Marievale, Grootvaly and Suikerbosrand birding Jan 2010

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• List of birds

Friday the 22nd we drove to Nigel in Southern Gauteng via some very confusing roads in Springs. We arrived at Seldre Guesthouse around 6pm and Darrell and Liza joined us shortly after. We went to bed early as we wanted to be up and gone by 05:30. The next morning we got going as planned and started our birding by driving to Marievale Bird Sanctuary, only about 10 minutes away. Expecting a lot from Marievale's reputation for producing rarities, we were not disappointed when Nicola spotted a Little bittern as soon as we entered the wetland area. We notched up a few common water birds but the Otter hide was so covered in grasses that there was much better viewing from the road. African purple swamphen, Black crake, Black and Squacco herons soon followed before we started driving north into the reserve. The area was soaked from good rains in the season and we had to drive slow through the water. Towards and at the Flamingo hide we added Cape shoveler, Great crested grebe, Whiskered tern and Goliath heron. we continued north to the Duiker and Shelduck hides and drove through patches of deep water. Glossy ibises abound along with Yellowbilled duck and Redbilled teal but because of the high water levels, the only wader we added was Wood sandpiper. Back at the Otter hide we met up with Darrell and Liza who left a little later than us. We were sharing our sightings when Darrell spotted a long red beak poking out of the grasses. Excitedly we rushed about and then it came out in full view - African rail! A lifer for all of us! Nicola and I drove to the southern section of the park but only added Common ringed plover before deciding to drive to Grootvaly for lunch. At Grootvaly, we were eating lunch at a picnic table when we spotted a low flying brown bird in the distance. Careful observation and field guide consultation convinced us that it must be Western marsh harrier - quite a rare bird but apparently sighted now and again in the area. For the afternoon we drove to Suikerbosrand and ticked Mountain wheatear, Redcollared widowbird, Anteating chat, Bokmakierie, African redeyed bulbul, Greywinged francolin and Redthroated wryneck among the rest. Back in Nigel, an African olive pigeon provided our last tick for the day to come to a total of 106 for the day - not bad at all considering the poor weather and terrific afternoon showers we had. Over dinner we shared birding and hiking stories with the Newings before heading for bed.

Sleeping "late", we were gone by 06:30. The weather was dark and ominous but we decided to quickly pop into Marievale first. We added nothing new for the trip but were delighted to once again see a Little Bittern and the African rail, and this time managed to get some pictures, despite the distance. Onto Suikerbosrand again we saw more or less the same birds as the previous day and as the weather turned for the worse, we left just before noon to drive back home. Our total tally for the trip was 114 and although the Western marsh harrier was certainly the rarest of the ones we saw, the Little bittern and African rail were far better sightings.

Lindenau hiking trail Jan 2010

Our weekend plan was to do Lindenau hiking trail, about 30km west of Nelspruit on the N4. George, Brian, Shirley and Eddie were already at the Lodge when we arrived, and as we haven’t seen them for over 6 months, it was quite a reunion. We chatted away the evening but by 9pm we headed for bed.

It was drizzling and misty when we got up and after breakfast we dressed in rain gear for the day. We were led down a jeep track by the caretaker to where the path starts – straight up the mountain, no concerns for erosion. We climbed steadily, following white footprints painted on rocks and trees. The path curled around a spur of the hill we were on and eventually reached the top where we had a break. After staying flat for a short while, the path first descended, then climbed further onto a spur before descending yet again. By this time, we’ve walked beyond the cleared bits of the path and our shoes were soaked with rain and dew on the grass. I also discovered earlier that I managed to take two different hiking shoes out of the cupboard at home and now sat with an unmatched pair. The old shoe’s sole promptly came off around this point but when Brian found a piece of string on the ground, we were able to tie it up for a while. George, Brian, Nicola and I pulled away from the group and by 11am found ourselves in a little depression on a jeep track in a small patch of forest. The mist and clouds had started lifting and it was getting horrendously hot and humid. Neither Nicola nor I had any sun protection so I wanted to walk to get out of it. The two of us carried on and managed to catch up to the caretaker and two helpers who were busy clearing the path with pangas. At this point the path was completely undistinguishable from the veld and it was by sheer luck that you did see a footprint. The caretaker pointed us in the right direction and off we went.

George and Brian caught up with us at “Tjiekie’s Kaya Accommodation” – a run-down thatched hut that once probably served as a hiking hut. While still approaching this hut, we saw the road we should take to get back to the Lodge. However, at the hut, the surrounding area was so thickly overgrown that we had no idea where the road was or how to get there. However, the path we arrived on, had clearly marked footprints pointing us in the right direction and from the map we deduced that it had to cross the road anyway. So the four of us started on this path, climbing steeply down into the forest to a small waterfall and then steeply back out. We climbed out of the forest and reached a jeep track. Having a fair idea of where we were, I decided to stick to the track until we reached the Lodge, or at least close to it. It was now just past noon and ridiculously hot. After following the track for a while, I stopped under a clump of proteas to rest a bit. George and Brian caught up to Nicola and I and we contemplated going off the track and bundu bash down towards the Lodge. However, we were on a bit of escarpment edge and when George had a look at the bush beyond the track, there were cliffs of about 20m high barring our way. He did however discover trail markers close to the edge, running in the opposite direction. We figured that these were part of the second day’s trail and that they must lead back to the lodge.

