‘Twitching’: The obsessive world of extreme birdwatching
My favourite time of day in camp is the afternoon. With guests out on a drive, this is often the time that the rest of the staff take a bit of a break, other than the distant hum of music, laughter or the odd clanking of gym equipment coming from the Wallow (our staff gym and pool area), the village can feel rather still and peaceful. As a ranger I am not often in camp at this time, so when I am I take the opportunity to enjoy this stillness, often by just sitting on my veranda admiring the birds. One afternoon I decided to grab my camera and take a short walk through the camps, starting at Tree Camp and ending at Pioneer Camp, I was looking forward to seeing what I would come across, and I wasn’t disappointed.
My first find, which was just as I stepped out of my room, were some Bronze Mannikins clumping up together in a Buffalo Thorn tree settling up for the day.
Bronze Mannikins huddling together while perching, also known as ‘clumping’. If you look closely, you can see that one on the left has hopped onto the back of another to attempt to huddle between two birds.
As I got to Tree Camp I heard a very loud call of a White-browed Robin-Chat that’s sounded as if it was right on the deck so I quickly went to go and investigate. To my surprise, I found that it was not on the deck but had somehow found itself in the dining box (the small indoor dining area reserved for intimate dinners or inclement weather) and had got trapped there. The call sounded so loud because of the acoustics of the room. I then spent the next ten minutes attempting to free the bird, trying my best not to frighten it too much. Eventually, it managed to get out and flew off into the nearby shrubbery – much to my relief.
The White-browed Robin-Chat perched on one of the Tree Camp dining room tables.
I also came across this Natal Spurfowl enjoying a quiet afternoon on Tree Camp Deck
The walk from Tree Camp through to Founders was filled with many birds, from a variety of sunbirds higher up in the trees to Terrestrial Brownbuls whisking through dry leaf litter under the lower branches. Along the way, I stopped for a brief moment to try to take a photo of some Terrestrial Brownbuls but was quickly distracted by the quiet chirping which lead me to a wonderful discovery…
Two sunbird chicks (type unknown just yet) in their nest with their heads peeping out just outside of Varty Chalet Three!
Two tiny sunbird chicks peeping their heads out of the entrance to the nest.
Red-Capped Robin-Chat seen close to Varty Camp lawn.
Here are a few photos of some of the other birds along the way that I managed to capture:
A Dusky Flycatcher sat watching me for a moment before it flew off close to Varty Camp.
I managed to take a quick snap of this Male Bushbuck before he put his head back down to carry on feeding.
A Brown-Hooded Kingfisher
As I was approaching Pioneer Camp I heard a small rustling in the bush, I looked down to see a Green-Backed Camaroptera hopping about just a few metres from where I was standing. I could not believe how close it was to me! I guess the fact that it is around camp so much must make it fairly used to being in the presence of humans, so instead of flying away it just continued to hop about as I sat and watched it for a while. This was one of my favourite moments of the afternoon.
Green-backed Camaroptera
Shortly after that, I got to Pioneer Camp Deck, just as the sun was about to set, and the light was starting to fade, where I saw a few more sunbirds (White-Bellied, Scarlet-Chested and even a Marico Sunbird), and a few Little Bee-Eaters just to round up my stroll through camp. All in all, it took me just over an hour, as I often found myself lost in the little world of all the wonderful creatures I came across. To be honest, if it wasn’t for approaching darkness I would have spent even loner exploring my way through camp.
Next time you find yourself wandering the paths between the camps, notice all the creatures that live in and amongst the shrubbery as you walk. It’s amazing to know that so much life is right there, just out of sight, if you slow down and look for it.
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Hi Tayla, thank you for this colourful and merry blog! I think you could organise trips for bird watchers, there’s so much to see! I loved the Bushbuck, they are not spotted easily and seem to be a little forgotten in comparison to nyala and other larger herbivores. It is exquisite. As for the serval which would be a nr1 view for me these smaller creatures are like elves of the Bush…
Wonderful bird pictures, Tayla. I did exactly the same when I was at Londolozi last time: walking along the paths from Tree Camp to Pioneer and I also saw lots of birds. I also enjoy watching birds from the deck of my room. It’s such a beneficial thing to do.
Hi Christa, it really is so beneficial, glad you enjoyed it.
Tayla, Thanks for the great reminder that you never know what wildlife you may find just by walking out your door! Beautiful photos!
Thank you Michael and Terri.
Hi Tayla you had a colorfull bird watching afternoon, each one a beauty in it’s own right. We’re we stay near the Komati power station, we have a number of different birds in our garden. My swallows returned from migration yesterday, they are the Lesser Stripped Swallows. They made their nest right by my kitchen door just under the roof. Then we also have the Spotted Eagle Owl , they breed this year in my yard, in a box that my hubby made for them, which he hung up in a huge tree. They had three chick’s and are too gorgeous for words. We watch them every day when they sleep and late afternoon then Mom and Dad come and feed them. They can fly now and are starting to go out at night to search for rodents. Also we have the Black collard barbet in out from garden in their nest, the Cape Robin chat and he is so tame he even comes in the house. I put some grated cheese out for him and he loves it, so does the wagtail pair.
I can spend hours just watching, listening to them.
Hi Valmai, how wonderful that you get to witness all that in your garden, especially that you got to watch the owl chicks grow. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Tayla, birds are amazing creatures and adapted too so many different ways of surviving. Beautiful pictures !
What a delightful walk, Taylor! Wish I’d been with you to take advantage of your sharp eye and identification skills. I’ll try it myself the next time I’m there!
That Spurfowl is totally posing for you! 😉
Wonderful story! Hearing about the non-drive times is a treat. So many blogs are about the animals that this kind of slice-of-life moments are fun to read about. Even pictures of camp life would be interesting. If it wasn’t for the Lions-Springboks pizza party we would have no idea what the Canteen was! Still curious about the “dining box”.
Such beautiful birds, so wonderful to be surrounded by all these amazing creatures!
What a wonderful story today Tayla, filled with your personal insights and images of an afternoon spent enjoying the abundant wildlife within the camp. I especially loved the photo of the little bush buck, seemingly comfortable with only you in his space. I have strolled between Founders and Varty a few times and encountered a few four footed friends, but next time I’ll try your walk between all five camps and document what I see in my journal. Thank you!
Thank you Tayla for your interesting article and very good bird pics to go with it! Amazing what you saw in the camp! Wendy M
Loved joining you for your walk to all the camps Tayla. How I miss the southern birds. I have been lucky recently though, enjoying all the water birds in the Ionian/Greece. Some preparing to migrate and others still fattening up before taking to the sky. Hundreds of flamingos, pelican, white,grey and purple heron, osprey and marsh harriers to name a few. Thanks for sharing 🙏❤️
Hi Cally, Wow the bird life sounds amazing over there. Enjoy!
Tayla, love your findings on your afternoon stroll. You never know what you will see and come across on your walk between camps. All the best!
Thank you Christy, the walk between camps really is lovely, you never know what you will find. Keep well.
A really nice blog Tayla. I love birds and it is nice to see some of your African birds. Nice pics also. Thanks for sharing with us – enjoyed the read.
sometimes we get so busy looking for the bigger animals we forget to look for the wonderful colorful birds in Londolozi! Thank youVuctoria