As a photographer, I find driving around the Kgalagadi in sweltering 50 degree heat can be challenging, especially as most of the animals take cover in the shade. My persistence was rewarded when this Common Ostrich obliged by putting on an extravagant show while dust bathing. Canon 5D Mark IV, 500mm lens; 1/2500 sec; f/8; ISO 640
When Black-winged Kites hover above you while searching for food they look like little angels, but when seen up close their striking red eyes show that they mean business. I spotted this relaxed beauty early one morning during a visit to the Pilanesberg National Park and it afforded me extended views. Canon 5D Mark IV, 500mm lens; 1/3200 sec; f/7; ISO 640
There are some important aspects that I have learnt in my photography. Probably the most crucial is patience: photography is often a waiting game, where you have to wait at a waterhole for a creature to come down and drink. More often than not, this doesn’t happen! It is also key to have an interesting subject to photograph, with nice soft light and a great composition. Look with your eyes, capture with your heart and freeze the moment with your camera.
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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.
