Birding my Local Patches

After trying the leaf suit out on Zaagkuil I was sure that I was going to get great close ups of some of the migrant warblers that frequent Bishop Bird Park. I had been to the park earlier in the week and Etienne Marais had pointed out a whole plethora of migrant warblers, Willow, Marsh, Garden and even a Common Whitethroat, so it had to be a done deal. Arriving at the park in the early morning I checked if anyone was around before donning the leaf suit and heading off into the park. I think I would have scared the c..p out of someone if i had bumped into them, lol. It all started off well, the Blackchested Prinia's came out to scold me as I carefully stalked my way around the park.

They normally move away when a human approaches but this time they actually hung around and even carried on preening, it had to bode well for some warbler pics..

Black-chested Prinia (2)

Another (normally skittish) bird, the migrant Spotted Flycatcher was very confiding and came and sat so close to me I had to zoom out to get him in the frame.

I was able to stalk one as well and could approach failry close before he decided he had had enough and flew off to more distant perch.


Spotted Flycatcher (2)


This was going too well, I was going to get stunning photos of the warblers. At about 08:00 the warblers all started calling, almost simultaneously. I decided to sit at a spot that Etienne had pointed out as being a good spot for warblers. So I made myself comfortable and waited....10 minutes, I heard a Marsh Warbler approaching, I watched the bush intently.....15 minutes, the warbler started moving off again, all quiet...20 minutes, still quiet....25 minutes, another warbler calling softly ahead, faint movement detected in the thicket.....30 minutes, my a..se is going numb, the warbler is moving back deeper into the thicket.....35 minutes, I realise that these warblers are not as dumb as I think they are.....40 minutes, come on give me a break, just one warbler pic to show the guys.....45 minutes, thats it, I am going to have to stalk these guys. The problem is that the trees and thickets are so thick you cant see the warblers for long enough to get a photo and its normally in the shaded areas where the light is bad...oh well back to the drawing board..

On the way back to the car, a Red-faced Mousebird lands so close I can't get him all in the frame..now why couldn't it have been a migrant warbler??

Red-faced Mousebird

As I arrive back at home I hear a Grey Hornbill calling. This is great because they only visit our garden about once or twice a year. I rush out into the front garden only to see a pair moving through the trees..

The fact that thay are a pair brings great excitement as I think they may be checking out the old Barbet nests for a potential nest site.

African Grey Hornbill (Male) (2)

The female is very shy and stays in the back of the trees all the time but I managed a record shot of her. Note the diagnostic "lipstick" on the bill

African Grey Hornbill (female)

Another bird which may be breeding in the garden presently is the Burchells Coucal, we often see him in the same area of the garden in the mornings. When I took this photo he was busy hunting snails..

Burchells Coucal (2)

This morning again I decided to try the leaf suit to see if it does actually work. The Hadedas were not too bothered about me and remained sitting on the garden wall doing their morning ablutions.

Hadeda Ibis

Even the Common Mynas, which are normally very wary birds, came down for a drink and were not bothered by my presence or the sound of the shutter clicking away.

Common Myna

This Laughing Dove almost landed on me before heading to the pond for a drink..

Immature Laughing Dove (note buffy feather edges)

At about 09:30 this morning I noticed a large flock of large birds circling around above the house which, on closer inspection, turned out to be White Storks. They circled around for a while, slowly gaining altitiude until, almost on command, they broke out of the circle towards the North..



White Storks (I counted 70 in the frame) 


Finally, it seems as if winter is on the way as it was rather chilly this morning forcing me to put on a fleece jacket and the first Amethyst Sunbirds were seen around the garden. These birds are common all year round in Gauteng but I only get them in my garden in winter..

Immature Amethyst Sunbird

I am still planning a trip to Mkhombo again, so maybe Easter Weekend will be a good time...if my wife shortens the list she has in mind for me!! Cheers!

Zaagkuildrift Rd to Kgomo Kgomo

I surprised myself yesterday by actually getting up at 04h30 to go birding. I initially wanted to go to Mkhombo Dam but decided on Zaagkuil because it seemed a lot closer. It was a great days birding, apart from some early morning traffic on the dirt road and some inconsiderate birders, I had the morning to myself and with no time schedules I could bird at my own pace and it took me three hours to travel from the start of the road to Wolfhuiskraal!

I have been having problems with my camera in that all the images seem to come out soft (slightly blurred) so I decided to play around with the cameras auto focus settings while photographing a confiding Red-backed Shrike and a hunting Black-headed Heron. I eventually settled on a setting of -3 which gave much sharper images, I'm not 100% happy yet but there was a vast improvement in image quality.

