Southern African Forum (1 Viewer)

Allan Hobbs · Dec 20, 2008

Sal said:
Well I'm not going anywhere either, and, with the temperatures around 37C and a killing humidity, I'm not sure I wouldn't rather be where you are at the moment Allan! For me, the added interest would be that of seeing different birds. Not that I could stay there for ever, I'd miss my Kruger trips too much! (Roll on 30th May next year!)The pintail is still very active and saw off three doves, two bulbuls, two Southern Red Bishops and a fleet of Bronze Mannikins all at once yesterday. I think it is partly to do with the speed and fluidity of its attack and partly the ferociously loud sounds it makes. it comes in like a screaming spear and sort of swivels round the feeder, long tail making it look twice the size -everything just scatters.
March, huh? Whats that - about 70 sleeps. You can do it!!

Thanks Sal,
The heat sounds good to me. We are currently having the coldest December for over 30 years - I think you would find it very difficult to adapt. The main problem with a British winter is the damp - it just gets into your bones. Also the days are very short and can be very dull and dark - I can go for several weeks without seeing the sun.

I just hope we can make it out in March. I also miss the Kruger. Perhaps one day we should all meet up in the Kruger for a braai and some bird-watching.

I would love to see the Pin-tailed Wydahs in action. They sound like real characters. Does anything stand up to them, and what happens then?

Allan

Sal · Dec 21, 2008

Allan Hobbs said:
Thanks Sal,
The heat sounds good to me. We are currently having the coldest December for over 30 years - I think you would find it very difficult to adapt. The main problem with a British winter is the damp - it just gets into your bones. Also the days are very short and can be very dull and dark - I can go for several weeks without seeing the sun.

I just hope we can make it out in March. I also miss the Kruger. Perhaps one day we should all meet up in the Kruger for a braai and some bird-watching.

I would love to see the Pin-tailed Wydahs in action. They sound like real characters. Does anything stand up to them, and what happens then?

Allan

I can take the cold, but I must say, the lack of sun and those short days would do me in unless I knew I was coming back!

Yes I hope you can make it in March, I know what its like to yearn for the next Kruger trip! Put it to yourself that you actually NEED it for health and sanity! Yes, a braai/birdwatching in Kruger on day would be great

Those Pin-tails . . . . the ridiculous thing is that when they are not in breeding plumage they are quiet inoffensive,mild-mannered drab little brown birds, almost indistinguishable from the females. Then suddenly they become these arrogant, aggressive, extremely noisy tyrants for a few glorious weeks! I would imagine that there are no seed-eaters that could stand up to them, I have yet to see anything get the better of them, but maybe someone else has? Would be interesting to hear about. They not only go for the seed-eaters, but any other birds in the vicinity, presumably seeing them as contesters for their territory.They even see off the Indian Mynahs which are extremely aggressive and peck viciously!

alan carr · Dec 22, 2008

Paid a "quick" visit to the Austin Robert's Bird Sanctuary this morning and spent much more time than I had intended. Found this guy there for the first time:

http://bigal-sa.smugmug.com/photos/440944747_iMA4M-L.jpg

After going through his/her preening routines for about half an hour, it jumped into the water and gave me the complete tenting show. I was enthralled as I have been wanting to get a pic of this since before pa fell of the bus:

http://bigal-sa.smugmug.com/photos/440950835_e3HfU-L.jpg

(I took well over three hundred pics!)

Martin Hobbs · Dec 22, 2008

Sal said:
I can take the cold, but I must say, the lack of sun and those short days would do me in unless I knew I was coming back!

Yes I hope you can make it in March, I know what its like to yearn for the next Kruger trip! Put it to yourself that you actually NEED it for health and sanity! Yes, a braai/birdwatching in Kruger on day would be great

Those Pin-tails . . . . the ridiculous thing is that when they are not in breeding plumage they are quiet inoffensive,mild-mannered drab little brown birds, almost indistinguishable from the females. Then suddenly they become these arrogant, aggressive, extremely noisy tyrants for a few glorious weeks! I would imagine that there are no seed-eaters that could stand up to them, I have yet to see anything get the better of them, but maybe someone else has? Would be interesting to hear about. They not only go for the seed-eaters, but any other birds in the vicinity, presumably seeing them as contesters for their territory.They even see off the Indian Mynahs which are extremely aggressive and peck viciously!

