Island Conservation project manager Wes Jolley shares his birding experience from a hotel in South Africa where he is quarantining before traveling for Gough Island.

This is my first time in South Africa, and one of my hopes to keep me sane during quarantine was to see some new birds. One of the great things about being in a new place is all the birds are new and exciting, even if they are likely super “ordinary” to a person who lives here. It helps me realize and appreciate just how beautiful and special some of the “ordinary” birds I see at home in Oregon (USA) are!

A few of the species I’ve seen so far are:

Hartlaub’s gull – they fly back and forth all day, and are easy to identify (for a gull) by the distinct black and white bars on the wingtips

Pied crow – very similar to the crows I’m used to, but with a big white band wrapping around their middles

Red-winged starling – the red wing looks more orange to me, but it’s incredible how easy it is to spot from even a great distance

Speckled pigeon – proof that even pigeons can be attractive to look at

Little swift – small brown birds that never seem to stop moving, I wouldn’t have identified these ones without help

And my favorite so far, the Hadada ibis (also called Hadeda) – the internet tells me they are the loudest birds in Africa, and the ibis confirm this is true every morning and evening as they fly over making their presence very well known.

You’ll probably be absolutely shocked to learn this, but I’m not the only person on the Gough Island Restoration Team that likes spotting birds! Many of us have been spending the days looking for birds out our windows. So far, our efforts are paying off and we’ve been able to record quite a few species given the circumstance and our urban location. I’m particularly jealous of my teammate who spotted a black harrier, which is a striking bird and the rarest raptor endemic to southern Africa. Less than a thousand mature individuals remain, and active efforts are underway to understand and manage the environmental factors causing their decline (check out here and here for more).

To date we’ve spotted 19 species, with another highlight being two pied crows harassing a jackal buzzard as it flew by. And we’re only halfway through – can we possibly beat the score of 58 (non-migratory) species spotted by one local resident in a 14-day period during South Africa’s first lockdown?! The good thing about watching for birds is they can come to you, so wish us luck with having lots of feathered visitors!

Full list of species spotted to date:

Black harrier
Cape sparrow
Cape wagtail
Egyptian goose
European starling
Feral pigeon
Guinea fowl
Hadada ibis
Hartlaub’s gull
Jackal buzzard
Kelp gull
Laughing dove
Little swift
Pied crow
Red-winged starling
Ring necked dove
Rock martin
Speckled pigeon
White-necked raven

Wes Jolley is heading to Gough Island, a UK Oversees Territory to help with the mouse eradication operation and as part of the on-island Advisory Team.

Featured photo: A smiling Wes Jolley. Credit: Claudio Uribe/Island Conservation