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Southern African Forum (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Dave Kennedy
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Dryocopus
Was Eagle before...still am in life!
Still sorting out the photo's tink it will be a while!
But I am quite pleased with this photo, unfortunately only half of the original photo was recovered but I have cropped what was there and this is the result.
Its a Grey-winged Francolin seen in Lesotho on the 11th November.
But I am quite pleased with this photo, unfortunately only half of the original photo was recovered but I have cropped what was there and this is the result.
Its a Grey-winged Francolin seen in Lesotho on the 11th November.
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Dave Kennedy
Well-known member
kittykat23uk
Well-known member
Wow that list is surprisingly similar to mine! Bet you are please with all those birds! 
Dave Kennedy
Well-known member
Wow that list is surprisingly similar to mine! Bet you are please with all those birds!
Hi, Jo,
Forgot to mention it, but last Monday I was out at night in the Delta looking for owls. The owls proved tough, but we found a beautiful lady leopard parking off on a termite mound, as relaxed as you please. That's how most of these sightings occur....sheer chance. So you did well with all your leopards.
Best wishes,
Dave
kittykat23uk
Well-known member
Great stuff! :t:
Dryocopus
Was Eagle before...still am in life!
I am struggling to work through my photos - not complaining really - still glad i have them!
So blog is not really being updated yet!
So I thought I would post a few photo's here
Whoops Barbet and Grey-headed Gull need to be changed!
So blog is not really being updated yet!
So I thought I would post a few photo's here
Whoops Barbet and Grey-headed Gull need to be changed!
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Sal
Well-known member
Dryocopus thanks for posting the pics, hope there are more to come! I'm so glad you have got them back. The Cape Glossy Starling is beautiful- it is not always easy to capture that irridescence; and I love the Crested Barbet! I was also interested in the Grey-winged Francolin - a bird I have yet to see for some reason. Amazing juxtaposition of gulls and crocs! I also liked the Yellow-billed Hornbill - a slightly different angle from the usual pic.
I know this questions is a bit (!) late, but I am leaving on Saturday Dec. 6th for South Africa. I will be staying in Nelspruit (at Tomjachu Bush Lodge with no internet or cell phone coverage). On the 14th I will be venturing off in my 1990 Opel Kadett for 4 nights at Phinda.
Any advice on what roads to take? I tried the R40 to Swaziland last summer only to discover that it became a one-lane dirt track. So I'm thinking I should stay in South Africa.
I don't think I can make the trip all in one day unless I miss a game drive. So I'm thinking of staying over around Piet Retief, unless someone has some other advice.
Also, Kaapsehoop seems to be quite close to Nelspruit. Worth a visit?
Thanks, you wonderful birders!
Candace
Any advice on what roads to take? I tried the R40 to Swaziland last summer only to discover that it became a one-lane dirt track. So I'm thinking I should stay in South Africa.
I don't think I can make the trip all in one day unless I miss a game drive. So I'm thinking of staying over around Piet Retief, unless someone has some other advice.
Also, Kaapsehoop seems to be quite close to Nelspruit. Worth a visit?
Thanks, you wonderful birders!
Candace
Dryocopus
Was Eagle before...still am in life!
Thanks Sal.
The Grey-winged Francolin (in Lesotho) were called in by Stuart the local bird guide - one came really close to the 4x4. Apparently they can be quite elusive.
That Crested Barbet was a character!
I took a photo of the GHG and then noticed the crocs! They were so still like logs! Its the eyes that give them away!
I became quite attached to the Hornbills.
Another pic of the same Cape Glossy Starling.
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Sal
Well-known member
Hi Candace
Whilst in Nelspruit, visit the local Botanical Gardens if you can. They have a wide variety of plants varying from the Northern slope succulents to a rainforest (artificially rained upon, but lovely to walk through on a boardwalk alongside the Crocodile river), and because of this there is a prolific birdlife. Kaapsehoop is definitely worth a visit. As Alan says it is home to a small number of Blue Swallows. It is possible to book a guide to take you because they are not easily found; your lodge could probably advise you on this. The scenery up there is beautiful and if you walk to the edge you look right over the escarpment towards Swaziland. of course there are other birds to see as well as the Blue Swallow such as Stone Chats, Mocking Chats, Rock Thrushes, Sunbirds, Buff-streaked Chat and so on. The road is steep but well-surfaced, you will have no problem getting up there. When you reach the little village of Kaapsehoop, you turn off left but as you do so, bear in mind that the walk is on your right a short way down this road.
