This page (as well as the juvenile African Cuckoo) is from a sunny summer spent at Vaalkop Dam in December and January 2009. I'm sure that older birders will agree that there has been a massive decrease in the numbers of Yellow-billed Kites in the Transvaal (I used to see several individuals every day over [...]

In March 2008 the unusually wet season resulted in a number of transient "rains migrants" arriving in northern South Africa. At Maloutswa Pan in Mapungubwe National Park, we encountered this furtive family of Allen's Gallinules Porphyrio alleni. One adult bird (presumably the female) was tending to 4 fluffy little chicks that were tagging along behind, [...]