Ernst's Birding Blog

Nightjar Poll

2009-12-13T20:37:00.000-08:00

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

2009-08-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-25T22:46:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-20T22:59:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-05T21:41:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-27T03:11:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-23T06:41:00.000-07:00

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.

Sunbird Feast!!

2009-04-21T05:47:00.000-07:00

While birding this morning I thought the title of this message should be "patience, patience...". I atlased the Seringveld and birding was really slow. It was cold, windy and unpleasant. The birds must also have thought so as for long periods they were nowhere to be seen. During the first hour I had 29 species. However during the second hour I could only add THREE. I tried all sort of roads I have not travelled before, but nothing...I was ready to go home and call it a day but decided to continue. The third hour was a lot better and I eventually managed to see 51 species. Not a great total at all, but better than I thought it would be.

The highlight of the morning was not a rarity but a whole bunch of sunbirds!! Next to the road was a large patch of Wild Dagga (also called Lion's Ear) Leonotis leonurus. They are in full bloom at the moment and can be seen all around Pretoria (by the way if you are looking for information about plants in South Africa, I found the following website of SANBI of great value: http://www.plantzafrica.com/). This patch had about 25+ sunbirds feeding in it. The majority were White-bellied Sunbirds with a few Amethyst and one Marico male. They were calling insistently and sometimes competing for the same flower. Really something special to see. Now would you think that with all that sunbirds around it is easy to get some great photographs - alas not...

Roodeplaatdam NR and Northern Farm

2009-04-11T22:28:00.000-07:00

On Thursday afternoon I visited Roodeplaatdam NR and on Saturday Northern Farm. At Roodeplaatdam NR I had two very interesting records namely Brown-back Honeybird and Striped Pipit. Brown-backed Honeybird is not a common species in our area so it is always nice to see them.

The Striped Pipits were way out of their normal habitat, maybe they were only moving through this area. This is a new species for me for this reserve.

I love to visit Northern Farm for there is always a chance of seeing something interesting. It was no different this time around. You can learn more about this venue by visiting the following website: http://www.northernfarm.co.za/.

This must now be one of the best spots in Gauteng to see Comb Duck and I had nice views of them while they were walking with Egyptian Goose on the agricultural lands. On land they look rather comical I must say....

In the vlei area at the northern boundary of the pentad I saw a group of Orange-breasted Waxbills, to me the highlight of the morning’s birding. This was a relatively common species in Gauteng a few years back, but during the last two years a few birders mentioned to me, and it was also my experience, that these beautiful waxbills are nowhere to be seen. It was really good to see that they are still around. But I am still worried about their numbers…..

Other interesting species seen were Long-crested Eagle, Goliath Heron, Hottentot Teal, Great-crested Grebe and African Fish-eagle. The Fish-eagle’s call had the mountain bikers that were driving past me very excited especially as it was sitting right above me in a tree – however the bird they referred to was a White-breasted Cormorant!!! The Fish-eagle sat at its usual vantage point on the other side of the dam….

Buffelsdrift pentad - 102 species

2009-04-08T13:02:00.000-07:00

Last week I decided it is time for another list with 100 plus species! So the past weekend was spent in the Buffelsdrift pentad – a pentad to the west of Roodeplaatdam. I suppose I could have chosen a better pentad to look for 100 species, but during my visit to this area last week (see previous post) I saw lots of birds and thought if I spend enough time in the pentad 100 species could be a possibility.

EarlySaturday morning myself and Rob Geddes (an atlaser who has submitted literally 1000s of incidental sightings to the SABAP2 project) listened for owls and nightjars and our patience paid off when we were able to tick Marsh Owl and Fiery-necked Nightjar. The resident Barn Owls kept quiet but luckily Rob heard them the next morning and I could add them to the list. As it got light we ticked a number of common species and the River Warblers were also calling again. The melodious calls of White-browed Scrub-Robin and White-throated Robin-Chat were heard as well as Marsh Warbler.

A little bit of a surprise were two African Black Ducks flying over us – I suppose on the way to a river in the area where they can usually be found. Also flying past was a group of Black-faced Waxbills. I would have loved to watch them for a while – but as they moved on it was not to be. Groundscraper Thrushes entertained us with their antics on the telephone lines and White-bellied Sunbirds enjoyed themselves in the flowers around us.