Relieved, we got onto this trail and walked almost in the direction from where we came. It wasn’t long before the markers dropped through a break into the rocks down to the lower slopes. We were very glad that the path was going down but immediately got stopped in our tracks by the most vicious brambles and thorns covering the trail. It was as if the trail had never existed. Brian, who was in front, started clearing and bashing through the vegetation. The markers skirted just below the cliffs and now we were walking again in the same direction as we were on the jeep track. We were frustrated, tired and hot but at least there was more shade here. As Nicola and I haven’t had lunch yet, we stopped in a shady spot to eat tomatoes, cucumber and apple. George and Brian carried on but after we had lunch, it was barely 10 minutes before we caught up to them. The bush was now so thick and thorny that we were battling at a monstrously slow pace. The markers stubbornly stuck to the edge of the cliff, going up and down non-stop without showing signs of descending to the Lodge. We were scratched and burned to pieces, thorns, brambles and nettles covering the “path” so well that more often than not, we had two or three people out in front looking for markers.

It was now well past 2pm and we were dead tired. Finally, after what seemed ages, the markers definitely started going down. The fight through the undergrowth was no less fierce but now at least we had hope of reaching a road eventually. Each of us would take a turn out in front, battling thorns, searching for markers – this would usually last about 50m, then someone else would take over. All of a sudden we emerged out of the bush at the Old farm school which would have been our accommodation if half the tin roof hadn’t blown away. It was dilapidated, the ablutions in terrible state, no running water and the grass and bush encroaching so much that we couldn’t see the road 3 meters away until Nicola went looking for it and saw it only when she stood in it. Hugely relieved, we started walking the 1km or so back to the Lodge on the road. We reached the Lodge at 16:30 and were even more relieved to see Shirley, Eddie and Eileen there. We were very worried that they would make the same mistake we did. It turned out that Eileen had turned around on her own much earlier in the day and was back at the Lodge at noon.Shirley and Eddie reached Tjiekie’s place together with the caretaker and helpers who then guided them to the road from where it was an easy walk out. The caretaker then informed us that Day 2 was actually closed. Thanks for telling us that after the fact.
We spent the rest of the afternoon re-hydrating, had a nice braai and went to bed early. We rose around 7am, had breakfast, packed up and left for home about 08:30 as neither of us felt like walking again. Although the area is very nice and has lots of potential, there was absolutely no effort made by the owners to develop a proper trail, protect from erosion or maintain the paths and accommodation. I would not recommend this trail at all.

Borakalalo National Park birding Jan 2010

Links

• List of birds
• Record list of birds

We're back from a fantastic weekend at Borakalalo National Park! Not only did we break our record number of birds in a day, but we saw African finfoot! We arrived at the entrance gate on Friday shortly before our friends Darrell and Liza. We pitched our tents at Moretele river camp and went to bed early, ready to get up at 4am. While the others still slept, Nicola and I got up at 4am and left for the low water bridge below the Klipvoor dam wall. The weather was threatening and before we got halfway it started raining. This did not bode well for our plans for the day but with lightning and thunder in the distance we hoped it would soon pass. It was still very dark and raining when we reached the bridge so we parked the car a few 100m beyond and rested our eyes a little until the rain let up about half an hour later. As it started getting lighter and the birds started singing we added our first few birds for the day. Back at the birdge we scanned the river up and down and got Grey heron and Little egret before Nicola saw an unfamiliar shape on a log above the water, only about 4m away. One look at the bright orange feet and we knew - it was African finfoot! At first we could almost not believe it as it was sitting quite still on the log preening itself, seemingly unaware of our presence. We took a few blurry pictures (it was 05:30 and the light was still terrible) before it entered the water and swam upstream and disappeared in the shore reeds.

