The value of ringing
It is 06h00 and the sun’s rays are just starting to sift through the trees on a perfectly still summer morning at Helderberg Nature Reserve (HNR) in Somerset West in the Western Cape. Husband-and-wife team Francis and Cathy Hannay and friend Jacqui Badenhorst are busy unpacking poles, laying out ultra-fine mist nets and unfolding tables and chairs near HNR’s ‘Pete’s Pond’. On a table Francis carefully sets out his tools: metal rings of different sizes, digital callipers, scales, metal rulers, magnifying glass and ringing pliers. It is a routine they repeat regularly on Fridays, weather permitting, volunteering their time and expertise for the love of birds. Their purpose is to tag each bird with a unique number that will allow it to be identified in future. First though, they need to catch the birds.
This is where the mist nets come in. Francis and Jacqui fasten each net between a set of two poles that they place in three locations likely to be traversed by birds as they wake up and begin to forage. Although birds struggle to see the ultra-fine nets if they are placed in the shade, they will avoid them if placed in the sun or if they are blowing in the wind. Ringers therefore net only on calm days, make sure that they open the nets before sunrise and position them among shading vegetation. The nets are equally difficult for humans to see unless they are viewed at a specific angle to the rising sun. Fortunately the net gently slows the bird’s flight as it hits the mesh, allowing it to drop safely into a pocket created by the net strings.
Denne historien er fra November - December 2016-utgaven av African Birdlife.
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Denne historien er fra November - December 2016-utgaven av African Birdlife.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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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.
