Pelagic Birding Trip

In Namibia a pelagic birding tour is a rarity.  I have been trying to get on one for years.  Last weekend I finally got the chance.

I recently joined the Namibian Bird club again, and did a short little walk with them one weekend.  The next thing was a pelagic boat trip.  It was the first that they offered.  Of course, I jumped at the chance.

We decided to make a weekend trip out of it and so we all went down to the coast and stayed in Swakopmund.  On Saturday I went through to Walvis Bay to do the trip.  The weather was fantastic.  That is rather rare at the coast.  It was also not what we wanted.  With almost no wind none of the larger pelagic birds would be out and about. 

That was exactly how the whole trip turned out.  We had great weather as we headed out to sea.  We went about 45 kilometers from Walvis Bay and saw a few White-chinned Petrels, Sooty Shearwaters and some Skuas, but nothing I had not seen.  We were lucky to see a Penguin, about as far north as they come.

One the trip we had a couple 'experts' who were not to worried about what we did or didn't see and most of the others were happy with the couple birds we did see and spent a long time getting the hang of the id of the three or four new birds they saw.  I never mean to be the 'twitcher' but on this occasion the whole point of doing a trip out to sea was to see stuff that we didn't normally see.  I was disappointed.  I thought perhaps the 45 kilometers was way to short.  The boat skippers always use the short trips as case and point about why not to do pelagic trips off Namibia's coast.  I think that they are wrong.  People have been seeing amazing stuff just a little further out.  Where we turned is still short of where the hake boats start fishing.  I can't help but think that the area around the active fishing boats is where I would like to go.  So, I will have to leave that to another day.

Of course, all was not lost.  I saw the largest group of dolphins that I have ever seen in my life.  Perhaps around 50 or more Haviside's Dolphin swam near the boat.  It could have been 100.  It is really hard to tell.  It is hard enough to judge 100 springbok when you can see all of them...to try to judge the numbers of animals that are all ducking under the water is a different matter all together.  Plus I have no real experience with Dolphins at all.

Well, no new birds but a good trip anyway.  I will be heading out to Sossusvlei Desert Lodge of the 15th and will certainly have a few things to write about then.

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What Is So Special About Deserts

Long time readers of this blog would have noticed that I have a special interest in deserts.  A lot of that has to do with how I grew up, but I have often found that many nature enthusiasts don't think of deserts as being that interesting.  I'll just share some of what makes it special to me, from a nature oriented point of view.

1.  You see everything.  One thing that has been really fun for me over the years has been to learn about the behavior of animals that I have had the great fortune of seeing on a daily basis.

One animal that stands out is the Oryx, a arid-adapted antelope that is so special to the Namib.  They are attractive just to look at, but I have come to appreciate so much more about them simply because I have had the opportunity to observe them well.  The reason why it stands out to me is because if you are in areas that are more thicket like, you only witness small amounts of behavior and then the animal disappears into the bush.  And often that behavior that you see may be influenced by the presence of people and vehicles.

In the desert you see thing from far away, far enough that your presence has little influence, and open enough that you can sit and watch the whole interaction play itself out.  It really becomes small simple things that you appreciate.  One thing that has been fun to observe is simply when a herd moves form one bull's territory to another's.  There is a whole host of interactions that goes on...the old bull walking right to the edge of his territory, watching them go, the other bull waiting in anticipation.  Then he starts to sort out the young males, making sure they stay well away from the interesting females.  Then checking each female, and getting varied responses.  The whole process can take a long time.

That's just one example, and of course there are many other things that you just get to observe better than you would in the 'bush'.

2.  It's simple.  This isn't always so correct, but you get a great feel for ecology and interactions on different levels, because there are fewer things to confuse the whole process.  It's a bit hard to explain, but the ecology is a little more fun to try to understand because there isn't a lot of factors to consider.

3.  This one is special to the Namib, but you get to observe all this wildlife with amazing landscapes as a backdrop to the whole experience.

4.  It's less irritating.  Go birding in African woodlands, and after a short walk you have little gnats and things in your nose and ears while you peer at the birds in the canopy.  Sure, there are things like that in the desert, but to a large extent you don't have so many bugs to bother you while you are out on foot.

