Southern African Forum (1 Viewer)

[Victor Soares]

I am sure alot of you subscribe to Birds and Birding. In the latest is, on page 51 it talks about a Roberts Online and a new version of Roberts Multimedia for both PC and PDA. I see the online version is not complete and after asking the people at SA Birding (what a useless bunch they are) I was told that they have no further information on a Version 7 for their software. DO any of you have any further details? Also, do any of you know of a Roberts PDA version that will run on iPhone and not on WIndows Mobile.

Thanks
Vic

 

[Martin Hobbs]

Nice Tiger, Martin. The first time I met one of these, I didn't know they existed. In 1968, newly arrived from East Africa, I had been prospecting in the Zambezi Valley in what was then Southern Rhodesia, not far from where Mana Pools is today. I chucked a worm-baited hook into a sheltered spot on the river, hoping to catch a nice Tilapia for supper. Instead of Tilapia, this thing with stripes and an orange tail grabbed the worm. As I grasped the hook to remove it, the fish slashed at me with its impressive jaws. I just about -but not quite - got my fingers out of the way in time. It sliced the edge of my index finger as cleanly as any razor, and so I learned the hard way about tiger fish. You will no doubt be glad to know that, much later in my angling career, I got spectacularly chomped by an African Pike in the Okavango Delta.
Best wishes,
Dave

Thanks Dave,
It is the first time I have noticed Tiger fish in the Sabie River. We always stop at the causeway at Lower Sabie, but I haven't noticed them before.
I can see why they have such a reputation looking at those teeth!!
You are a braver man than I am...

Martin

 

[Martin Hobbs]

Sunset at Velddrif delivered beautiful Great White Pelicans, delicately lit by the fading sun. Although the waders were absent, other water birds abounded, yielding a good comparison shot illustrating the considerable size difference between Greater and Lesser Flamingo, and the much darker bill of the Lesser Flamingo. The Lesser Flamingo’s plumage is generally suffused with pink, a colour restricted to the wings on the Greater Flamingo.

Best wishes,
Dave[/quote]

Dave,
Great picture of the Great White Pelicans. The low sun has made the colours soft and warm and the reflections in the water add extra interest.
Lovely

Martin

 

[Martin Hobbs]

You may regret that Sal
Well here goes....
We're planning to fly into Cape Town and drive up to Jo'burg via the Garden Route and into the Kruger and then fly home, trying to see as much as possible for as little as possible!! Money, as always is the big problem!! We'll be out for 3 weeks.
So, any tips on where to stay in between would be excellent!
Any tips on where to see some of your special birds would be even more excellent...ie both rockjumpers, Pel's F-Owl, those tricksy warblers etc....
Also how much is a litre of fuel out there at present as we'll be doing a fair bit of driving!

Thanks in advance....

Ads

Hi Ads,
Just to add to what Sal and Allan (my brother by the way) has already said....the distance from CPT to Kruger is vast. One of the mistakes many people make coming to SA for the first time is underestimating the time taken between places. The road network is very good...first world in fact after the Soccer World Cup, but to travel up the coast from CPT to Garden Route to Drakensburg (Sani Pass) and then on up to Punda Maria Camp in Kruger Park is not far short of 3,000kms!
If you decide to drive up the coast then stop at St. Lucia Estuary (1,800kms from CPT). It is a World Heritage site and an excellent birding location with Narina Trogons, Livingstone’s Turaco, Green Coucal, Woodward’s Batis, Blue-Cheeked Bee-Eater and Pels Fishing Owl to name a few specials in the area. It has beautiful white sandy beaches, crystal clear Indian Ocean and Umfolozi Game Reserve close by.
The north of Kruger is my favourite area as it is quieter than the south and has more specials such as Pels, Bohms Spinetail, Meves Glossy Starling, Three-Banded Courser, Senegal Coucal, Meyers Parrot to name a few. If it is Raptors you are looking for then the north is also the place to go for these as well. In the mornings you will see many Raptors in the high branches of trees waiting for the thermals to take them gliding up effortlessly into the large African skies. As said before, the concentration of large animals is less in the north than in the south, but the Elephants are much larger in size!
If you stay at Punda Maria Camp then a full day at Pafuri Picnic area and Crooks Corner is a must. Pafuri is a birders paradise with so much to see you will struggle to know where to point your camera and/or binoculars. As Sal mentioned, speak to Frank and if he has seen Pels recently he may be able to take you to see one! Please be aware that it will be hot in the north even in October. Expect temps around high 30's to low 40c.
As Allan has said, work on an average speed inside the Park of around 25-30km/hr, especially if you want to stop to watch animals as well.
If you are not looking for specials then I agree with Allan and Sal and stay in the middle between Letaba and Satara and move down to Lower Sabie. You will see so much game and birds in these areas anyway.
If you are planning to drive to Johannesburg to fly out them you may want to go to Skukuza on your way out of KNP. Skukuza is the busiest camp but it has an excellent shop for the gifts for the friends/family back home.
I promise you a fantastic time in SA, and in October the birds will be in full breeding colours, you will see stunning colours and tail feathers!

