White-backed Mousebirds

I have just been working on a blog called Shemimages Photo-blog for a friend of mine.  I'll get back to that in a minute.

Having worked as a guide for years I think that I have become a little 'tuned in' to nature, and especially birds.  When I sit here at my computer I am always listening to the birds outside.  One of the most common, and often most noisy, is the White-backed Mousebird Colius colius.

Now...Mousebirds are strange and a little different for more than just their name.  Mousebirds belong to the family Coliidae, a family of only 6 species.  It is one of the few bird families endemic to sub-Saharan Africa.  the Coliidae are the only family in the Coliiforms, making them unique to order level.  There are two genuses, Colius and Urucolius.  White-backed Mousebirds, are, of course, Colius.
Ref Hockey, P. A. R., Dean, W. R. J. and Ryan, P. G. 2005. Roberts birds of southern Africa, 7th ed. Ã John Voelcker Bird Book Fund.

One aspect of Mousebird behavior that has been of interest to scientists is sunning.  I don't want to do to much of a review of scientific literature here, but they sun themselves quiet often.  The birds will go up to a sunny part of a bush, hold onto the branch and hang back so that their belly is exposed to the sun. They display a degree of Torpor (not much) and so there is an interest in a connection between the sunning and the Torpor.   There probably isn't much connection in that regard, but it is interesting to consider. Here is a link to some work that was done on the Tierberg farm, near Prince Albert on these birds.
Ref McKechnie, A.E., Kortner, G. LoveGrove, G., 2004. Rest-phase Thermoregulation in Free-ranging White-backed Mousebirds. The Condor 106:143-149.


White-backed Mousebirds are different, and that makes them interesting and special. They are common, though. Very. If I listen hard enough sitting here at my desk, I can usually hear a few of them.

Despite being common, I never saw one as a lifer until my first year of birding was done. I just wasn't speding time in the dry areas, and the White-backed Mousebird is a bird of the South-west arid zone of southern Africa.  I was working in the Karoo with Shem Compion, on the farm Teirberg, a little way outside of Prince Albert. We worked for a couple called Richard and Sue Dean, well known arid area specialists. Richard, of course, was mainly interested in birds (If you have a look at the fat Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, Vol VII...you will see "WRJ DEAN" on the cover.

Now, we were actually there as research technicians, not doing our own research. We helped out and did all sorts of things, including measuring small details on vegetation plots and some bird observations. One thing we were asked to do was to spend some time timing the intervals of sunning by the White-backed Mousebirds. I soon saw my lifer on the 6th of February, 1997 in the nearby drainage line.

Shem and I would stay out there a week at a time, and go into town just for supplies and then be back out there. It was real immersion in the environment and had a big influence on me...big enough that I decided these arid areas are so interesting that I would spend some time in Namibia, getting to know arid areas even more (11 or so years later...I am still here).   We were only there a little over a month, but it had a big impact on me.

I was always amazed at how hard working Shem was. Despite being students, with total freedom out in the bush, we set out to work each morning early, and worked really hard. And usually it was Shem who was out first.

After a long time of loosing contact, it was a real honor to help him last year with a tour. He let me fiddle a little with his blog over the last few days...check it out. Shem has become one of the up and coming guys in the pro wildlife photography scene. It isn't an easy field, there are so many guides who carry a camera and dream of one day being a wildlife photographer. But Shem has not only made it, but had started to become rather well known. He has had an image on the cover of the well known wildlife/nature magazine, Africa Geographic.

I had a bit of fun over the last week or so fiddling with his blog, Shemimages. Go check it out...you may be interested in buying some of his amazing wildlife images, his insect book, taking a photography course with him or even going on tour with him. I look forward to collaborating with him in the future again.

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2010 Namibia Big Year Info

Well, as I mentioned before, there has been some interest by a number of people in recording all the Namibian birds they see this year. So far I am spending more time developing the blogs than I am birding, but I hope that will change.

So I have created an open Google Group:

Namibia 2010 Big Bird Year

Visit this group

And I have created a blog:

Visit: http://2010-namibia-birding.blogspot.com/
Subscribe: http://feeds.feedburner.com/2010namibiabigyear

I hope it will all gain momentum soon. I saw a new bird for my year today, the Groundscraper Thrush Psophocichla litsitsirupa. It was at the airport when I went to pick up my wife.

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My Student days and birding

I'm just running across my stories of birding days gone by while typing up my life list.  It's such fun, bringing back a flood of memories.

One of the biggest things that I notice is just how much I got around.  Some of that was on my own, but there were also a number of trips taken by a bunch of us.  Some watched birds, all had fun.

Some of us had been to Dehoop Nature Reserve on weekend, where I had seen a few really nice birds and I was eager to go somewhere again.  A bunch of my friends were getting into fly fishing.  In 1996 our house was in the forest, north of Saasveld where we studied.  The houses we were in were now student accommodation, but had been a forestry station in the past.  Our house was on the northern end of the row, and we had the forest right by us...and made good use of that.  1996 was a magic year.  Near us we had a house of dope-heads.  They had an even more magic year, but I don't want to talk to much about them, or even those houses that we stayed at. 

