About the Author

James Tyrrell

Alumni

James had hardly touched a camera when he came to Londolozi, but his writing skills that complemented his Honours degree in Zoology meant that he was quickly snapped up by the Londolozi blog team. An environment rich in photographers helped him develop the ...

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9 Comments

on One of Londolozi’s Rarest Birds

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Fantastic that you guys have a breeding population there! Birds are high on my bush checklist (or for anywhere), with the cats and wild dogs just beating them (still need to see the latter)!! Very interesting read!

Amazing that they come back to the same nest. We saw a broad billed roller years ago at the Shingwedzi river in the north of Kruger.

James nice to know they are back, the migrants bring so much mystery with them. Is the thought that one of the pairs is the parent pair and the other offspring? If so then the numbers could continue to increase – fascinating and so much we don’t know.

Hi David,
A good question and I’m afraid I don’t have an answer for you. It’s certainly possible that young birds return to their area of birth on their first migration, as I imagine they follow all the same geographical landmarks that they did on the way north. Since the parents would defend their own nest site aggressively, young birds would be forced to move off, and might establish themselves nearby.
Who knows?

Master Tracker

The bird life was really good when I stopped and I got the Kingfisher photo I always wanted, but not everybody wants to see a Kingfisher when there are some of the world’s most approachable Leopards …

The bugs, the birds & the great beasts are all what makes Londolozi so special. Thanks for this blog.

To be honest, I’m not much of a bird watcher and I freely admit to wanting to see the mammals of Africa. However, I found your blog quite interesting and will definitely look more closely at the birds of Southern Africa on my next trip. I am a big fan of bee eaters, lilac breasted rollers and fish eagles. My longest lens is a 70-200,2.8 so shooting birds is challenging. I’ll leave it to you experts. Thank for your comments.

Hi Denise,
Thanks for the comments. Despite saying you aren’t much of a bird watcher,, you’ve picked some great birds to be fans of !
Photographing them can be tricky, as you generally need a minimum of 400mm in your lens, unless the bird is VERY relaxed and close to you. Or unless it is an ostrich!

Awesome article James and great information as always and glad they are back.How long do they stay and are they likely to still be around in March ?

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