South Africa 2024: Day 6

7 December 2024: Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

Every year, BirdLife South Africa, a non-profit bird conservation organization, hosts its annual Birding Big Day (BBD). This year marked the 40th anniversary of the event, and I was here for it. The nationwide competition brings together professional and amateur ornithologists, as well as anyone simply looking for a meaningful day outdoors, to work in teams recording bird species across the country. Teams select their competition level (radius of 50 km or 6 km), and record as many species as possible within the 24 hour period in a designated app. The winner receives a prize (such as a stay at a game reserve), and the official accolades of being that year’s winner.

Our team, the Wandering Misfits, did not start at midnight like some teams, but around 5:00 a.m., beginning with early-morning waterbird surveys. Although we started at dawn, we did hear a giant eagle-owl calling during the night, and because auditory sightings count, that magnificent bird was added to our list. We began our day at Mkulu Dam, watching the sunrise over the waterbirds while our manager went full barista, serving coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Later that day, we visited Nana’s Dam, an iconic watering hole at Thula Thula named for Nana, the matriarch of one of the reserve’s earliest elephant herds.

Throughout the day, I learned vulture terminology. A group of vultures circling overhead is called a kettle. When feeding on a carcass, they form a wake. When multiple vultures gather at a predictable feeding site, often referred to as a “restaurant,” they may be called a committee or venue.

In total, 454 teams competed this year, recording approximately 55,000 bird sightings across South Africa. Although we did not place among the top teams, we recorded more than 110 bird species in a single day, an accomplishment I am genuinely proud of.

We took a brief detour during the day to remove a tree snake from the home of the owner, Françoise. Later, we returned when the snake made its way onto her roof in an attempt to raid weaver nests in a nearby tree. The weavers proved formidable, and I have never been more impressed by these remarkable birds, even as I felt sympathy for the snake. Their ability to construct intricate, hanging nests with extraordinary speed is astonishing. If any species deserves recognition for rapid, quilt-like craftsmanship, weaver birds would surely take first place.

Later that evening, I attended a traditional South African braai. It was my first, and I learned about its cultural and communal importance. While it involves slow-cooking meat and other foods over an open fire, the heart of the tradition lies in the social gathering itself. The day ended with a reminder of camp life, when a poisonous scorpion had to be removed from near my tent.

Species logged today:

Mammals- Blue wildebeest, zebra, impala, nyala, hippopotamus, giraffe, vervet monkey, kudu, buffalo, grey duiker

Reptiles- Gecko, Nile crocodile, monitor lizard, tree snake

Invertebrates- Rhino beetle, scorpion (Parabuthus transvaalicus), unidentified caterpillar

Birds (personally observed)- Violet-backed starling, weavers, tawny-flanked prinia, fork-tailed drongo, blacksmith lapwing, water thick-knee, three-banded plover, yellow-billed stork, Egyptian goose, common sandpiper, ring-necked dove, spotted thick-knee, striated heron, rufous-naped lark, lemon canary, rattling cisticola, Cape glossy starling, yellow-throated longclaw, white-backed vulture, white-fronted bee-eater, zitting cisticola, white-bellied sunbird, lazy cisticola, red-billed oxpecker, woolly-necked stork, southern fiscal, fan-tailed widowbird, croaking cisticola (juvenile and adult), square-tailed drongo, gorgeous bushshrike, lesser moorhen, white-faced whistling duck, lesser masked-weaver, dark-capped boubou, crested francolin, speckled mousebird, African palm swift, pin-tailed whydah, bronze mannikin, common buzzard, bateleur eagle, southern grey-headed sparrow, southern black tit, barn swallow, European roller, red-backed shrike, pale flycatcher, green-backed camaroptera, black sparrowhawk, African dusky flycatcher, emerald-spotted wood dove, yellow-fronted canary, white-throated swallow, black-bellied starling, trumpeter hornbill, mocking cliff chat, southern black flycatcher, common quail, long-tailed widowbird, blue waxbill, black kite, brimstone canary, Hadada ibis, Cape bulbul, golden-breasted bunting, helmeted guineafowl, hamerkop

Birds (heard only)- Red-chested cuckoo, southern boubou, helmeted guineafowl, African cuckoo, arrow-marked babbler, giant eagle-owl