by Avian Leisure | Oct 3, 2014 | NEWS, Uncategorized
Aggregations of Cape Cormorants in False Bay are not unusual events with hundreds and sometimes thousands of birds roosting along the sheltered boulder strewn shore line during westerly gale periods. The event depicted is one of the more unusual we have witnessed from...
by Avian Leisure | Oct 3, 2014 | NEWS, Uncategorized
Another of the more challenging lark species to find in Southern Africa is the recently recognised Barlow’s Lark found only along the narrow coastal dune belt north of Port Nolloth and into Namibia. Closely resembling the Karoo Lark in appearance and behaviour...
by Avian Leisure | Oct 3, 2014 | NEWS, Uncategorized
One of the most audible and characteristic sounds of the outdoor associated with the spring wild flower season are the flight displays and plaintive calls of the Cape Clapper Larks found in coastal fynbos habitats and the more undulating scrublands of the Great Karoo....
by Avian Leisure | Oct 3, 2014 | NEWS, Uncategorized
Of all the local lark species the most enigmatic and challenging to find is the highly nomadic Sclater’s Lark of the shale strewn scrublands of Bushmanland in the Northern Cape. Subject to the vagaries of the weather pattern within the vast interior these...
by Avian Leisure | Oct 3, 2014 | NEWS, Uncategorized
Three species of the long-billed lark complex occur within the winter rainfall area and the arid north west of the country, with only the Eastern Long-billed Lark resident in the east in the summer rainfall area, and the Benguella Long-billed Lark to the north of the...
by Avian Leisure | Oct 3, 2014 | NEWS, Uncategorized
While the opinions vary as to iconic wildlife preferences, it is for me the Black Eagle, previously known as Verreaux’s Eagle, that represents the true spirit of the vast scrublands and dolerite-capped mountain ranges of the Great Karoo. After nearly a three...
by Avian Leisure | Oct 2, 2014 | NEWS, Uncategorized
Home-life for a Cardinal Woodpecker is far from easy starting with a 2 to 3 week tree-hole excavation by both sexes before the first egg can be laid. Tapping and chipping sounds during the process are never likely to go unnoticed within the hole-nesting bird...
by Avian Leisure | Apr 9, 2014 | TRIP REPORTS
Private Guided Birding & Wildlife Safari to Northern Tanzania: ‘A medley of incredible wildlife experiences in an ancient arena of topographical wonders’; Tour for Danish clients Kim Frost and Sunneva Restorff, guided by Patrick Cardwell 9th to 21st February 2014...
by Avian Leisure | Feb 3, 2014 | NEWS
On a birding tour on 16th January, Paul Matson and I came across a recently ploughed field, some 36 kms west of Volksrust on the R23, with some 50 plus Black-winged Pratincoles in constant circulation. It’s been years since I last saw such numbers of this now ‘near...
by Avian Leisure | Jan 7, 2014 | NEWS
Every now and then on a deep-sea pelagic trip out of Cape Town the shout goes out for a ‘spectacled petrel’ as an obviously white-headed petrel careens past within the melee of seabirds wheeling about a working trawler. Most of the time it is indeed a most sought...
