produced a host of really good records, including several that got twitchers racing all over the subregion to try and add these mega ticks to their lists. As always, none of the records included here have been adjudicated by any of the subregion's Rarities Committees.
power-napping penguins
Periodic reduction in neural activity (sleep) is found in all animals with brains and seems to be essential to restore effective brain function. There is plenty of evidence of the adverse effects of not getting enough sleep, and recent research in humans has identified getting sufficient sleep as one of the four core pillars of living a long and healthy life.