Regarding the best route to take to Phinda, I would say leave Nelspruit on the R40 and travel towards Barberton for about 36km. Then before Barberton take the R38 on RHS towards Badplaas. You go up an escarpment and down the other side into a valley. There is a road to the left as you approach a settlement which is the R541 towards Oshhoek. Take this. At a T juction youwill come to the N11. Turn right onto it and after about 25km turn left onto the R33 going towards Amsterdam. Stay on this road till Piet Retief. At Piet Retief get onto the N2 (turn left) and keep going to Mkuze. I am not sure of the directions from here, but Phinda is close to Mkuze so there are bound to be sign boards. This is a journey of under 400km so I don't think you need stay overnight provided that you start early in the morning. Only stop and ask directions (if needed) at places like garages.
I have phone Phinda and they are going to fax me some instructions, but I dont know when they wil arrive and time is short! If you want me to email them to you if and when they arrive, PM me with your email address.
Have a wonderful time!
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Sal
Well-known member
Oh; have just read your post again and realise that you are concerned about missing a game drive at Tomjachu Bush Lodge, not at Phinda, so that would mean that you cannot leave early. Well I don't know anything about accommodation in Piet Retief but here is the URL for the AA travel guide, which on this page gives info about accommodation there:
http://aatravel.co.za/staticnew/towns/piet_retief.html
http://aatravel.co.za/staticnew/towns/piet_retief.html
Sal
Well-known member
Weekend in the Drakensberg at Royal Natal National Park
We drove up to the Berg via the N3 from Pietermaritzburg on a cloudy Friday afternoon. Once we reached the Winterton area which is fairly high grassland and a lot of farm land, large flocks of Euplectes spp, feeding on the rich variety of seeded plants along the verge of the road, did kamikaze aerobatics in front of us as we drove along. They included masses of Southern Red Bishops and their drab little wives; a few Yellow-crowned Bishops and lots of Long-tailed and Fan-tailed Widowbirds. Here and there were small flocks of Pied Starlings which we don’t see in Pietermaritzburg. As we got closer to the Berg the sun came out and we stopped to take pictures of the view. Since one happens to have a bird in it, I’ll post it here so that if you have not been to the Berg before, you will know what to expect! Looking behind us we saw huge boiling storm clouds spot-lit by the sun so we were not sure what the evening would bring.
(To get to Royal Natal National Park you take the Winterton Bergville ramp off the N3 and turn left at the top and just keep going until you get to Winterton. On the outskirts of the town there is nearly always a large truck parked under the trees on the left. Here you can buy delicious Swazi butter avos, mangoes, pineapple, lychees – whatever is in season – for a reasonable price and I have never had a dud yet. Once you get through Winterton, take the right fork to Bergville. Keep an eye open for a sort of farm stall on the right a few km out of Winterton – sells lovely trout amongst other things. Once through Bergville keep going until you cross a man made cement flume which carries water from a storage dam which is part of the the Drakensberg Pumped Storage Scheme. This water from KZN is pumped some 470 metres up the escarpment to be stored in another dam at the top and eventually supplies the Gauteng industries. After the flume keep a lookout for a large brown board that says uKhahlamba Drakensnberg Heritage Site. Take the road to the left just after this and keep going towards the mountains until you get to the gate of the park.)
Once in the park, driving along the edge of the river Tugela grassland we saw more flocks of Euplectes, including Red-collared Widowbirds. Intermingled with all these were Pin-tailed Whydahs and overhead various swallows and martins were swooping and gliding. (We were heading for the Thendele camp which is all chalets, but you can also camp here in the Mahai or Rugged Glen Campsites if you prefer.)
