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Graham Bull emailed me these images of a Eurasian Oystercatcher he photographed at Langebaan Lagoon on Tuesday 25 January. The bird was about 1km north of Seeberg hide. Great record Graham and thanks for submitting your photos. David Winter

It can be hard to get noticed when you’re a little chick in a big colony, but new research published in BioMed Central’s open access journal BMC Ecology reveals that baby birds in need of a feed have individual ways of letting their parents know. [Science Daily]

Mike Buckham joined me on Saturday (22-01-11) for another raptor watch at Kirstenbosch. The conditions weren’t great with a strong black south-easter (lots of cloud cover over the mountain), but Kirstenbosch was thankfully quite sheltered. We didn’t expect a great raptor tally, particularly because we had 4 children in tow who found stone throwing far [...]

A short raptor watch at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens on Saturday 15 January 2011 really turned up the goods. I always feel slightly deprived when a summer passes and I haven’t seen at least one Honey Buzzard on the Cape Peninsula. Last year was one of those where, despite putting in some time at Kirstenbosch and [...]

While raptor watching at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens on Saturday I snapped these poor images of a large falcon. It unfortunately did not hang around and was last seen heading south in the direction of Cecilia Forest. My suspicions, and the opinions of a couple of raptor experts, point towards Eleonora’s Falcon. Does anyone else perhaps [...]

Cape Leopard Trust Camera Trap This is the closest I’ve come to seeing a Leopard in the Cape… While riding in the Palmiet river valley on Sunday I came across this camera trap, a vital piece of equipment for the Cape Leopard Trust’s research on this very elusive predator. Cape Leopard (the smaller cousin of [...]

Sentinel Rock-Thrush Patrick Cardwell took this excellent shot of a male Sentinel Rock-Thrush at Sir Lowry’s Pass, Cape Town earlier last year. Sentinel’s can be difficult to find in the Cape, but Sir Lowry’s Pass, Rooi Els, Cape Point and even Table Mountain have been turning up the goods of late.

Betty Pauciello fled the corporate world nearly 18 years ago, shedding a job as director of operations at a computer company that had become more about preparing layoff lists than anything else. Actually, took flight might be a better way to describe Pauciello’s departure, considering what lured her away: Birds. A longtime enthusiast of the [...]