Southern African Birds (1 Viewer)

Hello, everybody.

Since there is no forum for Botswana, and precious little action on Zimbabwe's site, I would like to start a thread for birds in Southern Africa. This I am defining geographically as the area south of the Cunene and Zambezi Rivers, incorporating Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland.

Just to kick the whole thing off, I must tell you that at dusk, about twenty minutes ago, as I was lying flat on my back in the garden staring at the sky, a beautiful freckled nightjar flew slowly over me, calling as it went. Although I had heard them calling before, this was the first confirmed sighting, so I am delighted. This took place about 40 km west of Johannesburg. The list for the garden is now between 60 and 70 species.

So here we go, and I would invite anybody with relevant information or pertinent questions to join in, and help place Southern Africa on the world birding map.

Thank you,

Dave Kennedy

Dave,
Spent a little time in Hoedspruit a while back. I be visiting the thread to see what you come up with...

Best wishes, Matt

PS:
Favorite spotting was the Lilac Breasted Roller (found them at the edge of a wildfire picking off the bugs)
And the Horn Bills too I LOVE AFRICA...

Three birds, three countries

Zimbabwe - Brown-hooded Kingfisher, Matetsi Water Lodge, Victoria Falls.

South Africa - Red-chested Cuckoo, National Botanic Gardens, Johannesburg

Botswana - Magpie Shrike, Thamalakane River, Maun.

Dave Kennedy

Matt,

Hi, and thank you for your post. Watched rollers myself one day at a wildfire in Pilanesberg National Park, and to my astonishment, they were pouncing on mice fleeing the flames and swallowing them whole.

I will look for some hornbills for you ASAP. I think they're great too, and my wife wants a set of eyelashes as long as a hornbill's. Check out those lashes when I get the picture up.
Regards,
Dave

I also spotted the Brown Hooded while we were there, but the African Giant Kingfisher was spectacular. It's the size of a chicken... Amazing

Here's a bit of advice for your next visit to Africa. Don't go around saying I didn't warn you............

EVERY MORNING IN AFRICA, AN IMPALA WAKES UP. SHE KNOWS THAT SHE MUST RUN FASTER THAN THE LION, OR DIE.

EVERY MORNING IN AFRICA, A LION WAKES UP. HE KNOWS THAT HE MUST RUN FASTER THAN THE IMPALA, OR STARVE.

IN FACT, NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE, WHEN THE SUN COMES UP IN AFRICA YOU HAD BETTER START RUNNING!

Posted at Malelane Gate, Kruger National Park

I did my fair share of running while i was there. I was on a large game capture course with Parawild, Andre Pienaar, is the ower/ facilitator. I was mock charged by a female lion i may have gotten to close to. I was attempting to take a pic of her, when she charged. Needless to say i ended up with a photo of my feet.

Are you in Kruger now?

My first trip there we were about 200m in from the gate and off to the left we saw a white rhino running through a field in the distance. Spectacular!

Any idea where i can purchase a cheep ticket? say close to free? Thats whats keeping me in the states...

Cheers

Southern African Hornbills

Matt, thanks for your most recent post. You seem to have had a bit of fun and excitement while you were in South Africa. Despite what it felt like at the time, I suspect you had a a far better bush experience than the well-heeled clientele at the up-market safari lodges. I have always maintained that , before you are even allowed to go to a fancy lodge, you should have camped for at least three nights in the bush WITHOUT any facilities. THEN you may go to a fancy lodge should you so wish. But I don't think my idea would go down too well with the tourist industry!

While I was working as a geologist in East Africa I twice walked onto lion in the bush - once a lioness crouching in long grass, and the other time a lion on a wildebeest carcass which he had dragged into a clump of bushes, so I can appreciate how you felt during your lion encounter.

I am not in Kruger right now - I live about 40 km west of Johannesburg, but spend as much time as I can in Kruger, and in the wild areas of Botswana and Zimbabwe. I wish I COULD do something about the air fares, but money, or the lack of it, is always a difficulty. For what it's worth, there are travel bargains to be had on the Net, and here in Southern Africa you can still take part in what are called Participation Camping Safaris. You camp, help with cooking and the camp chores, and that keeps the cost down. You might not have the luxury of a fancy camp but hey, this is the bush, who needs it? And the game and bird viewing will be just as good - wild creatures are not snobbish, ha ha.

Anyway, here are your hornbills as promised. They are endearingly goofy birds, and always fascinating. Hope you like them.

Dave

Thanks for the Pics and the info. I know i'll be back, soon enough. By the way you won't catch me at any high end place. We camped in tents most of the time. I agree with you about the lodging. Hearing the lions roaring all night long, the "strange" sounds in the night, and the open stars around the camp fire are some of my favorite memories.

Well I'm out to enjoy Missouri's wildlife, stream surveys for work for the next week. Have a Milk Stout for me and if you can get at shot of the southern cross I might just show up at your door step...

