{"id":26242,"date":"2012-11-15T00:17:37","date_gmt":"2012-11-14T23:17:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=26242"},"modified":"2019-12-22T22:31:04","modified_gmt":"2019-12-22T09:31:04","slug":"the-big-five-vs-bird","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/the-big-five-vs-bird\/","title":{"rendered":"The Big Five vs. Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two kinds of people sign up for African safaris. Most, myself included, want to see “The Big Five”–-lion, leopard, rhino, buffalo, and elephant. The other people are the birders.<\/p>\n

So when my birder father announces he wants to join me on a trip to Botswana I have planned for myself, I clarify, “This is not a birding trip.”<\/p>\n

“I won’t mention my interest in birds to anyone,” he replies.<\/p>\n

As we climb into the open Land Rover for our first wildlife drive, our guide Tim asks, “Are either of you birders?”<\/p>\n

“I’m not. I want to focus on mammals, especially lions and elephants,” I respond with an I’m –in –charge attitude.<\/p>\n

Then my father says, “this is my daughters trip, but if we see a bird or two, that would be great.” Tim’s face lights up, and I realize I’m doomed.<\/p>\n

A few minutes into our drive, we stop. “My first lilac breasted roller,” my dad announces with pride.<\/p>\n

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Photo of Lilac Breasted Roller by Lyle Wood<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

The colorful feathers shimmer in the first morning light. I must admit, it is a beautiful bird.<\/p>\n

During the next hour we stop and stare at every brown, yellow, big, little, flying and sitting bird. I listen to discussions of wing-spans, beak shapes and throat colors, and I learn new names like Hammerkop and Bateleur.Twelve lilac-breasted roller sightings, and many other bird species later, we see a pride of seven lions. I focus my binoculars on the cat’s blood stained fur.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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After a few minutes, Tim interrupts my big cat trance, “They aren’t going to do anything, so let’s push onward.”<\/p>\n

At our last tented camp on our trip I explain to my father, “It is probably obvious by the name of this place, Savute Elephant Camp, that I really want to focus on elephants here, not birds.”<\/p>\n

“ Of course,” he agrees.<\/p>\n

I hire Clive, a private guide, to lead us on a bush walk.<\/p>\n

“We have no interest in seeing birds,” I tell Clive.<\/p>\n

“We’ll try to find the rogue bull elephant that has been in the area,” he says.<\/p>\n

“Perfect.”<\/p>\n

I follow Clive and the shotgun slung over his right shoulder; my father behind me. When we catch up to the massive grey bull Clive’s hand motions us to be quiet, and stay close.<\/p>\n

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African Elephant images for Africa Inside – Photo by Chris Martin<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

“Adolescent males can be unpredictable and dangerous,” he whispers.<\/p>\n

Clive signals us to stop; any further would be too close for comfort. The bull moves from one mopane tree to the next, snapping branches like twigs. I turn around to share this adrenaline pumping moment with my father but he is nowhere in sight.<\/p>\n

“We can’t follow the elephant until we find your father,” Clive insists. I know he’s right, but I’m reluctant to let the elephant get away from us.<\/p>\n

Then I see my father in the distance, half hidden behind a thick bush, his binoculars focused on a lilac-breasted roller.<\/p>\n

“Dad, you have seen hundreds of lilac-breasted rollers already, please can you walk with us, the elephant’s getting away,” I plead.<\/p>\n

“You’ve seen a hundred elephants,” he retaliates.<\/p>\n

We stare at each other for a tension filled moment, and then start to laugh. The noise causes the bird to fly off, while my elephant disappears into thick bush.<\/p>\n

Back home in the States my father sends me a gift. It’s a two by three foot size poster of a lilac-breasted roller. He may just make a birder out of me yet.<\/p>\n

For more stories, visit my blog at AfricaInside.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two kinds of people sign up for African safaris. Most, myself included, want to see “The Big Five”–-lion, leopard, rhino, buffalo, and elephant. The other people are the birders. So when my birder father announces he wants to join me on a trip to Botswana I have planned for myself, I clarify, “This is not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":254,"featured_media":2192591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Roller-from-LW.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6984,5],"tags":[2082,1713,1011,1896],"class_list":["post-26242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogs","category-wildlife","tag-big-5","tag-birding","tag-botswana","tag-lilac-breasted-roller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/254"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2192591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}