PHOWNing in Hoedspruit 2013-10-17 (433)
From 9-13 October I visited Hoedspruit to advise a BBC team on weaver behaviour for a new wildlife series. They chose a Lesser Masked Weaver colony that was active, although the rains had not really started yet. There was also opportunity to look at many weaver colonies to update their PHOWN records. Alex Zaloumis is monitoring lots of weaver colonies around Hoedspruit and is one of the most active PHOWNers. Limited ringing yielded Red-headed and Lesser Masked Weavers, but we did not succeed in catching Red-billed Buffalo-Weavers. We also held a ringing demonstration for pupils of the Southern Cross School at Raptors View.
Thanks to everyone that helped! The BBC funded my trip and Alex hosted me at Tim Otto's farm. Rael and Helene Loon, ringer and author of "Birds - the inside story" provided a fantastic braai at Raptors View Wildlife Estate. Thanks to all who let us study weavers: David and Robbyn Sussens at Tshukudu bush camp, Dave Rushworth at Trackers farm and Tony at Monsoon Gallery.
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