Luke Allen caught the birdwatching bug at the age of six, going on game drives with his bird-loving grandparents.

His parents and siblings, however, do not share his love of birding. Over time, the 19-year-old has become known as a ‘rarity twitcher’ – chasing sightings of rare and difficult-to-find birds to all corners of the country.

Despite being thought of as an older generation pastime, Allen says birding is growing in popularity with ‘youngsters’ because technology is making it easier to spot birds, which makes the pursuit less time-consuming for the modern birder.

“I think new technology is changing the way people birdwatch. Birders can now record their sightings on apps and databases that help us better understand the movements of species,” he said.

“Technology has brought a whole new element to birding that is more enticing to the younger generation. Platforms like the South African Rare Bird Alert on the eBird app are up-to-date and user-friendly. The app allows birders to be quickly alerted to rare birds seen in their area.”

Allen lives in Dunkirk Estate in Salt Rock and is currently studying Sustainable Development and Environmental Studies at Stellenbosch University. He hopes to work within the environmental impact assessment industry and on conservation projects. The expert twitcher believes new technologies are further improving conservation.

“These new platforms and apps ultimately contribute to citizen science projects, such as the South African Bird Atlas Project. This project aims to map the distribution and abundance of birds in southern Africa.”

Allen’s favourite place to spot birds is the Mkuze Game Reserve, where you can sometimes see more than 200 species in a day. On the North Coast, however, he can be found in Dunkirk and Zimbali Estate searching for the spotted ground thrush – one of the rarest birds on the North Coast and among the hardest to spot.

“Unlike most estates, the rare spotted ground thrush is more accessible because Dunkirk has a smaller area and forest for the bird to hide. Zimbali has more of them because it is more than four times the size, although the large forest makes spotting the thrush harder.”

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