The Birding Blog

Isn’t spring a great season in the Highveld? Today began by being woken by two Burchell’s Coucals. We often hear one, but two in perfect harmony – a rarity. They competed with each other for about 20 minutes, and they sounded as though they were no more than 30m away. All the same, they did not get us out of bed – a quest for coffee and dogs whining for food and attention did. But in making the coffee, there before us on the closest light pole was the definitive bird that made our morning. This Brown-Hooded Kingfisher simply sat...

Being an animal lover does not make you a “good” person. After all, Adolf Hitler loved dogs. But my personal conjecture is that people who abuse animals are universally “bad” people. And people who love one class of animals so often seem to love others. At Nature’s Heart we absolutely love them all from leguaans in the water to scarabs in the dung. A simple observation is that you will never find a bird enthusiast shooting rhinos – bird watching is incompatible with poaching. This is where the youth become so important. If we can capture a curiosity and enthusiasm...

Spring brings a new dynamic to your garden, and naturally also to your garden birds. Insects start arriving (often in little spurts as a particular species emerges from a characteristic phase of metamorphosis). And then also the fruit ripens. A standard question is how this affects feeding. In fact, the fun is multiplied in your garden, as you observe the birds, and notice their little habits and idiosyncrasies. An observant birder will definitely notice a dropoff in the volume of your offered food being consumed at the feeder over short periods, and increases again at other times – and will...

What a happy morning! We were alerted to some unusual bickering on the feeder. Very close inspection led us to realise that a new pair of “substantially larger” yellow weavers were aggressively dominating the suet area. Initially one mistakes the newcomer for the traditional Southern Masked Weaver (of which we have plenty). But this turned out to be Village Weavers. They are so similar, and one needs a good set of binoculars to differentiate. But when they pose together, (as here – not a great shot for which I apologise), one can immediately make out the size difference. We rarely...

Do you have a favourite bird (apart from a pet naturally)? It is not really a purist thing – after all the birds are all wonderful. And so I sheepishly admit to keeping my own list of “favourites”. It amounts to perhaps slightly more than a dozen birds, some having already featured in my blogs. They are all South African terrestrial dwellers. They are (generally) not scarce. They are mostly not special in their habits, although obviously all are defined by the nature of their species. But they are all beautiful, and they are all photogenic. But I go one...