Whilst we love good wildlife photography, and Patrick is on an ongoing mission to improve his photographic ability, there is also a place for wildlife art, and an artist whose love of the African bushveld shines through, is Diane Weiman.
Young Lion Pride, by Diane Weiman
For me it has never been the first ’swallow’ that heralds the start of spring down here in the Western Cape. It has always been the repetitive and plaintive ‘mietjie-mietjie’ call of the Klaas’s Cuckoo delivered in a monotonous sequence from the very top of the highest tree available within its chosen territory for the forthcoming breeding season.
Great Spotted Cuckoo
Of all the pipits the one with the most evocative call is undoubtedly the Rock Pipit as its repetitive and far-carrying signature note and supporting trill drifts down the slope of a rocky Karoo hill during the height of the summer rainfall season. This is the best time to try for a sighting as the species is easily overlooked when not calling outside of the breeding cycle.
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The 2012 birding year got off to a scintillating start with 330 species notched up in quick succession during a nine day birding trip to Zimbabwe. For me it was also an opportunity to experience first-hand the current state of environmental well-being in a Southern African region I had travelled to several times before the collapse of the currency and the many logistical problems to do with overland travel that went along with it.
Warwick Tarboton has been known within birding circles for many years as an outstanding ornithologist, wildlife writer and photographer with a passion for birds and more recently for dragonflies and damselflies.
Roberts Nests and Eggs, Warwick Tarboton, Front Cover
Within the sub-region there are two ‘black tits’ and for the most part they are easily separable based on known distribution with the only overlap taking place in the very north of Namibia. Read the rest of this entry »
So often birders new to the game go straight to the illustrations as the sole means of identification when they get home and, as is so often the case, end up confused by what they have seen in the field due to too little in the way of fine definitive detail being noted at the time. Read the rest of this entry »
The Cape Peninsula is home to four species of cormorants that frequent the coastal environment. One, the Cape Cormorant, is highly gregarious and is often seen in large numbers leap-frogging over one another in a frantic feeding frenzy after sardine and anchovy within the inshore fishing grounds.
Bank Cormorant and Cape Cormorant
Within the mix of many biomes in Southern Africa the Garden Route represents the only area enjoying year round rainfall of varying intensity depending on time of year. As such it represents a diverse mix of evergreen habitat types ranging from pristine tracts of fynbos to established cathedral forest bisected by spectacular gorges that have cut their way over time through the rugged coastal plain to the sea.
Knysna Turaco
One has to go a long way to eclipse an overnight houseboat experience on the quiet, meandering Chobe River in Northern Botswana: the total tranquillity combined with complete relaxation, along with many opportunities for close-up bird and wildlife creates a safari at its very best for photographers,wildlife lovers, and those simply needing respite from their busy lives….
Houseboat at Sunset on Chobe River
Of all the ‘specials’ found within the Namibian bird list this highly specialised inhabitant of the boulder-strewn slopes and rocky outcrops of the Erongo and Waterberg Mountain is for me the most captivating and entertaining.
Recorded for the first time in 1928 this small, fairly rotund gamebird, with a relatively small head and disproportionately large beak, was named after Gustav Hartlaub (1814-1900), who practised ornithology in West Africa.
Hartlaub’s Spurfowl (Male) Hartlaub’s Spurfowl (Female)
With the onset of the winter rains ‘braying’ activity within the resident penguin population has begun in earnest as bachelors stake out new nesting sites in the hope of a mate, while pair bonded couples reinforce existing marital ties within the resident community of several hundred birds directly below our ‘birder friendly’ guest house.
 Southern Double-collared Sunbird |
Spring has not exactly sprung as yet but the first winter rains, in the form of several striding fronts sweeping up from the South Atlantic, have greened up the local environment immeasurably following the long dry summer.
All around the resident bird mix is now overtly engaged in setting up breeding territories in eager anticipation of the warmer weather to come with the austral spring now round the corner.
Out front with bags of attitude as they flit about in a flurry of conspicuous exuberance in full breeding dress are all three of our resident sunbirds in the form of Malachite, Southern Double-collared and the highly flamboyant Orange-breasted Sunbird.
Island Holidays
There is a very special river at the south western end of the Great Rift Valley that flows steadily eastwards through a vast floodplain of quiet backwaters and oxbow lakes and lily covered lagoons to converge with the mighty Zambezi as it surges through a series of turbulent rapids to the spray fringed lip and roar of the magnificent Victoria Falls – so aptly described as the ‘smoke that thunders’ by the local tribe.
This unique river is the tranquil and beguiling Chobe that represents one of the last remaining and relatively unspoilt wilderness destinations left in Africa.
Here vast herds of elephant and buffalo still follow the ancient game trails in the surrounding woodland and migrate in season across the sprawling flood-plains as they have done for generations.
At first glance and certainly in most field guides the Monotonous Lark closely resembles the endemic Melodious Lark in size and overall upper colouration apart from white below compared to warm buff on the belly. At this point the similarity stops with habitat preferences differing markedly with no overlap.
Melodious Lark Monotonous Lark
In late December last year I was afforded the opportunity of re-connecting with this highly nomadic summer visitor of seasonal occurrence by way of a kind invitation from Shaun McGillewie of Kroondal near Rustenburg. Canary-yellow in colour with a dark conical bill the Cuckoo Finch, previously known as Parasitic Weaver, was originally assigned to canaries then weavers and is now more closely associated with indigobirds and whydahs. It is brood-parasitic favouring Cisticolas and Prinias to incubate its eggs and look after its young as the two preferred host families in our area. Patterns of appearance throughout its known sub-equatorial summer range are highly erratic.
Numbers relate particularly to high seasonal rainfall and the abundance of seeding grasses in marshy areas and damp open meadows. Normally shy and unapproachable the Kroondal birds in full breeding plumage allowed a close approach by vehicle enabling me to secure a couple of acceptable record shots for our photo gallery.
