Camp Moremi - Birdlife Botswana

It is well-known among birders that most birds are more interesting than the ‘Big 5’! This certainly proved to be the case recently when I arrived at Camp Moremi to undertake the water bird counts conducted annually by Birdlife Botswana with the assistance of Desert and Delta Safaris – lions had killed an elephant right outside the camp entrance, but of course was sated and fast asleep in the shade! They remained thus for the next two days, attracting safari-goers to the area, while the lagoons and waterways around Xakanaxa – where I was conducting the water bird counts – were deserted.

I couldn’t drag myself away from Xakanaxa Lagoon – right in front of Camp Moremi. This lagoon, together with Gadikwe and Gcobega lagoons, support substantial heronries, reputedly the largest breeding sites for Marabou and Yellow-billed Storks in Southern Africa. I have never seen this site so active before – in addition to the storks, Purple Herons, Great Egrets and Reed Cormorants were also gearing up for breeding. However the Yellow-billed Storks held my attention with their elaborate courtship displays and peculiar vocalizations. Storks are ostensibly voiceless, but a cacophony of wheezes, grunts and squeaks, interspersed with loud beak-clattering, belied this fact. The birds were stunning in appearance, their normal pure white plumage suffused with a soft pink, indicating that they were in breeding condition. The bright yellow beaks and bare red facial skin completed the picture.




However it was the activity which held me enthralled, and which contrasted so starkly with the lion’s immobility. There was much jostling for prime nesting positions, and a trio standing amicably on one site had me puzzled for a while – I guessed that it was a male with two females both of whom liked the spot in question. Birds flew singly and in small groups across the lagoon to the adjacent tree-line to collect nesting material – they would grasp twigs and other vegetation in their sturdy bills and flap madly to break pieces off, sometimes getting more than they bargained for.


Undaunted, they flew back to the island with trailing debris, to be greeted affectionately by admiring mates, who made a great fuss of placing the nesting material in exactly the right position.

A similar spectacle awaited us at Gadikwe heronry, where a throng of Yellow-billed Storks were joined by African Spoonbills and Sacred Ibis flying and out of the heronry in search of suitable nesting sites. My companion from Camp Moremi, Mod Samati, was very diligent in assisting with counting the constantly moving birds, and without his active participation and patience, I could not have achieved a reasonable result. It was a long two days work to cover all three lagoons, but late on the second afternoon, we returned to camp, not only satisfied with our results but elated at the spectacle we had witnessed.

I had to head back to Maun immediately before the park gates closed, and as I left Camp Moremi I was amused to see several safari vehicles parked at the lion kill, watching sleeping lions …..


Many thanks - Pete Hancock, Birdlife Botswana