NG32 is a classic edge-of-the-Delta reserve that has a good mix of dry-country and shallow-water bird species. The most common species include red-eyed, mourning and Cape turtle doves, which all greet the morning with a variety of gentle coos. Identify the latter by their lyrical exhortations to ‘word harder, work harder’.
Other birds frequently seen here include long-tailed shrikes, red-billed quelia, buffalo weavers, lilac-breasted rollers, blacksmith plovers and long-tailed and glossy starlings. Crimson-breasted shrikes provide startling flashes of red; Meyer’s parrots can often be seen as a flash of colour flying at speed.
In more open areas you’ll find red-billed and Swainson’s francolins, flocks of helmeted guinea fowl, kori bustards and occasional ostriches. Sandgrouse are common in acacia groves, as are yellow-billed hornbills, whilst their red-billed cousins prefer the reserve’s mopane woodlands.
The floodplains support a varied cast of waders and waterbirds, including the occasional wattled cranes. This is a good reserve for raptors; bataleur eagles, black-breasted and brown snake eagles are especially common, and Gabar goshawks are frequently seen.