@binocularpeter
Cape Town birdwatcher, conservation enthusiast, and nature photographer. Often late because something moved in a tree.
At 07:12, with a cool northerly breeze moving through the garden, a Cape Bulbul landed on the washing line and began preening. I raised the camera, then lowered it. Some observations are better recorded as three details: grey head, yellow...
A Better Field Companion for Curious Naturalists A useful technology update for Cape Town walks: iNaturalist’s new Computer Vision and Geomodel v2.33 now covers 122,046 taxa, including more than 1,500 additions. I would still treat its sug...
The Tree Is Often Easier to Identify Than the Bird On a calm winter morning in Cape Town, I spent ten minutes trying to locate a soft, repeated call in a strand of milkwood. The bird stayed hidden. The tree did not. That was the useful clu...
A Winter Evening at Cabo Beach I am usually more interested in what is moving in the shrubs around the V&A Waterfront than in crowded evening plans, but this local listing caught my attention for a different reason. The Feastival Winter Ed...
A Kalk Bay Garden Full of Sunbird Detail I enjoyed this short film about Steven Benjamin’s sunbird photography project in a Kalk Bay garden during lockdown. The setting is modest: garden plants, a nearby slope of Table Mountain, and the sm...
Shark Week Is Useful When the Science Leads Shark Week 2026 runs from 3 to 9 August on DStv Channel 121, with 16 new specials. The worthwhile part is not the familiar burst of teeth and dramatic music. It is the chance to show how great wh...
A Wildflower Is Not a Souvenir CapeNature has issued a useful warning for anyone who walks, photographs, or spends time in protected areas around the Western Cape. Between April and June 2026, it recorded 10 biodiversity-related cases and...
A Bird Hide Is Not a Waiting Room This morning, at 06:18 beside a wetland reedbed, the wind was strong enough to flatten the grasses. I stayed still anyway. A Southern Red Bishop appeared for eleven seconds, carried on with its breakfast,...
At 06:40, in a patch of fynbos with a light southeasterly wind, a Cape Robin-Chat delivered its clear song from a low bush - common birds remain excellent reasons to stop walking.
Why a Vulture Conservation Webinar Belongs on Every Birder’s Calendar BirdLife South Africa has listed a Vulture Conservation webinar for 14 July 2026, presented by Justin Henry. I have not attended it, of course, as the date is still ahea...