Southern African Forum (1 Viewer)

Dave Kennedy · Jan 7, 2008

Thanks to whoever was responsible for giving South Africa its own forum. Maybe now a few more folk will look at our posts! We have some great birds here, and will enjoy sharing them with you.

Best wishes,

Dave Kennedy

alan carr · Jan 8, 2008

Dave Kennedy said:
Thanks to whoever was responsible for giving South Africa its own forum. Maybe now a few more folk will look at our posts! We have some great birds here, and will enjoy sharing them with you.

Best wishes,

Dave Kennedy

Unfortunately, not to many folks looking/responding

Have a Wattled Plover for fun:

Alan Manson · Jan 8, 2008

Nice Plover Alan. This morning was overcast at Cedara (Pietermaritzburg, KZN), but I managed some poor pics of Little Bittern and Red-headed Quelea.

Alan

dddiver · Jan 8, 2008

alan carr said:
Unfortunately, not to many folks looking/responding

Have a Wattled Plover for fun:

Hey ,you're making me homesick.Just had a look at your location and found that i worked about a mile from your house on the construction of the Armscor building.

Dave Kennedy · Jan 8, 2008

Can't believe this! Three responses overnight! I've been grafting my butt off putting in SA info, all to no avail until now. Let's try to keep this going - and perhaps others will join in.

Nice plover, Alan C - and well done with the queleas and bittern, Alan M. dddiver......any chance of you coming back out here?

Best wishes,
Dave Kennedy

Dave Kennedy · Jan 8, 2008

Since the two Alans have been so generous with their illustrations, here are two of my wee pals from the Western cape.

Dave Kennedy

swiss7 · Jan 8, 2008

Hey guys,
keep the great pics coming! Going to SA in February / March and I can't wait!

Cheers
Damien

alan carr · Jan 9, 2008

Hello guys, keeping with the plovers/lapwings, here's a Lesser Blackwinged Plover (Kruger in June last year):

Alan, Little Bitterns really don't like having their pics taken (Austin Roberts Bird Sanctuary December last year):

dddiver: which Armscor buildings? Centurion or Erasmusrand?

Damien: where are you heading for?

jc122463 · Jan 9, 2008

Hi all,
Great photos! It's nice to see some other interested birders around SA. Thought I would share a couple of my favourite photos as well.

Cheers,
Benji

Alan Manson · Jan 9, 2008

I managed to catch a few red-heads in the couple of minutes of sunlight I had this morning; these were getting ready to leave their roost.

Cool scope Dave!

Dave Kennedy · Jan 9, 2008

Well, done, guys, some great material coming in! Alan C's LBW Plover (great photo) I note is now a Senegal Lapwing, and the bittern demonstrates how good birding can occur even within a large city.
Benji's African Broadbill, Double-banded Courser and Grey-headed Bush-shrike are splendid. It would make them even more interesting if you had some details about location, Benji.
Nice to hear you're coming to visit, Damien. If you tell us something about where you intend to go, we could give you some pointers about what to look for.

Dave Kennedy · Jan 9, 2008

If anybody's interested, I have already posted a fair amount of stuff under the sub-forum "Southern African Birds". I will probably switch to posting here in "South African Forum", since it seems to have generated a livelier response.

Alan M - glad you like my scope! So do the birds, as you can see. It is a World War II British Army spotting scope for mortar crews, and in terms of sheer power outperforms quite a few expensive modern scopes. Not too good for digiscoping, of course - but it is very robust, and I love it to bits.

Regards,
Dave Kennedy

Dave Kennedy · Jan 9, 2008

Alan Manson said:
I managed to catch a few red-heads in the couple of minutes of sunlight I had this morning; these were getting ready to leave their roost.

Cool scope Dave!

Two more telescope fans.

Dave Kennedy

jc122463 · Jan 9, 2008

It would make them even more interesting if you had some details about location, Benji.

African Broadbill is from Mkuzi - just before meeting a local guide trying to convince his clients that a Martial Eage was actually a Southern Banded Snake-Eagle!
Double-banded Courser is from Karoo NP in the middle of the afternoon heat right on the side of the road!
Grey-headed Bush-Shrike is from southern Kruger though for the life of me I can't remember which camp at the moment.

Though I would add another couple photos just to wet the appetites of anyone considering a visit to SA.
Eastern Bearded Scrub-Robin - Punda Maria, Kruger
African Barred Owled - Kruger
Spotted Ground-Thrush - Dlinzi Forest, Eshowe (Digiscoped from far enough away as to not disturb the bird).

For anyone interested in photography, these are all taken with the Nikon P5000 and a Swaro 80HD. I'm still getting used to the set-up, but quite pleased with the results for far!

Cheers,
Benji

Dave Kennedy · Jan 9, 2008

Thanks, Benji,

Your digiscoping setup is working brilliantly. I think the Barred Owlet is terrific.

On one occasion I spent a frustrating afternoon trying to spot a Broadbill in the fig forest in Mkuze. I could hear him, but for the life of me I couldn't see him.

Dave K

swiss7 · Jan 9, 2008

Hey Alan,
Doing a bit of a whirlwind trip really.. 5 weeks visiting Kruger, Wakkerstroom, KZN, Garden Route, Cape Town, Karoo & West Coast.

Really looking forward to it!
Damien

alan carr · Jan 10, 2008

Looks like the powers that be didn't like this thread in the SA Forum. Nor do they seem to like my inline images :-C

Benji, those are really super shots, especially considering how you got them! The Natal Thrush is still on my missing birds list.

Threestreaked Tchagra (Bakubung in Pilanesberg GR):

http://bigal-sa.smugmug.com/photos/74927515-L.jpg

It would appear that image linking has been disabled in this particular forum...

jc122463 · Jan 10, 2008

South Africa seems a bit big to be a local patch but....

Damien, Sounds like you'll be covering pretty much the entire country. Should give you a great South Africa list! Is it purely a birding trip or are you taking in other sights as well? Sani Pass and Xumeni Forest near Underberg would give you some great birds too (Gurney's Sugerbird and Orange-breasted Rockjumper, Lammergeier, Drakensberg Siskin, etc.) I'm sure you'll have a great time!

Cheers,
Benji

Dave Kennedy · Jan 10, 2008

Seems we have been translocated..............SA is pretty large for a local patch, but it may generate an increased number of visitors. which would be great. Fingers crossed, then, for the biggest local patch on the planet.

Best wishes,
Dave Kennedy

Dave Kennedy · Jan 10, 2008

swiss7 said:
Hey Alan,
Doing a bit of a whirlwind trip really.. 5 weeks visiting Kruger, Wakkerstroom, KZN, Garden Route, Cape Town, Karoo & West Coast.

Really looking forward to it!
Damien

Damien, I think you should just purchase Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa, start at the beginning, and work your way through to the end! Your proposed itinerary covers just about all the finest hotspots and different habitats within South Africa, and I am sure you will have a fabulous time. If you like, I guess we could highlight particular specials, both on birds and places to see them, so that at least you would have some idea what to look for in each area. Let me give it some thought, and I will put something together.

Best regards,
Dave Kennedy

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