5.  It's all special simply because of the aridity.  Every animal, every plant, all this life in the desert, all of it has to deal with significant aridity...the problems of temperature and temperature control with limited water and often limited food sources.  Life is harder, and yet many organisms embrace it.

6.  One thing that was special to me about the Namib, and I think this doesn't make is stick out from other deserts, but rather from ecosystems that have more commercialization...deserts are still rather unknown.  Especially the so called "Pro-Namib" area that I got to know, isn't well known by scientists, and there is very little knowledge about it within the public in general.  It means that you have the chance to get a special inside look.  It's a special, unique ecosystem to try to understand.

7. Because there are fewer bushes, and often sandy soils, it's an easy place to learn tracking, and animal tracks can tell you so much about an ecosystem. In the desert you learn so much about the nocturnal activity that is so important in a place with souring day time temperatures.

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Enjoy Nature Alone

Noki, or Dassie Rat, seen on a walk on NamibRand Nature Reserve

I wanted to write this post some time ago. I am a very quiet person by nature, but, on the other hand, I am also sort of a people's person...I enjoy the company of people very much. When it comes to experiencing nature by far the majority of my time in nature has been with others. Having worked as a guide for over a decade, obviously the vast majority of my time was spent taking people out to experience nature in Namibia.

Other than that, I have also been out with birders, and really LOVE the chance to get to learn from some the the gurus (of which I am not one, of course.) I have been really lucky to meet really interesting people in my time, and love every minute I spend with those people in nature.

I have also got out and about with friends...and that is so fantastic. Adventure.

Already, but hopefully more in the future, I enjoy experiencing nature with my two boys. That's very, very special to me. Some of my best Namibian memories are trips to Etosha and the Okavango Delta with my family. The same is true of my growing up years visiting nature reserves with my family.

But I also love getting out alone and do it often. To me it's somewhat therapeutic. Sometimes I have a strong focus on learning new stuff or trying to understand what is happening with changing seasons and animals moving...what are they eating, who is hunting who...that kind of stuff. This may seem strange, but I also do it to keep fit. I get out and sometimes just run on the hills. When I was growing up, I spent hours walking in the desert and when I was studying I spent a lot of time getting out on my own. I love sitting in a bird hide, or hiding near natural water points in dry places and just watching it come alive. I love the challenge of finding new thing, such as new birds for my life list or simply seeing those animals you don't often see because they are small and shy. Nokis (also called Dassie Rats, but that name causes confusion), for example...little rock dwelling animals that really come out when you are still for a long time.

I find that it is these experiences that help you to learn the instinctive things about nature. You develop that much more of an authority of the region because of having experienced it that way. I believe that it has helped me become a good guide and set me apart from a lot of my peers over the years. Perhaps it just set me apart for being a little strange...if so, that's okay.

But most of all, it has helped me develop a strong passion for nature. I have strong feelings about conservation and the environment in general. I get excited about the prospect of getting out and understanding an area, getting to know what is happening with wildlife and the ecosystem in general. I am a total generalist, and enjoy taking in the experience on many levels. It's an important part of me...Frantic Naturalist.

So, I'll challenge you to do the same some time. You don't need to go to the greatest game parks in Africa. You can visit a local nature reserve, get out on a lake or river, or anywhere where nature is found. Go out there by yourself and slow right down, and take it in. Be an observer of nature, and enjoy it.

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Sharing a Passion

In his blog post, why I became a blogger, a blogger who calls himself Smart Boy talks about why he blogs, and puts it down to passion.

You don't have to wonder to much about passion when you see a blog called Frantic Naturalist. I will admit that early on I did just like the ring of it, and thought it would be unique. But it does represent a passion that I have for nature.

I am interested in how people perceive nature. As a ranger (the name for guides at &beyond) one of the big issues was trying to 'get into the head of your guest.' There were nice catchy slogons for doing it and it was such a big part of how they feel about guiding. If your guest is a keen birder...you should find that out early. Likes walking...photography, or whatever.

But one of the big thing for me was trying to understand how they enjoyed nature. For me the passion has always been to try to understand deeper. Why do the animals do what they do. Plants, weather, geology, stars, and so on.

