Much as in the board game Snakes and Ladders, those who are in the ascendency one moment often find themselves slithering to the bottom of the predatory ladder in a blink of an eye. Perhaps going around and around is a more accurate reflection of life than a straight ascent of a ladder, as things do tend to ebb and flow, rise and fall, and the diversity of life is maintained by a continuous system of give and take.
Writing this article as a keen birder, I was privileged to involve some knowledgeable herpetologists, Drs Bryan and Robin Maritz from the Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology at the University of the Western Cape, to impart a scientific and balanced view of the subject. Truly passionate birders and/or herpetologists, however, gener ally find themselves drawn to both rep tiles and birds, and indeed biodiversity in general, so there is nothing preventing us from developing an affection for both these groups.
Some good fortune has enabled me to capture moments in the ongoing, real life survival dramas of birds and reptiles through my other passion, photography. The inevitable clashes between the two groups are seldom observed dispassionately by naturelovers and I have certainly found myself on both sides of the fence when battlelines have been drawn. The antagonistic relationship is well established, however, and the protagonists play the roles of both prey and predator on different occasions.
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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.
