Local bird enthusiasts go big

MBOMBELA – Time is closing in on a challenge of the Guinness World Records for the most bird species identified in 24 hours in South Africa.

This new challenge by Team Hamerkop kicks off in the area at midnight on Friday 28  November 2014 and will end 24 hours later in Cape Town.

In the Mara area they want to start with identifying the little African Wood Owl, strix woodfordii.

The team members are Ehren and Johan Eksteen, Lourens Grobler and Duncan Mckenzie.

The first leg will include the southern part of Kruger National Park, the Komatipoort area and around Barberton in the Mountainlands Nature Reserve and Peddlars Bush indigenous forest.

From there they will travel to Cape Town and the West Coast National Park where they will have to work hard to get as many of the Western Cape endemics as possible in the remaining four hours before sunset and then a few nocturnal birds to wrap up the day.

They will attempt to identify 360 different bird species during this time, but  the weather over the weekend will definitely have the last say.

Two adjudicators will travel with them to ensure that recorded birds are authentic.

This challenge is based on the Birdlife SA’s Birding Big Day, which will also take place on Saturday, 29 November at various locations around the country.

“This is super exciting and the concept of frantically trying to identify birds by call and sight in a 24-hour period is not new to us,” adds Johan Eksteen, who is an eye specialist at Lowveld Hospital.

The Guinness World Record currently stands on 342 different bird species in 24 hours, and has been held by a team in Kenya since 1986.  However, a month ago a team from Peru registered 354 species and after the verification period of three months, it might just be recognised as the new total to challenge.

Just to think about all the logistics has been a nightmare and Team Hamerkop is thankful to all its sponsors, which are SASOL, Zeiss Optics, Working on Fire, Mr Kennett, Mr Jack Brotherton and Perisos Aviation.

Johan and the rest of the team want to dedicate their attempt to the blue swallow, Hirundo atrocearulea, a small passerine bird that has disappeared from the isolated grasslands of Kaapsehoop over the past four years.

A notable feature of passerines is the arrangement of their toes, with three pointing forward and one backwards, which facilitates perching.

It is the rarest of the swallows in southern Africa.