SANParks.org Forums

When I joined in Nov'04, under my own name until that seemed duh and I became GP in Jan'05, I knew zilch about birds. I knew a mossie, a finch - masked weaver btw and a dove. Then the birding forum hit me. So much that I'm even now confident enough to try attempts at ID threads and have a list of 195 birds. I'll update at the end of the month, hoping to hit 200.

My interest in birds started about 15 years ago in the Park. As we arrive at the gate/camp the first thing purchased is the Bird Card, and we try to see how many birds we can get for each trip. I started birding seriously about 5 years ago because now its all those LBJs that are missing from my overall list. Also where I live on West Rand there are plenty of birds in our garden (59 species so far) so I am always on the lookout for something new.

Received a set of binocs from my dad at the age of 10
I started then.
But only round my 30this became a real active birder

Depends on what defines birding. My Roberts has a picture in it of me at about three watching birds. My grandad gave me my first roberts with the picture in it and it just gets transferred each time I upgrade (40 years later)

I only started birding about a year ago, Mark influenced me I guess.

I started at the beggining of May this year and my list currently stands at 170

GP!
I went through a large part of my life thinking all birds were either mossies or hadedas. Never noticed that they had different colours, bills or habits. Then again, I only knew that the stars shine at night, impala have four legs and elephant were grey. Holidays included a beach towel, coppertone and Margate beach. A weekend break was a zip over to the nearest Aventura resort.

I was "sent" to KNP for the first time 17 years ago by an ex employer of mine after a snide remark about him torturing his family by booking his Des holiday in LS (looooong story ). After an unpleasant interaction between my SO and a German tourist involving a kori bustard at some or the other waterhole, I bought my very first Sasol bird guide at Olifants. A few minutes later we came across a gymnogene enjoying a bit off road kill. Fortunately he was a very patient guy, hanging around for long enough to become famous ‘cause he was the first bird I ever IDed.
Needless to say, I was a changed person after that first trip. I am forever grateful to my ex employer although I still believe that the forced unpaid leave was uncalled for.

@ jen

Hahaha

When I was 2 My mother believed I should stop sucking my thumb, as it would eventually fall off.....Being the Wise Woman she is, she bribed the little guy in nappies to a toy in the CNA I came running back with a bird book!


Although my first word/s was/were TEDDY BEAR, the next 950+ were the birds of Southern Africa!

Since then I have kept the passion going, and now have this same interest in all aspects of the bush! Got my first Bino's when I was 10 (I was now a Ranger in my little mind) and went about IDing all I could find.....Trees being the easiest, as I just called them all "a Tree", and they never flew away!!! It was only when my OCD kicked in, and I had this habit of listing what I had seen(From Insects to Car Numberplates ), that I started birding properly. This was about 3 years ago!

Birding is now more a part of me, then I am!

My mother-in-law was a keen birder and the house we stayed in before was more or less overlooking the Umgeni River in Durban with a fantastic bird life.
She taught me the names of all the birds that visited the garden and that was it, instilled a love for our feathered friends that has grown over the years.

This is a reply from Pathfinders wife : I started birding when I visited KNP with a boyfriend in 1992. My grandad gave me a Newmans and Roberts for my 21st and the rest is history. I started writing my list in my Newmans but have subsequently moved onto the Roberts digital list.

Birding is a big part of our family and even our six year old is getting quite good. Her first bird she identified was when she was 3 and we were at Sirheni - she called a starling a twinkle. Gotta love their interpretations of things.

I couldn't imagine going on a trip and not seeing birds. We can't wait for our trip in December to Kalahari to see all the summer migrants.

Great thread GP

My idea of wildlife didn't really include birds till very recently. In fact i found people who caried birdbooks on safaris a bit strange.

This despite the fact that at the boys school (in the bush) that I went to my mates all had an avid interest in birds, butterflies and snakes. But maybe my aversion to these hobbies was because the collections included eggs stolen from nests and butterflies killed and printed using wax paper.

We took quite a few pics of birds on our Kruger trip in Jun 08 as we found the birds very exotic - even the starlings had such lovely colours!

But it was really the bird threads in this forum that got us interested in BIRDING. Wildtuinman and JvR quizzes particularly.

I suddenly found myself borrowing an Aussie Birdbook from the library in Aug 08 and after renewing it continuosly for 3 months and getting that look from the librarian decided to buy my own.

Now I find myself heading for a walk at a reserve/park in between shopping for veggies and the next chore. I've counted 12 different species of birds on my walk with the dog. Before I would have said that we only have sparrows and mynahs that live in our neighborhood.

It is also a great family activity as both SO and rusky jnr are birders now too. Nala is still sitting on the fence enjoying making fun of her Dad being "off with the birds" but secretly she is slowly being won over.

It's a good substitute till our next Kruger trip and I'm looking forward to buying a Sasol (or something similar) for that one.

well it seems that birding has been a stop-start expeience for many. I am beginning to realise that people were not born holding Roberts in their podgy hands..

Myfirst experience of the madness of birding came when a birding enthusiast drove me down to run Comrades.
After that experience, I thought that she was mad to bird and she thought I was mad to run..

While other runners were resting a waiting for the big day, I was dutifully following her through a hilly nature reserve... looking for movements in the bush and waiting for a loooong time for nothing

The day after Comrades, while other runners were sitting nursing aches and pains, I was hobbling through a water resevior, no, I think it was a sewrage what's its name, looking for movements in the water and waiting a loooong time.

She once tried to teach me the names of birds, and when I came up with "a knock kneed duck", or "yellow chested flying thing", she gave up...

What changed?

Mad people on the forum

I noted their enthusiasm and wanted some of it.

Then Jenb did a very bad thing.. she challenged to the birding challenge.. and now I have no more excuses .. sigh

MM!
You go girl!

A year ago...and I love it...but I have a lot to learn. Expect a lot of questions from me.