experience
“We know which birds to expect across the reserve at different times of the year,” says Gracious-Jumbe Mngofi, a field guide at Singita Grumeti. “And we’re always monitoring their presence and populations. There, I can see the European bee-eater. It has completed its migration on time, so I won’t worry about it.” I realised quickly that Gracious was a passionate birder. For eight days, he and I sat side-by-side, roaming the Serengeti, free from the pursuit of hopeful sightings, to see what each day brought. Often, he would stop, whip out his binoculars, and point at some winged wonder I had to squint to see. As a budding birder, it was incredible to hear him rattling off names, facts, and tips on how to identify different species, and to emulate their calls with near-perfect precision. He’d smile, laugh, and linger on almost every sighting. “I don’t know how you remember them all,” I said to him. “And identify them so quickly.” His signature laugh rang out again, melting into the
still morning air. “It takes time and lots of study. But mostly, you just have to get out there and look for them. Sometimes it’s not how it looks, but how it sounds, or what it’s doing, that gives it away.” “I’ve been using an app called Birda ,” I blurted after a while. “You can take a photo of any bird and it’ll identify it and keep a log for you. And you can see what was spotted near you recently. It saves me having to flip through a thick book and miss the actual sighting trying to figure out what it is.” “Is it helping?” “It’s helping me a lot, and the sightings get logged and sent off to track populations and distribution over time, which I like.” I asked Gracious if he uses game drives to actively monitor bird populations, seeing as he was already looking out for them. “It’s not something I set out to do, but we are always keeping track of the animals; where they are, how many there are, what condition they’re in,”
Previous spread Beyond the beauty of feather and form, birds serve as ecosystemic messengers. Left From nearby places to unlikely spaces, birding urges us to explore the world.
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