Martin

 

[Martin Hobbs]

hi from mafikeng. i have been reading through the posts here and i really enjoyed them. i work mostly from home and try to keep this diary which I call "from my window". my latest daily list contained 12 species, so far below the variety in wetter climes.

My highlight this week was two green wood-hoopoes who spend quite a bit of time. One of them started stabbing an old sparrow nest with its beak which puzzled me a bit. Eventually it took a bit of material and took it to another branch and started pecking at it. Was it gleaning for insects? whilst this was happening the other was inspecting the dry bark of an acacia. I am sure the one who was busy with the nest did not take any of the material away, so it was not collecting nesting material.

anyway, great meeting you all. i will visit as often as I can, and share some of my birding tales. i will try to upload two (no so good quality pics of burchell's sandgrouse which I took with my mik and druk (aim and press for my non-south african fellow-birders) in the Mafikeng Game Reserve, which is right on my doorstep.

with regard to that hadeda sound - I was once told that the hadeda's make that hysterical sound because they suffer from a fear of heights
cheers

Hi Wayne,
Welcome to our Bird Forum. It is always good to hear from new members, especially as I think you are the only one coming from so far west.
I look forward to hearing your reports on birds you have spotted in a drier area of the country. Many of the birds you will see there we do not see in the Gauteng area, and certainly not where Sal comes from on the East coast.
What you may consider as 'common' birds where you live may be new sightings for some of us that have not travelled that far west so please don't think that a post or a picture is not of interest to us.
Your Burchell's Sandgrouse would be a new sighting for me!

Martin

 

[birdboybowley]

Thanks for the reply Martin! Have finally managed to book 6 days in Kruger, starting at Satara and finishing with 2 days in Punda Maria, so will definitely go to Parfuri as advised. Will probably be a couple of long drives involved on the trip...but used to that having circumnavigated Oz!!
Do you know of any other way to do Sani Pass? Have only found Button Birding which seems to limit the ability to haggle!! Surprised no-one else has set up a day tour for it as most birders that are doing their trip like me won't have a 4WD for the sake of one day....
Hoping to do Wakkerstrom on the way up from St Lucia, any specific spots for the larks? Also, what would be the best bird sounds to get - Xeno Canto has a few but not many (eg no Cape Rockjumper) so would hate to ignore something good because I don't know what I'm hearing!!
Allan - I think we're literally gonna pass each other on the road which is a shame. We leave Satara the morning of the 21st....bummer
I really should've visited my bro when he was working in Dullstroom for a year...and then again when he was in Swaziland for 18 months.....doh!!

Cheers again, everyone's been most helpful!

 

[Sal]

Do you know of any other way to do Sani Pass? Have only found Button Birding which seems to limit the ability to haggle!! Surprised no-one else has set up a day tour for it as most birders that are doing their trip like me won't have a 4WD for the sake of one day....

There are day tours. But you need to stay there the night before as they start early in the morning. then you will need to stay the next night (or somewhere pretty close) as you won't get back in time to go far. I know of someone else; just give me some time to find the details . . . .

 

[birdboybowley]

Thanks Sal || - staying not a prob as there's a couple of budget options in Himeville. It's slowly coming together.....looking forward to getting some good painting ideas out of the trip too!

 

[Sal]

Thanks Sal || - staying not a prob as there's a couple of budget options in Himeville. It's slowly coming together.....looking forward to getting some good painting ideas out of the trip too!

OK. This guy took another BF member up Sani pass on a day trip for birds last year.. He (the BF member) was delighted with the trip. I have just phoned the guy, Stuart and he is still doing day trips (for birders) but he says he is getting pretty booked up in October so you need to contact him soon. Here are details:

Birding up Sani Pass (Sani Pass)

Categories: Birding
Price group: On Request (see other things to do in this price group)
Available in the following region(s): Drakensberg

Address: Sani Pass, Drakensberg, KwaZulu Natal
Telephone: +27 (0)82 742-6981 or +27 (0)33 702-1761
Opening hours: By booking only.
Birding up Sani Pass
Sentinel Rock Thrush

This is an all day trip up the Sani Pass in a 4x4, looking for Drakensberg Rockjumper, Sentinel Rockthrush, Drakensberg Siskin, Bush Blackcap and Mountain Pipit. Join Stuart McLean on a birding trip up the majestic Sani Pass, the only road to Lesotho from KwaZulu-Natal or visit the mistbelt grasslands and forests.

 

[Allan Hobbs]

Ads,
just to give you a taster on our first trip we stayed at Lower Sabie. There were so many wonderful birds on the Aloes in the camp it took us an hour to get out of the Gate:eek!:

Be careful - once the Africa bug bites there is no cure.

Allan

 

[birdboybowley]

I know...Uganda was bad enough last year....Ethiopia's a-calling now, and Cameroon...and and and...!!
Sal - once again, thanks!!