Cheers, and have a great weeked

Thanks Matt - I'll be away for 4 weeks from 11th Sept., down in Cape Province where hopefully I'll find some great birds. Just have to hope that others will post to the site while I'm away.
Enjoy whatever you've got running about in Missouri.

See you in about 5 weeks

Hello Dave

Just to let you know that I have enjoyed reading this thread. I have visited South Africa a couple of times, the last time being nearly a year ago.

At the start of that trip I managed to spend a couple of hours at Suikerbosrand nature reserve, about half an hour to the south of Johannesburg. As you hail from the highveld, this may be somewhere you have visited before?

As I had only been in the country for a few hours after an overnight flight from Manchester (via Zurich), I didn't have that much time (or energy!) to explore the tourist route in the reserve, as I was on my way to Wakkerstroom. But I did spend time birding around the road into the reserve and also around the office buildings and picnic site.

I remember the Long-Tailed Widowbirds looking resplendent, and it was worth stopping to see the Red-Eyed Bulbuls, as it was the only place on my trip where I saw them. I seem to remember leaving Suikerbosrand due to the build up of what was to become an almightly thunderstorm. I have never seen rain like it, not even in cold, grey, wet England!

During that trip I visited Wakkerstroom and various sites in Zululand, namely Ithala, Mkhuze, St. Lucia and the Dlinza Forest in Eshowe.

A most enjoyable trip! And I hope your trip to the Cape is successful too!

Richard

Hi Dave,
I like your idea for this thread especially seeing that I am going to SA, Zambia, Namibia & Botswana in March 2008.

regards
Merlin

Hi dave,
Great idea for a thread.
I have fallen in love with southern africa after visiting on numerous occasions and after spending a year working at a animal and bird rehab have now taken the almighty plunge of emigrating to South africa. Will be arriving in jan/feb 08 to the waterberg limpopo area.
The birding in southern africa is just undescribeable, the effort put into promoting birding is excellent. No matter where you are in the country you are surrounded by beautiful birds. How can anyone not fall in love with the gentle chortle of the laughing dove, or the comic call of the grey go away bird.
I can highly recommend epupa falls on the cunene river, boarder of namib and angola. The drive in is rugged but overwhelmingly beautiful Kaokoland scenery. Should find:
monteiro's hornbill
southern violet woodhoope
bare cheeked and blackfaced babbler
herero chat
rosyfaced lovebird
meyer's parrot
to mention but a few. The campsite on the side of the river is basic but great. The falls are impressive with baobabs growing out the side of the walls. They are a jewel like green swathe set in a rich dry red landscape.
Could ramble on forever over my favourite spots...
Can't wait to get back. Hope to meet up with fellow birders in Limpopo!
Lulie

Hi there,

Just wanted to add links to the two websites which I am involved in which have a strong Southern African flavour:

www.zestforbirds.co.za
A lot of info on Southern African birding including downloadable checklists, lists of all the top listers in the region, all the latest rarity photographs and various other bits and pieces.

www.hardaker.co.za
Just a collection of my own photos of birds, mammals, reptiles, frogs and dragon- and damselflies with a mainly Southern African focus although there are images from other parts of the world as well.

Hope you find some of this even partly interesting.

Kind Regards
Trevor

Wow Trevor,
Your sites are wonderful. Thanks for posting them. I shall browse them extensively.
I cannot wait to get to South Africa and immerse myself in the birding world.

Lulie

Also have a look at:

Simply Birding

Well, here I am, back again for a while at least. My thanks to Richard, Merlin, Lulie, Trevor and Chris for your comments. There is no doubt that Southern Africa is a terrific birding venue, and I for one am thrilled that Lulie has decided to emigrate to South Africa. Please keep in touch, Lulie, once you are here - you will be able to contribute significantly to a forum such as this.
Thank you Trevor , for the websites - the more info we have to hand, the better.
Merlin, keep in touch regarding your 2008 trip. No doubt some of us here can point you in the right direction for the best birding.
Richard, your trip was extensive, and hopefully yielded many good sightings. Grab some of your friends and come back again. We'd be delighted to see you!
I will shortly post a series of notes about my recent holiday to the Western Cape, with pictures of the birds, of course. I will probably be visiting northern Kwa-Zulu Natal next month, so with luck I can maybe find some interesting birds there too.

Thank you all,
Dave Kennedy

Cape Holiday 1

OK, here we go, with some of the birds encountred on my recent trip to the Southern Cape. Although many of the photos were taken during the recent trip, I will be including pics from previous trips to give you a better cross-section of birds of the area.

