Nightjar Poll

Thanks to all who have voted in the Nightjar poll. The majority vote was for Fiery-necked Nightjar and a few people opted for Rufous-Cheeked Nightjar.

As I indicated in my previous posting there was no consensus from knowledgeable nightjar experts as to the ID of the species. The wing pattern is very unusual but considering other factors, such as the time of the year the bird was seen (late winter), most experts also suggested Fiery-necked Nightjar.

But this ID-challenge proves again that we must be so careful when identifying nightjars on plumage alone!

Nightjar ID Poll

On Sunday (2 August) I atlased the Roodeplaatdam pentad - a pentad a few kilometers north-east of Pretoria. My favourite local patch and a pentad that I try to do on a regular basis. Sunday's visit was the day after lots of rain fell and it was really nice to be birding with all the dust of winter something of the past. The birds were also out in full force and during the first hour I recorded 46 species!!

The highlight of the morning was a nightjar sitting in the middle of a small track. It was so well camouflaged I nearly drove over it but luckily stopped a few meters short. I managed to take a few photos out of the car but then climbed out and walked within 2-3 meters from it, taking photographs with my not too impressive camera. The nightjar was just sitting there its eyes sometimes closed or opened partially. A really nice experience.

However as you all know it is not easy to identify nightjars if they are not calling and even after watching it for a long while I had no idea what species this was. I eventually chased it up to see the wing and tail pattern. It flew too quickly for me to have a decent view of the tail but I could see a clear "line" of white in the wings. At home I studied the photos in detail and asked the opinion of some people who know much more than me about this subject. However there is still no consensus about the identification of this bird!!!

So here is a challenge to you all. Study the photograph below and participate in the poll on the left hand side of this posting. You are also more than welcome to provide a comment below to motivate your choice.

Good luck and sorry no prizes!!!

Little Sparrowhawk in my garden

We were pleasantly surprised when an immature Little Sparrowhawk visited our garden today. It caught a small bird - not sure what it was but looked like a small dove. It stayed for most of the day eyeing the birds at our water fountain!! It remained in the same tree for more than 4 hours and was not seen after that. A nice addition to our garden list.

Ovambo Sparrowhawk at Derdepoort Recreational Park

I atlased Dedepoort recreational park today. A nice range of birds were seen but the highlight was an Ovambo Sparrowhawk. It was seen a number of times flying between the exotic trees in the park. A nice area to bird as you can walk through the park and the entrance fee is around R20. However be warned that it can become rather noisy during weekends - so choose your visiting time wisely!!

Rietvlei NR - Atlasing Function

On Sunday over 40 Gauteng based atlasers and a few from North West and Mpumalanga (and John Bunnon all the way from Liverpool in England!) attended an atlasing day and feedback session at Rietvlei NR. The activities of the day included:

• An atlasing experiment - atlasers did a normal atlas list for the pentad starting at different places, times and taking different routes. It is hoped that the data collected will assist those that analyse the SABAP2 data.
• A braai - many atlasers have never met each other and it was nice to add faces to email addresses; and
• A feedback session - Prof Les Underhill gave an entertaining talk about the fantastic progress achieved this far and how valuable our data is for analysing migrant arrival and departure dates, abundance of birds and even how our data will help to better the distribution maps that appear in future field guides. It is clear that all our hard work will be put to good use.

Feedback from atlasers attending the day is extremely positive and there is clearly a need for similar outings in future.

Rietvlei NR has fantastic facilities for these sort of occasions. This lapa is only a few meters from the auditorium that can host nearly 70 people with all the facilities you might need.

For some of us it was the first time we saw Geoff Lockwood after his ordeal with a Boomslang.

Birding wise it was also a fantastic day with some very interesting birds seen. The highlight for me was a Dark-capped Yellow Warbler in the vlei area - also later seen by Rynetta Coetzee. Temminck's Courser was reported earlier the week and luckily most of us saw them in the recently burnt areas of the reserve. Other interesting birds seen on the day, that I know of, was Grass Owl, Shikra, Peregrine and Lanner Falcon, Black-chested Snake-eagles (immature and adult) and Goliath Heron.

The other highlight of the day to me was when a falcon tried to take out a Crowned Lapwing in the air - unfortunately it happened all too quick for me to identify the bird with certainty, although I am 90% sure it was a Peregrine...but the rule...not 100% sure then do not add it to your list will unfortunately apply here :-).

Anteating Chat is usually a common species in the reserve, but I only saw them at one spot during the day.

African Wattled Lapwing was seen everywhere - this one like many others walked around in the recently burnt grassy areas.

African Stone-chat is a very common species in the reserve - males and females could be seen everywhere!!

Wattled Starling in my garden

My new water fountain (see post below) had a new visitor today in the form of a male Wattled Starling!! I know of one other record in our area before, but this is certainly not a common bird in our neighbourhood!!

We tried to take some photos but unfortunately they are not good enough. So you will just have to trust me!!!

White Storks at Rust-de-Winter

This morning I atlased the pentad between Rust-de-Winterdam and the town. Birding was slow but I saw some nice species. The surprise of the morning was 5 White Storks feeding in the agricultural fields. Maybe they have decided to stay here for winter as more and more White Storks do.

One of the White Storks can be seen here next to a Cattle Egret

Other interesting species I encountered were Red-billed Buffalo-Weaver (more than usual), Yellow-throated Pretonia, Southern White-crowned Shrikes, Southern Pied Babblers and lots of Pearl-spotted Owlets (even two together)!!

Magpie Shrikes are very common in the Rust-de-Winter area.