Initially wary and hesitant, a group including immature White-backed Vultures approaches the carrion, then surges forward as the first birds show courage and seize a morsel.
The only known White-headed Vulture nest remaining in the province was unused – the birds had failed to produce a chick and no new nest was found. The long-held fear was realised that this species is now formally categorised as ‘extinct as a breeding bird’ in KZN.
This depressing news and the intermittent mass deaths of other KZN vulture species, primarily by poisoning, galvanised stakeholders to form a haven in Zululand. Announced by BirdLife South Africa on 5 September 2020, the 200 000-hectare Zululand Vulture Safe Zone encompasses 14 properties, including private nature reserves and game farms. One of the measures applied in the safe zone is supplemental feeding at so-called ‘vulture restaurants’ in an attempt to reverse the decline by enticing birds away from high-risk foraging areas. More than 40 restaurants have been set up on participating private landowners’ properties in the region.
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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.
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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.
