Bezhoek Private Nature Reserve - Dec 2022

On the 2nd of December, friends Adolf , Richard and myself headed off to Bezhoek Private Nature Reserve to join David, Vic and Nigel for the annual summer bird count which was arranged to be on the same day as the annual Birdlife SA, Birding Big Day event. Eric, who passed away recently was sorely missed over the weekend as he was one of the initiators of this twice annual bird count taking place in Winter and Summer on the farm. 

First River stop.

The trip to the reserve was uneventful and we got to the farmhouse at around 17:45 on Friday. Sightings were good and we had a list of 35 species from the gate to the house including taking a short night drive. Highlights were a passing European Hobby and all the aerial cisticolas, Zitting, Desert, Cloud and Wing-snapping Cisticolas ticked before reaching the house. As the sun set the Rufous-cheeked Nightjars started calling incessantly around the house and in several places on the night drive. We also got some good photos of them and Fiery-necked Nightjar, taken during the sunset drive. Spotted Eagle Owl and Barn Owl were both heard. Freckled Nightjar which was heard, seen and photographed near the house during the winter count was absent this time..Banded Martin, Southern Anteating Chat and Long-tailed Widows were the most abundant species on the drives.

Rufous-cheeked Nightjar

Fiery-necked Nightjar

 Saturday 3rd had an early start and we were all on the game viewer at 04:27 to start our bird count proper. I always enjoy these count weekends as the witty comments between the birders flow thick and fast and the atmosphere is always jovial. The farm has a number of different habitats and the bird diversity is amazing. Our first destination was to the river on the eastern side of the farm where the light was amazing but with few good photo opportunities. Otters hunted in the river but I couldn't get any good shots, just the back of a head and maybe a few ripples. 

Otter, possibly Cape Clawless

Cinnamon-breasted Buntings were seen on the krantzes above the river and a Familiar Chat pair was feeding a squeaking juvenile Red-chested Cuckoo in the trees next to the river. 

Juvenile Red-chested Cuckoo

But the next sighting we had was undoubtedly the best sighting of the weekend when we stumbled across a pair of Denham's Bustards busy with their courtship display. We were probabaly less than 100m from them, an amazing feat for this species, which normally moves off at about 500m as soon as he catches sight of you. The cameras on the gme viewer were sounding like machine gun fire as we rapidly captured image after image on our memory cards. The male was puffing up his ruff and strutting around after the female who slowly moved off when she noticed us with the male in hot pursuit. It was a once in a lifetime encounter in my opinion with the only disappointment being the poor quality of images I managed to capture which I can only ascribe to "bustard fever" and my eagerness to get the shot..Here are some of the better images at least to prove our sighting. 

Denhams Bustard (3)

On the way to our brunch site we had some more good sightings and captured some better images. The highlights being Bushveld and Striped Pipit, Black Sparrowhawk, Lesser and Greater Honeyguides and at the brunch spot we got a Mountain Wagtail on the river bank.

Saturday brunch spot

Striped Pipit

Bushveld Pipit

Mammal sightings were also good with numerous antelope species being sighted including several Klipspringer, Mountain Reedbuck and Kudu. 

Klipspringer were seen on most of the ridges

Healthy looking Kudu bull with his small harem

Mountain Reedbuck were encountered on a few occasions

On our late afternoon drive we got stuck in a marshy area, with storm clouds brewing in the distance it was a bit disconcerting to think that we were walking about looking for rocks to push under the wheels on an exposed ironstone ridge with lightning flashing in the not-so-distant skies! Anyway, we got out okay and ended the day with a great braai, beautiful sunset vistas and a tally of 124 species seen and heard for the day..

Storm clouds on the horizon

 Sunday 4th was our day to do the south side of the reserve, along the river. This is one of my favourite routes and we weren't disappointed. We set off at 05:22 to visit the viewpoint which has amazing views over the river and lodges below, and found several Eastern Clapper Larks performing their conspicuous display flights and calls. At the lookout point, Lazy Cisticolas were calling around us as we enjoyed the views and a confiding Bar-throated Apalis allowed us to take some photos. 

Viewpoint over the Olifants River with the lodges visible below

Ready for more birding!

Dave, our friend and self-designated (excellent) chef for the weekend, missed his wake-up call and overslept so we had to retrace our steps back to the farmhouse to pick him up with the breakfast or go hungry which was not an option given the great food that Dave prepares. 

Bar-throated Apalis

Lazy Cisticolas are very common on Bezhoek

 Breakfast was arranged for the area called "The Zoo" and we added some more new birds to our list here, namely Violet-backed Starling, Yellow-throated Petronia and we had amazing views of an African Pygmy Kingfisher that also allowed a close approach for some photos. 

African Pygmy Kingfisher

After a breakfast of some delicious brekkie buns we headed up to the lodges and along the southside next to the river. Here we found another calling Striped Pipit and the resident Cape Rock-thrush came in to be ticked.. Further up the drive towards the "S'es" we found some nice raptors in the form of a European Honey-buzzard, another calling Black Sparrowhawk who gave us a low-level flypast and an Ovambo Sparrowhawk. We tried for the Grey-headed Bush-shrike but could not locate them. Here we also ticked the Bearded, Bennets and Golden-tailed Woodpeckers and heard the Striped Kingfishers calling their duet. In the grasslands above the ridge, we managed to tick all 4 local widows, White-winged, Red-collared, Fan-tailed and Long-tailed. The grasslands on Bezhoek are great for LBJ's (Little Brown Jobs) and we had some great lark sightings on Saturday and Sunday..

Rufous-naped Lark in the morning sun

Eastern Clapper Lark

Spike-heeled Lark

Greater Striped Swallow

All good things come to an end unfortunately after spending a great weekend on the farm where one can forget all the problems in the world and just enjoy some good bird watching with some great friends we had to get back to reality. Thanks to all for a great weekend and especially Vic for organizing the weekend and Dave for the great food and driving us around most of the weekend. Our final tick was a Black-chested Snake-eagle sitting next to the road and a magnificent Sable Bull seen on the way to the gate.. 

Sable Antelope

Until the next winter count 2023.