CAPE crusade

The Cape Bird Club/City of Cape Town Birding Big Year Challenge

- MIKE BUCKHAM

it was an innocuous coffee meeting sometime in 2022 with my good friend Cliff Dorse that set the ball rolling. The Cape Bird Club would be celebrating its 75th anniversary the following year (which makes it the second oldest bird club in South Africa) and I was chatting to Cliff about doing something special to mark the milestone. The club had celebrated previous milestones with gala evenings, special trips to exotic locations and, of course, merchandise and banners, but I wanted to do something different, something that was local and would celebrate the diversity of birdlife in our beautiful city. I had been thinking about some kind of birding challenge that would get people out into the field to enjoy birds in the way that I do, which involves being immersed in the natural areas we're fortunate to have around us in Cape Town.

ABOVE The Klipspringer Trail just south of Gordon's Bay was in the south-eastern corner of the challenge area and well worth exploring for fynbos endemics.

INSET One of the most popular rarities during the year was Pectoral Sandpiper. This one was at Strandfontein.