A dry-season bonanza for nectar-feeding birds
Bird-ringers tend to take note of sites where birds may concentrate when food is temporarily abundant as this offers the prospect of catching good numbers of individuals of particular species. But if food availability at such places shows a predictable seasonal pattern, it raises other intriguing questions: are these just local birds concentrating for a while at one site, like shoppers taking advantage of bargains? Or do we find an influx of species, some of which are not usually present in the area? Do long-lived birds remember such localities and revisit them at appropriate intervals?
In the Eastern Cape, aloes provide a spectacular show of colour in winter when little else is flowering in the veld. The bitter aloe Aloe ferox is the most conspicuous species in our area and many birds come to feed on its nectar, a vital resource in this dry season. Every so often we get queries from people who have seen drongos, starlings or orioles with orange faces that result from a generous dusting of aloe pollen. (Casual observers sometimes wonder if this is in fact a change in plumage.)
この記事は African Birdlife の July - August 2016 版に掲載されています。
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この記事は African Birdlife の July - August 2016 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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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.