There was a little dam just north of the houses and it was there for the forestry guys to get water if they were fighting fire.  But some of my friends also thought it was good for fly-fishing.

It was fun to practice there, but sometimes one just wants to get away and fish out in small streams, high in the mountains.  I wasn't into fishing, but if they were going somewhere, I was sure I would get some birds there.  And, more importantly, I would have fun.

We set off in two cars.  I don't remember when we got split up, but there were more serious fishermen in the one car (my room-mate's yellow Mazda 323, right?...what was it's name...or is that not blog appropriate?)  I was in the second, (Mark's red Beetle...mostly with the Forest Gump sound track playing.)

We hit Stellenbosch.  We studied at a place where there were foresters, conservationists, and agriculture students...there were girls, but there were very few.  Stellenbosch is the most attractive University town in South Africa.  It's in the heart of the wine country, with beautiful of Cape Dutch style buildings, shops, easy drive or train ride to Cape Town.  There were lots of girls.

We hit Stellenbosch around sunset on a Friday.  We were going to visit a while.  Later that night Mark went back to his car, and watched a rubbery right in front of him.  He wasn't feeling so good, and spent some time chatting to the police about what he had witnessed.  By the time the whole thing was done it was really late and we were not in much of a state to find a place to stay.

We found some sports fields, parked the car and slept up on the covered bleachers.  It seemed fine.  We woke up in the morning to a strange sound.  It was a street guy throwing up from drinking to much street brew the night before.  He didn't take much notice of us...I think he had shared his bleacher with students before.

We carried on.

The other vehicle had gone on to the tunnel at Du Toitskloof.  When they tried to pull over in one of the stopping bays in the tunnel, alarms went off and some police came and chased them out.  It was late.  They just drove past the tunnel and found a patch of grass and slept there.  When they woke in the morning a helicopter was trying to land.  They had slept on the helicopter pad of a fancy hotel right by the tunnel. (If my details are not exact, please let me know, those who where there.)

This was a few years before we had cellphones, and so we just drove blindly until we met up just outside the tunnel.  Did some birding/fishing in that area before driving on.  I added Cape Sisken to my life list...reading that just now was what made me want to write this post.

We were on our way to Rawsonville.  It is a really nice wine area as well, with grapes of the slightly drier area producing different wine than you get in Stellenbosch.  We had nowhere to stay (as you can see, that wasn't to much of a worry for us in those days.)  We had permits to go fishing in a forestry area.  It wasn't to clear, heading out of town on a gravel road, exactly where the farm ended and were the forestry area started.  We didn't have permission to stay on the forestry area, but at least we wouldn't have much trouble with farmers.

The vineyards had ended, and we pulled over in the bushes and set up a little camp.  The evening was fine, and we were having a good time.

To be honest, it didn't worry us to much who's land we were on, we thought nobody would worry about a bunch of students sleeping on in their bushes.  We were all nature conservation oriented, so we were careful about fires and litter.  We thought we were alright as well because we were students, and that was the way that your mind works when you are a student. 

No, no shooting.  Just an angry, really angry farmer and a bunch of cops.  It was sort of cool.  A couple cop cars and this farmer made it look like a scene from a TV series, but they were there to boot us off his land, and make sure we knew that what we had done was wrong, very wrong!

The farmer insisted that he wanted to press charges against us.  He was seriously angry.  A few of us went with the police while the others (insistently mostly the serious fishing guys) stayed behind to pack up camp.  When they finished packing, they still went up fishing in the mountains.

We were a little worried.  With the farmer around the Police had seemed really angry as well.  He insisted that he wanted us locked up.  The police sort of said they would lock us up.  When they got us in the police station they sat us down, gave us a talking to, fined us a few bucks and after making sure we understood that what we had done was bad, and that if we were ever on that guys farm again we would be risking jail, if not some buckshot.  Then they had a chuckle at our expense, and let us go.  We headed back to Saasveld, unaware that the other guys had gone on fishing again.  That night we went out to Spur and had a great chat about the weekend.  I was up two birds, Cape Siskin and Klaas's Cuckoo.  Klaas's was seen at our now famous camping spot on a farm by the road's edge, somewhere outside Rawsonville on the 13th of October, 1996!

I saw Olive Woodpecker in the pine by our houses a couple days later, thanks to a friend who showed me how to call them by tapping on a tree.  By the 29th of that month I had seen 170 birds for my first year of birding.  I have since then topped 200 within four days, but now I have much better knowledge of where to find birds, I know my book and know most of the birds, and I have a top class pair of bins (Swarovski SLC 10X42 Habicht...which, ironically, I bought September 11th 2001, learning of the 9/11 incident on our way into town.)

170 new birds may not have been to much, but there is very little chance that I will ever have a year again in my life where I get 170 lifers.  Perhaps a well prepared, well funded tour of a South American country?

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What we do about the birds

Yesterday I had a chat with various people who are interested in doing a 'big year' in Namibia this year. I'll be posting more about that later because one of the ideas is that each person who wants to do it can blog about their year and post a list.

But one really good question came up which often comes up in this kind of arrangement..."is there any ornithological benefit to this activity?"

