Borakalalo birding, Apr 2014

Links

• List of birds

Early on Saturday morning we left home, first dropping the cats off at Nicola’s parents, then heading north to the start of the Zaagkuildrift road. We got there around 7am and despite the April chill, the birds were out and calling. African fish eagle was one of the first birds on the list – interesting since we were barely two kilometres from the N1 highway, but since we knew the proximity of a fair sized dam, it had to come from there. As we drove west, we ticked the usual thornveld birds and by late morning had reached the Kgomo-Kgomo flood plain. It was amazing to see the difference just six weeks had made – all the water was gone and the river under the Kgomo-Kgomo bridge was a small little stream. Grasses were lush everywhere and only the bigger birds like egrets and herons were visible. Adding only a few more birds here, we carried on towards Borakalalo, entering the reserve sometime after noon. We stopped at Klipvoor dam’s picnic site for lunch but were very disappointed at the neglect of the facilities and lawn. Feeling fairly tired after the early morning, we made a quick turn at the bridge below the dam wall and at the quarry on the way to Moretele camp site, but then headed towards our safari tent at Phudufudu bush camp. A calling Lazy cisticola on the way to the camp became our first new annual bird for the trip and later that afternoon, a calling Greater honeyguide became the second. Phudufudu camp was OK, but considering what we paid for it, not worth the extra money compared to Moretele’s safari tents. At Phudufudu there’s a small kitchen with a useless stove that gets crowded very quickly during meal times. The bathrooms have only two toilets and two showers for the gents and ladies and the tents are just a tad too close to each other in our opinion. This became quite a problem as we had a group of two rather loud and obnoxious families that used three tents close to us. They were a constant annoyance but since we planned not to spend too much time at the camp, we tried to ignore them. As dusk set in and we were busy eating dinner, Pearl-spotted owlet and Fiery-necked nightjars started calling but we were both too tired to go and look for any other nocturnals and turned in early.

Hoping to catch some early African finfoot, we left before dawn, stopping now and then to listen for owls and nightjars, and then parked at the bridge below Klipvoor dam wall for about 20 minutes. Unfortunately all we got were cormorants, darters, herons and kingfishers – no finfoot! With the sun starting to peek over the horizon we turned west towards the Ga Dinonyane bird hides. Again the usual bushveld birds did not disappoint and we quickly got up 40 species before we saw our first new bird for the year (for the day) – Bronze mannikins. Not long after we bagged the second one when I heard the soft trilling whistle of a Grey tit-flycatcher. Around 9am we pulled into the Ga Dinonyane hides and were pleasantly surprised at the flooded plains and lush vegetation. On our previous visits these hides were nice but certainly not spectacular with only a small circle of water surrounding an island. Now there was water everywhere and Red-billed teal, Egyptian goose, Green-backed, Squacco and Purple herons, Black crake and Blacksmith lapwing were all over. We spent an hour at the hide and picked up a few more species but the highlight was a juvenile Gabar goshawk that pestered something hiding in the grass about fifty metres from the hide. There were a number of Red-billed teal chicks about so we thought this could certainly make a good target for the small raptor. At 10am we left and drove the back route (Tholo loop) to return past Klipvoor dam and then entered the game drive area on the southern end of the reserve. With the morning becoming quite warm, we saw fewer birds and at the dam’s edge it was obvious that the migrants have now left for good – we could only pick up Great crested grebes. Sefudi dam hide was not as nice as previous years and considering the level of Klipvoor dam and the flooded Ga Dinonyane hides, it was rather surprising to find Sefudi dam very shallow and with few birds. But it was lunch time so we spent a long time at the hide relaxing and did pick up a few more birds before leaving the hide around 2pm. A very slow drive out of the game area saw us back at Phudufudu camp at 4pm. With a cup of tea in hand we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon until our noisy neighbours pitched up. Dinner and an early night followed.

Next morning we were up bright and early, and quickly packed the car and headed straight for the Ga Dinonyane hides, thermos flask of tea in hand. We arrived before dawn and breakfasted in the parking lot, before heading into the hide, blankets wrapped around us. We spent a good hour and a half there, picking up Red-billed teal, White-faced duck, Green-backed heron, Black crake and Common moorhen. To our delight we heard the soft booming of Kurrichane buttonquail, quite miraculous considering the racket the Egyptian geese were making. An African fish eagle soared overhead, and some Cape penduline-tits darted amongt the trees in front of the hide. We picked up another new bird for the year, Coqui francolin calling far in the distance. At 8am we climbed back in the car and took a slow drive along the Tholo loop on our way to the exit. We picked up the usual bushveld birds and after a quick stop at the bridge for the cormorants and larger herons, we started the drive back home.

All in all a good weekend’s birding considering the migrants had all left for warmer pastures, and certainly the best we had ever seen Ga Dinonyane hides

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

Warbler Weekend at Wolfhuiskraal with Indicator birding, Mar 2014

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• List of birds

Etienne Marais, the owner and guide of Indicator Birding, arranged a "Warbler Weekend" for a small group of people in the Zaagkuildrift-Kgomo-Kgomo area north of Pretoria over the weekend of 14-16 March. We were to be based at Wolfhuiskraal farm and would target warblers, in particular River warbler, Icterine and Olive-tree warblers, Common whitethroat and Thrush nightingale.

