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It’s been a while since we visited Wakkerstroom and with many possible new annual birds, including the possibility of a lifer (Rudd’s lark), we planned and booked our trip here a number of months ago. Knowing how difficult it could be to locate the area's specialty larks, we employed a local guide for most of the weekend: Lucky Ngwenya.
Friday afternoon we arrived at dusk and made a quick circuit of the wetlands in town, getting some excellent views of several African snipe and African rail. The weekend’s accommodation was at Chetnole cottages on the outskirts – a really fine place with self-catering facilities, comfortable beds and a cozy lounge. Saturday morning we met Lucky at the Wakkerstroom Post Office and headed north east out of town. Before heading into the hills we made a quick stop at the pans and picked up about twenty odd birds including Little bittern and Grey crowned crane. On a dirt road outside Wakkerstroom we stopped in a large patch of Ouhout. We picked up a bunch of birds here including Cape canary, Cape weaver, Drakensberg prinia, Bokmakierie, Black-headed oriole, Lazy and Wing-snapping cisticolas and Dark-capped yellow warbler. Lucky could hear Barratt’s warbler calling as well but it was far away and we were just not able to distinguish it between all the other bird calls. A few kilometers further we stopped near a wooded gully and we barely got out of the car when Lucky spotted a Bush blackcap. The guy’s got brilliant eyesight and it took a while for the two of us to latch onto the bird. A calling Red-throated wryneck distracted us and when we heard another noise close-by we looked up to find the Bush blackcap perched in the open about five metres from us. At this point we were high up on a hill with a vast valley spreading below us. At this higher altitude we also saw Greater kestrel, Banded martin, Steppe buzzard, Secretarybird and Buffy pipit, but as we headed lower down, we got a different suite of birds: Red-chested, Diderick, Klaas’s and Black cuckoos, Barrow’s korhaan, Denham’s bustard, Long-billed pipit and Cape crow. We stopped next to a field with grass grazed very short by cattle, followed Lucky through a fence and then fanned out, looking for African quailfinch. It wasn’t long before we flushed a few but despite them dropping back into the grass less than ten metres in front of us, we just couldn’t see them. It took some careful scanning and even more careful tip-toeing before we finally managed to sneak good views before the whole flock disappeared to another corner of the field. Reaching Dirkiesdorp still in the morning, we headed back to Wakkerstroom with a quick stop at a few rocky outcrops where we ticked Mocking cliff-chat, Cape rock-thrush and African black duck (at a small stream). Back in Wakkerstroom we turned north west into the lark loop roads and we got good views of Eastern long-billed, Spike-heeled and Red-capped larks, Blue korhaan and Mountain wheatear. By mid-afternoon we were back in town and with over a hundred species already seen, we gave Lucky a break and dropped him off close to his home. Nicola and I continued birding and drove back up the dirt road we started on this morning, mainly to finish off some of the pentads we started atlassing. Heavy clouds and a cold wind had started moving over the mountains and we only added Malachite sunbird, Cape bunting and Red-winged francolin before driving back. Our evening was very pleasant inside our cottage while wind and cloud streaked across the hills and delivered a little bit of much-needed rain.
Sunday morning we picked Lucky up from his home but heavy fog and drizzle made birding very hard. We turned around on a dirt road high in the mountains that was so socked-in that you couldn’t see ten metres. Instead Lucky directed us on a long drive to Daggakraal township where we stopped at various points looking mainly for Botha’s lark. With the first two spots producing nothing, we tried for a last chance in a cattle-grazed field on the outskirts of the township. Leaving the car, we fanned out again and walked for about ten minutes before Lucky spotted a few larks in the grass. Walking a bit closer, we flushed them and were then able to get closer for good looks before they flew off – Botha’s lark ticked! The heavy cloud had started to lift and we raced back in the direction of Wakkerstroom and made a quick stop at Fickland pan where we finally saw our most-wanted bird for the weekend – Rudd’s lark. Lucky even showed us a nest briefly – it really was just a few grass tussocks twisted together and without knowledge of exactly where it is, we would obliviously walk right over it. Mongooses are a serious threat to the lark’s eggs and Lucky told us they were watching where we walked. So in order not to draw attention to the nest for the mongooses, we only took the briefest of glances at the nest and then walked a few more circles, pretending to be interested in something somewhere else. At Fickland pan itself there were Spur-winged geese, Great crested grebe, Maccoa duck, Southern pochard, Grey-crowned crane and Levaillant’s cisticola. We headed back up the mountain where we were fogged in this morning; now it was clear and sunny but a very strong wind made conditions unfavourable. Even so, Lucky quickly found us a Yellow-breasted pipit before we drove some beautifully scenic tracks down into Kwazulu Natal. The wind was becoming rather uncomfortable and by noon we were back in Wakkerstroom. Thanking Lucky for a wonderfully successful weekend, we stopped off at Chetnole cottage to gather all our stuff and then slowly birded out towards Amersfoort and then headed for home.
With 148 species seen (and 1 heard only) for the weekend, it was by far our best effort in Wakkerstroom, almost entirely thanks to Lucky who really is a fantastic guide and highly recommended.
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