SARBN: Peter Steyn

[Trevor Hardaker]

Good afternoon everyone,

 

It is with a heavy heart that I share the news that a legend of Southern African birding, Peter Steyn, passed away peacefully this morning.

 

Peter will be especially well known to birders of my generation and older where he was a mentor and inspiration to so many. His accolades are numerous and copies of his various books will adorn many a book shelf among us. Peter’s bird photography was also setting very high standards long before the thought of a digital camera even existed and many of his photos taken on old slide film with old technology still compare very favourably with what is being produced today by the very best of photographers with the most technologically advanced equipment.

 

There is lots that could be written about Peter that I am sure will be covered in numerous tributes still to come but, perhaps something that many might not necessarily know and which is probably the most appropriate to this forum is that Peter was actually the oldest birder to ever be involved with the discovery of a new species for the Southern African bird list when he found the Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin at Zeekoevlei in 2016, still the only record that we have in Southern Africa of this species. Peter was 80 years old at the time and, in finding the bird, set in motion one of the biggest twitches in Southern African history at the time with around 1300 birders going to see his special find. I remember well how excited he was when the ID of the bird was confirmed and I still have a note which he sent to me later that same evening which says: “I am still a bit gobsmacked, so am going to make myself a nice strong Milo”…J

 

A huge loss to our birding community, RIP Peter, may you now fly high with all of those raptors that you loved so much.

 

Here’s a photo of Peter and I from a few years back just after his birding memoirs had been published.

 

 

Kind regards

Trevor