Atlasing - December 2008

Here are some of the more interesting sightings I had during the past few days while atlasing in the Pretoria area.

2008/12/04 (Wonderboom NR) - pleasantly surprised by the state of this reserve - long views of Black Cuckoo and then had Diederick, Red-Chested and Klaas's calling, Spotted Thick-knee breeding, Rock Martin and the highlight Striped Pipit (on the south side of the fort).

2008/12/08 - 2535_2815 (West of Roodeplaatdam) - As in most pentads Diederick, Red-chested and Black Cuckoo and Violet-backed Starling (M and F).

2008/12/10 2530_2820 and 2530_2815 (North of Roodeplaatdam)- Gabar Goshawk, Lesser Grey Shrike, Bearded Woodpecker, Shaft-tailed Whydah, Long-tailed Paradise Whydah, Jacobin Cuckoo and Great Spotted Cuckoo (Imm).

2008/12/11 2510_2830 en 2505_2835 (Rust-de-Winter) - Jacobin Cuckoo, African Spoonbill, Gabar Goshawk (2 imm), Lots of Amur Falcons, Lesser Grey Shrike, Levaillant's Cuckoo, Bennett's Woodpecker, Common Swift. The 2505_2835 pentad is fantastic (have a look on P194 of The Chaimberlain Guide to birding in Gauteng, the road marked point 20-21, but go even more north by taking the road to the small village of Rapotokwane. I think it might even be possible to go further north but I had to return home and could not investigate further - I will spend a full morning later in this pentad).

White-bellied Sunbird Nest - Pretoria Botanical Gardens

For the last few years I had the honour to regularly lead outings for SANBI at the Pretoria Botanical Gardens. While waiting on Saturday 25 October for the attendees of such an outing to arrive my curiosity was raised when a White-bellied Sunbird female flew past me straight into a Cycad a few meters from me - reappearing a few seconds later. A few minutes later the same thing happened and upon further investigation I found the nest of this beautiful sunbird bound against one of the "thorny" leafs of the cycad. When my outing had to start - I left them in peace.
The outing itself was great and we managed to inter alias record Brown-backed Honeybird and the now, it seems, resident Orange-breasted Bush-shrikes.

The next morning I decided to see if I could get a photograph of the nest without disturbing the sunbirds too much. In order to get a nice view of the nest I had to press the camera through the outside leafs and started to click away.

To my utter amazement the female flew in again and entered the nest right in front of me! Luckily I remember to keep taking photos and managed to get some nice ones. I then left the nest and she returned again in a few minutes. I did not hear any chicks calling but she was certainly carrying worms, so they must have been inside the nest.

The nest was about 1.5m above the ground. The cycad was one of a few on the grass patch before the entrance. According to Tarbotan’s "A guide to the nests and eggs of Southern Africa Birds" the nest of the White-bellied Sunbird “is characteristically (but not invariably) placed in a thorny plant” (P233). Cycads are not listed as one of these plants but I suppose it is somewhat thorny – so it fits.

Hundreds of people must have walked past the nest and I can only wonder how many might have noticed the cycad but not the nest inside it!

Breeding in the City

About a week ago I had to visit the dentist. Yes - I would have preferred atlasing - but when eating becomes a struggle, then there is not much of a choice. But even so I decided to go atlasing my home pentad for a hour before the appointment. Near the dentist’s consulting room is a nice vlei area and I managed to log a number of species - mostly weavers, mossies and other common garden birds. However the highlight of the morning was when a Hamerkop flew over my head and settled on the ground not far from me.

A really nice surprise. After settling it started to collect nesting material. This must have been something new to her I thought (I later realised my mistake) for she first picked up a rather thick branch and put it in the back of her beak and then tried to collect some grass material, but because her beak could not close completely, the grasses would time and again fall to the ground.
In an effort to locate the nest I ran after her as she flew away with the single branch in her beak. She flew straight to the nest which was located in a big Willow-tree next to the stream. Another bird also joined her on the nest and they immediately paired (now you know how I know which bird is male and female :-).

The nest was already pretty big - so the construction of the nest must have started a long time ago. I will keep an eye on them and see how the nesting activities progress.

