Attendees: Val & Stan Culley, Doug & Angie Butcher, Sandy Olver, Margaret Jones,, Bob & Hazel van Rooyen
Bird count: 145(see end)
(Text: Hazel van Rooyen)
Mkhuze Game Reserve forms part of the iSiMangaliso Wetland Park, north of St Lucia Lake. Subsequent to the good rains this summer it has rejuvenated itself and although winter has now arrived the bush is still green and the birdlife varied.
22 May was a bit later in the year than we usually go away owing to some people being overseas so we weren’t expecting to see the summer migrants. However we were very content with our bird count of 145, some of which were Lifers for a few people, some unusual, and still others entertaining, like the Bearded Scrub-Robin that had its daily route around our safari tent.
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| Bearded Robin (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
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| Thick-tailed Bushbabies (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
The first stop was at Muzi Pan where patches of farmland were still standing under water. White-faced Whistling Duck, Yellow-billed Ducks, Hottentot Teal graced the water, amongst others, while Pied and Malachite Kingfishers hunted from the sidelines. Wire-tailed Swallows and Whiskered Terns performed figures of eights over the pan while a Brown Snake Eagle sat watchfully in the top of a tree. A flock of about 20 Great White Pelicans glided overhead on thermals - who would have thought such cumbersome-looking birds could show such grace.
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| Great White Pelicans (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
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| Great White Pelicans (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
On arrival at Mantuma Camp, Val & Stan & Bobby and myself were delighted with our safari tent, which had en suite bedrooms and a full (if old) kitchen – luxury in the bushveld!
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| Safari tent (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
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| Camaraderie in the bush (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
The next morning, bright-eyed and bushy tailed – oh no, that was the bushbabies. Anyway – earlyish, we took the road to Nsumo Pan, including a slow visit to the airstrip which usually produces some interesting species. As usual the Crowned Lapwing and African Pipits were guarding their territories and also as usual we wondered how they managed to rear their young on an airstrip? Fiscal Flycatchers and Widowbirds in winter plumage were much in evidence and a Scimitarbill perched on a tree-top. Others included Rudd’s Apalis, Yellow-bellied Greenbull, Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove and Black-backed Puffback. Exiting the airstrip a commotion in a nearby bush proved to be an Orange-breasted Bush Shrike. Other species seen on the way were Rattling Cisticola, Brown-crowned Tchagra, Crested Guineafowl and Val and Bobby were lucky enough to see a Harlequin Quail scurrying across the road.
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| African Pipit (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
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| Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
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| Crested Guineafowl (photo: Stan Culley) |
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| Sabota Lark (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
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| Green-backed Heron (photo: Stan Culley) |
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| Half-collared Kingfisher (photo: Stan Culley) |
The first thing we saw at Nsumo Pan was a pair of Pygmy Geese. Moving around to the picnic site, Black-headed, Grey and Green-backed Heron, African Jacana, Malachite and Half-collared Kingfishers were spotted, then Stan espied a Lesser Jacana through his scope on the far far side. We were all excited to view this find through the scope, although we had all seen it before. Might this disprove the rumour that Lesser and African Jacanas do not share the same territory?
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| Grey Heron (photo Dough Butcher) |
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| Lilac-breasted Roller (photo: Stan Culley) |
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| Lilac-breasted Roller (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
A bird we all love to see is the Lilac-breasted Roller and it perched happily for us to take photographs, and suddenly flew off in a display of turquoise and blue. A few of the other species seen in and around the pan were Woolly-necked Stork, Yellow-breasted Apalis, Yellow-billed Stork, Little Swift, Comb Duck, Water Thick-knee, African Osprey, Goliath Heron and finally an African Fish Eagle. More birds seen on the way back were Little Bee-eater, Striped Kingfisher, Yellow-billed Hornbill, African Hoopoe, and Scarlet-chested Sunbird.
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| Yellow-breasted Apalis (photo: Stan Culley) |
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| Grey-headed Bush-Shrike (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
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| Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill (photo Doug Butcher) |
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| Chinspot Batis (photo Doug Butcher) |
In fact the whole 4 days we saw only one elephant, one giraffe (although Team Angie saw more on their game drive the following morning), no rhino, a few hippos and of course the usual buck.
On the matter of Lions, one can no longer do the old walks. A guide is available to take visitors on the Fig Walk where there is a possibility of seeing the Pel’s Fishing Owl but he was unfortunately on leave so we missed out there. Seen at the water-hole were Yellow-fronted Canary, Yellow-breasted Apalis, juvenile Green-backed Heron, White-breasted Scrub Robin, Southern Black Flycatcher, Crested Barbet, Golden-breasted Bunting and Pale Flycatcher.
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| Joyous jumping (photo Doug Butcher) |
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| Locking horns (photo Doug Butcher) |
On the matter of Lions, one can no longer do the old walks. A guide is available to take visitors on the Fig Walk where there is a possibility of seeing the Pel’s Fishing Owl but he was unfortunately on leave so we missed out there. Seen at the water-hole were Yellow-fronted Canary, Yellow-breasted Apalis, juvenile Green-backed Heron, White-breasted Scrub Robin, Southern Black Flycatcher, Crested Barbet, Golden-breasted Bunting and Pale Flycatcher.