Well, sometimes it is tempting to try to say something to the effect that we could contribute our sightings to some database or towards someone's research. The reality, of course, is that there is no such database (unless we actually see a bird not previously found in Namibia).

I have some clear feelings about this. I see three branches of interaction with birds that birders can get involved in. Ornithology..for sure there are opportunities to get involved in ornithology. Any zoologist studying avian populations or various other aspects of bird life in an are would often be interested in the help of a knowledgeable local. Bird, probably by a long way, have a huge contribution to the body of knowledge from non-scientists.

That's true, but on the whole there isn't really that much meaning in your daily birding activities to ornithology. When this question is asked, I often think that people actually mean to ask a related question, namely 'is there any conservation benefit to our activities?'

Here again I would say that just potting around looking at birds around the whole country has little real contribution to ornithology. Mad twitching is actually bad for the environment in a way...a big contribution to global warming with all the fuel used up doing all that travel.

Of course there is a meaningful contribution made to conservation and population monitoring by birders...a huge contribution. If you have been following my blog for a year you would know that last year this time I was really involved in counting birds down at the coast at this time.

This leaves the third, just birding for pure fun. I don't personally have any dilemma with doing birding for pleasure. Writing up my life list (which I am busy with at the moment) has reminded me of a time when I was borderline crazy with all my birding. Actually, one of the reasons for doing a bit of a big year is to re-capture that madness. It didn't matter to me if I was conserving, ornithology..ing, or even if I was any good at it. I just wanted to add birds to my life list, enjoy getting out an about, and enjoyed doing something that was a little different from the norm. I loved (and still do) birds, but it was nature more than the birds that was so compelling. I was somewhat of a 'twitcher' (depending on how you want to define that term). I was having fun, and that was important to me.

In recent times that has gone one step further. I am now really interested in people who want to bird for fun, because I earn some of my living from taking people out birding.

If you got through all my jabbering on till here, I would love to have your thoughts about birding. Why do you bird. Is there some compelling reason, just because birding is done in nature that it should contribute to ornithology. How much does cricket, rugby, soccer, drama and Disney have to contribute to ornithology?

I LOVE contributing to conservation. I have a set of personal goals or more a sort of core of focus that I want my life to be about, and one of the things clear on there is that I want to make some contribution to conservation throughout my life. I feel I have had some contribution in the past, be it counting birds or just having a chat to the conservation officials in the Namib Naukluft Park. I've picked up lots of rubbish in my life. I've given a little money to some conservation organizations either directly, through magazine or club subscriptions, or through organizations I have worked with. I haven't saved the world, but I have done a bit. And I feel a little bit chuffed about that.

I have contributed to science a little. Very little. I don't have much feeling that any old contribution to science is meaningful in a moral way. I don't pat myself on the back for any involvement I may have had in that way, even if it had been bigger. But science is fun. I am interested. Most of the jabbering on about nature I am able to do today is because of the access that I have had to a lot of information about nature.

I am also not a very good birder and don't feel to bad about that. Sometimes a Warber that you can barely see through the reeds, or a Cisticolla that will not sing or perform makes me feel like looking the other way for brighter, easier stuff. That's a poor claim for a birding guide to make, but it is true. I promise that a birding trip in Namibia with me will be interesting, I am certainly no beginner. I do 'know my birds' for the most part. I know where to find many of the countries specials. I do an okay job with a number of hard birds. But I would be really lying to claim that I was a hotshot, top-notch birder.

But when I go out to bird, none of the above affect my thinking at all. I just plain simple get a kick out of going to watch birds.

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Just a little birding

This morning our Internet was down at home, so I decided to put on hold everything I am working on, and head out for a little birding. As I'm recording all the birds that I am seeing in Namibia this year, this would be a good opportunity to really get started.

I was a little late...I think I only left home around 9h00 or so. I saw a Helmeted Guineafowl (I can actually hear them now, as I sit here and type) on my way out, but not much else on the way there. I headed to Windhoek's water treatment plant (Poo farm). With all the rain in the last week, the birding is...amazing!

I love getting out there alone. You can set your pace without being worried about what others want to do. You can also crawl through more black-thorn (Acacia malifera often called the wait-a-bit bush). You can step in places that you don't with others...it is a water treatment plant. Most of the water down around the pools is actually because of the rain, not the other stuff.

A new list is always fun. I had started writing a few birds down for my big year, but since I hadn't actually 'gone birding' up until now, I rolled it back. I wanted the fun. It just isn't the same seeing birds in people's back yard.

Normal stuff, normal stuff. You write down fast to start with. You basically spend your first 20 minutes not so much birding as writing your list. African Darter, Red-knobbed Coot, Little Swift, Swallow-tailed Bee-eater, Laughing Dove....

Ah, a Hamerkop flew in. I like those. I once prepared a little talk on them when I was training to be a ranger at Phinda in South Africa. Living in the desert, I don't see them all the time, but on occasion, in the Naukluft mountain's gorges, one would catch a glimpses of this strange bird. So, it's perhaps not special to everyone, but I like them.