Our chalet was high up at the back of the camp with a great view of the entire Amphitheatre. Behind us was grassland dotted with Protea trees which graded into forest and in front several small trees and a tangle of scrub which would be great for birds. We sat on the verandah with sundowners and watched Malachite Sunbirds feed from the proteas and Pintailed Whydahs forage through the litter and the grasses for seeds. A confusion of Helmeted Guineafowl came skittering past us as the sun disappeared and a couple of Southern Grey-headed Sparrows came to twitter to each other as they perched in the nearest tree. Greater-striped Swallows alighted briefly on the tips of the bare black branches of a Protea and Red–chested Cuckoos called repeatedly from the forest behind us. These birds, although prolific were an absolute pain because I looked and looked for them – even standing under a tree from which one was calling for about fifteen minutes - and only on the day we were leaving did I see one!
The next morning we got up early. Outside on the chimney cowl I found a Cape Rock-Thrush, and perched in a protea was a Fiscal Flycatcher who was joined by his mate. Speckled Mousebirds were flying from tree to bush to tree and Greater-striped Swallows wheeled overhead. The ubiquitous Dark-capped Bulbuls called and spatted and flew and called some more.There were several Familiar Chats hopping around and giving that typical wing-flick, and one of them was feeding a fledgling. They retreated under the car as I came a bit closer and in fact we noticed that the Familiar Chats spent quite a bit of time under the car or alongside it and we saw them jumping up and snatching road-kill off the paintwork! One of them presented us with a bit of theatre when it caught a particularly huge insect for breakfast and had a major problem getting it down. The insect eventually disappeared but the bird was a bit incommoded and looked puffy and uncomfortable for a while before it flew off!
We had decided to do the walk along the contour path to Tiger Falls, so we packed up lunch and plenty to drink, signed the mountain register and set off. The vegetation is a mix of grasses, bracken, proteas and, in the gullies, tree ferns or indigenous forest so the bird life is quite varied. As we walked through the camp we came across Cape Wagtails, Olive Thrush, Cape Robin-Chats and Red –winged Starlings; then at a small hole in the concrete road through the camp we saw Greater-striped Swallows congregating. It turned out that, one at a time (it was too small for more), a swallow would tip down into the hole so that less than half its body was visible, and come up with a beakful of mud! It was difficult to tear ourselves away from their industry and ingenuity.
Once on the Tiger Falls path, Drakensberg Prinias, Dark-capped Bulbuls, Malachite Sunbirds, Greater Double-collared Sunbirds, Neddickys, African Stonechats, Yellow-fronted Canaries and African Pipits abounded. At the falls, which are enrobed by indigenous forest the cicadas were so loud that we couldn’t hear a single bird and, having finished our lunch by ten o’clock, we decided to go back because we were being deafened by the noise! We added Yellow-billed Kite, Cape Crow, Cape Turtle Dove, Cape Grassbird and Red-eyed Dove to our list on the way back.
By now it was very hot so we put our loungers on the verandah where we had a magnificent view of the Amphitheatre and spent the afternoon dozing and watching birds. The Familiar Chats were still around as were the Southern grey-headed Sparrows, and Greater Striped Swallows were building a nest under our eaves so they swooped in and out with mud-filled beaks. A Chorister Robin-Chat flew in – such a handsome bird – followed by a fledgling, all spotty, who fluttered and begged for food continuously whilst the adult ran back and forth pushing furry-winged moths and flies and other delicacies into its ever-open mouth. A Golden-breated Bunting foraged in the grasses. Cape Robin-Chats were constant visitors as were Cape Wagtails, Cape White-eyes, Olive Thrushes and Fork-tailed Drongos. ( Ye, I know, lot of Capes aren’t there?)The sunbirds were still around and we were visited frequently by weavers – Cape Weavers, Spectacled Weavers and Southern Masked Weavers. They were busy building nests in the trees below us and kept coming up to collect long pieces of grass, nipping them off efficiently at the base, then flying back with long pennants streaming behind them. Once a Diederick’s Cuckoo flew in to the little tree next to me and skulked quietly amongst the foliage. As we collected sundowners, a couple of noisy Hadedas flew across the trees and something I couldn’t identify called monotonously from the forest behind.
