Affiliations
Bsc in
Ecology and Marine biology at the University of Cape Town 2011 Honours degree
in Botany and Ecology 2012
Background
I first
became interested in birds when I was 6 years old and professed to my mother when
I was 10 that I would be an ornithologist one day! The love of birds and the ambition
to become an ornithologist was inspired by my growing up in Knysna where my mother
organised frequent trips to an old airfield to study wetland birds. I lost sight
of this goal when I was 17 and moved to Somerset West and believed that there were
no birds worth watching in the big city. I soon realised that I was wrong when
I started to meet avid birders in Cape Town during my time studying at UCT.
My interest in birds was reignited as a third
year undergraduate in Ecology and Marine Biology. I will never forget the field
trip we took during that year to the Cederberg where we caught birds, ringed
them and drove large transects bird-atlasing as we went. The project write up
was a monster, but it was the most interesting piece of work that had been
required of me in my three year degree. I remember spending hours in the Niven Library
(a library at UCT dedicated to birds) researching for the project. I picked up
an old book describing the species of birds atlased during the first bird
atlasing period (SABAP1) I read “Martial Eagles are known to nest on high voltage
power lines”. I thought to myself “how curious...”. I completed my degree in
2011, but I knew that a degree was only the start of my birding career.
I spent 2012
conducting research for my honours thesis, which examines the pollination of
Cape Floristic Erica species by Orange-breasted and Southern Double-collared Sunbirds.I
would wake up at 4:00 am in the morning to make it to Kommijie where my study
site was, by sunrise. I watched and recorded sunbird feeding behaviour for
hours.
During
my honours year I took a trip to the Richtersveld and Namibia and observed a mystical
creature which captured my attention immediately. It was during an hour spent watching the
Martial Eagle that I remembered the eagle’s curious nesting behaviour which became
firmly entrenched in my mind.
From
that point onwards, I knew the overwhelming number of questions I had about
this eagle would eventually materialise into a scientific study at some point
in my life.
At the
beginning of 2013 I had planned to do a project on the Black Harrier. I was
very keen on Martial Eagles especially after my Namibian experience, but none of
the scientists at UCT seemed to be offering any projects on the eagle. I
decided that Black Harriers would be the next best option. However the idea of
researching the Martial Eagle would not be dismissed. I decided to abandon the
Black Harrier project in favour of searching for a Martial Eagle Masters project.
I contacted
raptor expert Dr Andrew Jenkins who is an avid Peregrine Falcon researcher. Dr
Jenkins identified with me as he is as passionate about Peregrines Falcons as I
am about Martial Eagles. Together we developed a project focused on Martial
Eagles which nest on electricity pylons. At the end of March 2013, I started my
research on Martial Eagles with Dr Andrew Jenkins, Dr Res Altwegg and Dr Arjun
Amar who are my supervisors at the University of Cape Town.
My life
seems to have come full circle and this illustrates how
passion and determination can help you to pursue your dreams!
Goliath and I at Eagle Encounters Stellenbosch
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