The Big Tree

Here are a few images from recent trips. The top photo is of myself (left) and Benji Schwartz, another Tropical Birding guide, in front of the Big Tree. That's what it's called. And it's accurate--apparently it is the biggest baobab tree in Africa. It is also a huge pain to get to, being in a remote part of northeastern South Africa in an area with few (and, for the most part, terrible) roads. We drove much too fast over 60km of corrugated dirt road to get there, somehow avoiding any flat tires. We decided to take a different route out and very nearly got lost, but we made it. The tree is a well-known roost for Mottled Spinetails, of which there were over 100 in the area.

If you look closely, I'm standing in front of the tree.

A pair of Brown-headed Parrots in Kruger National Park, taken on another recent trip.

New blog sort of!

You may notice some changes in my blog. For example, there will be regular posts. I also changed the name and will likely be changing it again.

Basically, this blog will now be about the life of a full time bird guide (or, perhaps, full time bird guides).

Let me start with links to my latest trip report. Benji Schwartz and I had a great trip to the northeast of South Africa. We both visited new places and familiar ones. We were surprised to build such a big bird list despite migrants not having arrived yet. As I emphasize in the trip report, birds weren't the only highlights. The two leopards were perhaps more exciting than any of the birds.