We drove up to Pitjane fishing camp and picked up Blackcrowned night heron, Whitebrowed scrub robin, Redbacked shrike and Black heron before returning to the low water bridge on our way to the western section of the park. And what a surprise! There was the same finfoot on the same log! This time we had much better light and took a few good pictures as it blissfully dried itself and preened 4m away from us! It was clearly a juvenile (black bill) and haven't yet read the book on how finfoots are supposed to behave. Satisfied that we had enough pictures, we finally left. There were still many clouds around but the heat rose as the day got on. On the Serolo loop and the two hides at the wetland we picked up Chestnutvented titbabbler, Dusky indigobird, Violetbacked starling, Jacobin and Levaillant's cuckoos as well as many other common ones. We drove past the low water bridge again on the way to the southern section and added Purple roller and Southern carmine bee-eaters. To our dismay, the sectino of road immediately next to the dam where we saw many birds the last time we were here, was closed, possibly due to high water levels. Even so, Redcrested korhaan, Crimsonbreasted shrike, Redbilled buffalo weaver and Longtailed paradise whydah were easy to add and when we did get to the dam shore, Yellowbilled stork, Purple heron and Whitewinged tern helped our list along. At Sefudi dam we added Yellow bishop and Pintailed whydah but our attention was caught when two moorhens on the far shore finally swam into good view and we realized the paler colour and obviously yellow bill meant they were Lesser moorhen! Another lifer for both of us! Unfortunately these were too far away to take pictures. We waited at the hide for a terrific afternoon thunder storm to pass before heading back to camp. With the storm passed, the birds got vocal again and Common and Violeteared waxbills, Sabota lark, Southern pied babbler, Lesser grey shrike, Redbilled oxpecker, Marico flycatcher, Shafttailed whydah and even Doublebanded sandgrouse got picked up.

Yet again we stopped off at the low water bridge on our way to camp. Darrell and Liza arrived shortly after us and we compared notes of the day's outing. Together we walked around the area a bit and added Speckled pigeon, Whitethroated swallow and Yellowbilled kite before heading back to camp for dinner. While preparing dinner, we counted our tally for the day and were ecstatic to find we had 122 on the list - we beat our previous record with a single bird! The next day we planned to leave around noon and didn't hope to break any records. Still, we managed to get six kingfishers (Giant, Pied, Woodland, Brownhooded, Pygmy and Halfcollared) and four woodpeckers (Cardinal, Goldentailed, Bennet's and Bearded) between the regulars. Follow the link above to see some photos of the finfoot.

Swaziland and Ndumo Game Reserve birding Jan 2010

 Links

• List of birds

Arriving back from Lesotho we had a day to relax and watch movies before we left first for Swaziland, then for Ndumo Game Reserve in northern Kwazulu Natal. At 04:30 on the Wednesday we were on our way and entered Swaziland shortly after 8am at the Sandlane border post. We had a poor section of road to negotiate before getting to better surfaces that led to Mlilwane Game Reserve. Although they don't host the Big 5, its one of the Royal game parks in Swaziland and we spent the rest of the day driving up mountainous roads and counting birds. We didn't add any lifers here but spent a relaxing night in a hut. On New Year's eve we exited through the Luvamisa border post, drove over the Pongola dam wall and a potholed 50km to get to Ndumo. It was literally hot as hell. After we checked in we drove around for a while, but with humidity at 100% and temperature averaging 40 degrees C, it wasn't long before we fled to our airconditioned hut for the afternoon.

The next morning we took a guided walk down to the Pongola river and got Yellowbellied greenbul, Redfronted tinkerbird, Woollynecked stork, Saddlebilled stork, Orangebreasted bush shrike, Yellowrumped tinkerbird, White-eared barbet and Yellowbilled stork among others. It was hot and sweaty and the forest floor came alive with clouds of mosquitoes. The rest of the mornig we drove around the park and added a few more before going on an afternoon/night drive at 4pm. At one of the pans we picked up a lot of waders including Common, Marsh and Wood sandpipers, Kittlitz's, Common ringed and Threebanded plovers. There were also Openbills, Blackwinged stilts, Greenshanks, Water thickknees and Yellowbilled storks. However, the sighting of the trip was undoubtedly a single Broadbilled roller, easily identifiable with the thick yellow bill. We drove until 9pm that night and although we saw Squaretailed and Fierynecked nightjars, none of them were calling and no owls presented themselves either.

On the 2nd of Jan we did another early morning walk at Shogwe and got another Broadbilled roller, Gorgeous bush shrike, Blackbellied starling, Rudd's apalis, Bluemantled crested flycatcher, Collared sunbird, Narina trogon, African green pigeon and quite a few others. After the walk we drove to the hide at Nyamithi pan, then walked across the flood plain to another hide on the opposite shore. We added Thickbilled weaver and a few other common birds but as I was trying to identify a flitting sunbird, a bittern flew right in front of my binoculars. Although I had a pretty good look at it, I barely had time to shout "Bittern!" before it disappeared. Roberts field guide identified it as Eurasian bittern, quite a rare bird in South Africa. Nicola was upset that she didn't see it, and I was sorry it didn't really sit still for us all to have a good look at it.

Next morning we were up and away early. We had a long drive home so didn't do any birding. Besides, it was cloudy and drizzly. It was an uneventful drive home and although our daily tallies didn't exceed 100 birds, we added 2 lifers.