Southern African Forum (3 Viewers)

[Martin Hobbs]

Thick-billed Weaver

Dave,
More Thick-billed Weavers spotted!
Karen and I went to visit the National Botanical Gardens in Pretoria for the day yesterday and spotted a pair near a small (man made) pond. They had two nests, one in the reeds at the pond's edge, and the other about 8m high in a tall tree some 20m away from the pond. The one in the reeds I think was abondoned as most of the action between the pair was at the second higher nest.

Pics of both Male and Female Weavers, the ignored/abonded nest in the reeds and the nest high in the tree. Niether nest is modified for breeding though.

Martin

 

[Martin Hobbs]

January! Wow, just round the corner. I am so envious - yes I know it's my turn to be . . . ! Hope you have a really great visit. Take lost of pics. I plan to go up there in 2011 and I want to know what it's like :-O

Sal,
I am looking forward to re-visiting the Crooks Corner and Pafuri areas in the hope of some new ticks for me in the far north. I expect it will be hot and humid in the Crooks Corner area though.
I am also looking forward to going back to the Shingwedzi area again as we couldn't get in the camp the last time we were up that way and stayed in Mopani Camp, which is relatively new, with the restaurant overlooking a large dam , but it is not as atmospheric as Shingwedzi.
Just over two weeks…

Martin

 

[Martin Hobbs]

Sure is Martin. This is my ninth new sighting this year - the best year for a long time. Normally I achieve anything from none to two . . . . (Mostly none!)

Sal,
I have had eleven, and ten of these was at Kosi Bay in April (which I would definately go back to). I need to get to the Cape and Kalahari regions, but I love the Lowveld so much.
My visit to the coast and the forests of St. Lucia in February may be another opportunity for me to notch up more new sightings in 2010.. and more neck aches as well!!!

Martin

 

[Dave Kennedy]

Day 3 Kruger Park 14 November (Berg-en-Dal to Pretoriuskop)

Then – at last – a new tick for me: a Striped Cuckoo!
On the sandy stretch to the left are a Goliath Heron and her two half-grown chicks. They seem to be very demanding of her attention and eventually she takes off and lands on a log in the water whereupon they scurry up and down their piece of shoreline uttering hoarse squawks and reaching out their necks to her in yearning. One of them hopefully stretches out its rather puny-looking wings but doesn’t attempt to fly. They are quite charming to watch, their ginger crests mostly raised, sometimes sitting, sometimes standing or stalking up and down the shore as they anxiously watch the female tranquilly standing on her grey log staring hypnotically at the water

Well done with the striped cuckoo, Sal - I have seen one just once, in 1993 in the Delta.
Your Goliath Herons are charming -a great photograph!
Best wishes,
Dave

 

[Dave Kennedy]

Dave,
More Thick-billed Weavers spotted!
Karen and I went to visit the National Botanical Gardens in Pretoria for the day yesterday and spotted a pair near a small (man made) pond. They had two nests, one in the reeds at the pond's edge, and the other about 8m high in a tall tree some 20m away from the pond.
Martin

Thanks for this info, Martin. There seems to be no doubt that Thick-billed Weavers are spreading outwards, presumably originating from their colony at Melrose Bird Sanctuary.
Dave

 

[Allan Hobbs]

Dave,
as Martin said we were there (Olifants) in July. It's the second time we have been there, both in the middle of winter, so it was really nice to see it looking so green. I do enjoy the view.

Allan

 

[Allan Hobbs]

The guy with the big lens could probably only afford a small car after paying for the lens... it possibly cost him more than his car!!

Martin

Probably not far wrong there - I was talking to someone in the summer (UK) who was thinking of buying a new lens for £18,000 - that's about R216,000 :eek!:

It almost makes the £1,000 lens I want seem cheap!

Allan

 

[Allan Hobbs]

Sure is Martin. This is my ninth new sighting this year - the best year for a long time. Normally I achieve anything from none to two . . . . (Mostly none!)