However that is not the only unusual breeding event in our area. I were called a few nights ago by someone who told me that Lesser-masked Weavers are breeding in front of the Totiusdal Post Office. I had a look the next day and found a tall palm tree with the characteristic long entrance nests of the Lesser-masked Weaver’s. A few minutes later male birds in full breeding plumage arrived and I could confirm the identification - whitish eyes, grey legs and the distinctive head pattern. Of the three weaver species (the other two are Village and Southern-masked Weavers) the Lesser-masked Weaver is the least common in our area and even more so within city boundaries. According to the reference works they do nest in “busy” areas and also away from water but the nests that I have seen in the past were always at least in the vicinity of water - in this instance there is no water nearby. So why they have chosen this spot only they will know. But I do not mind for years they have been one of my bogey birds for the yearly 100km Gauteng challenge. So to have them so near to my home is a bonus!

A Century

I will always remember the cricket commentator who could never understand why 100 runs is so much more important than 99. Somehow he could not comprehend that we as human beings like to set ourselves challenges – so although there might only be a one run difference between 99 and 100 – if a batsman is out on 99 he might have contributed valuable runs for his team, but he failed to reach the target that he himself or the sport in general has defined.

So what has this to do with birding and atlasing you might ask? Most birders also set themselves targets – to get to 700 species in Southern Africa, submit 100 SABAP2 lists before the end of the year etc. Most of it totally futile, but it creates interest and set a challenge. In the same way I decided to set myself a challenge of getting 100 species in a days birding within one pentad. Not an impossible task at all – many others have already achieved this – but I wanted to do it for myself and I thought it will only be achieved with lots of planning and careful analysis of habitats and the best roads to travel.

So when I was invited to visit the local bird club in Brits to give a talk on the atlas, I decided to combine the trip with some atlasing of pentad 2515_2730 – south of Vaalkopdam. I met up with Jannie Jansen in Brits and after 50 more kilometres we entered the pentad and started atlasing. The first few minutes were dreadful. Lots of cars on the main road and even when we tried a less travelled side road to the cement factory, large trucks made it virtually impossible to bird or hear any birds calling. So our number of species climbed very slowly. After a hour we had 32 species.

We decided to move on to Donald Peake’s farm – Tweerivier. On the way we saw some Red-billed Oxpeckers – always nice to see that they are doing well. As we entered the farm the first more unusual sighting of the day - a Kittlit’z Plover. Around Donald’s house we could tick numerous species. Especially rewarding was the presence of Southern Masked Weaver, Village Weaver and Lesser Masked-weaver – all within meters of each other. The Village Weavers were eating from the seed feeder and the Lesser Masked-weavers were building their nests in the three long Palm trees in the yard – using the palm leaves as nesting material.

It was time for a break, ate a fantastic farm breakfast and I quickly took Donald and Jannie trough the SABAP2 protocol and software. Jannie at one point joked that I will get my 100 species today – but I did not believe him – sorry Jannie.

Donald then offered to show us the area. His farm and the surrounding farms form part of the Crocodile Irrigation scheme. Some artificial wetlands and dams were created – with the water being pumped from the Crocodile river into these water bodies. The first wetland was full of coots, ducks, grebes, cormorants and egrets. A number of Black Herons were seen and two Hottentot Teals flew past. A few waders have also returned and we could tick Wood Sandpiper and Ruff on our lists. We left the dams with 94 species on my list.

Driving back we saw some female Wattled Starlings and then the highlight of the day – a pair of Temmicks Coursers. Wow - every time I see them I am amased how beautiful they are. While watching them a Greater Kestrel caught something right in front of us – unfortunately we could not identify the prey. And that was it – 100 species! A few more species were ticked in the remainder of the trip and I ended on 104.

So with no planning I managed to get my target. Driving back I felt a little bit disappointed – thought it was going to be more of a challenge. Never satisfied I suppose…..

On the left a section of the pentad can be seen. The crocodile river and the circles created by the center-pivot irrigation can clearly be seen. Some of the wetlands mentioned above are also visible. The sightings have been logged with Cybertracker.

