The Secret World of the Cape Rockjumper
Before coming to South Africa I was barely a birder, and was one of those people who heard “Rockjumper” and thought “oh neat! I’m studying penguins!”. No offence to the Rockhopper’s, but boy am I glad I was wrong. The Cape Rockjumper just may be the most magical bird on the planet, and they will always be my personal favourite bird. Here I will do my best to tell you why –– I’ll take you on a brief tour of the Rockjumper’s fascinating taxonomic history, how they cope with the heat, what they are like as parents, why group-living territorial birds are just the best, and probably a bit of general Fynbos-love in the process.
Organizer
Despite no
t necessarily being a birder (I didn’t even own proper binoculars), I completed an Honours BSc studying Tree Swallows through Dalhousie University in Canada, and an internship with the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. Life was leading me down the ornithological path, and I wasn’t exactly upset about the idea. In January 2015 my flight from Canada to South Africa landed in Port Elizabeth, where I would live for the next 5 years. Except, I actually spent more than two of those years in the Cape Fold Mountains and their fynbos biome, following and learning about Cape Rockjumpers. My research resulted in an MSc (Nelson Mandela University) and a PhD (Rhodes University), but most importantly an infatuation with my study species that I doubt will ever truly disappear. I am now studying birds in the Negev desert of Israel, and doing my best to find an excuse/time/money to go back to the Fynbos and see the worlds best birds.