We are still at the stage where we get a few new ticks each time we visit, but the number of unidentifieds is still alarmingly high!

Allan

 

[Sal]

We are still at the stage where we get a few new ticks each time we visit, but the number of unidentifieds is still alarmingly high!

Allan

I think that is a great stage to be at because you really feel a sense of achievement every time you go out and find something new. I am at the stage where everything left looks like an LBJ - and someone keeps moving it rom place to place. . . .

 

[Martin Hobbs]

I think that is a great stage to be at because you really feel a sense of achievement every time you go out and find something new. I am at the stage where everything left looks like an LBJ - and someone keeps moving it rom place to place. . . .

Sal, Allan,
We have been to Suikerbosrand today, (which is Highveld grassland), and so now I am studying the differences with Cisticolas.
I am considering getting a portable DVD player for the car and when sighting a singing Lark or Cisticola playing the DVD to listen to the call and compare it with the live singing bird in front of me.... it may be easier, or is that considered cheating?

Martin

 

[Allan Hobbs]

Sal, Allan,
We have been to Suikerbosrand today, (which is Highveld grassland), and so now I am studying the differences with Cisticolas.
I am considering getting a portable DVD player for the car and when sighting a singing Lark or Cisticola playing the DVD to listen to the call and compare it with the live singing bird in front of me.... it may be easier, or is that considered cheating?

Martin

It's not cheating as far as I am concerned. I am considering getting an inverter to power the laptop in the car, so I can do a similar thing, especially as I will have Roberts Multimedia on it.

Now all we need is to connect a webcam to the laptop and have some smart recognition software that will tell us exactly what we are looking at every time :eek!:

Allan

 

[Allan Hobbs]

I think that is a great stage to be at because you really feel a sense of achievement every time you go out and find something new. I am at the stage where everything left looks like an LBJ - and someone keeps moving it rom place to place. . . .

Sal,
That's very true. We are also at the stage when we think we have a new spot and then find out we saw it in 2004 on our first trip. As absolutely everything then was so new it all became a blur!

Remember not everything is an LBJ - we gets lots of BBJ's with the Eagles. Somehow not being able to identify a small brown bird skulking in bushes seems ok, but when it's a blurry great big Eagle perched on a tree you think that you ought to be able to get that right - no chance a lot of the time :-C
And I'm sure they know what binoculars you have, as they always seem to perch just out of range :C
And with their backs to you :storm:

Allan

 

[Dave Kennedy]

Re DVD's, Roberts Multimedia, laptops etc............

I confess when I go on holiday I leave all that behind. No laptops, no televisions, no radio....the whole point of going on holiday is that the world can nuke itself and I won't know about it until I get home.

But I do do my homework before setting off - for some time before leaving, I research the birds, animals, trees likely to occur in a given area: I try to learn their calls, spoor, droppings, habits, anything that might help me find them. Then I put the computer etc away in a cupboard, and set off on holiday with a bird book, flower book, tree book, animal book, and my notebook and camera. I get a huge amount of fun from finding my birds and other creatures using whatever knowledge I have managed to store in my head. I probably miss a few - but I don't mind that.

That said - the only thing I have against the use of recorded bird calls is when they are used to try to make a bird expose itself. The thought that a rival is in its territory may be distressing to the holder of that territory.

You will have guessed by now, of course, that I am a serious technophobe. I would hate to see us evolve down the years into technically brilliant, limbless blobs.

Best wishes,
Dave

 

[Sal]

I am considering getting a portable DVD player for the car and when sighting a singing Lark or Cisticola playing the DVD to listen to the call and compare it with the live singing bird in front of me.... it may be easier, or is that considered cheating?

Martin

Hey anything that works for you . . . . I think it's a great way of learning (so long as the cisticolas don't think you're a mating call . . . . :-O)

 

[Martin Hobbs]

That said - the only thing I have against the use of recorded bird calls is when they are used to try to make a bird expose itself. The thought that a rival is in its territory may be distressing to the holder of that territory.

