RFI: Cape Town (1 Viewer)

Dear all,

I have a kind of a problem. Currently I am staying in Kimberley, South Africa, for field work and unexpectedly I can visit Cape Town for 2 days on 23 and 24 January. On the internet I cannot find any trip reports explaining the area, they only refer to the excellent ‘southern African birdfinder’ book. The problem however is that they don’t sell the book in Kimberley at the moment, so I am afraid I cannot get a copy within a week. So my questions are:
-does anybody know how to get a copy in Kimberley within a week?
-If not, does anybody know a trip report with detailed site information of places and specialties like hottentot buttonquail close to Cape Town?
-is the information on this website still up to date? http://wiki.sabirding.co.za/WesternCape.ashx

thanks a lot for any information!

Sander Bot
sanderbot at yahoo.co.uk

Go to this part of birdforum: http://www.birdforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=244, find the "search this forum" in upper right, and enter South Africa. On the resulting page are several relevant threads, especially I think you can look at the one started by birdsboybowley near the bottom of the page.

Niels

If you buy the book through Exclusive Books they will get it to you within 48 hours. See the link - http://www.exclus1ves.co.za//books/...00001000000000000000000000000009781868727254/ There is an Exclusive Books at the Diamond Pavilion in Kimberely. Not sure if you have tried them already.

The book is very good, but I must say that because it has been on sale for many years now, about 8 years I think, many of the good spots mentioned in the book for certain species, have now been over-birded and irresponsible birders have used playback so much that those species either dont respond to call anymore, or simply arent found in those spots anymore.

The place that most people talk about when it comes to Hottentot Bottonquail, is the Fynbos adjacent to the Arabella Country Estate in Kleinmond. They have however also been seen in Di Hoop Nature Resreve as well as on the Sir Lowry's Pass.

The link you have asked about contains good information and will definitely still be relevant.

Hope that helps.

@Niels: thanks a lot, very usefull indeed!
@safariranger: funny, i phoned them up yesterday, and they told me it will take 2 weeks before the book is in their store. I will try again, thanks for the tip.

I've been birding around Cape Town last week or so, and writing a report as we go, link here for that bit:
http://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=2636591&postcount=90

maybe some useful stuff in it,, eg recent exact location of rockjumper at Rooivels

Thanks a lot Larry, very useful! (so you are not an idiot as you mention in the text ;-)).
By the way, I want to make the most of the day when going to west coast NP, and I want to arrive before 7 AM, when the gates open. Is there good birding before the gate, to kill time before 7AM?

Sander

sanderbot said:

Thanks a lot Larry, very useful! (so you are not an idiot as you mention in the text ;-)).
By the way, I want to make the most of the day when going to west coast NP, and I want to arrive before 7 AM, when the gates open. Is there good birding before the gate, to kill time before 7AM?

Sander

Click to expand...

The great thing about birding is you can do it anywhere. You don't need to be in a National Park. If you get there early, just take a look around, park in a safe place out of the traffic, and see what you can find.
Dave

sanderbot said:

By the way, I want to make the most of the day when going to west coast NP, and I want to arrive before 7 AM, when the gates open. Is there good birding before the gate, to kill time before 7AM?

Sander

Click to expand...

If Cloud Cisticola is of interest, there is a small wildflower reserve, Tinie Versveld not far to the south with no gate. It's a couple of km east of the R27/R315 crossroads, on the south side of the road.

Not sure how far from Cape Town you can go, but we flushed a Hottentot Buttonquail a couple of days ago near the top of the small hill on the short Aloe Hill trail at Bontebok NP. Could be worth a go. It was a big surprise for us!

Also, if you're after Knysna Warbler, there are lots singing most of the day at Grootvadersbosch reserve, near Heidelberg at the moment, and if you stay at the nearby Honeywood Farm then Greater Honeyguides are in the garden, and we saw Knysna Wdpkr and Black Sparrowhawk there too..

link to whole ongoing report here:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=2646460#post2646460