On Sunday we again got up early and took tea onto the verandah. There we witnessed the funniest thing. An Olive Thrush caught a rather large worm and closed its beak over the middle of the worm, whereupon the worm wrapped both ends round the entire beak and the Olive Thrush couldn’t open it to feed, kill or anything else! I’m sure it looked embarrassed. It hopped and skittered desultorily around jerking its head and eventually got the worm under some sort of control and flew off with it; probably determined to eat it in private! We then packed up lunch and took ourselves off to the Cascades. On the way we saw Red-throated Wryneck in the Protea trees. The road took us past the trout dam so we stopped to have a quick look around. This, incidentally, is where I stood beneath a tree containing a Red-chested Cuckoo, for fifteen minutes without spotting it! Is that possible? We found White-breasted Cormorant, Little Grebe, Brown-hooded Kingfisher, Black-collared Barbet, Groundscraper Thrush ,Malachite Kingfisher, Black-headed Heron and Green Wood-Hoopoe here as well as many birds we had already seen. There was a Rock Kestrel sitting on the telephone line and several Cape Glossy Starlings in the trees round the dam.
To get to the Cascades you have to park and then walk. Recently a new walk has been built that takes you along the edge of the stream under the Oudehout trees (South African Oldwood, Leucosidea sericea). It is very pretty and gives welcome shade, and it’s also a good place to look for birds. Unfortunately because we had another end in view, we didn’t stop long here, or I’m sure we would have seen more, but it was very hot and we wanted to go swimming! Still, we added Southern Boubou, Puffback Shrike, Spotted Flycatcher, African Dusky Flycatcher, Neddicky, Yellow-billed Kite, Cape Turtle Dove and Black Crow to our list. Whilst we were swimming in water that felt as though it was a vast vat of melting ice cubes, we saw White-necked Ravens flying overhead.
Back at the chalet we had another lazy afternoon and the next morning packed up and came home, picking up, as we left the park, Jackal Buzzards perched on the telephone poles and Common Waxbills in the grassland.
We drove up to the Berg via the N3 from Pietermaritzburg on a cloudy Friday afternoon. Once we reached the Winterton area which is fairly high grassland and a lot of farm land, large flocks of Euplectes spp, feeding on the rich variety of seeded plants along the verge of the road, did kamikaze aerobatics in front of us as we drove along. They included masses of Southern Red Bishops and their drab little wives; a few Yellow-crowned Bishops and lots of Long-tailed and Fan-tailed Widowbirds. Here and there were small flocks of Pied Starlings which we don’t see in Pietermaritzburg. As we got closer to the Berg the sun came out and we stopped to take pictures of the view. Since one happens to have a bird in it, I’ll post it here so that if you have not been to the Berg before, you will know what to expect! Looking behind us we saw huge boiling storm clouds spot-lit by the sun so we were not sure what the evening would bring.
(To get to Royal Natal National Park you take the Winterton Bergville ramp off the N3 and turn left at the top and just keep going until you get to Winterton. On the outskirts of the town there is nearly always a large truck parked under the trees on the left. Here you can buy delicious Swazi butter avos, mangoes, pineapple, lychees – whatever is in season – for a reasonable price and I have never had a dud yet. Once you get through Winterton, take the right fork to Bergville. Keep an eye open for a sort of farm stall on the right a few km out of Winterton – sells lovely trout amongst other things. Once through Bergville keep going until you cross a man made cement flume which carries water from a storage dam which is part of the the Drakensberg Pumped Storage Scheme. This water from KZN is pumped some 470 metres up the escarpment to be stored in another dam at the top and eventually supplies the Gauteng industries. After the flume keep a lookout for a large brown board that says uKhahlamba Drakensnberg Heritage Site. Take the road to the left just after this and keep going towards the mountains until you get to the gate of the park.)
Once in the park, driving along the edge of the river Tugela grassland we saw more flocks of Euplectes, including Red-collared Widowbirds. Intermingled with all these were Pin-tailed Whydahs and overhead various swallows and martins were swooping and gliding. (We were heading for the Thendele camp which is all chalets, but you can also camp here in the Mahai or Rugged Glen Campsites if you prefer.)