Atlasing and Twitching

I know for a fact that there are many people in our part of the world who believe that atlasing and twitching do not mix. You are either a twitcher or an atlaser. But I knew it would only be a matter of time before this perception is proved wrong. It took a while but during the past two weeks this is exactly what happened.

Last week one of our atlasers Michal Groenewald went atlasing to try and submit a list for the Communal Atlasing Week. He chose a pentad in the Centurion area and between all the ducks, wagtails and plovers he found a Franklin’s Gull! Only the second known inland record! After receiving his frantic call the family grabbed the binocs and 30 minutes later we could add this wonderful species to our life lists.

So you see if it wasn’t for atlasing al us twitchers would have missed out. And it is all very simple – rarities can pitch up anywhere in the country. So the more atlasers we get to atlas or bird on a regular basis the bigger the chance that something special will be discovered.

The other interesting observation I made during the last few weeks is how important a House Sparrow can become to an atlaser. I did my home pentad again over the weekend and the species total were not so great so when I saw a House Sparrow to take the total number of species over 40, I was really pleased.

But I will admit not as pleased as seeing the Franklin’s Gull. And he deserves special mention – after all he did fly all the way from America to come and have a look at our beautiful country!

I'm Jealous!

Jealously is not a good thing and like all human beings I try my best not to succumb to this rather nasty habit. But then I receive an email from a birding friend and atlaser, Etienne Marais, only one short paragraph with two photos attached.

The photos are taken in his garden. The first of a beautiful Little Sparrowhawk, the second of the same bird guarding his bird bath! Apparently a regular appearance. I was lucky to see this bird breeding in a big tree just in front of Etienne's home a few years ago (it was a lifer for my wife) and then I already had to suppress that nasty feeling mentioned above. I get ecstatic when the Red-headed and Cut-throat Finches visit my feeders in my garden or when I heard and saw a Grey-headed Bush-shrike in my garden for the first time a few weeks ago. Raptors - never had one in my garden. Or maybe more correct - not that I know of. The nearest raptor I had in my garden are all the Yellow-billed Kites that fly over my garden in summer. In my garden - not so lucky.

But that is not the end of the story - for in the same email he included a photograph of a Spotted Eagle-Owl that is also a regular visitor to his garden. Something really special to have in you garden - isn't it.

So I will just have to settle for it - some people have all the luck.

By the way Etienne has a really nice website at http://www.birding.co.za/.

We have been informed that the first Yellow-billed Kite's have arrived - so summer is nearly here!

Sometimes I wonder if atlasing is fun

In many of my postings below I have emphasized a number of times what fun it is to do bird atlasing. And that is certainly the case. But I will be the first to admit that sometimes there might be that fleeting moments when even I will wonder if what I am doing can be considered as fun. During Sunday’s outing to the north of Cullinan I had exactly such a moment.

I did a pentad about 10km north of Cullinan – on the Gauteng border. An interesting area with lots of different habitats and some interesting species as for instance Tinkling Cisticola – an uncommon species for the Gauteng area.

But on Sunday after 1 hour of birding and nearly freezing to death I had exactly 8 birds on my list – yes that is correct EIGHT! So you cannot blame me if I did not consider this fun. But I decided to continue and although the eventual number of species came to only 44, I had great FUN and recorded some interesting birds.

The first interesting sighting was an African Harrier-hawk climbing around in trees as only they can do. My second sighting of this species during the last few weeks. Secondly I had a number of Striped Pipits. This is a common species in the pentad – at Little Eden. But I have never seen them outside of Little Eden - although I am sure other birders have. They were recorded on three occasions – sometimes next to the car and always near rocky areas.

Even more interesting was the record of a Red-headed Weaver. Again in some parts of the country a common species – but not so in Gauteng (I might be wrong – if you have more info please let me know by leaving a comment at the end of the posting). In fact it seems that as soon as the record is accepted it will be the first record for this species in Gauteng for SABAP2.

Unfortunately the Tinkling Cisticola was nowhere to be seen. Taking into consideration the weather I cannot blame them!

And yes - I had great fun.

