As part of our Women’s Month celebration, we’re speaking to some of South Africa’s most inspiring female bird guides. Lethukuthula Nxele is one of BirdLife South Africa’s Community Bird Guides based in northern KwaZulu-Natal. After qualify as a guide in 2016, Lethu based herself in Umlalazi Nature Reserve where she covers nearby birding sites including...

By Anton Crone From backyards in the United States to the bushveld of South Africa, blind birders are proving that nature is not only something to see. For most birders, the thrill lies in glimpsing flashes of movement and colour through binoculars: bright sunbirds in the African bush or Blue Jays flitting through the tall...

19 August – On World Photography Day, we celebrate the art of bird photography and those who dedicate countless hours to capturing the wild beauty of our feathered world. From patient waits in the wild to fleeting shots of birds in flight, these photographers open our eyes to avian wonder and inspire conservation of these...

As part of our Women’s Month celebration, we’re speaking to some of South Africa’s most inspiring female bird guides. First up is Thabile Mthiyane, one of the country’s most respected area specialists. Since graduating from BirdLife South Africa’s Avitourism Project in 2000, she has spent 25 years guiding birders through KwaZulu-Natal’s finest destinations, from Dlinza...

Mpumalanga, South Africa – In a pioneering move for avian conservation and renewable energy, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) has launched South Africa’s first state-sponsored bird-tracking initiative focused on informing safer wind energy development in the ecologically sensitive province of Mpumalanga. Dubbed the Mpumalanga Bird Flyways Research Project, the initiative emerges as a reconciliation of conservation science and renewable...

In a promising leap for endangered vulture species in South Africa, conservation organisation Vulpro has announced the hatching of twenty vulture chicks at Shamwari Private Game Reserve during its second breeding season at the new facility. Described as a “major milestone for vulture conservation in South Africa,” the success is evidence that the translocated birds are thriving following their relocation from...

Appeal to fishermen to not discard fishing line. The discovery of an entangled Water Thick-knee at the end of July 2025 on the beach at Mtunzini (KZN) has prompted me to once again appeal to fishermen to be careful and not to discard fishing line, or to at least pick up and remove any line that they may...

Ever wondered why flufftails are called ‘flufftails’? It’s somewhat of an odd name for a family group, because not all flufftails have wispy, decomposed, fluffy tail feathers! Admittedly though, as a family group, they do have much softer tail feathers than most non-passerines.  Of the four species that occur in South Africa, Red-chested definitely wins...

Polyandry & male participation during chick rearing age Polyandry, a mating system where parental duties are role reversed (male incubates and rears the chicks), is very rare amongst the world’s bird species, and makes up less than one percent of the breeding species in South Africa. In this mating system, females take up territory and...

Co-published with GoBirding You have taken the figurative plunge, accepted the facts, and noticed the signs. Murmurs among friends, family, and colleagues all point toward the same prognosis: you have become a birder. What began as innocent curiosity, a quick glance out the kitchen window, and the casual “what bird is that?” remark whispered on...