Our chalet was high up at the back of the camp with a great view of the entire Amphitheatre. Behind us was grassland dotted with Protea trees which graded into forest and in front several small trees and a tangle of scrub which would be great for birds. We sat on the verandah with sundowners and watched Malachite Sunbirds feed from the proteas and Pintailed Whydahs forage through the litter and the grasses for seeds. A confusion of Helmeted Guineafowl came skittering past us as the sun disappeared and a couple of Southern Grey-headed Sparrows came to twitter to each other as they perched in the nearest tree. Greater-striped Swallows alighted briefly on the tips of the bare black branches of a Protea and Red–chested Cuckoos called repeatedly from the forest behind us. These birds, although prolific were an absolute pain because I looked and looked for them – even standing under a tree from which one was calling for about fifteen minutes - and only on the day we were leaving did I see one!
The next morning we got up early. Outside on the chimney cowl I found a Cape Rock-Thrush, and perched in a protea was a Fiscal Flycatcher who was joined by his mate. Speckled Mousebirds were flying from tree to bush to tree and Greater-striped Swallows wheeled overhead. The ubiquitous Dark-capped Bulbuls called and spatted and flew and called some more.There were several Familiar Chats hopping around and giving that typical wing-flick, and one of them was feeding a fledgling. They retreated under the car as I came a bit closer and in fact we noticed that the Familiar Chats spent quite a bit of time under the car or alongside it and we saw them jumping up and snatching road-kill off the paintwork! One of them presented us with a bit of theatre when it caught a particularly huge insect for breakfast and had a major problem getting it down. The insect eventually disappeared but the bird was a bit incommoded and looked puffy and uncomfortable for a while before it flew off!
We had decided to do the walk along the contour path to Tiger Falls, so we packed up lunch and plenty to drink, signed the mountain register and set off. The vegetation is a mix of grasses, bracken, proteas and, in the gullies, tree ferns or indigenous forest so the bird life is quite varied. As we walked through the camp we came across Cape Wagtails, Olive Thrush, Cape Robin-Chats and Red –winged Starlings; then at a small hole in the concrete road through the camp we saw Greater-striped Swallows congregating. It turned out that, one at a time (it was too small for more), a swallow would tip down into the hole so that less than half its body was visible, and come up with a beakful of mud! It was difficult to tear ourselves away from their industry and ingenuity.
Once on the Tiger Falls path, Drakensberg Prinias, Dark-capped Bulbuls, Malachite Sunbirds, Greater Double-collared Sunbirds, Neddickys, African Stonechats, Yellow-fronted Canaries and African Pipits abounded. At the falls, which are enrobed by indigenous forest the cicadas were so loud that we couldn’t hear a single bird and, having finished our lunch by ten o’clock, we decided to go back because we were being deafened by the noise! We added Yellow-billed Kite, Cape Crow, Cape Turtle Dove, Cape Grassbird and Red-eyed Dove to our list on the way back.
By now it was very hot so we put our loungers on the verandah where we had a magnificent view of the Amphitheatre and spent the afternoon dozing and watching birds. The Familiar Chats were still around as were the Southern grey-headed Sparrows, and Greater Striped Swallows were building a nest under our eaves so they swooped in and out with mud-filled beaks. A Chorister Robin-Chat flew in – such a handsome bird – followed by a fledgling, all spotty, who fluttered and begged for food continuously whilst the adult ran back and forth pushing furry-winged moths and flies and other delicacies into its ever-open mouth. A Golden-breated Bunting foraged in the grasses. Cape Robin-Chats were constant visitors as were Cape Wagtails, Cape White-eyes, Olive Thrushes and Fork-tailed Drongos. ( Ye, I know, lot of Capes aren’t there?)The sunbirds were still around and we were visited frequently by weavers – Cape Weavers, Spectacled Weavers and Southern Masked Weavers. They were busy building nests in the trees below us and kept coming up to collect long pieces of grass, nipping them off efficiently at the base, then flying back with long pennants streaming behind them. Once a Diederick’s Cuckoo flew in to the little tree next to me and skulked quietly amongst the foliage. As we collected sundowners, a couple of noisy Hadedas flew across the trees and something I couldn’t identify called monotonously from the forest behind.
