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BIRDING

Young Indigo bird Grey hornbill – a new resident
seen in some estates

including bans on harmful pesticides and visiting one small bird table in August last
strengthening bird conservation legislation, year - it was still winter.
the public can help by guarding against
birds crashing into windows (stick transfer It’s also noticeable how bushveld birds (in
patches on windows) and cultivating addition to those from the grasslands) have
gardens with birds in mind - and keeping become established inside Highveld estates.
cats indoors. It began with the sudden appearance of the
Go’way bird in the 70s – pushed west by the
I believe the burgeoning number of housing lowveld drought. More recently in some estates,
estates is playing an important role in the grey hornbill has appeared. The green
mitigating our current bird situation. They pigeon is often seen and I see flypasts of rosy-
are, despite the hazards of windows and cheeked parakeets almost daily in my estate –
cats, greatly augmenting birdlife. Their sometimes in flocks numbering two dozen and
vast tree-planting programmes (usually more. (I’d love to know where they roost.)
indigenous trees) and development of
wetlands and water features - and the The dusky indigo bird often shows up and Mary’s cylindrical birdfeeder
buildings themselves - are providing new the red-headed finch – both visit Mary’s
nesting and feeding opportunities. cylindrical bird feeder along with eight or
more red bishop birds. estates and sensitively-designed suburbs
Gauteng was once grassland (savanna) are maintaining the variety of birds, if not the
with a few dozen species of birds. Look It was inevitable that, nationally, regional bird numbers.
at what we have now in terms of variety. population densities and distribution patterns
There are now, characteristically, inside would be shattered by development. This is We would appreciate news of your bird
a typical ‘estate’, 100 and more species – why we must treasure existing witness areas observations in your area. Send your emails to
three or four times the variety that existed such as bird sanctuaries and game reserves, me at jcl@onwe.co.za or to Mary at
before. In my area, I noted 22 species and why we should be grateful for the way msbr@mweb.

Go’way bird – one of the first bushveld birds to settle in residential estates Lilac-breasted roller – sometimes spotted near
41 the Jukskei River
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DPL
DPL