Ads

 

[Allan Hobbs]

Allan - I think we're literally gonna pass each other on the road which is a shame. We leave Satara the morning of the 21st....bummer

That is a shame. Keep a look out for us - we will be driving a Toyota Avanza, (probably white) and we will have yellow and red ribbons on the Drivers door mirror. They are to show we are members of the Sanparks forum (yellow) and Stiffnecks bird club (red).

If not may see you in Sussex - we are starting to stretch our birding wings in the UK

Allan

 

[birdboybowley]

Will certainly keep a look out - and as for Sussex, yeah get down here (just not at the moment as there's not a lot about...!!)

Cheers again

Ads

 

[Martin Hobbs]

We were at Marloth Park last weekend.
I did my usual walk with my trusty camera and although I didn't see anything different, it was nice to be in the veld with the sun on my back listening to the Crocodile River flowing over the rocks and the many birds in the trees.
Along the river track this Marico Sunbird was spotted in one of the few Thorn trees to have any green foliage left, and in the same tree was the Red-Billed Firefinch.
There were many Long-Billed Crombec searching many trees, however, as they are constantly on the move looking for insects I find them quite challenging to get a descent picture. Even this one is not a clear picture, and this was only one of 36 I took trying to get just one half good one!
Further along an impressive Knob Thorn (Acacia Nigrescens) was in full flower and was full of Masked Weavers noisily competing with each other for the highest advantage point. Next to all the noise was a single Yellow-Breasted Apalis busy preening himself and occasionally looking towards the mass of Weavers, possibly wandering what all the commotion is about.

Martin

 

[Martin Hobbs]

Some more pics from my walks in Marloth Park last weekend.
Walking back towards the house along the river road something in the scrub caught my eye. It took several minutes of searching before I noticed this White-Browed Scrub Robin, and then I only noticed it because it moved. They really are well camouflaged.
Close to home I heard the unmistakable calling of the White-Crested Helmet-Shrike. These gregarious birds are a real joy to watch as they flit from tree to tree searching for insects and always keeping in contact with each other with a series of chirps which starts with one of them and then all the others join in. They are also not that shy of humans and will come quite close constantly calling and tilting their heads as if trying to work out what this strange object in front of them are. I love watching these almost comical birds.

Later in the afternoon I went for another walk in a different area which in summer is a small flooded plain with a vlei running beside it. Some of this area is heavily shaded and within this shade this (Eastern) Bearded Scrub-Robin. This is the first time I have walked in this area, and I look forward to walking it in the summer (covered in Tabard!).

As we were packing up the following morning to come home this Red-Headed Weaver flew into the tree right next to the house...luckily my camera is never packed until we leave Marloth Park.

Martin

 

[Sal]

Some more pics from my walks in Marloth Park last weekend.

Martin

That is a very interesting angle on the Helmet-shrike Martin; cool pic! The Red-headed Weaver and the Yellow-breasted Apalis also particularly good. I think you did well to capture the Long-billed Crombec - mine are always a blur, but perhaps I don't apply myself with the same determination - 36 pics . . . . :-O

 

[Martin Hobbs]

I think you did well to capture the Long-billed Crombec - mine are always a blur, but perhaps I don't apply myself with the same determination - 36 pics . . . . :-O

Sal,
And that was only chasing the one Crombec in the one tree. I must have taken well over 100 pics chasing many of them in many trees trying to get a descent picture of one over the couple of days. They seem to be in every other tree....
Thank goodness for digital photography!! :t:

Martin

 

[Sal]

Thank goodness for digital photography!! :t:

Martin

I hear you!

 

[Dryocopus]

OK. This guy took another BF member up Sani pass on a day trip for birds last year.. He (the BF member) was delighted with the trip. I have just phoned the guy, Stuart and he is still doing day trips (for birders) but he says he is getting pretty booked up in October so you need to contact him soon. Here are details:

Birding up Sani Pass (Sani Pass)

Categories: Birding
Price group: On Request (see other things to do in this price group)
Available in the following region(s): Drakensberg

Address: Sani Pass, Drakensberg, KwaZulu Natal
Telephone: +27 (0)82 742-6981 or +27 (0)33 702-1761
Opening hours: By booking only.
Birding up Sani Pass
Sentinel Rock Thrush

This is an all day trip up the Sani Pass in a 4x4, looking for Drakensberg Rockjumper, Sentinel Rockthrush, Drakensberg Siskin, Bush Blackcap and Mountain Pipit. Join Stuart McLean on a birding trip up the majestic Sani Pass, the only road to Lesotho from KwaZulu-Natal or visit the mistbelt grasslands and forests.

Hi
Stuart is a tip top birder!
Do go with him - when I was out in SA - he took our group up and I was so lucky to be in his 4x4 and taking notes - as he realised I was mad keen to see all the endemics and not bothered so much about the mammals (I saw them as well!)so I stuck like glue to him and saw birds the rest of the group dipped!
He knows so much about the botany as well - he is worth every penny!
Plus he drove down the sani pass in thick fog - with me seeking out lorries that were approaching!
:t:

 

[Sal]

Hi
Stuart is a tip top birder!

:t:

Thanks for the confirmation Dryocopus :t: