Giants Castle - Drakensberg

Giants Castle Vulture Hide

What a luck, my old birding bud Phil Penlington phones out of the blue with a offer to go with to the vulture hide at Giants Castle in the Drakensberg mountains of Kwa-Zulu Natal. The waiting list for this hide is roughly 18 months so this was an offer I couldn't pass up. We would be joined by another friend of Phils, Neil Cillie who arrived armed with a monster 600mm lens that made my 400mm look like a "dinky" toy! After my initial decision to use my wifes Suzuki to save on petrol, we rather decided to take the bird mobile with its go anywhere capabilities so that we didnt have to wait for the 08:00 Parks Board lift to take us up to the hide (I'm glad we did after realising we would have had to walk back to camp in the afternoon).

We set off on Sunday morning after I had to work on Saturday to be able to take two days off....how ironic is that.....work an extra day and you can take two of your own leave days. Humph nothing comes for free these days! The drive was undramatic with no mishaps along the way. Weather was perfect and we expected freezing weather with possible snow falls at Giants Castle so clothing took up a lot of space in the car. We arrived at Giants Castle at around 15:00 and took a drive up to the hide after seeing that it had been vacated by the previous birders. The road up is fairly rough and steep, I wouldn't like to tackle this in wet or snow conditions and I dont think the Suzuki SX4 would have made it up with the three of us and all our baggage. After a quick look around we decided to go down to reception to check in, luckily we did because we arrived just in time to catch the reception staff packing up to go home....The chalets are really neat and clean and some have magnificent views of the mountains.

View from Chalet 39

Monday morning we were up early, dressed in at least 3 layers of clothing (temperature was 2 degrees) and set off to the hide at 06:00 in the dark, arriving on top at the hide at 06:30 just as the sky was starting to lighten. We threw out the complimentary bones along with lumps of bone meal we had brought with and settled down in the hide for the birds to arrive. The hide faces roughly WSW and the sun paints the mountains gradually until the light reaches the ledge in front of the hide at around 08:00.

The view from the hide



Neil (left) and Phil all set up waiting for the birds

We didn't have to wait long for the birds as the first Bearded Vulture glided past at around 06:40. It was a dark headed juvenile bird which I didn't even attempt to photograph as the light was still bad at that time. The ground ahead was full of smaller birds that were feeding on the bone meal and crows and ravens that were feeding on the cow carcass and fresh bones we had put out. We were to learn that the ravens are actually a pest. They, and the jackals, carried off a few bones and actually harass the raptors and vultures that come in for a meal. We observed White-necked Ravens, Cape Crows, Red-winged Starlings, Cape Buntings, Familiar Chats, Cape Rock-thrush, Yellow Bishops and Buff-streaked Chats all before 08:00. Trying to photograph them in the shadow proved difficult however. The Bearded Vultures made several fly pasts during this time which kept us busy trying to get our settings right and get the birds in focus.




Adult Bearded Vulture - Gypaetus Barbatus


Later as the light strengthened and came closer and closer to the hide, it became difficult to decide where to focus. Vultures were passing overhead, chats were posing on the rocks, even a Gurneys Sugarbird put in an appearance for a few minutes..

Juvenile Bearded Vulture

Adult Bearded Vulture

We were hoping for one of the vultures to land but the ravens harrass them whenever they flew too close. Eventually at around 10:00 an adult bird landed on the furthest ledge from the hide. Everyone immediately strated firing away so that it sounded something like a movie firefight in the hide. All too quickly it was over and the bird took off again.

Adult Bearded Vulture

Adult Bearded Vulture

Juvenile Bearded Vulture fly past

Juvenile Bearded Vulture

Eventually we had so many opportunities for Bearded Vultures in flight we could practice with light settings and even tried to compose photos of the birds with the mountains in the background. But, as I found out the hard way, take as many photos as possible....those "good" shots dont look so good when you download them onto the computer screen so keep trying!!

In between taking shots of the vultures we got some close-up shots of the smaller passerines..

Male Cape Rock-thrush

Female Buff-streaked Chat

Male Buff-streaked Chat

Familiar Chat

Female Red-winged Starling

Juvenile Male (left) and female Red-winged Starlings



Cape Bunting



Male Gurneys Sugarbird

Cape Crow

White-necked Raven

Phil had said that the last time he was there he saw several Jackal Buzzard and hardly any Bearded Vultures, plus it was raining. We had the opposite conditions, sunny with lots of Bearded Vultures and only one Jackal Buzzard visited in the two days we were there..

Jackal Buzzard

Later in the day, after lunch, we got our first Cape Vultures....they preferred to glide past checking out the fare with only one adult and one juvenile actually landing. We noticed that the Bearded Vultures seemed to come closer when the Cape Vultures were on the ground.

Adult Cape Vulture

Cape Vulture landing

Cape Vulture

Once the Vultures were on the ground the Ravens began to pester them and even made contact as they dive-bombed them. Being intelligent birds they used one bird to distract the vulture while another flew off and hit them from behind. The vultures didn't appreciate this attention and took off again after a short while....




Cape Vulture eyeing the White-necked Ravens 



Cape Vulture being dive-bombed by White-necked Raven (1)

Cape Vulture being dive-bombed by White-necked Raven (2)

All too soon the first day was over, the sun had traversed around to shine almost in our faces and chances of good photos had dwindled accordingly. On the way back to the camp Neil alerted us to some Oribi (which are very rare antelope) on the hillside near the hide. We managed to get some decent photos before they ran off over the ridge.

Oribi

As we arrived on the outskirts of the camp we spotted a pair of Red-necked Spurfowl which froze on the road verge, allowing us a chance to get some record shots (lifer photos for me).

Red-necked Spurfowl

Day two brought no new species but allowed us more opportunities to practice our photography skills and get more flight shots of the Bearded and Cape Vultures. As Murphy would have it the Hide was swarming with Vultures on the ground close to the hide as we were making our way home.....I really wouldn't recommend that other birders go to the hide, it is really not worth the effort (and it will make it more available to us if you don't ;-))

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??