Buffelsdrift pentad - 102 species

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

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!

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

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

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

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!