Northern Cape birding Apr 2014

Links

• List of birds for the trip

It was never really a conscious New Year’s resolution but in early January, after I typed up our trip report of Zimbabwe and our annual species count for 2013 came to about 550 for southern Africa, I realized that I might actually be able to identify a thousand world birds in 2014. We have a big trip to Peru planned for August and although we will be spending a significant amount of time doing birding, we also plan to visit some of the other wonders of South America like Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, the Nazca lines and Galapagos Islands. Consequently our target bird list for the South America trip is actually not as big as it would’ve been if we were to spend four solid weeks birding on the most biologically diverse continent; our target is in fact a fairly modest 400 birds. This means that I actually have to significantly improve on last year’s tally for southern Africa (which was already our highest ever annual list) to get to 1000 species. Considering the amazing trips we did in 2013 (Flock at Sea followed by a week’s endemic birding in the Karoo, a trip to Dlinza, Eshowe and Ongoye, a Durban pelagic followed by a day in Cape Vidal, a few days in Mkuze, Bonamanzi and Nibela peninsula and our end-of-year trip to Zimbabwe’s highlands), it was always going to be a tough target to reach. But we had a fantastic start to 2014 with our Kruger Honorary Rangers Weekend with Niall Perrins at Punda Maria and then our Warbler Weekend with Etienne Marais. During a few of my work trips to Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth, I made a point of trying to get an hour's birding in before I had to go to work and this helped me to reach 402 for 2014 so far (Nicola is on 368). But now it’s becoming harder and the easiest way to add new species is to venture far from home. Nicola unfortunately could not do anything over the Easter weekend due to work commitments but when she graciously allowed me to go birding on my own, I grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Over the years we’ve had few opportunities to bird the more arid parts of South Africa so I decided to head for the Northern Cape. The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park was just a little too far for me for just the weekend so I settled on going to Witsand Nature Reserve and Augrabies National Park. Having done a bit of research, I figured there’s about 50-odd species in the area that would be new for my annual list but birding without Nicola’s much sharper eyes would lessen my chances of sightings so I figured that if I added another 20 species, it would be great.

I was already in Pretoria for work on Thursday and immediately after work, I set off on the long drive west. Luckily traffic was not nearly as heavy in my direction as it was on the N1, N3 and N4 routes out of Gauteng and apart from a nasty head-on collision that I passed, the N14 was relatively quiet. I didn’t make any accommodation bookings for the night – I thought I could save a little money by sleeping in the car next to the road somewhere remote in the Northern Cape. By 10pm I had gone past Kuruman and were heading for Kathu and shortly before 11pm, I reached the turn-off to Witsand Nature Reserve just after Olifantshoek. The N14 tar road was already quiet at this time of night, even on the Easter weekend, but the moment I turned onto this 120km stretch of dirt road running past Witsand, all went dead still. I didn’t see another vehicle or person until I checked into Witsand the next morning! I drove for about 30km on the dirt road, picking up Spotted thick-knee, Crowned lapwings and Bronze-winged coursers. A number of Bat-eared foxes also came to investigate the lights and a black-and-white blur that dashed past the headlights turned out to be a Striped polecat (first for me). Shortly before midnight I decided I was far enough from the tar road and as I was also becoming tired, I settled down for the night, making a quick bed in the back of the car. I thought I was going to toss and turn all night long but after rolling over a few times, I was out and the next thing I knew, it was getting light and already after 6am. I still had about 40km to drive to Witsand and after a quick breakfast I was off. Witsand only opened at 8am so I thought I had plenty of time to drive the 40km but the road proved to have really good birding so I went much slower than planned. Sociable weaver nests were plentiful and I searched all over for African pygmy falcon (without success). Dusky sunbird, African red-eyed bulbul and White-backed mousebird also made it onto my list of new species for the year and by the time I reached Witsand at 08:30 I had 20 birds for the day already. I first made my way to the world’s only sandgrouse hide (at least, so they proclaim) – a hide sunken about a metre deep so that you’re at eye-level with a small pond where sandgrouse like to come and drink. Unfortunately there was already another sizable birding group and they were quite noisy so I didn’t stay long. As I left though, four calling Burchell’s sandgrouse flew over and made an easy ID. At the lookout point over Witsand there were a number of Grey-backed cisticolas, a pair of Swallow-tailed bee-eaters and at least four Pririt batises calling. Dusky sunbirds also moved about but none of these little birds (except for the bee-eaters) sat still long enough for decent photos. I moved on to Brulsand where a short walk netted Mountain wheatear and White-throated canary. Approaching noon, things were heating up nicely and with a long drive still to get to Upington I left Witsand after a few snacks for lunch. I headed south for the N8 and birded the dirt road slowly, looking especially for African pygmy falcon close to the numerous Sociable weaver nests. Alas, the only two birds I added on this stretch was a Karoo scrub-robin and a randy male Ostrich. The drive to Upington was uneventful – it looks like the desert had some rain earlier in the season and again recently as well since there was a lot of grass on the desert plains that are usually just sand and stone – I think this contributed to a lack of sightings of coursers and sandgrouse close to the road. In Upington I checked into very pleasant accommodation and managed to buy a few necessities before the shops closed. Before settling down for the night I managed to photograph Orange river white-eyes in the garden of my accommodation.

