Cape Town Birds 2025
Photographs of birds, mostly in flight, from a March 2025 trip to Cape Town. The album covers two distinct subjects at two distinct locations, both shot on the OM-1 Mark II with the 300mm f/4 Pro prime.
The first set features Cormorants at Intaka Island nature reserve. Cormorants are usually a difficult subject — they spend most of their time standing around, fly low and fast and usually away from you, and their very dark colouring compounds the exposure challenge. On this trip, a tip from a friend led to Intaka, which turned out to be home to an exceptionally active colony. The birds demonstrated their surprisingly dinosaur-like appearance, elaborate nesting behaviour, and a considerable appetite for bits of twig.
The second set was taken at the Kom in Kommetjie and features Sacred Ibis in flight. The Sacred Ibis is a particular favourite, and whilst it has been photographed many times at this location, every so often the birds oblige with an especially fine flying position or a display of their surprisingly colourful wing feathers. The album closes with a Cape Grassbird from a third location at Cape Point.
Photographs in this album include: Cormorants (18 images, Intaka Island), Hungry darling?, Sacred Ibis in flight (7 images, Kommetjie), Cape Grassbird (Cape Point).
View the full album at mcaughtry.photo/albums/cape-town-birds-2025. Touch or click any image to open a lightbox view; tap the full-screen icon for the best experience. Click the “i” icon beneath any thumbnail for full EXIF data and location information for that image.