Hi all,

I took a client to Tanqua on Tuesday. We arranged to leave at 1pm, so as to bird on the way to Ceres our overnight stop.

With all the hot weather we had been having I decided it was time to check the gas in the air-conditioner as 40C was a possibility or maybe even a certainty!

On the way there we spotted 300+ White Storks at the cattle feed pens near Voelvlei at Gouda. There were also some Yellow-billed Kites there.

The late afternoon call was at my bird bath on the pass outside Ceres where many birds come in to drink and bath. Not having been there for some months a cleanout and de-grass was necessary. It was not long wait when the Cape Robin-chat, Cape White-eye, Cape Sugarbird and the target, Protea Seedeater came in to drink. In fact 2 gave us excellent views. Then it was off to the guest house for the evening.

The heavens looked clear and the next day looked as if it was going to need air-con!

This was not to be as at 6am the heavens opened, but the Tanqua beckoned and so we tackled the Therons Pass where the weather had cleared and we spotted 3 Lesser Kestrels. Thought they had left by now? They reminded me that we still need to find the roost in Ceres. Any volunteers from that area?

Karoo Poort was cloudy and not many Namaqua Warblers were calling but we had great views outside the Poort. Ground Woodpeckers are always a surprise as they called from the cliffs. A pale and dark Booted Eagles glided over our heads.

On exciting Karoo Poort the Tanqua looked gloomy! Why would I need an air-con today I thought with all this dark cloud and rain approaching from Calvinia!

Fairy Flycatcher and Chestnut-vented Tit-babblers were fairly take for a change whilst Streaky-headed Seedeater, Yellow and White-throated Canaries were feeding more on the slopes of the hills than in the flats. On the telephone wires there was a group of 30+ House Martins roosting and it is not often that they can be observed at close quarters showing there white leggings. Greater-striped Swallows and White-rumped Swifts cruised low over the hills whilst White-throated Swallows quartered the streams and Barn Swallows were also feeding low over the shrubs.

Yes all the gulleys and streams were running strongly from very recent rain, in fact I have never seen rain or so much water in the Tanqua at this time of the year! I think the flowers are going to be early this year. Every time we ventured to the hills to try for Cinnamon-breasted Warbler the rain came down. This one we dipped on throught the day.

The usual Fish Eagle was seen at Inverdoorn Dam and along the road Pale Chanting Goshawk, Rock Kestrel, Lanner Falcon and Jackal Buzzard were seen perched on the poles. Rufous-eared Warblers and Karoo Larks were very vocal calling from the short shrubs. Karoo Chat replaced the Mountain Chat in the flat countryside. Inverdoorn Dam had a host of water birds, such as Egyptian Goose, SA Shelduck, Yellow-billed Duck and Cape Shoveller whilst Black-winged Stilt and Black-smith Plovers waded in the shallows. A few Whiskered Terns and Brown-throated Martins skimmed the water for anything to eat. A pair of Grey Tits seemed out of place along the strongly running stream, normally associate them with dry country.

We could not go down one of the side roads as a dip was now a deep ditch of water and the mud on the side looked dicey so we decide to stay on the R355 as that did not have so many slippery areas. A call down to Skitterykloof seemed to be the obvious route but I was expecting the first stream crossing to be washed away. It had been repaired some time ago and seemed to have held up from the obvious flash flood that had moved through there.

At Skitterykloof 2 big trucks blocked the entrance to the picnic spot so we decide to go to the top and view the Tanqua from there. Looking north towards Calvinia the Tanqua looked black and wet and swamped with plenty of rain on the way. This prompted us to continue over to Katbakkies Pass and Op Die Berg where the chances of finding Black-headed Canaries was better. No such luck as only Yellow Canaries and Lark-like Buntings were feeding on the shrubs.

On the way home we noticed 20+ Lesser Kestrels gathering on the electricity wires outside Wellington close to the Berg River bridge. This was already at 6pm, wonder if the roost is still large or have the majority left?

A few pentads were done with the slow pace.

Always great to bird in the Tanqua Karoo with it's different moods and views!

Happy autumn birding,

Brian Vanderwalt

Hi All,

I did a “Habitat” & Tanqua trip over 2 days recently.