Out over the last pools the birding was just great. I wrote more. Tried to study some of the reed Warblers without much luck. And then, overhead an Osprey came over. It looked huge. We really don't see them that much in Namibia, though I have seen Osprey at the water treatment before. I saw this same bird a number of times during my two hour walk around the place.

Lots more. A Little Bittern...seems to be a good place to see these guys. A Diderick Cuckoo. Lots of color from the Bishops in full or partial breeding plumage. Heaps of Greenshank. I can't remember seeing such a lot together before. Common Scimitarbill. They are always nice to see.

In some of the thick grass around one of the ponds I spotted a bird that you couldn't mistake for anything. A bird that should really be a vagrant, but it gets lost so often, that you end up dismissing their vagrant'ness. The African Jacana. I have seen them at Sossusvlei, hundreds of kilometers from the closest lily pads they are so fond of walking over. But, I love them too.

Wood Sandpiper to finish a good outing to the poo ponds. I had toped 50 birds in just a couple of hours and though I hadn't planned on it, I decided that I was on a role and would just keep going. I drove through town, through the lunch hour traffic, and then on to Avis Dam. It was getting hot and there really was nothing going on. I saw a couple easy birds and then started walking around. Every time I would stop the ants all over the ground would start crawling up my legs. It seems to be like this at Avis Dam, if it rains, the place crawls with ants. So I only lifted my bins for really nice birds...and there weren't that many nice birds. Actually, there were basically no birds around. Only White-browed Sparrow Weavers and Cape Glossy Starlings, the two I already picked up from my car.

But just as I was starting to feel that I was stupid for even bothering to try to go birding at 13h00 in the afternoon I saw a whiteness to a large bush on the other side. African Fish Eagle. I found a rock in the water, stood on it, threw off the ants rushing up towards my shorts. Once I felt free, I lifted my bins. I'm a tallish dude without much co-ordination, but I do have rather good balance, probably helped by years of riding bikes, climbing hills and doing handstands. Today was the reward for all of that. I got to watch the bird nicely for a while, perched on this little rock in the water.

Hopped off the rock and walked briskly back to the car, not intending to do the ants in the pants dance. In the end I had 56 birds for the day, and for the year (I saw everything but Familiar Chat, that I have seen already this year, and I'll see one of those gardening tomorrow.) I got four raptors. A couple Steppe Buzzards were working the one corner of the sewage works, high on a power line beyond the ponds was a Black-chested Snake Eagle, and my majestic Fish Eagle of Avis Dam. I didn't hit anything super special, but to have two Eagles and an Osprey as three of my first four raptors was good enough for me.

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Windhoek Birding Big Day with &beyond

I had the fortune to do a birding big day with the Windhoek &beyond team.  It was a little strange because they were busy that day and the birding took place between visits to the office.  We only birded a total of about four or five hours and managed a total of just over 70 birds.  I would guess that a little better preparation, more time birding and a little more Windhoek birding esperience, a birding big day team should be able to manage around double that?  I guess I will have to see next year.  A local expert would have helped....I am planning to be one next year, or the next, or a few years from now...a work in progress.

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Big Year plans

Note:  I didn't end up sticking to the big year mentioned below.  This year I've finally gotten to do one, and writing about it at frantic-naturalist.com/bigyear One of my favorite books is 'Big Year' by Mark Obmascik.  It just captures the excitement of birding so nicely.  I don't want to get into the discussion to much about competitive birding.  My simple argument - we are encouraged to be competitive in sport, business and in many other fields.  Do it in a nature related field and suddenly it is wrong?

Anyway, I am planning a Namibian big year for 2010.  The challenge - see as many of Namibia's birds in the calendar year 2010 as what I can.  I don't plan to do strange trips all over the place, perhaps one or two.  Nor do I plan to spend a lot of money on it...but I may.  I'll see how it takes me.  I do plan to have fun doing it and hope to crank up my birding knowledge which really needs some work.

The good thing...as far as competitive birding goes, is that I don't know of anyone who has done a big year before in Namibia.  It may well be that someone has done it?  My main purpose is to re-invent birding for myself.  Well, I will keep you posted when I get started.

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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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Birding Namibia

Picture: Crimson-breasted Shrike in Etosha

Namibia as a country in the international arena is still not very well known, despite a fast developing tourism industry in recent years. It is certainly not the first country that comes to mind as a birding destination. If you happen to know just a little about Namibia it is likely that your image of Namibia is a country of fast deserts and dune fields, and perhaps know a little of it's German heritage (Namibia is one of the very few African interests the Germans had prior to the first world war.)

But Namibia a very most certainly worth a birding trip (or even a few trips.) Namibia is home to well over 650...I believe that they now say, with vagrants included, we have just over 700 species (I am trying to find out where I can confirm that number.) It doesn't matter. We have lots of birds.

Namibia is packed with diversity. Ask a traveler who has covered much of Namibia their impression and often you will hear how strikingly different every single place they visited is. The Namib, a hyper arid region stretching the entire coast, and inland for some 150km, is very, very diverse, with regions of great big dry river beds, rocky hills, dunes, and gravel and sandy plains. And, of course,
diversity of habitat means diversity of birds.