On Sunday we again got up early and took tea onto the verandah. There we witnessed the funniest thing. An Olive Thrush caught a rather large worm and closed its beak over the middle of the worm, whereupon the worm wrapped both ends round the entire beak and the Olive Thrush couldn’t open it to feed, kill or anything else! I’m sure it looked embarrassed. It hopped and skittered desultorily around jerking its head and eventually got the worm under some sort of control and flew off with it; probably determined to eat it in private! We then packed up lunch and took ourselves off to the Cascades. On the way we saw Red-throated Wryneck in the Protea trees. The road took us past the trout dam so we stopped to have a quick look around. This, incidentally, is where I stood beneath a tree containing a Red-chested Cuckoo, for fifteen minutes without spotting it! Is that possible? We found White-breasted Cormorant, Little Grebe, Brown-hooded Kingfisher, Black-collared Barbet, Groundscraper Thrush ,Malachite Kingfisher, Black-headed Heron and Green Wood-Hoopoe here as well as many birds we had already seen. There was a Rock Kestrel sitting on the telephone line and several Cape Glossy Starlings in the trees round the dam.
To get to the Cascades you have to park and then walk. Recently a new walk has been built that takes you along the edge of the stream under the Oudehout trees (South African Oldwood, Leucosidea sericea). It is very pretty and gives welcome shade, and it’s also a good place to look for birds. Unfortunately because we had another end in view, we didn’t stop long here, or I’m sure we would have seen more, but it was very hot and we wanted to go swimming! Still, we added Southern Boubou, Puffback Shrike, Spotted Flycatcher, African Dusky Flycatcher, Neddicky, Yellow-billed Kite, Cape Turtle Dove and Black Crow to our list. Whilst we were swimming in water that felt as though it was a vast vat of melting ice cubes, we saw White-necked Ravens flying overhead.
Back at the chalet we had another lazy afternoon and the next morning packed up and came home, picking up, as we left the park, Jackal Buzzards perched on the telephone poles and Common Waxbills in the grassland.
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Dryocopus
Was Eagle before...still am in life!
Just got back from a long morning meeting and saw your posts Sal.
I was wondering how you had got on in the Drakensburg Mts.
Already you have posted up your w/e!
Sounds great and the threatened weather obviously didn't occur. A great birthday w/e!
Here goes with the birding id....Cape Rock Thrush, Chorister Robin Chat, Southern Red Bishop and female(?) Malachite Sunbird.
Olive Thrush (LOL the clue was the worm LOL - sorry I actually knew that!)
Southern Masked Weaver and is it Spectacled Weaver (female?) its the only weaver with black line running through its eye? (i didn't see any Spectacled Weavers)
I loved the weavers such clever little nest builders.
Oh yes The Puffback Shrike - does it have another name? I saw a Blackbacked Puffback (that is a Shrike)
Red-chested Cuckoos seemed everywhere when we were in the Drakensburg
- funny how somebirds hide and other times are out there in your face...mind we did hear a lot of them on a couple of other days and didn't see them at all.
Thanks Sal it is so good to know(?) most of the birds that you are describing or naming! Well at least I have seen them and remember the name!
I was wondering how you had got on in the Drakensburg Mts.
Already you have posted up your w/e!
Sounds great and the threatened weather obviously didn't occur. A great birthday w/e!
Here goes with the birding id....Cape Rock Thrush, Chorister Robin Chat, Southern Red Bishop and female(?) Malachite Sunbird.
Olive Thrush (LOL the clue was the worm LOL - sorry I actually knew that!)
Southern Masked Weaver and is it Spectacled Weaver (female?) its the only weaver with black line running through its eye? (i didn't see any Spectacled Weavers)
I loved the weavers such clever little nest builders.
Oh yes The Puffback Shrike - does it have another name? I saw a Blackbacked Puffback (that is a Shrike)
Red-chested Cuckoos seemed everywhere when we were in the Drakensburg
- funny how somebirds hide and other times are out there in your face...mind we did hear a lot of them on a couple of other days and didn't see them at all.
Thanks Sal it is so good to know(?) most of the birds that you are describing or naming! Well at least I have seen them and remember the name!
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