The bird count is on us again. The Greater flamingos have bred well up in Etosha and we have a few hundred juvenile Greaters to count. The Lessers have not returned as yet. Graham McCulloch, in Botswana, has informed me that the Lessers had a small problem in March, when their nests were flooded out and they restarted their breeding at the end of March. Whether they will make it back to Walvis before the bird count is pure conjecture. If there is still a lot of water standing in the Makgadikgadi pans at the end of July the adult Lessers could stay over as they will still have their preferred food there. Shorebirds at the moment are a bit of an unknown quantity, as I see that a lot of their feeding areas in the Lagoon have silted up. I can see no signs of polychaete worms or white mussel, especially along the shoreline between the new hotel and the thatched cottages. Between the thatched cottages and Lovers Hill there is no food left as the wind blown sand has really piled up here. The shoreline at low water has receeded a lot over the past 5 or 6 years and it is virtually impossible to identify the small shorebirds with a scope, let

alone binoculars. The Gull-billed Tern was last seen at the beginning of June but should still be around. Two male Red-necked Phalarope in full breeding colours have been identified by a few birders recently. There should be more phalaropes around, other than these 2.

The dates for the bird count are the 17th and 18th July. Please make sure that they are diarised and the meeting on the Saturday will be at Probst Cafe at 0730hrs and on the Sunday at Keith and Gails house at 0800hrs. Please let me know whether you will be available or not. This is not only for the count but also for the catering figures.