Two Violet-backed Starlings flew past – so they are still with us and a family of Burnt-necked Eremomela’s moved through the trees. Two Cuckoo species were recorded namely Diederick and Levaillant. A Bearded Woodpecker tapped like mad. Amazing group of birds – the woodpeckers.

With just over 70 species on my list when I left Rob’s farm I had some work left to do to get to 100 species but I kept going and added White-throated Swallow, African Grey Hornbill, European Bee-eater and maybe the highlight of the two day’s of atlasing - Common House-Martin. The only raptor for the weekend was a Black-shouldered Kite. I returned home with 85 species on my list. My only hope to get to 100 species was to find some waterbirds the next day.

The pentad is cut in two by the N1 highway and I did not give much thought to bird the strip of the pentad to the NW of the highway. But Rob suggested that I have a look at the wetland there and also look out for ducks at the dams at Ludwig’s Roses. The dams contained nothing but the wetland and surrounding area were a big surprise. On the road next to the highway (not near the wetland) I ticked Grey-backed Camaroptera, White-browed Sparrow-Weaver, Black-crowned Tchagra and Marico Sunbird.

The Marico Flycatchers were vary tame and posed nicely for a photo or two. The wetland did not contain a lot of water but I am certainly going to keep this area in mind for a visit next summer. It must contain lots of flufftails and crakes and with the road network running through it I think it might just be possible to see some of the secretive birds crossing the roads. Woodland Kingfisher, Lesser Swamp-Warbler and Cape Longclaw were seen or heard as well as some bishops and widowbirds.

My final total was 102, but of more significance to me is the fact that it is possible to see more than 100 species in 5 hours in this area! Parts of it are totally degraded and there is a major highway running through it! I am certainly blessed with such variety within a few minutes drive from my home.

River Warbler - lifer - eventually

2009-04-02T09:07:00.001-07:00

We all have our bogey birds. I still have lots. But luckily I can take one of my list - River Warbler. But the saga begins a long time back - about 4 years ago I think.

I was still an active ringer at the time and together with my son we left early one morning to do some ringing on the farm Buffelsdrift. On the way to the meeting point my son fell sick and I had to return home and as my wife was at work that day could not return for the ringing session. A few hours later I got a call from the ringers - they caught a River Warbler!! With my son still not feeling well there was no chance of going to see it.....

The following year (I think) the bird club visited Wolfhuiskraal and there on the Zaagkuildrift road we sat for hours under the trees listening to this bird's characteristic call. But still no luck seeing it.

The next summer I visited Rust de Winter - again a single bird was calling as if his life depends on it. But seeing it - no way. Twice I returned to the same spot - still no luck.

So with not much hope I returned this week to Buffelsdrift to try my luck again - the same place I missed the species a few years ago. The story begins very similar to the previous years - three individuals were heard and we quickly moved closer to a spot where the bird was seen earlier in the week. Now I must state here, that I have rather strict "rules" as to how well I must see a bird in order to tick it for my life list. I want to see most of the identification features of a bird before ticking it and while trying to do so have already missed a few species in the process. But driving to Buffelsdrift I decided to make an exception this time - even if I see the bird for 5 seconds I am going to tick it. Forget about seeing the distinctive undertail patterns etc. I paid my dues on this one!!! And that is exactly what happened - I saw it - no distinctive features but believe me - I saw it! Somehow I expected a smallish warbler so was surprised by its size and "thick" tail. Really a great feeling to see it after so many years and hours of trying.

Now I am prepared to bet you a few rand that next year I will see this species calling in every tree, it always works like that with me and bogey birds!!

But somehow seeing this bird has made me more intrigued with it - where do they go during the day, where are they the rest of the summer, what do they eat etc. We still have so much to learn - don't we?

Water - the source of life!

2009-03-15T05:07:00.000-07:00

We recenlty bought a small water fountain with a pump and what a pleasure it has been to watch the birds bathing and drinking from this new water source.

The fountain has different levels and as we hoped, different species uses different levels - the white-eyes enjoy the top level where the water runs through small holes and cracks while the thrushes and doves enjoy the deeper middle level where they can bath and drink as they whish. The deep bottom level that contains the pump is not that popular - although the dogs love to drink water from it!!!!