Flamingos need your help

There are not many success stories in conservation. So when they do happen these projects need to be appreciated, nurtured and enjoyed.

That is how I felt about the fantastic work that was done at Kamfersdam near Kimberley - where a haven was built for breeding Lesser Flamingos. Not only did thousands of chicks bred there during the past year but this project was also a nice example of the co-operation between a number of role players including the mining sector.

The following information is posted about this colony on the http://www.savetheflamingo.co.za/ website:

- Kamfers Dam supports the largest permanent population of Lesser Flamingos in southern Africa, with at times up to an estimated 60 000 individuals (comprising more than 50% of the southern African population).- Large numbers of Lesser Flamingos are attracted to the wetland to feed due to the very high concentration of the flamingos’ food, blue-green algae, in the dam’s water.- During 2007/8 Lesser Flamingos bred on a purpose-built island on Kamfers Dam, producing an estimated 9000 chicks. The island was constructed by Ekapa Mining for which they received the prestigious Nedbank Capital Green Mining Award.

- Kamfers Dam is currently the only breeding locality for Lesser Flamingos in South Africa (See photo left - from the above mentioned website - Mark Anderson).

However it was with great sadness that we had to learn that this colony is now under severe threat. The reason: raw sewerage from the Kimberley Water Treatment works are flowing into Kamfersdam with a detrimental effect on the health of the colony. I quote again from the above mentioned website:

"Scientists have recently become concerned about abnormalities on Kamfers Dam’s flamingo chick’s legs, including swollen tibio-tarsal joints and lesions (open sores) on the birds’ tarsi. Veterinary pathologists suspect that these abnormalities may be related to the dam’s water quality. Studies are being conducted in collaboration with international veterinarians, eco-toxicologists and ornithologists to determine the reasons for the observed abnormalities".

Please show your support for this wonderful project by “signing” a petition on the web. Goto http://www.savetheflamingo.co.za/, select petition, fill in a form with your personal particulars and you will soon receive an email which you must click in order to confirm your support for this project.

Please also lookout for news in the media about this issue.

Atlasing my Home Pentad: Lots of Interesting Birds

After a hectic week’s work it was really nice to break out and do some birding in my home pentad. And as usual some interesting birds were seen.

But let me first go back to last week and tell you about two other new species I saw for my home pentad list. During one evening while driving back from the Pizza shop, I had excellent views of Spotted Eagle-owl – first flying next to the road and it then settled on a telephone pole. I have seen a photo of a Spotted Eagle-Owl in our area a few years ago – so I knew they were around but nice to actually see one. Other owls that I have recorded in the past are Barn Owl (heard) and Southern White-faced Scops-Owl. I caught this little owl after it was hit by a car and took it to a rehabilitation centre.

The second new bird for the pentad was seen yesterday when, while driving in Montana, I saw a Mountain Wheatear. This is certainly not an uncommon bird in the rocky areas to the north of Pretoria, but I have never seen one so near Pretoria or in one of its suburbs. So a nice surprise.

Back to today’s atlasing. In order to cover the pentad well I need to visit the Pretoria Botanical Gardens. Most of the species that will occur in this pentad can be seen there and there is always the chance to see something more uncommon. Today was no different. The one bird I am always looking for when visiting the gardens is Brown-backed Honeybird (I must say I whish they kept the name Sharp-billed Honeyguide). The last few visits I missed out but found it today sitting high up in a dead tree, its profile clearly visible – sharp forehead and thin beak. Its white outer tail feathers could clearly be seen in flight.

The second big surprise came in the form of an African Harrier Hawk that flew low over the gardens. What a beauty!

Seeing the many Crowned Lapwings in the garden, I thought back to a nest I found in the garden a few years ago. I checked the nest regularly for a season in order to submit the data to NERCS. What I found was a nest not lined with the usual pebbles but with the droppings of a Scrub-hare.! I could not find anything in the literature of other instances where the droppings of a hare have been used to line a lapwing’s nest. The photo shows the nest with the droppings.

Yellow-billed Hornbill nest in Electricity Pole

During an atlasing outing in May I witnessed an Yellow-billed Hornbill flying with a worm in its beak. It flew straight to an electricity pole where I found a nest. A week later I returned to the nest and took some videos of the male feeding its chicks.

