Just a quick one to point you to my recently completed Nature Journal (post-trip) for my recent Ramble. Enjoy!

I am back in Rhode Island, but not exactly in the swing of things yet. I contracted Covid on the trip home and that sort of put a monkey-wrench in my getting back to birding in Rhode Island efforts. I hope to be back in it this coming week. In the meantime I've reviewed and processed all my (and a bunch of Andrew's) photos & videos, done the blog posts and made compilations. All that made me miss the Ramble and the wonderful company I had throughout the trip. We're planni

For the trip we had 326 different species and only 67 of those were life birds. It is an extraordinary number for a winter visit to South Africa -- here are some of the birds that were repeats -- some I hadn't been able to capture in a photo before. I've split them up in very unscientific categories for the purpose of this post. Doves & Pigeons Laughing Dove Namaqua Dove African Green Pigeon African Emerald Wood Dove Rameron Pigeon Oxpeckers are one of my favorite birds --

There were just a few critters in the Tankwa -- I was actually surprised that I saw a new species - Reebok. Reebok Rock Hyrax -- or as I like to say Eagle food Gray Rhebuck Baboons! They are everywhere in South Africa So probably domesticated, but awfully cute -- Goat! The critter density really ramped up in the east... I am going to address them in groups and we'll start with the little ones. African Migrant Butterfly Foxy Emperor Green Veined Charaxes There were tons of th

Arrived in White River with 43 birds to find to reach my Life bird goal of 1,500. Andrew was ready to go but skeptical we could find that many species given the constraints (winter, multiple visits to area already). We started out with lots of enthusiasm and had no new birds on the way to our first rest camp. The Route... The next morning we had a new bird at the camp - Bearded Scrub-robin. At our first pan - I spotted a Buffy Pipit The second pan yielded Violet-eared Waxb

I started the trip in Cape Town needing 61 new birds to get to 1,500 life birds. So this trip was a bit less Ramble and a little more chase. I think that made my guides happy -- that is after all what they do -- yet clients as many birds as they can. And so it went. I finished the trip with 1,509 birds -- very impressive feat for my guides given it was winter -- the least birdy season -- and I had been to Kruger twice before (once in winter). Vince and I started in the T

I've finished my studies/prep for The Wandering Ramble 2026 which starts on 8/2. There will be blog posts eventually -- in General 4 days in the Tankwa, a desert outside of Cape Town, the off to the east -- starting in Northern Kruger, then Blyde River Canyon, White River, Barberton and the Southern Kruger. It will be a whirlwind and over before I know it. Here are the studies for the Tankwa Canaries and the like Cuckoos and High flyers Raptors & owls Waterbirds++ Larks &

Finally today I finished the first review of my South Africa photos. I even added photos to the first week of eBird checklists -- still...

We rose early and saw a few new birds while sharing morning coffee. We will be going over to Sukuza Golf Club breakfast and Lake Panic...

First I forgot to write two things about previously -- so I'm just going to start of with them. I guess I was tired when I wrote it last...

This morning we embark on our last "move" of the trip. Satara is small and kind of quiet (although still really easy to get lost here),...

This morning started with this lovely coffee service at the safari vehicle and the announcement that it looked like the wind had died...

Got a way too big to-go breakfast from the restaurant last night. Have my own coffee so the early start wasn't so hard -- I swear they...

Because of the terrain in and around the valley where the Mount Sheba resort sits EVERY move it up or downhill especially when entering...

When I left my room this morning I had this note on my stoop. I saw the first word in the REMARS: section and thought the first word was...

We left @7 for a 9am "commuter" flight from Cape Town to Jo'burg -- it was fairly short and thank goodness the seats did not recline. ...

So my lens still doesn't zoom and I played with it a LOT. Our first stop was a wetland Paardevlvi just off of a residential community --...

Vince, the bird guide demonstrated a lot of flexibility (and not in the yoga sense) by coming up with a birding agenda that would get us...

We left DeHoop after a quick morning Campground bird & Breakfast. What I should mention about De Hoop is that this is where I first...

This location was a little tough for me as you know by now I have a limited "foot" capacity for the day and here much of that capacity...