Thanks to Keith Hamilton for his fascinating talk on winter birding, presented with his beautiful bird photographs. Contrary to what you may think, Keith pointed out that winter is a good time for birding as the fynbos is in flower and the proteas, ericas and aloes attract nectar and insect feeders, the weather can be better, there is good light for photography, you can sleep in and there are fewer snakes around.
He gave us a breakdown of the ‘who is in town in winter’ of the 287 bird species in the Kogelberg. The ‘resident’ birds top the chart at 167 of these 287 species, with Palearctic migrants, Intra-African migrants, vagrants (those who have ‘lost their way’ and don’t usually come here), visitors and pelagic visitors making up the other species. Vagrants include birds such as the Grey Wagtail and the African Crake.
His stunning photographs featured owls, a variety of sunbirds, the rock thrush, coastal birds and many others.
Malachite Sunbird Southern Double-collared Sunbird
He also showed us good places in Betty’s Bay to view birds, and good spots to view some of the pelagic birds from land.
These photos of his slides obviously don’t do justice to his pictures – so treat yourself to a copy of his book ‘Birds of the Kogelberg’ which is available at the BotSoc bookshop in the Harold Porter Garden.
Carol Clark