The Old Diocesan Issue 12 - Magazine - Page 73
YOUNGSTER TO WATCH
A Cinnamon-breasted Warbler
in the Tankwa Karoo.
I
first got to know Adam
Buckham (2023M) while we
sat on our bums in the early
morning gloom of The Dell in
Kirstenbosch back in January 2018.
The two of us were staking out a
Buff-spotted Flufftail, a rarely seen
skulking bird that had, remarkably,
taken up residence in the middle
of one of the busiest parts of the
busiest botanical gardens in the
country. It would be a birding
“lifer” for both of us, and we
knew it would require patience
to add it to our respective lists.
Adam’s father Mike and I had
become acquainted the previous
year during a Big Year challenge,
where overly excitable birders like
us see how many birds we can tick
off in a set area; in this case, it was
the Strandfontein Sewage Works
and farm fields of Philippi. When
Mike asked me to accompany his
son on this particular venture,
I was happy to oblige, as Adam
was already, by this point, a better
birder than me. I was 43 and had
been birding seriously for a decade.
He was 13 and about to go into
Grade 8 at Bishops.
Over the course of the next three
hours, birders trickled in and out,
and curious onlookers questioned
us on our task. No doubt they also
questioned our sanity, as we did
our best to stave off cramp while
all about us happy families were
enjoying the beautiful weather.
Finally, I said to Adam, “Let’s give
it five more minutes” – and at that
moment the flufftail sneaked out
of the undergrowth and bathed in
the stream. A moment of birding
bliss. We exchanged a quiet,
celebratory low-five.
Adam has since ascended into
the rarified air of the southern
African 800 club when he ticked
off an African Crake in Betty’s Bay
last year, at age 20. Which is to say,
he has seen 800 different species
of birds in southern Africa alone.
(I’m too afraid to ask him what his
world total is.) For a better sense
of this phenomenal achievement,
I catch up with him in January,
as he prepares for his third year
of BAcc at Stellenbosch University.
I ask Adam about his fledgling
years, and he starts his story with
a nod to dad Mike, a respected
birder and current chair of the
Cape Bird Club: “He used to tell
us that when he was very young,
he was on a game drive, and the
ranger said that if he could identify
20 birds, he could drive the vehicle.
He named the birds and got to sit
on the ranger’s lap all the way
back to the lodge. Which was
cool… But identifying the birds
was much more fun. My grandpa
got into it too, because my dad
needed to be driven around.”
THE OLD DIOCESAN | 69