I was up and away shortly after 5am. A brown hyena ran across the road barely 5km out of Upington, making it the second mammal lifer for me on the trip. The road towards Augrabies was deathly quiet but I did find an open fuel station in Kakamas to fill up before turning north-west. Arriving at a closed Augrabies gate just before 7am, the light was perfect for a few pictures of the photogenic quiver trees at the gate. After entering the park I stopped the car on a little rise and listened: both Cape spurfowl and Karoo long-billed lark were calling and were the first new birds on my list. Towards Reception I added Acacia pied barbet, Dusky sunbird, Common fiscal, Orange river white-eye and got nice pictures of both male and female Black-chested prinia. Leaving the car at Reception, I first made my way down to the falls while it was still early and in the reedbed along the way, heard African reed warbler calling. At the falls itself I slowly picked through all the aerial feeders and easily identified Alpine and Bradfield’s swifts and the obligatory Pale-winged starlings. Closer to me, Rock martins were darting around the walkways but other than this, I couldn’t find any other hirundines (was kind of hoping for overwintering Sand martins and Pearl-breasted swallows). Back at Reception I checked in, then went to pitch my tent on a decent campsite to reserve my spot. Immediately after, I left again for the game drive towards Moon Rock, Ararat, Orange basin and Echo corner. I skipped out on Moon rock and Ararat and only drove to the Orange basin and Echo corner. The thick-billed forms of Sabota lark were everywhere and in-between I also picked up Familiar chat, Little bee-eater, Verreaux’s eagle, White-rumped swift and an over-flying Red-necked falcon. Being pestered by gnats and flies, I decided to start making my way back to the camp at around 2pm. On the way out from Echo corner, a Gray-backed sparrowlark sat still long enough for a quick picture, a Rock kestrel darted over the car and Namaqua warblers were calling in the thick reed beds close to camp. Arriving back at about 3pm, I was surprised to find that a group of three vehicles had seized my campsite, put up three large tents and were busy with a gazebo. After exchanging a few un-repeatable words, I drove around the camp but only found a dry unappealing campsite left. I decided I would spend the night in the car as it was so easy to do at Witsand and also saved me the trouble of taking the tent down the next morning. Having planned to drive to Potchefstroom area the next day and spending the night in the car next to the road as well, I was starting to think this was a bad idea since the area around Potchefstroom is far more populated and it may not be so safe to sleep next to the road. So I thought I’d quickly try to make a last minute booking for Klerksdorp or Potchefstroom. I struggled getting reception for my 3G in the campsite so I drove the 3km out to the rise just before the park's gate from where I could see a cell phone tower and managed to get a poor connection there. Having fired off a few quote requests, I sat and listened to the late afternoon calls on the grassy plains – nothing new unfortunately. Luck was on my side – barely half an hour after sending out the quote requests I got a positive response from a B&B in Klerksdorp and quickly made the booking – accommodation sorted! I drove back to the campsite and started a fire for my braai. After dinner I took a walk down to the falls again to watch the illuminated water tumble down the gorge (the falls are lit up between 6 and 8pm every night). Back at the camp I tried to make myself comfortable in the back of the car but it was fairly warm still and I couldn’t even try sleeping with the doors closed. The open doors though were a friendly invitation for the mosquitoes that took over duties from the gnats and flies and bit me from head to toe until it cooled down enough to close the car doors.