But as in all things in life some birds want it all for themselves - the thrushes have now decided this is their oasis and chase away every other bird that want to come and have a drink. So the bulbulls, sparrows and weavers have to wait patiently for their chance to drink. However a Karoo Thrush is no match for a Red-eyed Dove - they just fly in and everything else have to move away. Real bullies.

I think we are going to have tons of fun watching "our" birds using this new toy. Mmmm...maybe another opportunity for a new species list.......

Home Pentad Atlassing

2009-03-07T22:09:00.000-08:00

I did my home pentad yesterday and got over 50 species in the first two hours. In contrast to previous atlasing surveys in this area, I took a different route and also visited some patches that I did not even know existed in this pentad. So although not uncommon species for the Pretoria area some interesting species were logged.

The African Green Pigeons moved up the order of my list rather dramatically as they can be seen early in the morning feeding in the fig tree in our garden. In winter they are nowhere to be seen.

I ticked Black-crowned Tchagra, Black-throated canaries and Black-chested Prinia at the Magaliesberg and a flock of European Bee-eaters - so they are still around. It seems to me as if Blacksmith Lapwings are getting more common in our area for they are now regularly ticked which was not so a year ago. In a patch of bushveld in the Derdepoort area I got Brown-crowned Tchagra, Purple Indigobird and its host Jameson's Firefinch.

The number of swallows is down and I recorded one Lesser Sstriped Swallow and one Greater Striped Swallow. No Barn Swallows. In the moist area next to the stream Thick-billed Weaver and Brown-hooded Kingfisher were seen.

Back at home "my" African Hoopoes and Green Wood-hoopoes could be added to the list.

Thank you also to Philip Calinikos who once a week submits his list for my home pentad - he always provides me with a few species to add to my list!!!

What a way to begin 2009

2009-02-25T04:21:00.000-08:00

Myself and Stephan Terblanche decided to do our bit to get Gauteng to 100% coverage by atlasing one of the few remaining virgin pentads in Gauteng on 2 Janaury 2009. This pentad (2520_2800) covers the western section of the Tswaing Nature Reserve while the rest of the pentad consists of mostly rural villages.

We had a fantastic beginning when one the first birds we could add to our 2009 year list was a Bronze-winged Courser!! Sitting in the middle of the road!!

This sighting was quickly followed by a string of more common species as for instance Red-chested Cuckoo, Cinnamon-breasted Bunting, Pearl-spotted Owlet, Grey-backed Camaroptera, European Bee-eater and Crimson-breasted Shrike. The pan itself had lots of water and we could tick Cape Teal, Ruff and Black-winged Stilt. While scanning the water from the rim of the crater, a Striped Pipit called from its perch near us. A female Thick-billed Weaver prompted some remarks about how far this species have expanded their distribution in recent years. Black and Diderick Cuckoo also made themselves heard.

We then went for a walk through the reserve and could tick some very nice species including a few raptors namely Amur Falcon (we thought for a moment we also saw Red-footed Falcon but could not confirm the ID), Steppe Buzzard, Black-chested Snake-Eagle, Yellow-billed Kite, Brown Snake-Eagle and Black-shouldered Kite.

The second highlight of the day was a flock of Black-winged Pratincoles. Always nice to see.

This was quickly followed up with the third highlight of the morning - Common Whitethroat, sitting only a few meters from us. Icterine and Willow Warbler were seen a few meters from each other and the difference in size and feeding behaviour could be nicely seen. The walk back to the car through the veld was tough but for our efforts a Kurrichane Buttonquail was flushed right in front of us.

Leaving the reserve we had listed just under 80 species and with lots of common species missing from our list we thought we would try to get to 100 by driving through the villages in the remainder of the pentad. As I have now reported regularly on my blog the fact that the atlas "forces" you to visit areas that you would otherwise not visit, has it advantages. We found a number of dams and vleis right between the villages and we could tick a number of more common water birds. Of these Great Reed-Warbler was a really nice record. We soon passed the 100 species mark – only the second time that I have personally managed to reach this milestone for SABAP2.