For anyone who is interested, get your atlas out and take a look at South Africa. My route led from Johannesburg south to Bloemfontein in the Free State, thence down the Cape Town highway across the Orange River. At Colesberg, the first town after the Orange River crossing, I turned left on the road through Noupoort and Middelburg to Graaf Reinet, a beautiful small town in the Karoo region of South Africa. From Graaf Reinet the road struck out across the Plains of Camdeboo past Aberdeen, Willowmore and Uniondale, and finally up and over the Cape Fold Mountains and the precipitous Outeniqua Pass to George and the sea. George lies on the famous Garden Route along the Southern Cape coast, and from there I turned eastwards through the pretty and expensive village of Wilderness to Sedgefield, which would be our base for the holiday.
All birding once we arrived at the coast was done between George and a point 30 km or so east of Plettenberg Bay.
Right, now you have the geography sorted out, the distance from Jo'burg to Sedgefield is between 1200 and 1300 km, a bit too far to drive comfortably in one day. Because of this, we overnight at farms in the Karoo and Free State, on the way down about 26 km before Graaf Reinet, and on the way back at Springfontein, a little way north of the Orange River in the Free State.
The first birds that I will show you are some encountred in transit from Jo'burg to the coast.

First picture is a Red-eyed Bulbul, one of a trio of similar birds. The other members of the trio are the Cape Bulbul, with a white eye-ring, and the Dark-capped (Black-eyed) Bulbul, with a dark eye-ring blending with the dark color of its face. These little birds look so similar, and their habits are virtually the same, so it is surprising to find that their distribution is close to exclusive, the three distributions fitting like jigsaw puzzle pieces on the map of South Africa. The Red-eyed Bulbul favours drier regions.
The second picture shows a Red-winged Starling, a large, widespread starling with a soft pleasant whistle. These two birds were photographed at Springfontein.

Third picture shows a very fine male Wattled Starling, in full breeding plumage. Wattled starlings are not uncommon, but are very nomadic, and you never know where they're going to turn up next. They favour grassland and open woodland, and can occur in large flocks. This one was strolling across the forecourt of a filling station in Colesberg, which confirms that one should have binoculars and camera to hand at all times.

In the fourth photograph a fine flock of Blue Cranes, South Africa's national bird, are wandering across typical Karoo scrub on the upland plateau between the Lootsberg Mountains south of Middelburg and Graaf Reinet. In all the thirty years or so that we have traversed this road we have failed to find the cranes only once, so they really must like this dry, open area.

The final photograph shows a male Sentinel Rock Thrush, a pretty thrush which typically occurs in mountainous and rocky terrain. This picture was taken at the foot of the Lootsberg, no more that 5 km or so from where the cranes were photographed.

In the next post we'll begin with the birds living along South Africa's southern coast.

Best wishes,
Dave Kennedy

Hi Dave,
Your report has got me longing for Africa. Its not just the wonderful birds that are always so obligeing down there, its the open spaces just waiting to be explored. Birding is so much more than list ticking when driving those long endless roads. Birding in Southern Africa is such a rounded experience that takes in all nature, from birds and mammals to the richly ever changeing landscapes.
Its good to read a report that isn't all based inside a game reserve. Although South Africa's reserves are amazeing, there is so much of merit outside them too.
The photo's are lovely. Thanks

Cape Holiday 2

Our holiday cottage in Sedgefield is beautifully situated high above the Swartvlei Estuary. To the left lies the estuary mouth and the Indian Ocean. To the right is Swartvlei Lagoon and the village. The coastal dunes are thickly forested, which means that, sitting on the verandah, you might spot a Caspian Tern, a Half-collared Kingfisher, a fishing Osprey, or a Knysna Woodpecker.

The variety of habitats in the area contributes to the variety of birds on offer. These habitats include the Outeniqua Mountains, fynbos, temperate rain forest, pastoral farmland, brackish lagoons, reed-beds, mud-flats, rivers and riverine vegetation, rocky shores and sandy shores. I have never found out precisely why, but the birds and creatures of South Africa's Garden Route are astonishingly laid back when it comes to interaction with humans. I have had as many as five different species take food from my hand - and remember, these are wild birds, living freely. People and birds just seem to get on well. It is common for us to come through to the living room in the cottage to find a pair of guinea fowl parking off on the carpet, or a Southern Boubou sitting on the back of a chair. Whatever the reason, it is quite wonderful, and we never tire of our feathered Sedgefield friends. The birds are often joined in the garden by small grey mongoose and a variety of striped mice.

The first three pictures today convey something of this special relationship. Gives you an idea of the problems faced while birdwatching! And by the way - no cheap cracks about my World War II vintage telescope. It cost me nothing, it out-magnifies many costly modern scopes, and I love it dearly.

The birds, reading from left to right, are a female Cape Weaver, a Fork-tailed Drongo, and a Southern Boubou.
The final two photos give you some idea of the outlook, first of all towards the sea, and then inland towards the village. In the distance beyond the village you can see the Outeniqua Mountains. Between these mountains and the sea lie forest, fynbos, farmland, brackish lakes and forested dunes (clearly visible in the last two pics).

Best wishes,
Dave Kennedy