Attendees: Stan & Val Culley, Jonathan Davidson, Stanley & Asothie Gengan, Tina Haine, Caryl Lowe, Andrew Maree, Hazel Nevin, Sandy Olver, Andrew Pickles, Graham & Sue Salthouse , Barry Swaddle and Noel, Bob & Hazel van Rooyen (17 attendees)
Species counted: 84 (see end) Text: Hazel van Rooyen
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| Purple Swamphen (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
It was with a big question in mind that we set out last Sunday – will the weather hold? - because it can be a totally different climate inland to our normal bird-watching territory on the coast. Fortunately it held just long enough for us to have a good look around the general area followed by the ponds at the sugar mill, after which the mist became a bit too damp. Having Barry Swaddle to lead us for this outing was a bonus. His familiarity with the area, knowing where those special birds like to frequent and his pleasure in sharing his knowledge with others is amazing.
Barry started us off with a drive along a dirt road and past the Toyota testing grounds. This is an area which is kept under wraps - literally. He explained that the vehicles actually arrive “under wraps” so the opposition cannot get a peak and the area is heavily secured. Therefore most of the time the birds are undisturbed by humans. A pair of Oribi (rarely seen these days) also enjoy the privacy.
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| Oribi (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
We could only see the edge of this area as the land fell away sharply but we soon spotted a pair of Crowned Lapwings and a Rufous-naped Lark.
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| Crowned Lapwing (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
Other birds in the vicinity were Fantailed and Red-collared Windowbird, African Stonechat, Yellow-fronted Canary, and Red-winged Starling, amongst others.
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| Red-knobbed Coot and chick (photo: Hazel Nevin) |
Moving along to a farm dam, Southern Red Bishop were frantically nest-building in the reeds, swizzling away to their hearts’ content, while Red-knobbed Coot, Common Moorhen and Little Grebe tootled about on the water, along with White-backed Duck. A Purple Heron landed and promptly disappeared into a bed of reeds while a Diderick’s Cuckoo called nearby. Here we gulped down some coffee and snacks.
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| Purple Swamphen (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
Then we were off again to yet another dam where a pair of Purple Swamphen stepped delicately upon the pond weed and Southern Pochard and Hottentot Teal dabbled along contentedly.
An African Marsh Harrier was observed high above us. A little further along we stopped to identify a Yellow-billed Kite and then spotted another raptor preening on a tree in the distance, which Stan recognised as a Common (Steppe) Buzzard. The side of the road here rose steeply up a hill and somehow Tina Haine spotted a Jackal Buzzard, also resting on a tree. There was a bit of a cut-away in the hillside where Yellow-throated Longclaw and Common Waxbill foraged on a pile of sugar cane.
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| Kitlitz Plover (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
On again, pulling over this time next to a field where Barry had observed a Red-capped Lark. African Pipit and Kitlitz Plover were also very active.
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| Red-capped Lark (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
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| African Pipit - observe white outer tail feathers | (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
Our next stop was Eston Sugar Mill at last. Here, a small chapel and wedding venue lent a nostalgic air. We decided to see what was in the three dams, rising up a slight incline. African Fish-Eagle and White-breasted Cormorant were easy to spot but then a startled Black-crowned Night-Heron burst out of the reeds. Other water-birds here were Hottentot Teal, Yellow-billed Duck, Red-billed Teal and waders – Wood Sandpiper, Blacksmith Lapwing and Black-headed Heron. Further around, a wooden deck afforded a more central view of the dam and higher up on the next dam Barry spotted a Malachite Kingfisher.
Having had a bit of a walk around the dams, we would have braaied if the weather had been slightly more encouraging but Barry needed to get home and still wanted to show us some ponds on the other side of the sugar mill so he guided us through the sugar cane fields to where there were more ponds. Sadly, the one that had been the best bird-wise was almost dried up.
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| Searching for waders (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
However, we still saw Three-banded Plover, Ruff, Levaillant’s Cisticola, Little Stint, Common Ringed Plover, Curlew Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, African Palm Swift and Barn Swallow and to top it all a pair of Grey Crowned Cranes arose out of the marsh waving their showy wings before re-settling further away.
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| Grey Crowned Crane (photo: Hazel Nevin) |
At this point some people left to return home while the braaiers pondered whether to risk a braai. Feeling the rain becoming stronger we considered we had been lucky with the weather so far, no point in pressing our luck and all headed homewards, content that we had had such a rewarding day.
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| I didn't believe these existed - a four-leafed clover - what good luck! (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
Thankyou to all those who braved the poor weather.
Species seen:
Barbet Black-collared Bishop Southern Red Boubou Southern Bulbul Black-capped Buzzard (Steppe) Common Buzzard Jackal Cameroptera Green-backed Canary Yellow-fronted Cisticola Levaillant’s Coot Red-knobbed Cormorant Reed Coucal Burchell’s Crane Grey Crowned Crow Cape Crow Pied Cuckoo Diderick’s Cuckoo Red-chested Darter Duck White-backed Duck White-faced Duck Yellow-billed Fiscal Common Fish-Eagle African Goose Egyptian Grebe Little Greenbul Sombre Greenshank Common Guineafowl Helmeted | Heron Black-headed Heron Purple Ibis African Sacred Ibis Hadedah Kingfisher Malachite Kite Yellow-billed Lapwing Blacksmith Lapwing Crowned Lark Red-capped Lark Red-naped Longclaw Yellow-throated Marsh-Harrier African Martin Brown-throated Moorhen Common Mousebird, Speckled Myna Common Neddicky Night -Heron Black-crowned Ostrich Common Palm-Swift African Palm-Swift African Pipit African Plover Common Ringed Plover Kitlitz Plover Three-banded Pochard Southern Robin-Chat Cape Ruff | Rush-Warbler Little Sandpiper C urlew Sandpiper Wood Sparrow Cape Spurfowl Red-necked Starling Red-winged Stint Little Stonechat African Sunbird White-bellied Swallow Barn Swallow Lesser-striped Swamphen AfricanPurple Swamp-Warbler Lesser Swift African Black Teal Hottentot Teal Hottentot Teal Red-billed Wagtail Cape Waxbill Common Weaver Cape Weaver Thick-billed Weaver Village Weaver Village Weaver Yellow Whydah Pin-tailed Widowbird Fantailed Widowbird Red-collared Wood-Dove Emerald-spotted |
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