Hi Allan, Sal,
I was watching the Pintailed Whydah on the weekend and the one that wasn't intimidated by him...... my dog, who sat under the seed feeder and didn't move even though the Whydah kept swooping down towards her!!!
As for the birds, I haven't seen any bird that isn't scared off from the determined aggression of this little bird. I think the high pitched scream that accompanies the dive bombing technique adds to the terror of this small bird with the big attitude.
I have attached a picture of him on the floor under the seed feeder... you will notice he is alone....
I have just finished a large bird bath that I built in the middle of the grassy area (I cannot justify calling it a lawn as it is all veld grass) on Saturday. I filled it with water on the Sunday afternoon and the first visitor appeared late afternoon as the sun was setting. It was a Wattled Plover and it really seemed to enjoy the cool water on a hot (34c) afternoon.
The other bird that entertained me yesterday was the Southern Boubou. He was calling all morning from the Fever Trees and the Sweet Thorns next to the house. He is very loud when close up!

Sorry, I tried to upload the pics but it keeps failing, I think it is a problem with my IE7?

Martin

Dryocopus · Dec 22, 2008

alan carr said:
Paid a "quick" visit to the Austin Robert's Bird Sanctuary this morning and spent much more time than I had intended. Found this guy there for the first time:

http://bigal-sa.smugmug.com/photos/440944747_iMA4M-L.jpg

After going through his/her preening routines for about half an hour, it jumped into the water and gave me the complete tenting show. I was enthralled as I have been wanting to get a pic of this since before pa fell of the bus:

http://bigal-sa.smugmug.com/photos/440950835_e3HfU-L.jpg

(I took well over three hundred pics!)

Love the Black Heron(Egret) doing its umbrella!

Sal · Dec 22, 2008

alan carr said:
Paid a "quick" visit to the Austin Robert's Bird Sanctuary this morning and spent much more time than I had intended. Found this guy there for the first time:

http://bigal-sa.smugmug.com/photos/440944747_iMA4M-L.jpg

After going through his/her preening routines for about half an hour, it jumped into the water and gave me the complete tenting show. I was enthralled as I have been wanting to get a pic of this since before pa fell of the bus:

http://bigal-sa.smugmug.com/photos/440950835_e3HfU-L.jpg

(I took well over three hundred pics!)

Alan! Stunning!! Where is that sanctuary? One of the birds I have not yet seen. The pics are amazing.

Sal · Dec 22, 2008

Martin Hobbs said:
Hi Allan, Sal,
I was watching the Pintailed Whydah on the weekend and the one that wasn't intimidated by him...... my dog, who sat under the seed feeder and didn't move even though the Whydah kept swooping down towards her!!!
As for the birds, I haven't seen any bird that isn't scared off from the determined aggression of this little bird. I think the high pitched scream that accompanies the dive bombing technique adds to the terror of this small bird with the big attitude.
I have attached a picture of him on the floor under the seed feeder... you will notice he is alone....
I have just finished a large bird bath that I built in the middle of the grassy area (I cannot justify calling it a lawn as it is all veld grass) on Saturday. I filled it with water on the Sunday afternoon and the first visitor appeared late afternoon as the sun was setting. It was a Wattled Plover and it really seemed to enjoy the cool water on a hot (34c) afternoon.
The other bird that entertained me yesterday was the Southern Boubou. He was calling all morning from the Fever Trees and the Sweet Thorns next to the house. He is very loud when close up!

Sorry, I tried to upload the pics but it keeps failing, I think it is a problem with my IE7?

Martin

I'm amazed that a wattled plover just arrived at your birdbath like that! Is there some kind of wetland near you? How lucky you are. Sorry about the lack of picture. Can you upload on this site via tinypic? Maybe that would work?

lulie · Dec 22, 2008

My bird bath is occupied almost constantly by blue waxbills, jamesons firefinch and green winged pytilia's, so it was nice to see a streaky headed seed eater risk being seen next to these bright blobs of colour.
I have just this afternoon watched a pair of southern masked weavers choose an over hanging branch near the bath and after a lot of posturing the male started weaving. he managed to get a good ring of grass going in just an hour. meanwhile mrs weaver took it easy in the bath, cooling off.
Have also been kept entertained by a family of african hawk eagles. The fully fledged juv is flying around with the parents trying out all his moves. Watched them at dusk all roosting on a pylon.
What a great time of year this is with the bushveld looking green but by goodness its so much harder to see anything. I have spent many frustrated mins folling the movements of shaking branches trying to see the culprit just to find another dark capped bulbul. Still it keeps you on your toes and makes you listen harder to the calls.

