Prolific polymath: Professor Peter Ryan awarded the Gill Memorial Medal
On 28 May at BirdLife South Africa’s AGM, Peter Ryan was presented with the organisation’s
coveted Gill Memorial Medal. Here Professor Claire Spottiswoode pays tribute to Peter and highlights the huge contribution that he has made to ornithology.
Paradise found? Searching for Taita Falcons in Niassa Special Reserve
Stretched across the far northern reaches of Mozambique lies one of Africa’s biggest but best-kept
secrets: the Niassa Special Reserve (NSR). Framed by the Ruvuma River and the vastness of southern
Tanzania to the north, and truncated in the south by burgeoning tracts of rural development, it covers
over 42 000 square kilometres (more than twice the size of the Kruger National Park in South Africa)
and makes up more than 30 per cent of Mozambique’s protected land. It’s a dream destination for
those with an appetite for African exploration, but as we discovered to our considerable discomfort,
it’s a very difficult location to get to.
Mozambique: waiting to be explored
SNAKING ALONG Africa’s south-eastern coast, Mozambique boasts a list of some 780 bird species.
Despite its turbulent history, for birders it is one of the most exciting areas in the region, with many
ornithological mysteries still to be unravelled. It is also accessible and safe and its incredible diversity
of habitats holds a plethora of sought-after species. Southern Mozambique is the only place to see 15
of the subregion’s specials, such as Saunders’s Tern, Böhm’s Bee-eater, Green Tinkerbird, Green-headed
Oriole, White-chested Alethe, East Coast Akalat, Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher, Mascarene Martin
and Olive-headed Weaver. And for a further 35 species, including Blue Quail, Eurasian Bittern, African
Pitta, Chestnut-fronted Helmet-shrike, Locust Finch and Lesser Seedcracker, it is the easiest place to see
them. For the more adventurous, northern Mozambique is home to more than 50 species not found in
southern Africa, including the country’s two endemics: Namuli Apalis and Mozambique Forest-warbler.