Pen in my Hand: Birders take flight

MBOMBELA – “South Africa has an impressive diversity of more than 850 species of birds. The Lowveld, in particular, supports a rich diversity of birds and other animals and, as a result, is one of the most important ecotourism destinations in South Africa.”

This is the foreword of the brand-new book, Birds of Mbombela: A Comparative Study that was written by avid birders and researchers Duncan McKenzie and Peter Lawson.

Lowveld Media’s very own digital manager, Zani Barrish, led the discussion with the author on their book at last Thursday’s Pen in my Hand held at A Bica Café. The authors gave a detailed account of how the book, as well as the checklist inside, was compiled.

Both McKenzie and Lawson are former winners of the Birdlife South Africa’s owl awards and have been birders all their lives, “but we are definitely not twitchers,” McKenzie said.

The difference between a twitcher and a birder is that twitchers compile a list of all the birds that they have and want to see, while a birder is a person who really enjoys birds.

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In their careers as birders and researchers, a few stories have also seen the light.
The one that had the crowd in stitches was the telling of how Lawson was arrested in the ’70s.

He explained that there were many reports in the newspaper about a peeping Tom, but that he did not give it a second thought until he went out with his binoculars one day.

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“I tried to see a bird in someone’s yard when I was taken into custody by the police. When I explained that I was trying to have a good look at a bird, it only worsened the situation,” Lawson said laughing.

They also invited interested parties to join them in doing recordings of birds for the South African Bird Atlas Project.