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Robert Ball

Guest contributor

Robbie developed a passion for the African bush from many visits to his family’s small holding in a greater conservancy just outside Johannesburg. Living in the big city his whole life, he always found refuge in the outdoors and has grown to appreciate ...

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11 Comments

on Welcoming Back A Feathery Winter Visitor

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At night I listen to the last scops owls that will migrate to Africa… i just wish I could fly like them and the European bee-eaters to Londolozi

I think migratory birds are such interesting animals. It’s wonderful how they know exactly where to fly to and how long to stay.
You ask which ones I would like to see at Londolozi… Whoever is around at the time of any visit. But I would really love to see sunbirds. I guess they are migratory, too?

Woodland Kingfisher’s & Violet Backed Starlings are special visitors always nice to see.

Robbie so good to hear the migratory birds are slowly coming back. The Stone Chat birds are beautiful and the bea-eater has stunning colors. We have a pair of Lesser stripped swallow by us now for about 8 years. Every year they migrate and Sept month they come back. I have named them Jessie and James. This year they had two chick’s and one chick was a little cripple. Three times I put the little chick back into the nest , she flew out but could not get back in. Luckily she came right and flew in and out the nest with a little help from my hubby who put a stick nearby so that she could fly on to the stick, then straight into the nest which is under the roof by by kitchen window. To precious for words.

Thanks for that interesting story about the birds. Like the pic of the bee eater flying, hard to get it like this.

Actually, most of the birds I enjoy viewing are not migratory it seems. A few are the Tawny eagle, Lilac-breasted Roller, Fish eagle, Kingfisher, and Hammerkop. They all are around whether I’m there in November or April. I enjoy seeing the Carmine bee eater as well as the little green bee eater but I’ve only seen them around the Chobe River. I’m just learning how to identify more birds….. next trip I hope to find a few new ones to add to my list.

Robert, You have shown us a few birds we have not seen! The Southern Carmine Bee-eater is beautiful! One of our goals on our next visit is to focus some extra time on birding!

Digital Tracker

Great article! I absolutely love birds – their gorgeous colours and how incredibly smart they are! Love it thanks.

You have so many beautiful birds at Londolozi, it hard to pick one. However I always adore watching the lilac breasted rollers in flight!! we live in the city and so we v
have lots of birds, but the ones in Africa are often so speculative. Thank you, Victoria

Senior Digital Ranger

Enjoyed your discussion of the different types of migration. I didn’t know about the altitudinal migration. Very cool. When I was living in South Africa, I was able to go to Zimbabwe to birdwatch. Actually got to see a Swynnerton’s robin nesting. Very cool! Many other birds as well. I also especially enjoyed seeing the kingfishers and carmine bee-eaters.

Robert, thanks very much for your blog on migratory birds. I really love birds and you have some really beautiful and interesting birds in Africa. I think most people going on safari are focused only on the large animals and miss out on not appreciating our winged warriors. Enjoyed the pics very much.

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