Immediately after work on Friday, we left Middelburg and drove without incident to Pretoria. Heavy rains in the 2 weeks preceding the weekend had us worried - Pretoria had an average of around 350mm, about half the annual rainfall! The access road to Zaagkuildrift is notoriously muddy and tricky after heavy rains so Etienne sent us an alternative route to get us to the farm. Good thing too, because even on the alternative route we were slipping and sliding through a few longish muddy patches, un-tactfully reminding us of our experience in the Ibera wetlands in Argentina last year. But we were now out of city traffic and much more relaxed so we birded without really stopping and were happy to add Shaft-tailed whydah and Violet-eared waxbill among other common birds. We made it to the farm without assistance and caught the rest of the group just as they were leaving to try find River warblers in the south eastern corner of the farm. Putting on sandals for wet and muddy tracks, we joined the whole group as we drove down for a short distance and then parked. On a very muddy farm road we walked, stopped and listened several times as Etienne alternatively played back River warbler calls or whistled Pearl-spotted owlet calls. However, the River warblers were quiet and in the dusk we returned to the bush camp. Electricity was off since we arrived but not long after Etienne lit our braai fire, power came back on and we had a relaxed evening while learning to recognize warbler calls. With an early start planned for Saturday, we all left for bed quite early.

After a quick cup of coffee, we were on our way at 05:30. We drove down to the same spot we were at yesterday and immediately after getting out of the car, we heard the first River warbler calling. Following Etienne's instructions we all moved into a good vantage spot and then tried to be as quiet as possible while Etienne occasionally whistled Pearl-spotted owlet or played back River warbler. Unfortunately the warblers were calling from the other side of the fence on the public road so after about half an hour, it was decided to drive around and try outside the farm. This we did and spent the next 3 hours moving to a few different locations up and down the road, each time moving to within about 5-10m of where a bird is calling and then waiting patiently and very quietly. Unfortunately, even after spending 4 hours in total looking for a River warbler, we were still to see one. Etienne had a brief view of one while trying to move it towards our group but the rest of us - not a glimpse. Eventually we started looking for other warblers as well as Thrush nightingale up and down the public road. We started meeting a number of other birders doing the same thing and Etienne decided it's best to return to the farm where there's fewer people calling and less disturbance. Back on the farm we located both Common whitethroat and Icterine warbler. Both Nicola and I saw the whitethroat beautifully but our views of the Icterine was so poor, we decided not to tick it. With the clouds finally starting to lift after almost 2 weeks of solid rain and cloud, it had become to warm up nicely. We retreated to the bush camp for lunch after which Etienne showed some photos of warblers that highlighted the important diagnostic features to look for. At 2pm we were off again, this time aiming for the flood plain at Kgomo-Kgomo. Since most of the rain falling in Pretoria ends up here, via either the Apies or Pienaars rivers, we expected the flood plain to be exactly that - a flooded plain. First problem though was getting through two sections of road that were flooded. I wasn't prepared risking our 2x4 so we bundled in with Etienne and two our group, Alta and Michelle. In three 4x4s we managed to get through the flooded road sections (almost knee-deep and more than 100m long) and while doing so got fantastic views of our third lifer for the trip - Dwarf bittern! We reached the floodplain and even Etienne was stunned - he said in 15 years of birding this area, he'd never seen so much water. There were lots of waterfowl present: African spoonbill, Yellow-billed and Great egrets. Whiskered terns, Black-winged pratincole, Red-billed teal, White-faced, Fulvous and Knob-billed ducks, Reed cormorant, Egyptian goose, Glossy and African sacred ibis, Black-headed, Grey, Purple, Green-backed and Squacco herons etc. A few stops along the bridge netted Temminck's courser, Western yellow wagtail and Wood sandpiper. It was now getting a late in the afternoon and Etienne led us back east along the dirt road and took an unmarked track heading south back to floodplain. He found a nice spot along the water's edge where we could sit for sundowners while watching birds. It was beautiful evening; the clouds had cleared and the setting sun made for excellent lighting. Lots of birds were about and in addition to those mentioned earlier we had Malachite and Pied kingfishers, Common and Lesser moorhens, African purple swamphen, Black and Black-crowned night herons and  Southern pochards. A marsh harrier that we saw earlier also came flying past and although initially we thought it might be Western marsh harrier, pictures later confirmed it to be a juvenile African marsh harrier. Just after sunset it was time to head back home and with the spotlights out, we cruised slowly back. A possible European nightjar disappeared the moment the car's headlights fell on it but we got fantastic views of a Marsh owl and Spotted thick-knee. Back at the farm it was time for a braai and then bed.

On Sunday morning we were up early once again and headed for the public road where we heard the River warblers calling yesterday. It was a misty morning and again the warblers were calling, but on the other side of the fence (back on the farm's property). We drove around to the inside and spent another hour or so without any visuals. Finally giving up on seeing River warblers, we headed back to the floodplain and stopped off at the same sun-downer spot of the night before. Marico sunbirds were flitting about the trees here and shortly thereafter on the bridge across the floodplain, we also added a Black-chested snake-eagle sitting in a sisal tree. Our weekend was drawing to a close though so for the last time we drove through the stretches of water to get back to the farm and pack up. We followed Etienne out to stop along the road in a last-ditch attempt to find Icterine or Olive-tree warblers. We dipped again on the warblers but got nice views of Pearl-spotted owlet that responded to Etienne's whistling. The drive back was fairly relaxed and we got home just before 5pm.

We ticked a total of 154 species for the weekend of which three were lifers (River warbler, Common whitethroat and Dwarf bittern). The floodplain was in really fantastic condition and Etienne was sure that crakes would start moving in shortly - let's see if we can visit again in a few weeks time to try and find them! Thanks Etienne and our fellow group members for a wonderful weekend in great company!