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| Pale Flycatcher (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
After breakfast, we took a drive to kuMahlahla Hide (otherwise known to our group as the Pink Twinspot hide). No twinspots put in an appearance but we did get an Eastern Nicator. Other birds seen were Black-collared Barbet, Acacia Pied Barbet, Long-billed Crombec, Bearded and Golden-tailed Woodpecker, African Rail, Black Crake (2 juveniles), Red-billed Oxpecker, Red-faced Mousebirds, White-eared Barbet and a Crowned Eagle flying overhead.
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| Immature Black Crake (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
Our drive on Thursday round and about yielded, besides a lot of what we had already seen, Sabota Lark, Croaking Cisticola, Cardinal Woodpecker, Black Saw-wing and several White-backed Vultures circling. Team Angie produced a White-crested Helmet-Shrike, Yellow-bellied Eremomela and Crowned Eagle. Subsequently we took a southerly direction and produced a Bataleur Eagle, Southern Boubou and Rufous-naped Lark.
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| Crowned Eagle (photo Doug Butcher) |
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| Sabota Lark (photo: Stan Culley) |
On our last morning a Scops Owl was heard before daybreak by Val. Then an early walk around the camp got us a juvenile Black Cuckoo-Shrike, juvenile Black-headed Oriole and a Scarlet-chested Sunbird. On exiting the reserve Stan saw a Marico Sunbird and a brief stop at Muzi Pan on the way back yielded a Little Egret, Burchell’s Coucal and Caspian Tern. I can't close without mentioning the Gorgeous Bush Shrike which we heard calling so many times but never caught a glimpse of.
Thanks everyone. It was a delightful week with good company and wonderful birding!
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| Expert Stan explains the difference (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
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| Just relaxing (photo: Hazel van Rooyen) |
Specie count including Muzi Pan: 145
Apalis Bar-throated Apalis Rudd’s Apalis Yellow-breasted Barbet Acacia-pied Barbet Black-collared Barbet Crested Barbet White-eared Bateleur Batis Chinspot Bee-eater Little Bishop Southern Red Boubou Southern Brubru Bulbul Dark-capped Bunting Golden-breasted Bush Shrike Gorgeous Bush Shrike Grey-headed Bush Shrike Orange-breasted Cameroptera Green-backed Canary Yellow-fronted Chat Familiar Cisticola Croaking Cisticola Rattling Cisticola Zitting Common Fiscal Coot Red-knobbed Cormorant Reed Cormorant White-breasted Coucal Burchell’s Crake Black Crombec Long-billed Crow Pied Cuckooshrike Black Darter African Dove Cape Turtle Dove Emerald-spotted Wood Dove Red-eyed Drongo Fork-tailed Drongo Square-tailed Duck Comb Duck White-faced Whistling Duck Yellow-billed Eagle African Crowned Eagle African Fish Eagle Brown Snake Egret Cattle Egret Great Egret Little (Muzi Pan) Eremomela Yellow-bellied Firefinch Red-billed | Flycatcher Fiscal Flycatcher Pale Flycatcher Southern Black Francolin Crested Go-away-bird Grey Goose African Pygmy Goose Egyptian Goose Spurwing Grebe Little Greenbul Sombre Greenbul Yellow-bellied Guineafowl Crested Hamerkop Helmet-Shrike White-crested Heron Black-headed Heron Goliath Heron Green-backed Heron Grey Hooper African Hornbill Crowned Hornbill Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill Trumpeter Ibis Hadedah Jacana African Jacana Lesser Kingfisher Brown-hooded Kingfisher Half-collared Kingfisher Malachite Kingfisher Pied Kingfisher Striped Lapwing Blacksmith Lapwing Crowned Lark Rufous-naped Lark Sabota Longclaw Yellow-throated Moorhen Common Mousebird Red-faced Mousebird Speckled Nicator Eastern Nightjar Fiery-necked Oriole Black-headed Osprey Owl African Scops Oxpecker Red-billed Pelican Great White Petronia Yellow-throated Pipit African Plover Kitlitz Plover Three-banded | Prinia Tawny-flanked Puffback Black-backed Quail Harlequin Quelea Red-billed Rail African Robin Bearded Scrub Robin White-browed Scrub Robin-Chat Red-capped Roller Lilac-breasted Saw-wing Black Scimitarbill Common Sparrow Southern Grey-headed Spoonbill African Spurfowl Natal Starling Black-bellied Starling Cape Glossy Starling Red-winged Stork Woolly-necked Stork Yellow-billed Sunbird Marico Sunbird Scarlet-breasted Sunbird White-bellied Swallow Wire-tailed Swift Little Tchagra Black-crowned Tchagra Brown-crowned Teal Hottentot Tern Whiskered Tern Caspian (Muzi pan) Thick-knee Water Tinkerbird Red-fronted Tinkerbird Yellow-rumped Tit Southern Black Turaco Purple-crested Vulture White-backed Wagtail African Pied Wagtail Cape Waxbill Blue Waxbill Common Waxbill Grey Weaver Lesser Masked Weaver Southern Masked Weaver Village Weaver Yellow Widowbird White-collared Wood-Hoopoe Green Woodpecker Bearded Woodpecker Cardinal Woodpecker Golden-tailed |
(All photos property of photographer)
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