Week 02 - Bishop Bird Park

Rather a busy week with going back to work and sorting out the garden after our holiday break. We have received huge amounts of rain so the grass was almost knee height.... The birds were enjoying the garden, Common Mynahs had taken up residence in the roof and complained bitterly every time we past "their" area.

With so much to do at home birding had to take a back seat but I did manage to get out to Bishop Bird Park again. All the usuals were still around and I was hoping to pick up a Garden Warbler or two but these were not calling and the main purpose of the visit was to walk the dog. One surprise in the park was a White-winged widow in breeding plumage, a first for me in this particular park.




White-winged Widow



A pair of Spotted Thick-knees were running around with two small chicks in tow and immediately went into broken wing mode as we walked towards them. These chicks are extremely well camouflaged birds which duck in under the grass tufts when you approach becoming invisible in seconds.




Spotted Thick-knees

 
This park is a roosting site for a large flock of European Bee-eaters and they are always found here in the summer months. Seed-eaters are well represented with good numbers of Red-Bishop, Southern Masked Weaver, Black-throated Canary and Cape Sparrow.

Cape Glossy Starlings seem to be present in small groups and Black-chested Prinia are quite common. All in all it was a rushed outing with not much else to get excited about.