A fierce debate about ethics, legitimacy, truth and honour broke out on the couch this week.
And no, it was not about the Zondo commission, impeachment trial, helicopter tea trip or any grubby, dirty-handed politician, but about bird sightings.
Nature lovers and twitchers are welcome to weigh in.
I have always been enchanted and fascinated by birds and animals.
My jungle garden attracts many visitors. A nearby conservation spot is home to a pair of fish eagles which often serenades us, a slightly absurd sound to hear in a suburb while hanging up the washing, but one which always sets my heart aflutter.
Hell, I even like the noisy hadedas and welcome them nesting and honking just outside my lounge window. And having an occasional face-off with the monkeys when the primates try to use their nesting branch to get on the roof.
WildEarth was the way my sister began and wound down her day, and I started watching as a way to keep the close connection we shared. It’s now my default channel and has been an eye-widening education.
It’s like I’ve been suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect, the theory that sometimes you are too dumb or ignorant to know what you don’t know and so don’t actively try to learn more.
I’ll tell you my learning curve has been steep, and the ignorance profound. But it has also been an appetite-whetting inspiration to start filling the hole.
The debate question is: can one claim a bird or animal sighting if one is stuck on the couch watching WildEarth for hours?
“Driving” on the daily safaris has opened a world of sounds and beautiful creatures. Now I want to learn their names and all about them.
The debate came about after one of the guides accidentally flushed out a hard-to-find bird (a bronze-winged courser) because it is nocturnal. He said he knew a man who had spent years camping out and patiently tracking this bird, but had never spotted one. The man apparently will not claim a sighting unless he has photographed the subject, and recorded the exact time and place.
Could I, with little effort and dedication, claim it as a sighting? Can people on game drives claim sightings even though it was the guide or tracker who found the animal? Doesn’t seem fair.
Once you get the bug, there’s always the pull of making a list of what you’ve seen, where, what it was doing and with whom.
I want to get an app which, apart from all the relevant details you need to know, will play bird sounds, and they are not cheap. Some include a list you can build and I really, really want to do that.
However, after back surgery and a fall that reminded me that recovery can be long, slow and painful and not to be risked regularly, my natural exploration will be limited to the couch. Talk about learning: getting older is something you also have to learn to live with and realise some things will no longer be in your mobility repertoire.
And, of course, there’s Covid.
The debate continues, but I’m swinging towards starting my list, even if it means keeping it secret.
The Independent on Saturday