The target was of course the Tanqua, but Tanqua in one day does not work well. So we added a night stopover. We slept in Ceres and travelled to Karoo Poort early (40k) and at the first stop, as we went into Karoo Poort, a surprise awaited us. We stopped and next to the car was a Caracal! We watched it slink slowly up the slope. When we eventually exited the car we saw Namaqua Warbler in the fragmites reeds displaying quite well. I scanned the opposite bank and lo and behold another Caracal walking towards us! Remembering that this was sheep country, and we were not far from the Karoo Poort farmhouse, one wondered how long these two would last. Were these two going to meet up, maybe mating season? Anyone know? Anyway we birded on and saw a lonely Lark-like Bunting on the mountain slopes. No Black-headed Canaries this time. The river was still running strongly and with more rain to come the season looks good for seedeaters. White-throated Canaries were the commonest but at the farmhouse poplar trees Cape Canary and Streaky-headed Seedeater made their appearance. A lonely Pririt Batis female, (the same one I saw 3 weeks ago?), hawked insects with Fairy Flycatcher, Cape and Masked Weavers, Cape Bulbul and Cape White-eye. In the dry fig orchard, Red-winged, Pied and European Starlings were mixed with White-backed Mousebirds. Around the farmhouse Olive Thrush, Cape Wagtail and Cape Robin-Chat were to be expected but Karoo Scrub Robin was also around. As we left the tar road 3 Klipspringers made a precarious climb up the cliff face, amazing that they don’t come crashing down.

Once through the poort, and seeing Bokmakierie, Common Fiscal and Longbilled Crombek, the Tanqua looked green and inviting. First stop produced White-throated Canary, Chestnut-vented and Layard’s Tit-babbler and a lone Malachite Sunbird in his sparkling green plumage. The traditional picnic site was rather quiet but Mountain Wheatear, Familiar Chat, Layard’s Tit-babbler and Fairy Flycatcher saved the day. No response from Kopje Warbler this time.

We moved on towards Inverdoorn Dam and Karoo Lark, Rufous-eared Warbler and Karoo & Sickle-winged Chats and the first Pale-chanting Goshawk for the day. It was ringed and I must see if I can read the ring from the pics taken. The dam was still very full but Egyptian Geese, SA Shelduck and Cape Shoveler were in evidence. No flamingos this time, however the resident Fish Eagle was roosting in some low trees on the north of the dam. Wonder were their nest is?

Towards Perdekoppies (Eierkop) a pair of Yellow-bellied Eremomelas entertained us close to the vehicle. Karoo Eremomelas were already in pairs close to the base of the Koppie amongst the green bushman’s candle and orange daisies. Grey Tits called high up the Koppie but remained unseen. As we left a dead raptor cause us to stop. It was the juv “ Augur” Jackal Buzzard which cause a bit of concern a few month ago. It still looked odd but the under wing had browned somewhat. A pair of Large-billed Larks were feeding next to the road and gave great views.

On the way to Skitterykloof, Red-capped and Spike-healed Larks made their appearance as did Trac-trac and Ant-eating Chats. Missed Greater Kestrel, think we did not go far enough up the R355. In the entrance to Skitterykloof we heard Kopje Warbler high up, but looking into the sun did not help and it only called once and did not respond to whistling. Dusky and Malachite Sunbirds were feeding on the Viscum which was flowering, small flowers and not easily seen by us, but worked for the Sunbirds. A few Rock Martins cruised around the crags and 2 White-necked Ravens seemed to control the airspace without the Black or Martial Eagles being around. A walk up the river (running!) produced Acacia Pied Barbet, Pririt Batis, Karoo Scrub Robin, Fairy Flycatcher and Cape Bunting. One more Kopje Warbler was heard somewhere around the corner of the large cliff but nothing would bring him closer.

The road back to Ceres in the late afternoon had us stopping a few times for pairs of Karoo Korhaan and Yellow Canaries, bright yellow in the afternoon light.

A great bit of Karoo birding again and a total of 65 species seen.

more…

Birding around the Cape in Winter: Rooi-Els coast/Kogelberg Biosphere

August 2009

Hi All,

I did a few day trips for Birdwatch Cape this past week, one which went to Rooi-els on the East coast of South Africa, in the Kogelberg Biosphere region.

Rooi-els:

When we arrived, after seeing Cape Sugarbird and Orange-breasted Sunbird, the next bird was Victorin’s Warbler! This was just after 8.30am and it was singing it’s heart out on the top of a dry stick! The rest of the walk produced Cape Rock-jumpers, Cape Siskin, Sentinel Rock-thrush and Ground Woodpecker. The whole gang of specials in the first half hour of our walk.

That does not happen every day!!

Black Eagles were also at their nest above the aloes and I am sure the one was carrying something when it landed on the nest. Rock Kestrels gave them a hard time once they took flight as did the White-necked Ravens. Familiar Chat followed us all down the road, maybe we were disturbing insects? Karoo Prinia and Cape Grassbird were very active in the fynbos, maybe already breeding. Yellow Bishop was still trying to get his breeding dress on for the coming spring, but had some way to go as he was still brownish!

