Big Birding Day

Early Wednesday morning, we began our big birding day! Our goal is to get as many birds as possible in 12 hours. 05h00 we started with the dawn chorus. The air is crisp and invigorating, various owls were heard, then the resident pride of lions begun earth shattering roars.

We proceeded to the direction of the vocalisation and to also get a few water birds at big dam.

To our surprise we found three big males. Startled at this as the pride consists of 2 males and 2 females, where did this mystery male come from, the other guides from the lodges were also perplexed by this new male. The new lion ran at high pace from the resident boys, not to be seen again. We continued to tick off a number of water birds to then see the resident pride moving straight to our vehicle. We watched as the female lions scent marked right in front of us, to the have the resident males performing flemen grimace to test the females breeding status. A fantastic way to start the day.

We headed off to the river to tick some riverine bird species. The highlight of big birding day was to see 2 African hawk eagles talon gripping above our heads, a phenomenal sight for all.

We managed to get 101 bird species. A fantastic achievement for all our new twitchers. The day certainly proved to the learners of the beauty of stalking hard to see birds and the rewards of the challenge. We finalised the day with a much deserved swim in the Makhutsi river to charge our batteries, after a hot and challenging day in our office, the bush.

The Bushwise Team

Big Birding Day