Because of it's uniqueness there are many birds that are near endemic. Namibia has only one true endemic bird, the Dune Lark, but quiet a few that just touch Angola or South Africa. These include the White-tailed Shrike, Rockrunner, Hartlaub's Babbler, Carp's Tit, Grey's Lark, Monteiro's Woodhoopoes, Rüppell's Parrot, Rüppell's Korhaan, Hartlaub's Francolin, Benguela Long-billed Lark, and the Barlow's Lark. Damara Tern's breeding is almost only confined to Namibia's coastline.

Added to this are a number of specials found in the region. These include birds like the Sharp-tailed Starling, Souza's Shrike, Pel's Fishing-owl, Cinderella Waxbill, all of which are found in the far north.

The far north consists of dry broadleaved woodland a few riverine forest patches, in contrast to the Hyper arid regions and the dry Karroo and Kalahari areas, making up the bulk of the remainder of the country.

At the coast several lagoons and other water bodies provide home to many interesting birds, including thousands of summer migrant waders.

Late summer months in Namibia often mean that the game viewing in the parks
is less exciting (animals can spread out in the bush and are not confined to water points,) but this is a great time for birding. The bushes are green, birds are breeding (which helps with the id of some of those troublesome seed-eaters, for example,) and the migrants are present. It also means that lodges and camp sites are less likely to be full. The down side, aside from game viewing, is bugs, including mosquitoes in some areas.

Added, of course, to the birding, is the whole experience of traveling to Namibia, a diverse and interesting country with beautiful landscapes as a defining characteristic of the area, and friendly, helpful people.

I am currently building a website for SafariWise called Birdwatching.com.na and building it as an overall travel resource for birders planning to visit Namibia.

The website is still in it's early phase and you can help if you like, by sending me some feedback or ideas. I am still in the early phase of putting it up, cleaning up typos and still adding a bit more content. You are welcome to send feedback to vernon@frantic-naturalist.com.

If you want an idea of what it's like to do birding in Namibia and want to read some great blog posts, read these ones on Peregrines Bird Blog.

• Ongava Lodge



• Erongo Wilderness Lodge



• Grey Grey Walvis Bay



• Finally Catch Up With Dune Lark



• Day In Dunes At Sossusvlei And No Luck



• From the Cheetahs at Amani Lodge, Namibia to the Wildness of the Desert at the Desert Homestead Lodge, Namibia



• Holiday in Namibia with my wife and as much birding as I thought I could get away with

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Staking out a desert waterhole - a wonderful morning.

This morning I didn't have any guests at Sossusvlei Desert Lodge and knew that it was my chance to have some fun on my own.  I came to the lodge and had a great breakfast (chili cheese omelet.)  Then headed out for a walk.

I had seen earlier that there was a spring in the mountains still holding water.  It's a wonderful place.  On of our astronomers had found tadpoles there before.  It had been a really interesting discovery.  We simply had no idea that we had any amphibians here in the desert.  I had also found a springbok painting (bushman rock art) there.

The spring holds water for a few months after the rain, and this year with great rains there is still a good bit of water now (late August.)  When I saw it we had just passed by before.  I decided today that it may be worth staking out.  I set off from the lodge with just my camera.

As I got near the spring I saw an adult male kudu up in the hills.  He was very relaxed.  I took a couple of picutures and moved on.

At the waterhole I lay down in a hiding spot between the rocks.  I was hoping to see a kudu or mountain zebra, but I knew that it was late in the day.  All that came in to drink was birds, but it was still such fun to just lie there and watch nature switch on again.  I took many pictures of the birds drinking and flying around and had a great time just being there.  To me to get out in nature like that from time to time, all on my own, is just a wonderful experience and one of the reasons I will keep doing my best to keep coming to visit Sossusvlei Desert Lodge and the NamibRand Nature Reserve.

On my way back I crawled slowly up the hill to get a better picture of the kudu.  He was still there and let me take a wonderful picture.  Then I made my way back to the lodge before the desert heat set in to much.  A wondeful way to spend a morning!

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A weekend in Windhoek

This weekend my wife wasn't working and we headed for Windhoek, some 350km from Swakopmund. For us, living in Swakopmund at the coast, where the desert is at it's driest, a trip to the interior of Namibia is a treat. It is so green at the moment because the rains have been good this year.

I did a little birding at Avis Dam, to the east of Windhoek, on Saturday. It was a fun bit of birding, but I didn't have much time. I took some pics. I heard a Fish Eagle but didn't see it.

I managed to photograph a few small birds. Avis is great for trying to take photos of some Namibian birds because it's a popular spot for people from Windhoek, walking their dogs, fishing, or just enjoying a bit of nature. It means that the birds are reasonably tame. The birds I include in this post are a Marico Flycatcher [top] and a Pirit Batis [bottom].

If you are planning a birding trip to Namibia, Avis will often be your first birding stop. It's on the way in from the Airport, just east of Windhoek.

On Sunday we headed back and had a wonderful drive. Instead of going down the normal road, we opted to go over the Gamsberg Pass. It was a wonderful drive. The long Gamsberg Pass was really green. It's a long, winding decent into the eastern Margin of the Namib Desert. We didn't see much wildlife, but certainly the whole area has had great rain this year, and wildlife should be abundant throughout the year.

