How many pairs of breeding White Storks are there in South Africa in 2024?
The mountains in the background to this pair of breeding White Storks look like they could easily be in Europe. But these are the mountains behind Paarl in the ...
Author: Les Underhill
Prof Les Underhill was Director of the Animal Demography Unit (ADU) at the University of Cape Town from its start in 1991 until he retired. Although citizen science in biology is Les’s passion, his academic background is in mathematical statistics. He was awarded his PhD in abstract multivariate analyses in 1973 at UCT and what he likes to say about his PhD is that he solved a problem that no one has ever had. He soon grasped that this was not the field to which he wanted to devote his life, so he retrained himself as an applied statistician, solving real-world problems.
Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)
Cover image: Ruddy Turnstone by John and Anne Todd, 9 April, at St Helena Bay in the Western Cape, South Africa. Most of the turnstones in this photograph are a...
RAVE : Days 12 and 13 (8 and 9 December 2023)
The first week of the RAVE (RAVE = Ringing, Atlasing, Virtual-museuming Expedition) was spent at Botuin, Vanrhynsdorp, and the report on the first four days, is...
Archive/Biodiversity/Bird ringing/Birding/BirdPix/Citizen Science/LacewingMAP/LepiMAP/OdonataMAp/Paardeberg/ReptileMAP/Trip report/Virtual Museum
RAVE : Days 8 to 11 (4 to 7 December 2023)
On 4 December, the RAVE scene moved to Vondeling Wine Farm, and the eastern edge of the Paardeberg. (RAVE = Ringing, Atlasing, Virtual-museuming Expedition.) Th...
RAVE (Ringing, Atlasing, Virtual-museuming Expedition) : Days 1 to 4 (27 to 30 November 2023)
The first data collection spot on the RAVE was the low level bridge across the Olifants River, a kilometer from the turnoff to Algeria on the N7 from Cape Town ...
Bird ringing course at New Holme : 2 to 10 September (Part 2) : “rare is common and common is rare!”
Part 1 described the first five days of the bird ringing course at New Holme. Part 2 describes the last few days and does the overall wrap up. Let’s do th...
Bird ringing course at New Holme : 2 to 10 September 2023 (Part 1)
We have done five days of bird ringing at New Holme Lodge, 8 km off the N1 between Hanover and Colesberg in the Northern Cape, and exactly half way between Cape...
White-breasted Cormorant (Phalocrocorax lucidus)
Identification In theory, the White-breasted Cormorant is an easy species to identify (but there are imposters, see later). In adults the top half of the front ...
Kelp Gull (Larus dominicanus)
Identification Deciding that the bird you are looking at is an adult Kelp Gull is one of the easiest identification challenges: white head and body, black back ...
Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus)
Identification In the interior of South Africa, almost any gull which at first glance looks like a Kelp Gull (white head and body, black back and wings) is most...