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After dropping the cats at Nicola's parents on Friday afternoon, we drove without incident to Nylsvley, arriving at Dinonyane Lodge in the early evening. At reception we saw our first African green pigeons for the year and also added Groundscraper thrush, Fork-tailed drongo and Swainson's spurfowl before checking in. After leftovers for dinner we hit the bed early in anticipation of an early rise.
At 5am we were up and left for the gate at Nylsvley just before 6am. Unfortunately we learned at the gate that in winter they only open at 06:30 so we drove around for a while, taking pictures of the dawn breaking over the bushveld. At 06:30 we entered. Initially pickings were slim and after half an hour's drive to the first hide we only recorded a handful of common birds like Crested francolin, Rufous-naped lark and Crested barbet. At the hide a single African jacana footed around the lilies and further on Speckled mousebird, Common ostrich and White-browed scrub-robin were seen. After driving the full perimeter of the reserve, we exited to visit Vogelfontein's hides on the north eastern boundary. This proved much more interesting and a couple of African snipes called loudly before our presence flushed them. Purple, Grey and Squacco herons there were plenty of, African purple swamphen, Crimson-breasted and Southern white-crowned shrikes, Pearl-breasted swallows and Great egrets adding to our list. Despite the small foot operation Nicola had on Friday, she managed to hobble to the closest hides that had excellent views over the floodplain. Leaving Vogelfontein we drove around the southern end of the reserve and entered again to have lunch at the picnic site. After lunch we slowly drove all the other roads in the reserve adding a few more birds like Magpie shrike, Blue waxbill and Green-winged pytilia. Exiting the reserve at around 14:30 we quickly stopped at Vogelfontein again before heading back to the lodge. A quick afternoon snooze followed before we started our braai fire and then watched some of the bird antics at the lodge - African green pigeons coming in to roost, five Black-collared barbets fighting over a branch, a row of Cut-throat finches on a tree just outside our room, and a lone Cardinal woodpecker searching for dinner. Our own dinner was ready just after 6pm and we watched an SABC movie with a cup of tea before going to bed.
Sunday we rose early again but decided this time to spend the morning at Vogelfontein. This paid off handsomely with Crimson-breasted and Southern white-crowned shrikes, Violet-eared waxbill, Malachite kingfisher, African snipe, Knob-billed and Yellow-billed ducks, Red-billed and Hottentot teals, Purple, Grey and Squacco herons, African rail, Brubru, Purple roller, Marsh owl, Marico flycatcher, Black crake, African jacana, African purple swamphen, Hamerkop and Glossy ibis all being recorded among a few other common birds before we left. Another drive around the southern perimeter yielded nothing new and after another quick stop at Vogelfontein we started to make our way back to Pretoria. A late afternoon drive along the Zaagkuildrift road added African wattled lapwing, Village weaver, Village indigobird, Pied crow, Buffy pipit and Capped wheatear.
A rewarding weekend out with 113 species recorded for the weekend. It was surprising though how many birds we recorded outside the reserve as opposed to inside. But we were sure that walking around the inundated floodplain in summer would change things considerably - we plan to be back soon!
After dropping the cats at Nicola's parents on Friday afternoon, we drove without incident to Nylsvley, arriving at Dinonyane Lodge in the early evening. At reception we saw our first African green pigeons for the year and also added Groundscraper thrush, Fork-tailed drongo and Swainson's spurfowl before checking in. After leftovers for dinner we hit the bed early in anticipation of an early rise.
At 5am we were up and left for the gate at Nylsvley just before 6am. Unfortunately we learned at the gate that in winter they only open at 06:30 so we drove around for a while, taking pictures of the dawn breaking over the bushveld. At 06:30 we entered. Initially pickings were slim and after half an hour's drive to the first hide we only recorded a handful of common birds like Crested francolin, Rufous-naped lark and Crested barbet. At the hide a single African jacana footed around the lilies and further on Speckled mousebird, Common ostrich and White-browed scrub-robin were seen. After driving the full perimeter of the reserve, we exited to visit Vogelfontein's hides on the north eastern boundary. This proved much more interesting and a couple of African snipes called loudly before our presence flushed them. Purple, Grey and Squacco herons there were plenty of, African purple swamphen, Crimson-breasted and Southern white-crowned shrikes, Pearl-breasted swallows and Great egrets adding to our list. Despite the small foot operation Nicola had on Friday, she managed to hobble to the closest hides that had excellent views over the floodplain. Leaving Vogelfontein we drove around the southern end of the reserve and entered again to have lunch at the picnic site. After lunch we slowly drove all the other roads in the reserve adding a few more birds like Magpie shrike, Blue waxbill and Green-winged pytilia. Exiting the reserve at around 14:30 we quickly stopped at Vogelfontein again before heading back to the lodge. A quick afternoon snooze followed before we started our braai fire and then watched some of the bird antics at the lodge - African green pigeons coming in to roost, five Black-collared barbets fighting over a branch, a row of Cut-throat finches on a tree just outside our room, and a lone Cardinal woodpecker searching for dinner. Our own dinner was ready just after 6pm and we watched an SABC movie with a cup of tea before going to bed.
Sunday we rose early again but decided this time to spend the morning at Vogelfontein. This paid off handsomely with Crimson-breasted and Southern white-crowned shrikes, Violet-eared waxbill, Malachite kingfisher, African snipe, Knob-billed and Yellow-billed ducks, Red-billed and Hottentot teals, Purple, Grey and Squacco herons, African rail, Brubru, Purple roller, Marsh owl, Marico flycatcher, Black crake, African jacana, African purple swamphen, Hamerkop and Glossy ibis all being recorded among a few other common birds before we left. Another drive around the southern perimeter yielded nothing new and after another quick stop at Vogelfontein we started to make our way back to Pretoria. A late afternoon drive along the Zaagkuildrift road added African wattled lapwing, Village weaver, Village indigobird, Pied crow, Buffy pipit and Capped wheatear.
A rewarding weekend out with 113 species recorded for the weekend. It was surprising though how many birds we recorded outside the reserve as opposed to inside. But we were sure that walking around the inundated floodplain in summer would change things considerably - we plan to be back soon!
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