View Larger Map

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Today's birding at Mile 4 salt works

I went out this morning for a nice bit of birding at the Mile 4 salt works. It was foggy when I went out, but the fog was not obstructing the view, so it was fine.

Today's birds: Cape Cormorant (thousands,) Common Whimbrel, Kelp Gull, Ruddy Turnstone, Grey Plover, White-fronted Plover, Sandwich Tern, Hartlaub's Gull, Greater Flamingo, Damara Tern (only a few, they will be gone soon,) Common Tern, Swift Tern, Common Greenshank, Black-necked Grebe, Pied Avocet, White-breasted Cormorant, Cape Teal, Little Egret, Barn Swallow (heading off soon?) Cape Wagtail, Black-winged Stilt, Lesser Flamingo (actually lots today,) African Black Oystercatcher, Ruff (only a few, and looking better by the day, ready for breeding further north,) and lastly the star of the day, a Common Redshank, a rare bird we have been seeing lots of, but it is still a rare vagrant. The picture with this post is a much cropped picture with the Common Redshank.

There were lots of young White-fronted plover's around. It's always amazing how they make it in these very open habitats. You would think the Kelp Gulls would have them all.

I also watched Kelp Gulls harass Cape Cormorants until they regurgitate the contents of their crops, which the Gulls would quickly eat.

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The Guiding Light - thumbs up for birding Namibia

I am always interested in guides and their view. Guides get around. Guides get to enjoy each place a number of times with different people, which gives you a completely different feel for a place each time. You can imagine the difference between taking a group through a park, where game drives shouldn't take to long and evenings are spent enjoyably chatting over a good red wine compared to a bird mad trip with a young frantic birding couple. The place itself feels different because of the people you take there. And guiding gives you a degree of authority on an area, and that is why people pay you to take them there over and over.

I came across a Josh Engel's blog today, "The Guiding Light". The first thing I read is "ADVENTURES IN GUIDING. LEADING BIRDING TRIPS AROUND THE WORLD," the subtitle. Then on to the post, and it says "Namibia is my favorite country in which I guide." Go Josh. The post is about a recent trip that he guided through Namibia and Botswana for Tropic Birds, a leading birding tour company.

Namibia is really something special and the birding community is starting to notice it. As a destination with more than 600 birds in a dry country, it is a rather remarkable birding spot. The deserts give unique birds and the birds themselves are interesting, just because they are there. Then there are other habitats including small sections of riverine woodland in the Caprivi and of course, my current hang out, the coastal wetlands that give us beautiful flamingos and interesting migratory waders. There are certainly countries with more birds in Africa, some a lot more, but Namibia is indeed a wonderful country to visit as a birder, or, like Josh, as a birding guide.

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Birding Namibia's central coastal region - Some background

I have noticed a lot of new visitors on my blog. I thought I will just give a brief background to birding in this area, Namibia's central coast.

First, why am I a bird guide in Namibia's central coastal area. Well, for me it's just getting going. I have lived in Namibia for over 10 years (grew up in Kenya and studied in South Africa.) I lived here in Swakopmund for a number of years, before moving to Sossusvlei where I spend around 7 years. The whole time I was guiding and the whole time I had a passion for birds, birding, and sharing birds and nature in general with guests.

I have found with time, as I have learned more, that I enjoy specialist tours more, simply because there is a focus. I have been birding the area for all these years and now my family live here and I have two boys who need school. I was offered a deal by Safari Wise to do their coastal birding and regular day tours. I was also trying to start up Frantic Naturalist Tours and Safaris, my own company. It will still get going in the long run, but for now, with a downturn in the economy and with kids needing dad around a little more, it's great to have the chance to do birding here. It's just getting going, but I am confident that it should be a good arrangement.

So that's me, Safari Wise and birding in this area.

The area: Swakopmund and Walvis Bay sit near each other and hold a few wetland areas that are great birding spots. These towns sit on a coastline, the Skeleton Coast, a vast desert area with few town, few people and few wetlands.

Why come birding in Swakopmund and Walvis Bay?

1. Walvis Bay Lagoon and salt works
   
   Description: Walvis Bay Lagoon is situated just north of the massive Namib Sand Sea, the huge region of sand that includes Sossusvlei. South-east of the Lagoon, the bigger dunes can be seen, and dunes pose a realistic threat to Walvis Bay itself.
   
   The Lagoon is created by a 14 kilometre sandbar stretching northwards. On the northern side the water is deep, creating Walvis Bay's main economy, the harbor.
   
   Further south it get more shallow and creates an area of tidal mudflats. Some of these mudflats are vast.
   
   South of the mudflats are commercial Salt Works. Here large pans are flooded with sea water and evaporation is used to get the salt. This area is important for birds like Lesser Flamingo because in these warmer pans (being shallower than the ocean, and not influenced as much by the tide) are good for Algae that the flamingos feed on.
   