The nest was about 5 m from the ground with the entrance on the northern side of the pole.

I was unfortunately not able to see how many chicks were in the nest. At one point in the video I could see two bills – the one had to be the female and the other of the chick – but there might have been more chicks.

I cannot find anywhere in the literature a reference to Yellow-billed Hornbill making a nest in a man-made structure - only nesting logs. So this seems to be very unique.

This record in May is also a very late breeding record. According to the literature September to March is normal.

It was also interestingto note that the nest was next to a gravel road used by cars and above a pedestrian road which is used by hundreds of school children during the week. While trying to video the nest I had to wait for more than an hour for all the children to pass on their way to school. During this period the male waited patiently with a berry in its beak and just after 08:00, with all the children now at school, it flew straight to the nest to provide his family with the food they need!

Atlassing Pentad: 2530_2820

Myself and Michael Groenewald atlased Pentad: 2530_2820 (NW of Roodeplaatdam) on Sunday 25 May. As it is winter we did not expect to many species in this pentad but was pleasantly surprised when we saw 70 species after about 5 hours of birding. In summer I had 91 species once - so the numbers are down a lot from summer.

Out first special sighting of the morning was of a Giant Kingfisher. I am always amazed by their massive bill and general size in comparison to other Kingfishers.

A few minutes after this we had wonderful views of White-backed Mousebird. In our part of the world this is not a common species and a new bird for this particular pentad. The highlight of the day was the fantastic views we had of Yellow-bellied Eremomela. I last saw this species in the 100km radius from Pretoria in 2000 at Dikhololo near Brits and it is certainly not common in our area. A number of other birders indicated that they have not seen this species during the last few years in our area.

Another interesting sighting was 4 Greater-striped Swallows. I thought these intra-Africa migrant must by this time have left our country for warmer areas more to the north - but after a little bit of reading realised that they do remain in South-Africa for about a month longer than Lesser-striped Swallow. But even so this is rather late.

Some of the other species seen were: Black Crake, African Black Duck, Fiscal Flycatcher, Green-winged Pytilia Pearl-breated Swallow, Scaly-feathered Finch, Black-throated Canary, Violet-eared Waxbill, Violet-eared Waxbill, Sabota Lark, Green Wood-Hoopoe, White-throated Robin-Chat, Streaky-headed Seedeater, Karoo Thrush (not common in the more rural areas) Purple Indigobird, Little Swift and Cinnamon-breasted Bunting.

A wonderful day of birding!

My favourite books

Chaimberlains Guide to Birding Gauteng (E Marais & Faansie Peacock)

This book, published in 2008, is a must for birders in or regular visitors to the greater Gauteng area. In the book (384 pages) more than 100 birding sites in the greater Gauteng area are discussed with tons of details about possible birds to be seen, habitats, directions, contact details etc. Also included are easy to follow maps and really nice photographs. I know both authors personally and this book is the result of many hours in the field collecting the information needed to write this guide. So if in the past you had to phone and email your birding pals to find the best route to some of the best birding sites in Gauteng - no need to do so anymore - just buy this book. There is also a website linked to the book: http://www.gautengbirding.co.za/

Roberts Birds of Southern Africa VII (PAR Hockey, WRJ Dean & PG Ryan)

The bible of birding for years. Roberts VII is a total "upgrade" from previous versions. It is now a birding reference work and not a field guide. Detailed descriptions of each species will most probably answer all your birding related questions that you might have.

Newman's Birds of Southern Africa (Kenneth Newman)

This is an old favorite of many birders. Kenneth Newman has through his books introduced a lot of birders to this fantastic hobby. The biggest asset of this book is the quality of the sketches.

The Larger Illustrated Guide to Birds of Southern Africa (Ian Sinclair & Phil Hockey)

This is the newest version of this series and was published in 2005. It contains all the newest species splits and new names. A wonderful book and most probably the most up-to-date field guide.

Roberts Bird Guide - (Guy Upfold & Hugh Chittenden)

The field guide version of the Roberts VII handbook. The distribution maps are fantastic and the text perfect. Just a shame that some of the sketches are not that great. But even so a must for all birders.