For others, it's a shear admiration of nature in itself. It's an aesthetic measure. Take them to the dunes and they are simply blown away by the scene. Or a wildlife sighting.

Each person precieves nature in their own way. We each have our reasons for the passion we feel. Certainly a big part of blogging about nature is to react to that passion we feel for nature, and the desire to share it.

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Life List - Birding Eccentricities

[Image:  Part of a page on my life list]

Birding has its various eccentricities, and one of the most common is the creation of a so called 'life list.'  There are lots of feelings about these lists, some love them to the point of obsession and others hate them and see them as a non-scientific endeavor, or believe that those who keep such a list would not appreciate nature for itself.

Personally, I believe, as with so many things, that there is a healthy middle ground.  I keep my life list.  I can get a little obsessed, especial when in range of easy to get new birds for my list.  But I see the other side as well, and I appreciate nature and birds for their behavior, adaptations and simply for their beauty.  Despite 'listing' I believe that I appreciate birds as much, if not a whole lot more, than many others.  I do find them fascinating.

I did a post some time back on taking field notes. I mentioned in that post that listing would be worth a post on its own. This post looks at why listing is perceived as not being good, why I believe listing is just fine and how I go about doing keeping my life list.

1.  Why do people believe that listing is not good?

• Fist off, birders (twitchers) are simply people who run around like mad, add to the carbon issue by traveling around, and on seeing a bird simply 'tick' it and go all the way home.
• Listers are not interested in bird behavior and other aspects of their lives.
• Listers are competitive.  Tom Gullick is sitting at 8725 at the time of writing [ref:Surfbirds.com]
  
• Listing is all they do.  They make all sorts of lists, but don't do much else.  [Somewhat true for some, see here]

2.  Why do I believe it is just fine?  Well, a little lesson in what it is all about.

• First of all, I often get told that 'Twitchers are so competative??"  I don't get it?  Nobody ever told me that Rugby players are competative, or that Lodge managers are competative.  It's not a problem for them.  If a lodge manager, or business manager is not competative, they get fired.  Watch birds and competition is given as a solid reason for your list being bad????
  
• At some point in the history of birding a term 'twitching' came about.  Twitching usually refers to an activity...of running (or traveling to find) rare birds that have shown up within the country or region.  These 'Twitchers' as they could be refered to during the course of this frantic activity became a symbol for all birders and many people started to refer to birders themselves as "Twitchers."  This usage is unfortunate and perhaps the start of making the whole activity of birding look bad.  Birders spend time looking for rare birds in order to get one more "tick" on their life list.
• Life lists are simple, really [for another explanation of a life list, visit this page.]  A list of all the birds you have ever seen.  When you start it is usually very innocent.  You see some bird, flip frantically through your bird book until you locate the one you have just seen.  If you don't have it on your list, you add it.
• After a while of doing this, you soon find that you have seen all the birds in your 'local spot.'  Here it gets fun.  It's a quest.  Get out an see another bird for your list.  An outing here and there adds 10 or so, then soon it's down to the ones or twos.  I had a few days where I added as much as 14 birds.  That would be seriously hard to repeat on this much of this continent for me now.
  
• At some point all this birding starts to get a little dull.  You just end up not being able to find anything new to add to your list.  Then you start to search for the specials, try to add birds with difficult ids (that you probably looked the other way on seeing the first time, when you struggled to id them earlier in your birding) and probably at this point start to get into bird clubs.
• When you are communicating with other birders initially it may help and a few specials come your way no problem.  But it gets harder and soon, if you still have the time and money (or willing to throw out your thumb and catch a lift,) you start to chase rare birds...Twitching.

Now, that progression is what often happens.  It is normal for people to assume that you have done that.  But often, for many birders, another side comes in to play.  Not all your birding is twitching.  You start to go out to observe birds.  The birds in your garden become a fascination.  Nests, breeding, feeding, migration, there is so much of interest to birds and birding.  Conservation.  Many many birders that keep a healthy life list are also involved in bird conservation.

I believe that bird lists are a great way to get people into the hobby.  There are many people with very little interest in nature who take up birding, and through birding get into nature much more.  I can often see that with guests that I have at the lodge.  The birders tend to be the ones also interested in lizards and beetles.