   Walvis Bay is good for terns, both greater and Lesser Flamingos, a great population of Black Necked Grebe, as well as loads of migrant waders. The Chestnut Banded Plover population is up and down.
   Links
   Peregrines Birding Blog did a post on Walvis Bay. I have also posted some stuff on Walvis Bay, here's one.
   The Coastal Environmental Trust of Namibia (CETN) has a useful website with information about the Walvis Bay Lagoon. They were instrumental in getting the Lagoon registered as a Ramsar Site and they oversee the bi-annual wetland counts for the Lagoon.
   


2. Swakopmund Salt Works
   Description: The Swakopmund Salt works is not situated in a lagoon like Walvis Bay. The site is also restricted and so most birders can only do the outside of it. One can, though, drive right round the whole periphery of the area. This area has a guano platform (a large wooden platform to collect bird poo) which means there are huge numbers of Cape Cormorants around. Rare birds frequently show up here. It can be good for Terns.
   Links: This is my regular spot, and so I post frequently about it on this blog about the area.
   


3. Swakop Sewage Works
   Description: A small area, but packed full of birds. It is in the middle of town. It's a great area to see ducks and things like that, not often seen on the more open lagoon and wetlands. It is, though, a sewage works area, and may not appeal to everyone. The area is closed after working hours and on weekends.
   Links: I also visit this area somewhat regularly, and so it will also feature in this blog.
   


4. Swakop River Mouth
   Description: A small wetland at the mouth of the Swakop River just separated by the Atlantic by a short stretch of beach. The wetland is small, but can be a rewarding birding site. We do monthly counts of the area, and recently had an American Golden Plover as a fun rarity for twitchers.
   Link: I also regularly count this spot, and participate when I can in the monthly counts. A recent bit of excitement has been the river flooding.
   I found a site that has a short video of the Swakop River Mouth. Nothing fancy but it gives you an idea. They were not super birders and I left a little comment you can check out at the bottom of the post. Check it out here
   


5. The Gravel Plains
   Description: The Gravel Plains are fast areas of desert devoid of Dunes for the most part, and often covered by small gravelly rocks or with a gypsum crust. Nearby Swakopmund the main reason to visit the gravel plains is to see Lichens, but for birders, one of Namibia's near endemic birds is only found on these plains, the Grey's Lark.
   


6. The Kuiseb River
   Description: The Kuiseb river makes a fascinating desert outing and for birders it gives a chance to see some of the typical Namibian birds that one doesn't often see at the coast. The Kuiseb river blocks the northward march of the Namib Sand Sea, Namibia's largest dune field, and the vegetated dunes on the river's south bank is a great place to find Namibia's only totally endemic bird, the Dune Lark.
   Links: Some info can be found at the Gobabeb Training and Research Center's website.
   


7. Further out
   Description: If you stay in Walvis Bay you could do a trip out for a day or a couple days. This may be an ideal way to do a good bit of local birding, and may suit South Africans very nicely. Perhaps a night in Omaruru or the Erongo mountains and then a night up to Damaraland and back to Swakopmund. There are many options for this kind of arrangement. If you would like to do this kind of birding trip, get hold of me or contact Safari Wise.
   

There is more useful information in NACOMA'S website.

Email me for recommendations on accommodation if you like.

If you plan to visit the area, you may find there books useful. Get them from Amazon: Birding in Namibia and Sasol Birds of Southern Africa.

Namibia is one of the safest and logistically simple countries in Africa to visit. It is rewarding for birders and nature lovers. The central coastal area's wetlands are especially special for birding as it holds a few wet areas along a huge desert coast, where rain seldom falls at all. It's interesting, rewarding, beautiful, perhaps a little strange, and well worth a visit. For more information about Namibia, please contact me. If you enjoyed this post please share it with others who may be interested or bookmark it on social media sites. You are most welcome to leave a comment.

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Swakop River's 2009 flooding

The exitment around here for the last week or so has been our rivers. In Namibia all the rivers between the northern border and southern border are dry river beds. The rivers flow most years at least a little, but it's once in years, or even once in decades that the rivers actually reach the ocean.

At the coast we have two rivers in the vicinity of Swakopmund and Walvis Bay. The Kuiseb is just south of Walvis Bay, and it has nearly flooded into the lagoon. The Swakop river is here, just south of Swakopmund. Swakopmund's name comes from this river, the 'mund' being 'mouth.'

For us as birders there are aditional reasons for the interest. The river flows through the little wetland at the river mouth. Basically it's a bit like pressing a reset button. The whole system gets flushed out, and a somewhat new wetland is created. It all depends on how much water comes down and with how much power. This year it also depends on the human impact, digging trenches to encourage the river to flow out to the ocean.

We watched and watched. Everyone kept talking about the river coming down. It hasn't had a good flood into the Atlantic since 2000, so you can imagine that it's a big deal.

On Friday I went down with my boys. They had cut a long channel in the river bed. I am not too sure that it is a good thing. Anyway, the paper had said the river had already flowed, but when we were there, it certainly hadn't.

The man in the photograph is Dr. Hu Berry, a rather well known conservationist and guide in Namibia. Read more about him here. Him and his wife were also there to check it out when we got down there.