You will have guessed by now, of course, that I am a serious technophobe. I would hate to see us evolve down the years into technically brilliant, limbless blobs.

Best wishes,
Dave

Dave,
I totally agree with you on the using of bird call DVD's to try and tempt birds to respond. Earlier this year there was a discussion about using bird calls to try and locate the Pels Fishing Owl. I don't believe in this method, and as much as I want to see Pels I wouldn't play the call to tempt one from its day time roosting place to respond to the call.
I do take my Laptop with me on holiday, but it is only to download all my pics from the day’s trip, clear the pics from the camera memory, and I am ready for the next day.

The strange thing is that last night whilst trying to identify the Cisticolas I enjoyed the struggle (identifying the birds struggle that is, as opposed to the South African struggle!!) and found that the more I looked, the more I could see differences between them, which is the whole point …….. I think?
The difficulty in sighting many birds that remain stubbornly elusive is all part of the fun of bird watching, if they all came flocking to us every time we went in search, how much enjoyment would we receive from this? Although I wouldn’t mind if Pels came to see me next month!!
I may still buy the portable DVD…. But only for identification, and not luring…

Martin

 

[Martin Hobbs]

Hey anything that works for you . . . . I think it's a great way of learning (so long as the cisticolas don't think you're a mating call . . . . :-O)

Sal,
If I did use it, and they did think it was a mating call..... I wouldn't be able to identify the Father anyway...they all look the same to me!!

Martin

 

[Sal]

Sal,
they all look the same to me!!

Martin

Yeah - me too!

 

[Martin Hobbs]

Suikerbosrand

When we started the drive the cloud was low and there was a strong wind blowing, and when you are 2, 000m above sea level with nothing around you to stop it…it is a bit cool, even at this time of year. You may notice from the pics below that the Widow and Whydahs tails are not hanging down, but are at an angle due to the wind. It was quite funny and sad at the same time to see all the Widows trying to fly against the wind with all the breeding feathers acting as wind sails…against them.
As I found in the winter visit to Suikerbosrand, grass birds are not the easiest to spot or trace where the call is coming from, and they seem to be very shy when approached, and quickly take flight. I find it as challenging as forest birding to be honest.
The road from the N3 to the Suikerbosrand entrance should be taken as part of the trip, as sightings of Bishops, Whydahs, Widows, Swallows and Martins may be had just by checking out the road side fences and telephone wires. There are also two dams on the left after the entrance should be checked for moorhens, Coots and Ducks.
The start of the drive takes you up to the high grasslands areas where Red-collared and Long-tailed Widows dominate, there long showy black breeding plumage can be seen all over as jerky black objects moving over the green grasses. Orange-throated Longclaws, and Ant-eating, Familiar and Mountain Chats call out from rock advantage points whilst the Rufous-naped Lark sang from nearly every small bush, and we saw a demonstration from the Clapper Lark of flying skill, starting steeply upwards, hovering for a bit and then steeply back down to the ground…most impressive.
Moving down to the lower grassland and vleis Red and Golden Bishops, Cape and Masked Weavers were so numerous that at times the grasses were spotted with bright red or yellow dots, on several occasions in a patch of grass we counted over 50 Red Bishops to an area of only maybe 40sqm, or a solitary tree would be alive with scarlet colour almost like Red-billed Quelea flock to a tree. I have never seen so many Red Bishops before, maybe it is the good rains we have had on the Highveld?
Along the road before we left the reserve Amur Falcons were flocking on the telephone wires checking out the grass, and Black-shouldered Kites were looking down from the telegraph poles to the vleis and grassland below whilst European Swallows and Sand Martins were perched on the wires in between settling in for the night.
Parts of Suikerbosrand are Thornveld, but we concentrated on the grasslands.
Martin

 

[Martin Hobbs]

Suikerbosrand 2

More pics

Martin

 

[Martin Hobbs]

Suikerbosrand 3

Last pics.
These were taken on the road out of the reserve before the exit gate.

Martin