HEADLINE NEWS Perhaps the most popular bird of the review period was southern Africa’s 16th Baird’s Sandpiper. Found at Strandfontein Sewage Works, it remained there for quite some time and many twitchers took the opportunity to see it. This species was originally added to the southern African list based on a specimen collected in Walvis Bay in October 1863! (That specimen is now in the St Petersburg Museum in Florida, USA.) There was then a break of more than 100 years before the next one was seen in October 1984 at Olifantsbos in the Cape Point section of Table Mountain National Park. Subsequent records were in October 1985 on the Berg River in Velddrif; December 1992 in Mkhuze Game Reserve; September 1997 in Matusadona National Park in Zimbabwe; May 1998 at Geelbek in the West Coast National Park; September 1998 in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park; December 1999 at Strandfontein Sewage Works; September 2000 in Sossusvlei in Namibia; December 2000 in the Kruger National Park; December 2001 at Marievale Bird Sanctuary (this individual returned for several seasons);
September 2002 at Kenhardt Sewage Works; October 2004 on the Berg River in Velddrif; December 2008 at Wadrif Salt Pan north of Elands Bay; and, most recently, in October 2018 at Van Stadens lagoon near Port Elizabeth.
Another very popular twitch was southern Africa’s 25th Golden Pipit. It was located along the H1-7 between Shingwedzi and Punda Maria in the Kruger National Park and remained in the general area for a few days.
This story is from the January - February 2021 edition of African Birdlife.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the January - February 2021 edition of African Birdlife.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
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.