There are many birders who never become mad twitchers.  The peak of "Twiching" as it was in the past is probably gone already.  There are more and more birders who are becoming very knowledgable about birds indeed.  Just search birding blogs (start here to get an idea.)

3.  How do I go about keeping my life list (some personal history)

[Image:  My sister helped decorate my life list booklet, and this is part of the art work.  This was done about 10 years ago, but still shows well on the worn cover of my book.

To decide when I started birding would be a rather tricky thing.  I have been doing it for a long time.  At school I mostly didn't have bird books or bins for ids, but went out with friends who would tell us what birds we were seeing.  As soon as I came to South Africa in 1992 to start studying, I got a bird book and had some old Carl Zeiss bins.

When I started to study at Saasveld in George I met some birders that were more serious and had birding 'life lists.' I was interested. At first I was just trying to do some ids, but I really wanted to 'be' a birder.

The second half of 1995 I was posted at Addo Elephant National Park. [here is another post of mine about my time at Addo] I spent a lot of time alone at an outpost. As summer approached, I was finding myself with lots of daylight hours with nothing to do. We would finish work on normal days at around half past four, and at the latest the sun would set at something like 8 o'clock.

So I took my bins and bird book, and took a note book that I had, drew some lines, and decided, on the 29th of October, 1995, that I was now going to be a birder. Of course, now I would argue that I was one already, but it did make it important for me to start learning to id properly. After I was all set up, I went out for a walk. Birding in the thick bush isn't easy. Especially alone. And without really knowing your bird ids very well. That first day I only got one species that I managed to identify...Black Sunbird. They have changed the name to Amethyst Sunbird Nectarinia amethystina now, which is probably the only name change that bothers me, because I don't want to change it in my book...it was my first post.

[Image:  My bins, old Swarovski 10x40 roof prisms...I love them]

Within the next five days I had twenty birds.  By the 9th of February the next year, I hit 100.  One the first anniversary of listing I had hit 177.  Two years, 319 and so it went on.  When I came to Namibia in 1998 it was fantastic.  I had a whole country of new birds and set about seeing them frantically.  But it all slowed down.  This year I have only added three new birds, two of them rare birds and one was a pelagic that happened to be inshore.  It sure is getting harder to find new birds for my list.  Yet I go birding often.  Not so much with the thought of finding new birds, but just to enjoy and learn.  But there is always that hope of one new species.

I keep my life list in a book, so the term 'tick' never really applies to me.  I started out for years carrying that book into the field, but now its much to valuable for that.  It has some character from those days, but these days I carry field note books with me in the field (or, I know this is wrong, but sometimes I even make a note in my phone's notes function or simply record some things in pictures to remind me later.)  Anyway, when I see a new bird, I make note of where I saw it, when (date and time) and just a few general notes.  I do keep a southern Africa list, and I update my list's numbers on the list of birders in southern Africa who have not yet reached 700 'lifers' [sa heading for 700 club, zest for birds], and I keep a 'life list' of all the birds I have seen anywhere. It is sitting at something like 640, which is not a big list at all. But I have really enjoyed making it and will carry on doing it in the future.

I think sometimes we take ourselves to seriously.  Lists are just a bit of fun, and there is nothing wrong with  a litte competition in it.  What other hobby/sport is totally self accessed?  If you say listing (or call it Twitching, if you want) is the worst thing about birding, then consider this...it is a competition based entirely on the honesty of the practioner, not only their honesty, but their belief in the honesty of those they compete against.  That says something good to me about the feelings of birders towards their fellow birders.  And, in my experience, here in Namibia, at least, most birders I know are some of the most dedicated conservationists in this country!

Added after posting:
Build your life list

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Conservation

I believe strongly that conservation needs to be taken extremely seriously. Just watched a video that is somewhat of an emotional plea for conservation of the oceans. Have a look. What do you think?

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!Nara Fruit

 

Picture:  !Nara husk in the dunes

A cliché of deserts; the dying man, with scorched lips, begging for a drop of water. In some ways this is just what a lot of wildlife do on a daily basis in the desert...every bit of their physiology and behavior is focused on getting, and loosing less water.  They may go for months, in some cases, years, without drinking.

