phone 3190540 email [email protected] Familiar Chat N e w s l e t t e r o f B i r d L i f e B o t s w a n a About Bird Walks WHO? If you are interested in learning about birds, you are welcome! WHAT? We walk slowly for a couple of kilometres and look for birds. You need binoculars, a bird ID book is useful. A vehicle which can deal with bumpy, overgrown tracks is useful, but not essential. However - don’t set off without folding chairs and the makings of a picnic. WHEN and WHERE? The 1st Sunday and the 3rd Saturday of the month at 6.30am meeting on the Molapo Crossing Car Park. The Sunday walks are permanent fixtures as demand is Researchers evaluated 1,991 participants from the Walking high. The Saturday programme, for beginners only, is a for Health program in England, which helps facilitate nearly recent addition and depends on the level of interest. Check 3,000 weekly walks and draws more than 70,000 regular the website for details. walkers a year. WHY? “Walking is an inexpensive, low risk and accessible “Given the increase in mental ill health and physical form of exercise and it turns inactivity in the developed world, we are constantly out that combined with nature exploring new, accessible ways to help people improve their and group settings, it may be a long term quality of life and well-being,” Grey Crowned Crane – endangered very powerful, under-utilized “Group walks in local natural environments may make a through habitat destruction stress buster. Findings suggest potentially important contribution to public health and be that something as simple as beneficial in helping people cope with stress and experience joining an outdoor walking improved emotions.” group may not only improve someone’s daily positive The Why? Is borrowed from the website below. emotions but may also http://www.uofmhealth.org/news/archive/201409/walking-depression-and- beating-stress-outdoors-nature-group Referred by Ian White contribute a non- pharmacological approach to serious conditions like 1 depression.” October 2014 Not just a bird camp - more of a total environmental experience First Impressions of BLB We arrived in plenty of time to set up camp. Surprise! We found At the beginning of this year, my wife and I moved to four large raised tents complete with beds just waiting for us - all Botswana from the U.S., where I previously worked in we had to do was light the fire (with one match!) the area of black lung law for the U.S. Department of We were given a great welcome by Mma Riggs and Linda. It was Labor. good to be back in the quiet beauty of this hidden paradise. Our I have been volunteering at BLB since May of this year. camp was shaded by several huge Combretum imberbe and As an attorney, I’ve sought to use my legal knowledge Acacia tortilis. As we relaxed we could see and hear a variety of and training to assist BLB in various projects over the birds all around us. A small croc sunned itself on a nearby last few months, including drafting several policy briefs sandbank, watching the Limpopo flow gently past. targeted at government officials on the issue of the We explored - collecting interesting rocks from the river and finding illegal poisoning of vultures. porcupine quills, before joining up for supper and conversation The illegal use of agrochemicals is a huge issue here and around the fire. Ian had spotted a White-backed Vulture on its’ in the region, and there are numerous ways in which I nest and we had all seen the pair of Fish Eagles swooping high believe the Botswana government can better prevent above the tree canopy. There were White fronted Bee-eaters in the wildlife poisoning incidents from occurring. river bank, Hadedas, Grey Hornbills, Yellow billed Hornbills, I’ve also attended several educational outreach events, Drongos, Burchells Starlings and Kurrichane Thrushes, Brown bird walks, and, most recently, the camping trip to hooded Kingfishers, Natal Francolins, and a pair of scruffy Crested Darnaway Farm. Thus far I’ve been impressed by the Barbets, all of which were very active in the late afternoon. dedication and accomplishments of the staff and how Next morning Ian led us round the bend - in the river! We enjoyed welcoming BLB members have been. I’m honored to be a memorable sighting of a Giant Kingfisher, highlighted by the sun a part of the good work BLB is doing, and I look forward shining on the river. We didn’t see many water birds – a lone to assisting BLB in several upcoming projects in the near Egyptian Goose, a couple of Helmeted Lapwings….. future. Our evening walk took us to the weir. There we watched a pair of Alex Smith Three banded Plovers, with a chick, scurrying around on the sand and a big fish jumping. On our return, we found a large herd of Impala. Mma Riggs confirmed there were 150, but they are constantly under threat by South African poachers coming across the river. Our last morning we visited a densely wooded area, just upriver. A little creature with a bright red/tan pointed face was moving extremely rapidly from branch to branch. It was a tree squirrel, quite unlike the ground squirrel. We watched a pair of Water Dikkops, motionless and almost invisible against the sand. Many thanks to Ian White, for being an able, knowledgeable and entertaining leader. Ros Wyer The Limpopo River at Darnaway Farm (Tuli Block) 2 Breeding success of certain birds can be limited if trees, alive or dead, that have the requisite cavities are not available to them. Appropriate-sized nest holes may be used over a period of years and as such highlights the importance of understanding and conserving the various elements of suitable habitats. While it In the series on owls, this is number 6 is recommended that only dead wood should be collected for firewood, it is also and it looks at the two Scops Owls: the important to not collect all the dead wood in an area as it could also be providing African Scops-Owl (formerly called just the nesting areas for certain birds and habitat for other creatures. Owls do not, or Scops Owl) and the Southern White-faced cannot, modify nest holes (make them bigger or deeper) as do some other hole- Scops- Owl (formerly known as the White- nesting birds. faced Owl). These are among the very small/smaller owls with the former The female African Scops-Owl does all the incubating which lasts about 25 days, being 15cm long/tall and the latter somewhat but the male does his part by bringing prey to her at night. They mostly feed on African Scops Owl larger at 28 cm. Being the same size as insects as their feet are too weak to catch and hold larger prey. These owls call at the now-named owlets, one wonders why the African Scops-Owl is not now night with a soft ‘prrrrp’ that is repeated about every ten seconds, but also called an owlet. occasionally they can be heard calling during the day. The African Scops-Owl is a fairly common resident in Botswana but can be The larger Southern White-faced Scops-Owl is the largest of the small owls and difficult to see as its plumage (feathers) looks like the mottled grey or also has ear tufts that are more prominent than those of the African Scops-Owl, brown bark of a tree. During the day when it is resting at its roost it stands which it is quick to raise when disturbed. This owl is mainly grey with red-orange or perches very close to a tree trunk. It stretches and holds its feathers eyes that are surrounded by a white ”face”. This white face disk is outlined by a close to its body and keeps its ear tufts raised, and in blending into the broad black ring making a border around the face. Owls are said to have a “face” colour of the tree bark it can look like a branch or stump. It also closes its as their forward-facing eyes are in the middle of a rather flat face-like area of the yellow eyes almost completely – down to just slits. Its use of camouflage head. All birds of prey’s eyes face forward but they don’t have a face as do owls, makes this owl quite difficult to see. while other birds’ eyes are located at the sides of their head which allows them to see danger coming from various directions. The Southern White-faced Scops-Owl The African Scops-Owl is the only one of the very small owls (which include also occurs throughout Botswana and breeds in woodlands, savannah or in dry the Pearl-spotted Owlet and the Barred Owlet) to have “horns” or “ear thornnveld. This owl does not use tree cavities or holes to lay its eggs in, but tufts”. Although this owl is said to occur throughout Botswana and breeds instead uses old nests of other birds such as some of the smaller birds of prey or in open woodland, it favours tall trees such as mophane that have cavities even those of sparrows. They have been known to also use the bare crotch of a large enough for the female to enter and lay her eggs (an average of three tree where several branches can form a sort of flat base that will hold the two to eggs per clutch (number of eggs laid in a nest or a group of hatchlings)) and four eggs laid.