18 Mar 2019: Slightly Cuckoo

Birders have a natural affinity to one another. Somewhere on the road to Mata-Mata these two ladies were staring intently through their binos at absolutely nothing. Being an officer and a gentleman, and a closet chauvinist endowed with a natural affinity to especially female birders, I also stopped and stared. It turned out that they were members of the Slightly Cuckoo Bird Club of Johannesburg, and that they were scanning the trees for raptors. One of the ladies, Beth Hackland, invited me for a sundowner at Twee Rivieren, which led to me joining the rest of their birding group for dinner in the restaurant. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening as these birders truly lived up to their club’s motto of 20% Birding – 80% Fun. The conversation ranged from politicians to nutty fruitcakes to fruitcakes without nuts.