Arriving at sunrise, I saw all the usuals like Amur Falcon, Northern Black Korhaan, Lesser Grey Shrike, Black-headed Heron and Long-tailed Shrike. Apart from my camera setup shots of Red-backed Shrike and Black-headed Heron, photo opportunties at this stage were non-existant and I only got my first photos after the MPCA Dam. This was of two Cape Penduline Tits chasing each other around a dry bush which was exciting as I have never seen these birds on Zaagkuil before.

Cape Penduline Tits

The two Tits were a lot yellower than those I have seen before which caused a bit of confusion at first as I thought that they may have been Yellow-bellied Eremomela!

The area along Zaagkuildrift rd is very dry at the moment which does not bode well for sightings of River Warbler. Driving slowly I was able to pick up several Spotted Flycatchers, one calling Woodland Kingfisher, several Willow Warblers, Blue Waxbill, Pied and Arrow-marked Babblers and a Purple Roller being harrassed by a group of White-crowned Shrikes.

Purple Roller under attack

White-crowned Shrike

Yellow-billed and Red-billed Hornbills were more numerous than what I remember from my previous visits over the last few years. Grey Hornbill was also seen in the area where the bush starts becoming more open. This area also produced Green-winged Pytilia, Rattling Cisticola, White-browed Sparrow-weaver, Red-billed Firefinch, Village Indigobird, numerous Burchells Starlings, Burnt-necked Eremomela, Green Woodhoopoe and Eurasian Roller. Red-backed Shrikes are extremely common along this road.

Red-backed Shrike male

I managed to see all of the common Roller species during the morning with Purple, Eurasian and Lilac-breasted present.

Eurasian Roller

A trip down one of the side roads across the flood plain, which was again very dry, produced Hamerkop, Diederik Cuckoo, Pin-tailed, Long-tailed Paradise and Shaft-tailed Whydah, Barred Warbler, Marico Flycatcher and a calling Olivetree Warbler.

Diederiks Cuckoo

A small Party of Pied Babblers was seen with very large chicks! I didn't get a photo of the chicks as they stayed deep in the bush away from the road.

Southern Pied Babbler

Lesser Grey Shrike is also common at this time of year.

Lesser Grey Shrike

One of the farms along the road had this way out of range creature strolling around the farm!

Emu

Finally, a photo of a Shaft-tailed Whydah on a bush!

Shaft-tailed Whydah (2)

I love the expressions on the faces of the cattle and the Ox-pecker

Red-billed Oxpecker

I eventually got a Steppe Buzzard at about 11 o'clock!

Steppe Buzzard

This Juv Pale Chanting Goshawk was a nice sighting as they are not very common in this area.



Juvenile Pale Chanting Goshawk



On the way out I quickly phoned for permission to visit the MPCA Dam, donned my leaf suit and found a quiet spot on the bank. After a short while this Wood Sandpiper wandered across in front of me not knowing exactly what I was!





Wood Sandpiper

The best thing I discovered about the leaf suit was that I was able to approach these Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters without them being too worried. These are the best photos I have ever managed to get of this species (I didn't say I was an excellent photographer). I will definately be trying the leaf suit again in future. Watch out warblers!!

Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters (4)

All in all it was a magic mornings birding, I didn't have a time limit and only decided to head back at 13h48 because I felt a bit guilty about taking so much time for myself!! I think I would have stuck around until the evening birds arrived if I could have but I will have to save that for another day! My list total for the day ended up on 106 which isn't too bad for only one pair of eyes??

December Holidays - West Coast National Park

Egyptian Geese

With JP Le Roux in Cape Town on holiday as well, he convinced me to head up to West Coast National Park which we duly did along with his wife Margaux. This is a place I always look forward to visiting but I can never get the tides right and the visits always end in disappointment. The first time I went there in 1994, there were thousands of waders of all sorts and shapes and this image is what always brings me back. This visit was no different except that I seemed to have got the tides right this time but there were very few birds about and those that were there kept their distance from the hide. Our mission was to find the European Oystercatcher which had been seen around the Seeberg hide but although there was a large group of African Black Oystercatchers the Euro was nowhere to be seen. Birding for the day was good but photography opportunities were terrible.




Cape Wagtail at Seeberg


From the Gate to Seeberg we got some good birds including Cape Spurfowl, Southern Double-Collared Sunbird, Cape Sparrow, Karoo Scrub-Robin, Grey-backed Cisticola, White-backed Mousebird and Southern Black korhaan although Black Harrier was noticably absent.




Grey-backed Cisticola

 Seeberg was disappointing in that the waders were few and far between and the European Oystercatcher was nowhere to be seen (as I might have mentioned earlier). It was a beautiful day when we arrived with clear skies and no wind but by the time we got to Seeberg, the wind had picked up considerably. Waders found at Seeberg were Grey Plover, White-fronted Plover, Eurasian Curlew, Kittlitzs' Plover, Whimbrel and African Black Oystercatcher.