At 05:30 my alarm woke me. I had a quick bite to eat and then drove towards Ararat on the game drive. The gnats were out in force and stopping anywhere to look at a bird was sure to get your ears, nose and mouth covered in them. However, the early morning light was really beautiful and lit everything up in a deep ochre red – I stopped several times to take some landscape shots. Approaching Ararat viewpoint I got my first new bird for the day – Lark-like buntings, and I even managed a few pics. All the other usual suspects made it onto the list but by 09:00 I was so fed-up with the gnats that I decided to call it a day. On the way out of the park I added a Greater kestrel but when I exited the park, it was time to drive with over 700kms to go to Klerksdorp. Just outside Kakamas I spotted a lone little bird, barely larger than a shrike, sitting on telephone wire. Almost instantly knowing what it is, I pulled off and got the camera on it before it flew off – it was an African pygmy falcon! It was interesting that there was not a single Sociable weaver nest in sight but I wasn’t complaining – I just added a lifer! The next 7 hours or so went by in a bit of a blur as the tarmac heated up and I glided east on the heat waves. At Vryburg I stopped for petrol and then took the R34 to Schweizer-Reneke and the R504 to Wolmaransstad. Unfortunately a rather large section of the R504 was under construction and I had to slow down for about 30kms of dirt road followed by another 20kms of really badly potholed tar. In fading light I reached the N12 in Wolmaransstad and then it was a fairly smooth 80kms to Klerksdorp where I arrived at my hastily booked accommodation just after 6pm. Dinner was bought from Spar and after eating and showering it was off to bed.

Expecting to do some roadside birding before reaching Faan Meintjies Nature Reserve on the way out of Klerksdorp, I was up at 04:30. I left around 05:30 and slowly drove out of town and started adding birds the moment the first grasslands appeared on the side of the road. Rufous-naped larks and White-browed sparrow-weavers were calling all over. Cape longclaws, Ant-eating chats and Cinnamon-breasted buntings were conspicuous and a bunch of canaries in distant trees kept me busy for a good ten minutes to try and get pictures for identification. With some slight yellow tinges on the edges of the primaries just visible, I settled on Black-throated canaries. Shortly after 7am I was at the entrance to Faan Meintjies but there was no-one in sight. I phoned the number on the board and was told they only open at 8am (despite three websites I visited saying they open at 7am) but that the gate is unlocked and I can go in and pay when I exit. So I entered the reserve and immediately headed for the game drive, hoping for Orange river francolin and maybe SA shelduck at one of the small dams. Back on the highveld now, it was quite chilly and some fairly dense cirrus clouds obscuring the early sun didn’t help to improve the chill. Bird-wise the reserve was fairly quiet but I did see Ashy tit, Cardinal woodpecker, Kalahari scrub-robin, White-backed mousebird, Scaly-feathered finch, Sabota lark and a few others. More interesting was a white rhino in the company of some blesbok and a lone gemsbok. I flushed a few Northern black korhaans and a Bokmakierie also showed beautifully, but no Orange river francolins. Deciding to try my luck on the Eleazer road I exited the reserve around 9am and headed east towards Potchefstroom. Just before the tar road ended, a small bridge provided nesting sites for White-rumped swifts and a few Banded martins were also around – no Pearl-breasted swallows though. The rest of the Eleazer road was unspectacular apart from a large pan to the north which had lots of waterfowl on it. Unfortunately it was so far away that the only thing I could positively ID was Greater flamingo. It was now just after 10am and time to head home, hoping to beat the returning Easter traffic. The timing was good and roads peaceful; I arrived back home at 2pm without incident.

Despite all the long-distance driving and the insects at Augrabies, it was a really nice trip and it’s made me remember how nice autumn birding (and driving) can be in the Northern Cape. I added a total of 28 new birds for the year:

• Black-throated canary
• Lark-like bunting
• Spike-heeled lark
• African pygmy falcon
• Greater kestrel
• Bradfield's swift
• Namaqua warbler
• Grey-backed sparrowlark
• Alpine swift
• Red-necked falcon
• Pale-winged starling
• Rock kestrel
• Karoo long-billed lark
• Cape spurfowl
• White-throated canary
• Dusky sunbird
• Fawn-coloured lark
• Swallow-tailed bee-eater
• White-backed mousebird
• Fiscal flycatcher
• Pririt batis
• Sociable weaver
• Acacia pied barbet
• Karoo scrub-robin
• African red-eyed bulbul
• Yellow canary
• Orange river white-eye
• Grey-backed cisticol