The Tie That Binds

I love the experiencing of arriving by plane in a foreign country—especially one I’ve never been to. I love the novelty, and, strange though it may sound, I love the feeling of vulnerability. Something as seemingly simple as using the airport men’s room is an uncertain and sometimes adventurous undertaking. And the birds! I love not knowing what to expect on expect on stepping outside the terminal. Okay, probably Rock Pigeons. But after that? On a recent visit to South Africa, some of the birds at the airport hotel included Speckled Mousebirds and Gray Go-away-birds, representing entire orders endemic to sub-Saharan Africa.

Practically every bird I saw in South Africa was a life bird. (It “helped” that I was there in winter, meaning that boreal migrants like Northern Wheatears and Common Cuckoos were still up north on the breeding grounds.) The plants were new. The odes and butterflies were new. The night sky was upside down. Afrikaans and Shangaan were strange and beautiful, and South African “English” tripped me up more than once.

All that said, what struck me more than anything else about my time in South Africa is how eerily, wonderfully similar we birders are. Without further ado, here are four anecdotes from the several days that I was based out of the Grootbos Private Nature Reserve, located near the southwestern coastal town of Gansbaai:

1. I’m riding shotgun (on the “wrong” side of the car, of course) with Christoff, whom I’d met, oh, 25 minutes ago. On the way out of the airport, I’d innocently said something about the legendary pelagic trips out of Cape Town, and, moments later, Christoff is on the phone, scheming in Afrikaans. “What was that about?” I’m thinking to myself. Next thing you know, Christoff informs me that we’ll spending the next day at sea. Can you believe it? The guy doesn’t know me from Adam, and he’s just arranged to get me out on a boat for what just might be the most exhilarating seabirding experience on the planet—a South Africa pelagic.
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   Source: http://blog.aba.org/2018/09/the-tie-that-binds.html