There are many ways that animals in the Namib deal with this problem...it's a subject for a whole book on it's own, rather than one little blog post.

But along much of the margin of the Namib Sand Sea, there is a one plant that does one special thing.  The !Nara Acanthosicyos horridos.


[The ! is a click before the word.]

In the heart of the dry season (which you could call our spring,) when the grass is all dead, the bushes are dry, summer is coming...just at this time, this plant does something amazing.  It produces a large fruit.  Not just one, I was once told by Conny Berry (a well known Namibian biologist, known amongst other things for the field guide to Etosha's plants) each of the large !Naras produce over 100 fruit in the fruiting season.

Everything eats it.  The plants grow in sandy ground, usually on the margins of the dunes where the edge of the dune is near some dry river bed.  But, at times, these plants are found right within the dune field itself.  They derive their moisture from a huge root system, and the plants themselves become very large, creating hammock dunes. 

Oryx, the large antelpe found in the Namib Desert, make a lot of use of these fruit.  They will beat their way into a bush (the bushes are harsh, with lots of thorns on the stems.)  When they get near the fruit, they still have the problem of retreaving the fruit with their horns.  This is done by thrashing at it, and I am sure that a lot are lost to this exercise.  Oryx at Sossusvlei, especially in the dry years, chew on the roots.  They don't seem to eat them, they just dig them up, and have a nice chew...most likely to get at the moisture in the roots.

Springbok - a much smaller antelope, do it in a much more civilized manner.  I have never seen springbok thrashing at a !Nara bush that I can remember.  But they are just about the first to be interested in the whole fruiting process.  They start by eating the flowers, long before any fruit show up.  Oryx don't bother.  The Springbok go for the easier stuff all the time.

Ostrich go for the fruit as well, and if you ever have the chance to watch Ostrich trying to get at the fruit, without hands, horns or hoofs...its funny.

If the fruit is too deep in the bush, it is the Gerbils and mice that do the job of breaking into the skin.  Then everything else comes and has a go.  Lizards seem to go for it, many different beetles.  Birds, especially Cape Sparrows, seem to love the inside.  Stripped mice will keep eating the hard skin for a long time after the fruit itself is gone.

Still today there are some people who harvest these fruit.  The Topnar people, who live on the northern margin of the Namib Sand Sea still collect and eat these fruit.

It is very likely that Sossus, the origional name for Sossusvlei, was a bushman word.  And why would these indigionous people have visited that area, so deep in the desert.  They were also interested in the !Nara fruit.

The Nara on Namibweb, Wikipedia, and an image on Digitaljournal.

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Passion for nature, size doesn't count

I have been lucky with my experience of nature. Very lucky. I have not just visited great wildlife areas, I have grown up and lived in or near many of them. I grew up in a remote part of northern Kenya, and had wildlife right at my doorstep. I went to school on the rift valley escarpment and had forests and savannas to enjoy in that area, as well as like minded friends to share it with. Then later I studied nature conservation and got to know wonderful places like the forests around George and nature reserves like De Hoop Nature Reserve.

In the beginning of 1998 I got on a bus and came to Namibia. Just over 11 years later I am still here. And I have had the pleasure of getting to know some seriously amazing wildlife areas.

I still live in Namibia, still guide, and still visit these amazing areas, but I am doing less guiding to be home more with my kids. In the process I am discovering the shear pleasure of the small things. At home I have put up feeders, water for birds and planted a few good bushes for birds. I get excited that I can sit at my computer and hear Rosy-faced Lovebirds fly over. Over the weekend I went out to Avis Dam to do some birding, despite many people fishing and walking their dogs, the experience is shear pleasure for me. I could even go so far as to say that I enjoy trying to see some bird I have seen hundreds of times before, but remaining challenging, like the Rockrunner for example (dipped this Sunday...I was their in the middle of the day on a windy day...)...yeah, I enjoy it more than this crazy pressure that their sometimes is when you have guests who have never seen a lion in their life, and Etosha is windy and the grass is high and the lions have it to easy, and just sleep.

The point is, despite having "seen it all" (far, far from it, of course, but there is sometimes that perception,) I am passionate about nature, and enjoy every opportunity to experience nature, even right here in town.

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