The previous week my son had undergone a kidney transplant and while my wife (who donated the kidney) recuperated at home, I was with my son at the hospital day and night during his recovery. During the first five days in the ICU after his operation, I heard the occasional screech and once, through a crack in the blinds, I saw the distinctive muscular blur of a falcon. But the ICU is on the third floor – well below the ledges that the birds use during the day – and, rather like being on an interminable transoceanic flight, the blinds remained closed much of the time.
For a period, then, the falcons remained a peripheral, fleeting presence.
After my son’s release from ICU, we moved into the renal ward on E-floor. His cubicle faced east and through the grimy windows, I saw some amazing sunrises as well as some eerie nightscapes accompanied by cars that belted up and down Klipfontein Road. I was there with him all the time, with the exception of trips to the main entrance to pick up meals delivered by friends. On one such trip an adult falcon swooped low overhead and saw offtwo Kelp Gulls hovering over the hospital. During another excursion, the adult challenged a Common Buzzard and it regularly tussled with Pied Crows.
Denne historien er fra March/April 2022-utgaven av African Birdlife.
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Denne historien er fra March/April 2022-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.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
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.