Hu walking down the channel cut for the river on Friday

The river made it to the ocean later. It was fun walking around there the next day. The river had already dropped and clay was left where the river had flooded at it's highest. Full of bird's tracks.

The birds had changed remarkably little at a casual glance. I will, of course, be watching each day.

Everyone comes out to check it out, and the kids, including mine, have a good time in the river.

The ocean has washed very high over the last couple of days, and there were some images in the newspapers. I haven't been back to the river mouth, but will try to pop down tomorrow. It may be, if the river flooded so high, that salt water went into the small wetland at the mouth. I am not sure how significant this will be environmentally.

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Bird Ring

I mentioned that I had found a dead bird with a ring on it's leg. Today I found out where it was ringed.

The bird, whose metal ring was a SAFRING ring, was ringed on the 27th of April on Possession Island, off the Namibian coast. Did you know that there was also a Plumpudding Island off Namibia's coast? Well it has nothing to do with Possession, but it must have given the guys who did the naming something to smile about.

The birds was obviously a young bird, and didn't make it's first year. It was probably a Jackal that got hold of it (by it's state, and I could see from the tracks when I found the dead bird.

If you don't know what a Swift Tern is, I found some pics here and here.

There was a white stork reported today at the Salt works. It's not an unusual bird in Namibia, but doesn't show up at the coast much, and it seems there are now records of it ever at the Salt works. I went to have a look, but no luck. I went at mid-day when I was going to pick up my boys from school, so the light was bad. I might try later again.

I still haven't seen the gull that I saw earlier with the dark head. I would really like to find it again. It certainly could be something special.

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A bird day

This morning I went out to count the Swakop River Mouth with six other birders. Two of those were young kids, and had a great time. We didn't see any rare birds, which was actually a first for me with the Swakop River Counts. We also missed Damara Terns, which we usually check up on after the Swakop River Mouth each count. There was a lot of activity in the area, and that probably chased them away.


In the late afternoon I took my family up the beach north of Swakopmund. As we passed the area where I saw the gull (it seems to have gone, dashing my chance at my first report of a proper rare bird!) I saw a dead tern.


I went to have a look. It had a ring. I have looked at litrally hundreds of dead birds. This is my first ring recovery. It's a safring ring, which may mean that it is local. The number is 5-87866. Of course I have reported it, and will let you know when I hear more.

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Funny Little Egret

We have had a bird hanging around the Mile 4 Salt works area (north of Swakopmund) which has had us scratching our heads. It was first picked out as being strange by the friend I regularly bird with. He is a local hot-shot and has picked out many of the local rare birds. I tried to get some shots, but with my 300mm lens and a non-cooperative bird, it didn't work to well.

Some other birders visiting the area managed to get better images, and have said that the bird is simply a young Little Egret. It does show a variety of strange things. The dark color in the feathers is unusual in this area. It also has a bluish tinge to the legs. And the area in front of the eye is more yellow than on the regular birds.

I had the pics anyway, and so, since others have managed to get better images, thought I would share them on the blog.

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Frantic Naturalist Development Method

Where does one develop a passionate interest in wildlife and all things nature. There is only one way. Experience nature, up close.

I have just read a wonderful blog post which I though needed sharing as a great example of how ones fascination in nature first begins. It's very well written, and I enjoyed it so much that I read it a couple times and even left a comment.

So, please go an visit this story on Bird Ecology Study Group's blog

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Reflections on our stange ways - birders and poo-ponds

I enjoy having a local spot to go birding. A place you really get to know. You see the changes. The you get to learn a lot about the behavior of the familiar birds, and perhaps get to like familiar birds in a way that one doesn't if you just after that next lifer. For me at the moment the thought of chasing lifers is just to expensive at the moment. My only real chance for them around here is when rare birds show up.

But it's a comfort. I go birding for pleasure more now than ever. I have been birding for years and years, but there was always thing thing of trying to rack up numbers or learn about birds from a guiding point of view.

But lately, it's been mainly for fun.

In Swakop now my main spot has been Mile 4 salt works. We have had some rarities show up there, and it's a great spot. I've had the chance to go in where others are restricted, which makes it nice.

But my other spot, which is right in town is the sewage works. Say that to any birder, and it's no big deal. Birders go to sewage ponds. I even took my guests on a birding tour into the sewage ponds. It's a bit smelly, but you get over it. Actually the Cape Cross fur seal colony is far worse. But there are great birds, and because they are tolerant of noise and people (the workers,) they are very approachable.

Many birders are 'refined people', dress nice, often have money to spend on a pastime that requires world travel and expensive bins and scopes and ipods (for calls) and what have you. But they don't blush an eyelid to go down to the sewage works at all.

In Namibia the Windhoek sewage works is fantastic, and when I was there on the last tour we saw an Osprey, among other fun things. In Swakopmund it's rather small, but still a good spot for birds. In Walvis Bay the sewage works go into a series of moving dunes, and though officially closed to the public at the moment, it's easily accessible from the airport road, walking in by foot. And the pans are full, full of birds. Flamingos, various ducks, only a few waders, and various other things. Great spot for Black-necked Grebe, although there are many good spots for them around here.

So, with good reason, we keep visiting these places where few others dare to go!

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