Stoney Point:

Many Penguins were moulting and others breeding in there little “sponsored” fibreglass burrows. All the 4 Cormorants were there. White-breasted and Bank and Crowned were still breeding, Cape were roosting on the rocks but no Cape Gannets or Skuas were seen out at sea. African Black Oyster-catchers were patrolling the open rocks as were some Sacred Ibis and Little Egrets. Great that the Oyster-catchers have recovered so well since we banned 4X4 vehicles on our beaches!

Harold Porter Botanical Gardens, Betty's Bay, Kogelberg Biosphere:

Speckled Mouse-birds were quite numerous and Sombre Greenbul, Cape Grassbird, Orange-breasted and Southern D-Collared Sunbirds were very active and vocal. Brimstone Canary called from one of the taller shrubs and Cape Siskin did a flypast towards the mountains. Cape Robin and Swee Waxbills were seen hopping around and feeding on the lawns. The resident Dusky Flycatcher hawked insects from his favourite perch in the Protea. The forest walk produced Olive Thrush, Cape Batis and Boubou Shrike and of course the little Cape White-eyes. No Black Duck but there were many visitors as it was Saturday.

Pringle Bay:

On our trip home an adult Jackal Buzzard was seen near Pringle Bay.

Strandfontein Sewerage Works:

A Black-shouldered Kite was hunting in the open grassland before the main works, never see him there in summer, maybe because of the Steppe Buzzard that uses the grassland then. Many Black-necked Grebes greeted us as we arrived at the pans but the ducks seemed to be less. We did however see Yellow-billed and Maccoa Duck, Cape Shoveler, Southern Pochard, Cape and Red-billed Teals and the surprise was a pair of Black Duck in one of the channels. Greater Flamingos were feeding in the larger ponds and White Pelicans gave a spectacular flypast in the afternoon light. Black-winged Stilt and a large flock of Pied Avocets used the shallower water as did a few first year Greenshank.

All in all a great days winter birding.

more…

Major Threat - Verlorenvlei (Ramsar Site SA103) - May 2009

At the Western Cape Birding Forum meeting recently, Neil Smith (from Birdlife SA) outlined the serious threat to Verlorenvlei and the Verlorenvlei Valley arising from the application by Bongani Minerals for tungsten mining rights in the valley.

The planned development is a massive 50ha open-cast mine, with a possible 20-year lifespan, which will destroy the valley and the vlei.

The implications are huge for Verlorenvlei, which is one of the largest natural coastal wetlands in the Western Cape, supporting 189 species of birds, 77 of which are waterbirds.

The chances of contamination of groundwater and surface water will be very high and one of the rivers likely to be polluted with toxic chemicals is the Krom Antonies River, which supplies the bulk of water to the Verlorenvlei estuary.

All or most of the water replenishng the vlei would be diverted to the mine's use. The mine would take water from three rivers, with implications for the fruit and vegetable growing farming industry in the valley. Productive and valuable farming land will be be lost, along with farmworkers' jobs.

The damage will be irreversible.

Neil called on all WCBF Clubs and any other parties to independently oppose this development and register their objections with Jimmy Walsh at hilltopcottage@telkomsa.net.

more…

Bogey Bird - Herero Chat - Namibia

On a recent visit to Western Namibia with friends, one of my bogey birds was Herero Chat which I had missed twice before.

We called on Spitzkoppe Reserve to look for the bird and were told to try campsite 10 which we did. No luck there and we then spread our wings over the area which I thought would be appropriate habitat and yes there was a bird!

We moved closer and eventually I was close enough to photograph the adult. I soon noticed that it was ferrying food to a small tree behind which I hid. On peering through, a juvenile was sitting within a meter of me on the other side of the tree.

I then just waited for the adult to call and a 'lifer' picture presented itself!

Unfortunately not all lifers are presented as adult and juvenile in the same frame! more…

Dry West and Garden Route trip - September 2008

Hi All,

Had a fantastic 17 day trip with one client which started at Cape Town on 13th September and went via Bushmanland/Kalahari/West Coast/Tanqua/Garden Route.

The Bushmanland area still had flowers, maybe they had had early rains, as did the coastal belt from Port Nolloth to Langebaan. The road to Kalahari is now tarred to within 10k from the Park gate and the dirt road to the gate was good. Inside the Park it was a different storey with bad corrugations on the Nossob road but Auob road was not too bad. With the Mata-Mata gate being open many Namibia tourists are coming in there, staying 2 days in the Park and then going out via Upington/Springbok to Ai-Ais. This means that they need to maintain that road more often, which I told their PR officer, but!!!!!!!!!

We saw 306 species which included 28 Raptors, 17 Larks, 2 Sparrow-larks, 14 Canary type and 3 Honey-guides amongst all the Chats and others.