A fantastic day of birding!

Atlasing - December 2008

2008-12-20T09:37:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-26T09:02:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-08T09:23:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-27T22:15:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-19T10:22:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-07-31T08:05:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-02T10:56:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-27T09:59:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

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.

SABAP2 Workshop: 7 June 2008

2008-06-07T23:51:00.000-07:00

I presented an atlasing workshop to about 20 people on Saturday at Northern Farm. Most of the attendees are members of Birdlife Northern Gauteng. Five of those attending are active atlasers and it were great to have them there, to hear about there experiences and especially how much fun they have had atlasing.

The workshop consisted of three parts, firstly a PowerPoint presentation about the protocol. This was combined with a practical which included drawing in the pentads on 1: 50 000 maps for Northern Farm and naming the pentads.

The second part was a sort of “virtual birding” exercise where I showed bird pictures and played some calls together with the time and area where the birds have been seen. The idea was to mimic an atlasing outing and to practice the way the birds need to be recorded taking into account the atlas protocol. Each participant then had to fill in a submission form – as if it would be submitted by post to the ADU. This was great fun and demonstrated, I believe, that the protocol is not difficult at all.

The third part was a demonstration of the “digital” side of the atlas. I demonstrated how the maps I provided on DVD can be called up using any windows based program that can display photos. This was followed by a short demo of Christine GIS Viewer which is still maybe the easiest way to call up the maps and print it. A short discussion about the links on the SABAP2 website to Google-earth and the pentads available on Natural World followed. A further demonstration of Ozzi-Explorer and Cybertracker was for those who want to venture even further in the world of GIS. The workshop concluded with a live demo of the SABAP2 website – which was unfortunately cut short by the lack of a 3G signal!

It seems as if all the attendees had great fun and it is my hope that they will soon submit there first lists and quickly get hooked on atlasing.

Yellow-billed Hornbill nest in Electricity Pole

2008-05-28T11:30:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-28T01:51:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-01T07:29:00.000-07:00

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!

Migrant arrival and departure dates

2008-04-06T00:55:00.000-07:00

One of the benefits of atlassing is that the arrival and departure date of migrants can be recorded in detail. At the bottom of each of the species distribution maps on the SABAP2 website are graphs that illustrates this rather nicely. Below are links to some of these graphs.

Greater Striped Swallow

White-throated Swallow

Blue-cheaked Bee-eater

Crowned Lapwing

2008-01-05T01:21:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-01T10:35:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-01T10:05:00.000-08:00

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

Pentad GPS Tracks for South Africa

2008-01-01T06:09:00.000-08:00

Struggling to find your way from pentad to pentad? An do you have a GPS (like Garmin) that can upload tracks?

If your answers to these questions are "yes" then the GPS tracks I have created of all pentads in South Africa might be of benefit to you. When uploaded to your GPS you will be able to see, while atlasing, exactly where you are in relation to the boundaries of the pentad. Believe me it will assist you a lot!!

There are three files in three formats. Please make sure what type file you need for your GPS and then download the relevant file. The file formats are:

.gdb files for Garmin.
.plt files for Ozzi; and
.gpx files for General Exchange.

Please note that some GPS models can only load a maximum of 500 points - if you have a model like that please download the Eastern and Western files - they contain less than 500 points. The split is a few pentads east of PE.

However note if you have a GPS than cannot download the GPS tracks you can use it with Mapsource, a program that comes with your Garmin GPS. Below a screen shot as an example (thanks to Dennis Walden for creating the image):

Note: For full instructions as to how to upload these files etc. please read the instructions that comes with your GPS. I will not be able to asssist you in this regard.

Here are the files:

Files for Garmin (.gdb)

SA Pentads Western Section
SA Pentads Eastern Section
SA Pentads Whole of South Africa (beware more than 500 track points)

Files for Ozzi (.plt) (please right click and choose "Save As" to download the files)

SA Pentads Western Section
SA Pentads Eastern Section
SA Pentads Whole of South Africa (beware more than 500 track points)

General Exchange (.gpx) (please right click and choose "Save As" to download the files)

SA Pentads Western Section
SA Pentads Eastern Section
SA Pentads Whole of South Africa (beware more than 500 track points)