Allan Hobbs · Dec 22, 2008

Martin Hobbs said:
Hi Allan, Sal,
I was watching the Pintailed Whydah on the weekend and the one that wasn't intimidated by him...... my dog, who sat under the seed feeder and didn't move even though the Whydah kept swooping down towards her!!!

Sorry, I tried to upload the pics but it keeps failing, I think it is a problem with my IE7?

Martin

Dog probably enjoyed the attention!

On the picture front there is a size limit both in terms of pixels and bytes for upload - have you resized it?

Allan

Sal · Dec 23, 2008

lulie said:
My bird bath is occupied almost constantly by blue waxbills, jamesons firefinch and green winged pytilia's, so it was nice to see a streaky headed seed eater risk being seen next to these bright blobs of colour.
I have just this afternoon watched a pair of southern masked weavers choose an over hanging branch near the bath and after a lot of posturing the male started weaving. he managed to get a good ring of grass going in just an hour. meanwhile mrs weaver took it easy in the bath, cooling off.
Have also been kept entertained by a family of african hawk eagles. The fully fledged juv is flying around with the parents trying out all his moves. Watched them at dusk all roosting on a pylon.
What a great time of year this is with the bushveld looking green but by goodness its so much harder to see anything. I have spent many frustrated mins folling the movements of shaking branches trying to see the culprit just to find another dark capped bulbul. Still it keeps you on your toes and makes you listen harder to the calls.

Your bird-bath must be quite a picture. I'm not so good at the calls, need to spend a lot more time listening to CDs! Great to be able to watch the African Hawk Eagles with Junior, I guess they must have nested on your reserve?

Martin Hobbs · Dec 23, 2008

Sal said:
I'm amazed that a wattled plover just arrived at your birdbath like that! Is there some kind of wetland near you? How lucky you are. Sorry about the lack of picture. Can you upload on this site via tinypic? Maybe that would work?

Hi Sal,
I will see what I can do with the pictures.
Each year we have a resident pair of Wattled Plovers in ours, or in next doors empty plot. We also have resident Crowned Plovers and occasionally Blacksmiths Plovers visiting, and of course the resident Spotted Dikkops (and no I am not going to get into the naming convention discussion again). It is great to see the chicks from all these Plovers each year. However, it makes driving in and out of the plot and up and down the panhandle a bit tricky sometimes as the poor little chicks don't know which way to run to avoid this big object coming towards them.

We have many vlei’s running through many of the plots, and these create wetland areas in the summer rainy season. About 1km east of us as the birds fly, we have where Alan was the other day when he took the stunning pictures of the Black Egret – Austin Roberts Bird Sanctuary.

I created the bird bath in the middle of the grassy area so all the small birds would feel safe and comfortable, to try and attract exactly the sort of birds that Lulie is seeing at her bird bath, all the different Finches, Firefinches and Waxbills. I am jealous of all the small birds that Lulie is seeing at her bird bath.

Martin Hobbs · Dec 23, 2008

alan carr said:
Paid a "quick" visit to the Austin Robert's Bird Sanctuary this morning and spent much more time than I had intended. Found this guy there for the first time:

http://bigal-sa.smugmug.com/photos/440944747_iMA4M-L.jpg

After going through his/her preening routines for about half an hour, it jumped into the water and gave me the complete tenting show. I was enthralled as I have been wanting to get a pic of this since before pa fell of the bus:

http://bigal-sa.smugmug.com/photos/440950835_e3HfU-L.jpg

(I took well over three hundred pics!)

Alan,
Stunning.
I live very close to Austin Roberts so I will take a walk up there with my camera and hopefully the Egret is still there.

Martin

Martin Hobbs · Dec 23, 2008

Allan Hobbs said:
Dog probably enjoyed the attention!

On the picture front there is a size limit both in terms of pixels and bytes for upload - have you resized it?