The ones that interested me were the Black-eared Sparrow-larks we saw at Brandvlei, Kenhardt, Pofadder and 20k north of Springbok towards Steinkopf. First time I have seen them that far west.

Well Larks! What can I say about my favourite birds and we really had great views of all of them. The water trough next to the road near Kenhardt had no water in it and no birds came there, maybe I should carry a jerry can of water with me!

Bradfield’s Larks were numerous on the telephone wires throughout Bushmanland as were Chat Fly-catchers and Pale Chanting Goshawks.

Kalahari Nat Park was cool in the morning and warmed up to 20C during the day, very comfortable. 91 bird species were seen in Kalahari Nat Park in 3 days and the surprise for me was Rosy-faced Love-bird at Mata-Mata. Eastern Clapper Larks were again performing in the dunes close to the road and the grass was sparse enough that you could see them on the ground. Pink-billed and Spike-heeled Larks were also seen on the dune road often sitting in the road to dig up something from the freshly pushed up red sand in the road. Wonder what it was? Many Giant Eagle and Spotted Eagle Owls hid in the big Camel Thorn Trees. Also a lone Barn Owl was spotted in a not so dense Grey Camel Thorn tree along the road. Missed African Scops Owl again! Ashy Tit, White-faced and Pearl-spotted Owls, Ground-scraper Thrush (building a nest) Kalahari Scrub-Robin and Crimson-breasted Shrike were the some of the specials seen at Mata-Mata. In excess of 20 Giraffe were seen on the Mata-Mata road, did not know there were so many in the park. Lion, Leopard (+ cubs in the same section of the Auob River as we saw them mating in March) and Cheetah (with 2 adolescent cubs near Samevloeing) were performing well and seen fairly often by the visitors as were Meercat, Slender and Yellow Mongoose, Brown and Spotted Hyenas and most antelope.

Kalahari Guest House produced Sclater’s Larks on a road nearby where 2 adults were feeding 2 nearly fully grown chicks. Always great to see these larks in there natural habitat and not have to wait at a “waterhole trap”. We birded along this lonely dirt road close to the GH where you can just stop and bird watch without traffic speeding past to get to the Kalahari before the gate closes! A large flock of European Bee-eaters flew over on there way to Cape Town? The eye striped Fiscal Shrikes were often seen thought the trip as were Black-throated Canary, Scaly-feathered Finches and Northern Black Korhaan. Also did a pentad here.

Augrabies Nat Park did not have much water but it was good to see that they are upgrading the Chalets. A drive in the Park produced Pygmy Falcon, Bradfield’s and Karoo Long-billed Lark. In the camp Red-eyed Bulbul, Brubru, Pririt Batis, Dusky Sunbird, Namaqua Warbler, A dark not pale phase Booted Eagle made an appearance for a change to challenge the Black Eagles in the gorge. I wonder if the Booted breed there? Palm Swifts were roosting in the palm tree at the main office and many Greater-striped Swallows and Martins were flying in the gorge, but no Europeans Swallows yet!

We did however see 2 more Sclater’s at the Pofadder water tank. Red Larks were co-operating with us at the Aggenys Koa Dunes (plains form also well seen at Brandvlei) as were Karoo Long-billed and Fawn-coloured Larks. A lone Bokmakierie called from the Koa Dunes which seemed a bit out of place, but then birds will fly!

Klein Pella produced Orange-river White-eye, Starks, Karoo Long-billed and Bradfield’s Larks as well as many Swallow-tailed Bee-eaters but no Rosy-faced Lovebirds this time. Starks Larks we also saw next to the road from Klein Pella Guest House to the tar road. Did the smallest pentad on the SA map! The one next to the Orange River which was about the size of a rugby field. Still need to work out my notes and process it!

Port Nolloth area was still a spectacle of flowers but the best are now setting seed which meant that many seedeaters were very busy. Flowers means bugs and worms and Large-billed, Karoo, Cape Long-billed and Barlow’s Larks were very active even in the late afternoon as were the Lanner Falcons, Pale Chanting Goshawks, Greater and Rock Kestrels and Jackal Buzzards.

We called on Goegap reserve in the morning and drove the 16 k circular drive which produced some great forms of Mountain Wheatears and many Ant-eating Chats and Rufous-eared Warblers. Cinnamon-breasted Warbler came out when called and we had great views but a Smith’s Red Rock Rabbit caught our eye so we left the Warbler to sing on his own from his perch on the rock! Damara Canaries were everywhere eating daisy seeds and also saw a small group of Karoo Eremomelas feeding amongst the rocks which I found very strange as they normally frequent short shrubs on flat ground. Never know it all when it comes to birds!

Brian Vanderwalt

Brians Birding Tours