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Having set our personal record of 126 bird species ID'd in a day in November 2010, we decided to make an attempt at breaking this record by visiting three excellent birding spots on three consecutive weekends in October. With Polokwane Nature Reserve booked for our second weekend and Mkhuze Game Reserve for the third, we started our trips with a visit to Borakalalo National Park.
On Friday afternoon we drove to Borakalalo via Pretoria and arrived shortly before dusk. A few of the regular birds were around and we notched up about 15 species on our way to the Moretele river camp where we had a safari tent booked. As we got settled we heard both African scops and Southern white-faced scops owls. After dinner we went to bed early, expecting to rise well before dawn.
At 05:00 we were having rolls and coffee, listening to Crested francolin, Fiery-necked nightjar, Pearl-spotted owlet, Red-chested cuckoo and a few others as well. We left camp and drove slowly towards the low-water bridge below the dam wall where we saw the African finfoot last time. Strangely though, this time there were almost no birds. Upstream of the bridge had flocks of White-breasted and Reed cormorants, African darters and Squacco herons the last time we were here, but now, nothing. We drove past the fishing area at the picnic site and was disappointed to discover that the thick reeds that used to line the shore have all been cleared away. All the habitat where African purple swamphen, Little rush and Lesser swamp warblers as well as a host of herons used to be found, was all gone. With only about 30 birds or so on our list, and the sun rising over the dam, we turned back west towards the Moretele river. Heading towards the western boundary we saw Violet-backed starling, Golden-breasted bunting and the usual hornbills, drongos, flycatchers and waxbills while Rattling cisticolas, Bar-throated apalis and Tawny-flanked prinia were calling loudly. The two hides on this side were also a bit disappointing with very low water levels and just a few Sacred ibis. As we reached the western limit and turned around, both of us got a tremendous fright when we drove right past a massive black mamba. We only saw it as it reared/jumped (probably in fright as well), higher than the car, literally about a foot away from Nicola's open window. Chances of it striking Nicola were probably slim, but the sheer speed with which it jumped and its physical size made us think twice for the rest of the weekend about climbing out the car to investigate bird calls. In this area we also added sightings of Grey tit-flycatcher, Chestnut-vented tit-babbler, Gabar goshawk, Steppe eagle and Southern pied babbler. We planned to have lunch at Sefudi dam in the game section south of Klipvoor dam. Unfortunately when we arrived there, a whole bunch of people were fiddling around there 4x4s and one of them told us they have just finished re-painting the hide at the dam. But worse was to come when we discovered that Sefudi dam had also been cleared of all the reeds. A single Grey go-awaybird hopped down to the water edge and almost disgustedly flew off a few seconds later. We left for the picnic site at Klipvoor dam to have lunch. With the sightings of new species drying up significantly, we decided to head back to camp and have a rest. Just after 4pm we drove out towards Klipvoor dam again and added a calling Lesser swamp warbler and Red-billed oxpecker as our last birds for the day, bringing our day's total to 103.
Sunday morning we packed up quickly and left the tent before dawn. We were still too early for the Moretele area so decided to bird the area around Klipvoor slowly. At the picnic site we were happy to find two Violet-eared waxbills. Among the regulars we got nice sightings of Crimson-breasted shrike, Kalahari scrub-robin and Amethyst sunbird. With all the reeds around Klipvoor dam gone, our wader tally increased rapidly with all the common sandpiper species as well as Three-banded plover, Blacksmith lapwing, Common greenshank, Black-winged stilt and Ruff seen. In the acacia veld we saw a few Marico flycatchers and no fewer than 3 individual Red-crested korhaan, with one of them doing it's distinctive flight/fall 5m in front of the car. Around 11am it was time to start heading home but first we had a quick brunch at the picnic site where we scared a barn owl from its day roost inside a dead tree-trunk.
We dipped on quite a few birds, but still had an enjoyable weekend with our list of birds seen at Borakalalo now standing at 184. Let's see how next weekend at Polokwane Game Reserve goes.
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