Lovely weather for ducks!

 

Today we had a much warmer start than we have had so far. We were surprised by a hot breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, bean, and tomato, the cooking staff here at Amakhala never disappoint. The theme for the morning was birds of South Africa, and we were very lucky to have Professor Adrian Craig to pass on his knowledge to us. In the classroom we had a lecture where he compared the birds in North America to those that are found in Southern Africa. There were a few similarities within families of birds, but also many differences from birds we would find back home in Canada.
After our lecture Professor Craig taught us how to perform proper data collection measurements on birds found within the game reserve. We identified species, measured wing length, body weight, stage of moult, and on some of the birds were able to tell sex by their plumage as well as relative age. As the morning progressed we had to measure the birds under cover as it started to rain. A few of the many birds we found (pictured) were the Greater Double-collared Sunbird, Neddicky, and Southern Boubou.
After lunch it became very wet for some, as some students continued bird measurements while others went off on data collection for their individual research projects. Simone took Janine, Sarah W., Mikaela, Katie, and Janessa on a game drive, it wasn’t long before we all surrounded the fire when returning to the lodge.
As we wait for our supper everyone is hard at work around the fire place either working on their research projects, or writing in their field journals.