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gardening for birds

Every gardener dreams and longs for cool, wet summers in

Botswana, like the one we are experiencing at present. We have
overcast days, followed by rainy days with intermittent sunshine.
Paradoxically, these are not good times for bird watchers.

Especially in indigenous gardens, growth is luxuriant and birds
can hide easily in dense undergrowth or leafy trees.

This is when the creative juices of birders need to come to the fore. One needs to
have prominent feeding trays with the most exciting wild bird seeds to attract the
smaller species. You will be amazed to see the variety of firefinches, waxbills,
indigobirds and weavers clambering for a bit of the action. Larger species such as
guineafowl and francolins (spurfowl) are enticed by mixed fowl food and fruit-eaters,
such as barbets, go-away birds, hornbills and mousebirds love to show off when
tackling prominently displayed apples, pawpaws, melons and pears. You will soon
discover what “pecking order” means among birds.

A difficult pastime is finding nests and watching adults feeding their young and then
fledglings take their first flights. Life is always precarious, always novel and always
special, and caring for our birds in our gardens reminds us of that.

by Harold Hester & Photographs by Ian White
( For more information - www.birdlifebotswana.org.bw )

Chinspot Batis

28 Red-eyed Bulbul