Allan

Allan,
I tried the resize from 680x510 to 600x500, and it works...thanks...I don't know what it will do for the picture quality which wasn't that good anyway, it was early evening and the sun was already down. They were also taken at maximum zoom on my camera. Anyway, at least I know now.

Martin

Sal · Dec 23, 2008

Ah, you see Martin its the words 'bird-bath' that fooled me. If you had said 'pond' I wouldn't have been surprised! I imagined this plover flying up to one of those little bird baths on a stand and I couldn't imagine why it was enjoying itself so much! What a lovely, natural-looking pond, the rocks around it look great, no wonder the plover made for it! Thanks for posting the pics, you must be thrilled that the water is already attracting various birds. the area you live is sounds great, and to have a bird sanctuary so close . . . .

Allan Hobbs · Dec 23, 2008

Martin Hobbs said:
Allan,
I tried the resize from 680x510 to 600x500, and it works...thanks...I don't know what it will do for the picture quality which wasn't that good anyway, it was early evening and the sun was already down. They were also taken at maximum zoom on my camera. Anyway, at least I know now.

Martin

:t:

Pond looks good. Keep us posted on what visitors you get.

Allan

alan carr · Dec 24, 2008

Dryocopus said:
Love the Black Heron(Egret) doing its umbrella!

Sal said:
Alan! Stunning!! Where is that sanctuary? One of the birds I have not yet seen. The pics are amazing.

Martin Hobbs said:
Alan,
Stunning.
I live very close to Austin Roberts so I will take a walk up there with my camera and hopefully the Egret is still there.

Thanks for looking and the kind words Corinna, Sal and Martin.

Sal & Martin, the sanctuary is in the suburb of Brooklyn in Pretoria (I'll see if I can find a map to link), so may not be the one Martin is thinking of.

Martin, I'd love to know more about your sanctuary, if it's note the same as the one I'm referring to.

alan carr · Dec 24, 2008

Martin that pond certainly looks like a winner! With a couple of nearby perches, you could build a hide close by and get some stunner pics!

Martin Hobbs · Dec 24, 2008

Sal said:
Ah, you see Martin its the words 'bird-bath' that fooled me. If you had said 'pond' I wouldn't have been surprised! I imagined this plover flying up to one of those little bird baths on a stand and I couldn't imagine why it was enjoying itself so much! What a lovely, natural-looking pond, the rocks around it look great, no wonder the plover made for it! Thanks for posting the pics, you must be thrilled that the water is already attracting various birds. the area you live is sounds great, and to have a bird sanctuary so close . . . .

Hi Sal,
Sorry for the confusion. Maybe 'waterhole' would have been closer?
We also have a farm a few plots away and they have one big pond, and a sizeable dam as well, so we are on the flight path of many water birds that head to and from the dam on the farm land as well. The farmer is not happy about 'visitors' walking in and sitting at the edge of his dam though!

Martin

Martin Hobbs · Dec 24, 2008

alan carr said:
Thanks for looking and the kind words Corinna, Sal and Martin.

Sal & Martin, the sanctuary is in the suburb of Brooklyn in Pretoria (I'll see if I can find a map to link), so may not be the one Martin is thinking of.

Martin, I'd love to know more about your sanctuary, if it's note the same as the one I'm referring to.

Alan,
I am getting old.
It is not the Austin Roberts Bird Sanctaury I am living near, it is the Glen Austin Bird Sanctuary.
I have been on the web reading about the Austin Roberts and I will visit it soon as it looks and sounds very good and much bigger then the Glen Austin Bird Sanctuary.
The Glen Austin BS is also famous for it's protection of the Giant African Bullfrog. It is one of the few remaining breeding areas left and as such they have put a huge concrete fence around the pan. It is ugly, but it has added protection for the Bullfrogs. There are even big sign posts along the roads surounding the pan warning of the Bull Frogs crossing!

Martin

lulie · Dec 24, 2008

I have a mystery,

All winter I had several white throated robin chats hanging around my garden, would see two or three daily. As summer started they started singing and chaseing each other around alot. Now they have dissapeared. haven't seen one in about 6 weeks. I am asumeing they are off breeding somewhere otherwise where have they gone.
Anyone got any ideas??

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