Pipits of Southern Africa (Faansie Peacock)

I cannot describe the purpose of this book better than the author himself - "The main objective of this book is to present an up-to-date identification manual to distinguish between the sixteen defferent specie of pipits that occur in Southern Africa. Essientially this book is a coalition between personal field experience and field notes, comments by other observers and a review and critical analysis of all available reference material pertaining to southern African pipits". A wonderful book with tons of information about this mysterious group of birds!! For more information visit http://www.pipits.co.za/.

Raptor Identification guide for Southern Africa (Ulrich Oberprieler and Burger Cillië)

Raptors can be extremely difficult to identify. This book will guide you through all the pitfalls in identifying this group of birds. You will find the general description of the different groups especially helpful. The book also contains beautiful photographs which greatly augment the text about each species. Also available in Afrikaans.

The Bird Guide of Southern Africa (Ulrich Oberprieler & Burger Cillie)

I must admit I am not a great fan of photographic field guides. But even so this must be the best of those available. Really great photos and tons of information. Please note that seabirds and the really rare and vagrant species are not included.

A guide to the Nest and Eggs of Southern African Birds (Warwick Tarbotan)

Another raptor guide not only covering the raptors of Southern Africa but also the rest of Africa and its Islands. The text is very well written and the images and sketches are great. As an added bonus you will also learn about the birds of prey in the rest of Africa.

Ornithology for Africa(Gordon Lindsay Maclean)

Although this book was written as a text book for Ornithology students, it is not too technical and the chapters on Food and Feeding, Migration and Navigation, Bird behaviour and Breeding biology are extremely interesting and will provide you with a fresh insight into the wonderful and varied world of birds.

Birds the inside story (Rael and Helene Loon)

I enjoyed this book tremendously. It covers a range of topics about birds and their behaviour with tons of interesting facts. It is written in an easy style with tons of photos.


Southern African Birdfinder (Callan Cohen, Claire Spottiswood and Jonathan Rossouw)

On the cover the following is printed - "Where to find 1400 bird species in southern Africa and Madagascar". So if you want to know where you can find that rare bird - this is the book you need!

Crowned Lapwing

Crowned Lapwing
Kroonkiewiet
Vanellus Coronatus

The Crowned Lapwing occurs in large areas of our Southern Africa and moved into our cities where they have annexed about every park they can find. They love short grassy areas and together with tons of water and food parks and recreational areas provide a perfect home for them. However I am not so sure that everybody is great fans of these rather innocent looking birds for when they are breeding (August - December) they will vehemently defend their eggs and chicks by dive bombing the intruder, being a dog or human being.

This bird was photographed in the Pretoria Botanical Gardens where Crowned Plovers are very common.

When disturbed they will crouch in this unusual manner.

This is an example of a typical nest - a small scrape in the ground with a few pebbles, or in this case, the droppings of a Scrub-hare, lining the nest. Even though the nest is right in the open (see photo below) it is not easy to see.

The circle indicate the location of the nest depicted in the previous photo.

Owl, Barn

Barn Owl

Nonnetjie-uil
Tyto alba

Barn Owls are common near buildings and I have heard them calling at my home on more than one occasion.

The chicks below were photographed while ringing them a few years ago. The difference in feather development between the chicks is very noticeable. In most bird species the feather development of chicks will be very similar. This is so because the parents will only start brooding the eggs after all the eggs have been laid. But not so with Barn Owls. A clutch can consist of 5-6 eggs laid with two day intervals. The female will start brooding as soon as the first egg is laid. The first egg is therefore already 8-10 days in development by the time the last egg is laid. It also means that the first egg hatch long before the last egg and so the story continues. This then also explains the big difference in feather development as indicated in the photographs.

Species observations

Below are links to some of the species that I have encountered while birding. I am not a brilliant photographer by any means so do not expect brilliant photos. The idea behind these pages is to give you a glimpse of my personal observations and experiences of the species that I have encountered. As you will also note by the lack of species, photos and text that this is work in progress!!!

Lapwing, Crowned
Owl, Barn