Birding in Africa
As you will know if you’ve read my posts from the past year, Craig and I have gotten interested in birds in recent months — okay, very interested. So although we didn’t go to Africa specifically for the birds, it was natural that birdwatching should end up being a significant part of our safaris. Botswana’s Okavango Delta is a remarkable wetland environment and a haven for many kinds of birds, while Uganda, a country the size of Oregon, is home to more species of birds (1061) than the whole of North America!
All the birds we think we saw
We always told our guides that we were interested in birds, and they responded with enthusiasm. They could quickly identify birds that we noticed only as a passing blur or whir of feathers or wisp of song. I can’t recall all the birds they showed us, but whenever I got a good look at one — and especially when I identified it myself or took a picture of it — I found I could remember it well.
Early on, I gave up on trying to keep track of every single bird species we encountered. But my Merlin Bird ID app was a great tool throughout the trip and since, helping me both to identify birds in the field or in photos — and to remember the ones I’d seen. To prepare, I downloaded the databases they call “bird packs” for Botswana and Uganda. I also spent time reviewing the list of birds for each region we visited, and this practice helped to prime my eyes — and my brain — for what I might see. When I came across a new bird, I was more likely to remember it, because its name and/or appearance were already somewhat familiar to me.
A better tool
We decided to upgrade our camera for this trip, because Craig and I were both dissatisfied with the pictures I’d taken on our last Africa trip. Wow. The new camera makes a huge difference! Though I still have a lot to learn, it was a joy to be able get better shots (like this one of a Klaas’s cuckoo) even from a goodly distance.
Not that all my pictures were wonderful, of course. I follow the digital photographer’s mantra of “More is better,” knowing that there are bound to be a few good ones in almost any batch — if only by dumb luck. And then, of course, there’s the magic of Photoshop. On this trip, I shot more than 10,000 photos and then whittled them down to my 600-ish favorites, of which I’ll probably end up posting about 150.
The rewards of patience
Besides a decent camera, I find that the main requirement for taking a good photograph is patience. And not only do I need to be patient, but everyone else needs to be patient with me, as I work on taking a picture. I am slow: it can take me a while to frame a shot, focus properly, and capture an image.
And the birds don’t make it easy! Some, like this coppery-tailed coucal, were remarkably adept at darting behind leaves or twigs or grass whenever I raised my camera. This was my best shot of the coucal, but his hindquarters are screened, so you can barely see his eponymous coppery tail.
Guides and collaborators
I was very grateful for the patient efforts of our drivers and guides to make sure I got the photograph I wanted at each stop. They would stop our vehicle whenever they heard the click and whir of my camera, obligingly pull forward or back so I could get the best view, and then turn off the engine and wait while I took lots and lots of pictures.
Unfortunately, while this strategy works well on land, it’s a different story on the water, because it’s impossible to keep a floating boat completely still. It bobs up and down, it drifts backwards or forwards, until the driver gives it a little gas to keep it in place… and you lose your focus! As you can imagine, getting a clear shot of a tiny bird perched upon a twig on a distant riverbank can be extremely challenging.
Craig is always amazingly patient while I take pictures, and he takes almost as much pleasure as I do in a good shot. He was also the one who reminded me to show my photos to our guides, so that they could enjoy what they were helping to create. They always expressed surprise and pleasure when encouraged to peer through the viewfinder and see a bird up close — which gave me the impression that their clients did not usually think to share their photos. Kudos to Craig for his consideration.
Calling the birds
All our guides were knowledgable about birds, but when we took a birding walk in Lake Mburo National Park (Uganda) with Isaac as our guide, we discovered the difference a local expert could make. Isaac had a knack for finding and identifying birds, many of which we had not yet seen — a chinspot batis and a grey-backed fiscal, for example. And he had a secret technology for calling forth elusive birds.
As we began our walk, Craig and I were startled to hear loud birdsong coming from somewhere very close by. Prompted by our puzzled looks, Isaac confessed that he was carrying a bluetooth speaker in his backpack. The speaker was connected to his phone, so when he played a bird’s call, the speaker would broadcast the sound — and birds would call back!
Isaac used this method to track down a pair of red-faced barbets, which he said were extremely rare and endemic to that park — though subsequent research revealed that these barbets are actually more widespread than Isaac claimed. We didn’t know this at the time, however, so it was a special thrill when he played the barbet’s call, heard its responding song, and then led us unerringly in its wake, as the bird flitted from treetop to more distant treetop. We never did get very close — hence this not-so-great photo — but the chase was immensely satisfying.
ASIDE: I have noted before that many birders disapprove of this sort of musical trickery, fearing that it might upset or disorient the birds. I had this experience the first time I played its song to a bird, so I usually avoid this approach myself. It’s so easy to miscommunicate when you don’t understand what you’re saying (or singing)!
We saw — and heard — other types of barbets during our time in Botswana, including crested and black-collared barbets. The host at Kadizora Lodge told us about a young crested barbet chick that had been rescued by… someone… and had grown up to become a regular visitor to the camp kitchen. Alas, we never caught sight of this guy, but we often heard his chatty kinfolk calling from the trees around our tent.
The exotic and the familiar
While some of the birds we saw in Africa were completely unfamiliar to us — like this hoopoe — others are cousins of birds we know well from watching them at home. In general, though, the African versions were more colorful — and, therefore, more interesting to us — than our familiar birds at home. Even the African green pigeon sports a brighter coat than the urban birds we know all too well.
I could never see one of the vibrant African starlings without thinking a bit disparagingly of our own European starlings. These, as you may know, were imported from Europe in 1890 by Eugene Schieffelin, a New York pharmaceutical manufacturer and Shakespeare enthusiast, who wanted to establish in American trees all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare. His efforts to acclimatize skylarks and nightingales failed dismally, but after surviving their first New York winter, Schieffelin’s imported starlings settled contentedly into their new home. They proceeded to multiply and have been exceeding fruitful, spreading throughout North America — to the chagrin of environmentalists and farmers, who consider them to be invasive pests. But I digress…
Take a look at these gorgeously iridescent African starlings:
Sharing my favorites
I recently attended an advanced blogging workshop in London, led by the Gentle Author, whose basic blogging workshop originally set me on this path. The other participants told me clearly that I should include more and larger photos in my posts, instead of limiting my images to postcards. As you can see in this post, I intend to follow their advice! Whenever I have an especially good picture to share, I will post it on its own. And where the photos are less interesting in themselves, then I will make them into a postcard.
I came home from Africa with lots of photos. It has taken me several weeks to review and process them, and my plan now is to share the best of these — birds, as well as other animals — through a series of blog posts. I will publish one of these every week or two until you’ve seen the lot — so keep your eyes peeled!
The new and the exotic can be entrancing,
but here’s to continuing to value the familiar.
I’m reminded of the old Girl Scout round:
“Make new friends, but keep the old:
One is silver and the other’s gold!”
Connections
- Merlin Bird ID app
- List of bird species in Uganda (PDF)
- Because I know someone will ask, this is the camera we bought: Sony CyberShot RX10 IV Digital Camera — pricey but outstanding.
- eBird: Red-faced Barbet
- Sarah Zielinski: The Invasive Species We Can Blame On Shakespeare (Smithsonian Magazine, 4 October 2011; accessed 9 November 2021)
- The Gentle Author’s wonderful blog is Spitalfields Life.
1 thought on “Birding in Africa”
Jenny, beautiful birds, very interesting stories about your birds’ watching but loved to listen to you singing!!! Wonderful!! Thanks for that!
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