Grey Plover showing the diagnostic black "armpits"

We decided to head off to Geelbek to see what was around as the wind was really pumping now and white horses were visible over the lagoon. At the old hide the tide was pushing the waders up towards the hide but they didn't come close enough for my 100-400mm lens. A 800mm with a 2 times converter would have been ideal in this situation. Here we picked up a few more waders and in the form of Marsh Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, Sanderling, Ruddy Turnstone, Greenshank, Chestnut-banded Plover and some distant Bar-tailed Godwits. Some SA Shelducks were also seen in the distance along with the ubiquitous Egyptian Geese!



Marsh Sandpiper



Sanderling

From Geelbek we headed inland to the Salt marsh hide where we got a calling Bokmakierie, African Stonechat, African Pipit (A Freakin Pipit in JP's terms), Little Grebe, Cape Bulbul, Ostrich, Lesser Swamp Warbler, Pied Starlings and Yellow Canary (which are not as yellow down here as up in Gauteng).

Yellow Canary

As it was now getting late we headed back to Seeberg to see if the European Oystercatcher had made its appearance, stopping at the lookout point where we found a Rock Kestrel soaring effortlessly on the strong wind.

Rock Kestrel

Nothing had changed back at Seeberg except for slightly bigger wader flocks and a few Sandwich, Swift and Common Terns with a possible Damara Tern fishing along the shoreline.

White-fronted Plover

This is a park where I would love to spend a whole weekend or even a whole week just birding with no time limits. Driving 120km from Gordons Bay to spend a mornings birding here is just too rushed as there is too much to see and experience. I think that if i am going to go for a days birding again I will definately hire a guide who has experience with the area to optimise the time available..

White-throated Swallow

December Holidays - Gordons Bay (Western Cape)

Cape Sugarbird - Male

Western Cape is a long way from where we live but it's a trip we don't mind making. It always seems so much cleaner and prettier than Gauteng or the East Coast and the bird species list is not as high as our home area but then the province probably has more endemics than any other provinces in South Africa. Our holiday was to be spent at my sisters house in Gordon's Bay which has a view over False Bay and an added bonus is that the house borders on a declared nature reserve. This means her garden is full of great birds!!

To get there my wife and I had to drive 1500km with four teenage boys filling the back of our Toyota SUV. So to break the journey we decided to stop off at the "Be Blessed" guest house in Richmond in the Karoo which gave us some time to stretch the legs and possibly try for some Karoo specials (Karoo Eremomela is one such special I still need to photograph but didn't get). We arrived in Richmond in the middle of the afternoon and after organising some entertainment for the boys we set off for some birding on the farm roads around the town. Birding was quiet but I did manage to see some good birds, Karoo Scrub-robin, Cape Penduline Tit and Fairy Flycatcher were highlights of the area. In the evening, countless numbers of Amur Falcons and Lesser Kestrels flew over the guest house on their way to roost somewhere near town. Eurasian Bee-eaters were also present in large numbers..

Karoo Scrub-robin

Cape Penduline Tit

Just outside the town we watched a family of Rock Kestrels practising some aerial combat manoeuvres with their chicks.

Rock Kestrels practising ACM

The next day we were up early to continue the journey to Gordons Bay. The birds in the garden in Gordons Bay are great and from the kitchen window you can see at least 10 endemics without much effort. Cape Sugarbird, Cape Bulbul, Cape Bunting, Cape Weaver, Karoo Prinia, Cape White-eye, Cape Spurfowl, Cape Rock-thrush and both Southern Double-collared and Orangebreasted Sunbird are common on the Protea bushes against the mountain.

Cape Sugarbird

Orange-breasted Sunbird

Southern Double-collared Sunbird

Karoo Prinia

Cape Spurfowl

The Cape Spurfowl are extremely tame and have raised several families in the area and they often bring their chicks for a free meal in the back yard.

Cape Spurfowl with chicks

I wonder how many other gardens can boast with a list of 10 endemics on a daily basis? With the house being so close to the sea there are also Kelp Gulls and the occasional Hartlaubs Gull which fly overhead.

Kelp Gull

Swallows and Swifts are also common and can be observed while relaxing on the patio enjoying a cold beer!! Now this is what I call Lazy Birder heaven!!

White-rumped Swift

Ooh and I almost forgot...there are Angulate Tortoises which forage and breed in the garden. I'm not sure if these are endemic but they also interesting to watch. Sizes vary from matchbox to shoebox size!

Angulate Tortoise (Shoebox size)

While we were on holiday I managed to visit West Coast National Park, Rooiels and I eventually got to Strandfontein after 10 years of procrastination...but these stories will follow shortly! Night!