BIRDING BIG DAY 2017
More than 330 teams took part in the 33rd Birding Big Day (BBD), which was co-hosted by BirdLife South Africa and BirdLasser (www.BirdLasser.com) and took place on 25 November 2017. Birding Ecotours (www.birdingecotours.com) came to the party as corporate sponsor of the event, pledging R30 for each species added to the day’s tally.
After registering in either the Open category or the Community category and selecting a location, teams could start recording from midnight on 24 November, with leaders logging all the species via the BirdLasser app, which provided live updates on the challenge website. Wet conditions over the eastern half of the country did nothing to dampen spirits and birders set off protected by raincoats, umbrellas and boots.
An addition to BBD 2017 was the challenge to teams to raise funds for the Terrestrial Bird Conservation and Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas programmes, with a portion of the profits also going to the dedicated team at BirdLasser. The sponsorship from Birding Ecotours was a welcome addition that motivated teams to push for birds in remote locations, resulting in a total count for the day finalised at 650 species – and a R19 500 donation from the company!
Hamerkop, comprising Ehren and Johan Eksteen, Duncan McKenzie and Lourens Grobler, won the Open team category, having racked up a total of 303 species in the Nelspruit, Barberton and southern Kruger Park area. With 302 species, Selwyn Rautenbach, Dewald Swanepoel, Joe Grosel and BirdLasser founder Henk Nel in team Zonke iNyoni came a very close second. The highest-scoring Community team was the Witwatersrand Bird Club with 186 species in the Mongena concession of Dinokeng Nature Reserve in northern Gauteng.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
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.
