I had mis-timed my arrival and had to wait for the light. When the dawn broke, I set out down the path along the Montlake Cut. Silhouetted against a lightening sky were Double Crested Cormorants and a tree-ful of crows. You will note that I am avoiding being specific about the crows. See the previous Seattle post for details and information about Montlake Fill and how to get there. 
The weak early light reflected on the water of Union Bay, showing a large raft of ducks huddled tightly together, but they were too far out to be discernable yet. The white tail of one of the resident Bald Eagles was just visible in the gloom. Closer in among the small islands near the sailing club, I was able to make out the details of a couple of Wood Duck, Some Gadwall and Mallard. The white markings of a male Hooded Merganser and a small group of Bufflehead were more obvious. Two Beavers were making their way between the islands. Their eyes and nostrils situated at the top of their heads allowed them to maintain a very low profile in the water. One of the adult Eagles appeared suddenly and landed in a tree closeby. 
Beyond the rowing club, I stopped for a while to watch the Bufflehead and to try to identify a hawk way off. I suspect Coopers, but could not be sure. 
At last the light became strong enough to make photography worthwhile and I started with a female Green-winged Teal. Beyond her in the narrow channel that lead out to the main water,
a Great Blue Heron stood motionless waiting for his breakfast to approach within reach. A footbrdge took me across the channel into the carpark of the Union Bay Nature Reserve. 
At the first junction of the path a flock of 5 Golden-crowned Sparrows were digging through the gravel. The light was improving now so I was heading towards the shore of Union Bay to get a better look a that large raft of duck. I was sidetracked by the overgrown pond which has produced otter and other excitements in the past. It was here that I met Amy, my reader. It was a pleasure to meet her again and we took a turn around the reserve together before she had to head off to work. We saw an Anna's Hummingbird, which surprised me at this time of year. I know that some people, in Vancouver for example, leave sugar-feeders out all year. Would the hummingbirds be able to over-winter otherwise I wonder? 
At the lake I was able to get a better look at the large flock which proved to be mostly made up of coot and Wigeon. Closer inspection revealed a few Lesser Scaup and at least one Canvasback.
The red-winged Blackbirds were singing from vantage points in the trees, bushes and reeds. You would think it was spring the way they were carrying on. A Lincoln's Sparrow briefly showed, low down in a tangle. 
Passing back past the overgrown pond produced a Belted Kingfisher, but not the Wilson's Snipe that Amy had mentioned earlier. Sibley does not mention Wilson's Snipe, nor does Peterson. National Geographic mentions it in passing as the former name for Common Snipe. It is a popular inclusion in posts on http://www.bcvanbirds.com/ however and my colleague G.L. has spoken of it. I would not know how to differentiate it from a Common Snipe, but since I saw neither, it did not present me with a problem.
At the lake I was able to get a better look at the large flock which proved to be mostly made up of coot and Wigeon. Closer inspection revealed a few Lesser Scaup and at least one Canvasback. The red-winged Blackbirds were singing from vantage points in the trees, bushes and reeds. You would think it was spring the way they were carrying on. A Lincoln's Sparrow briefly showed, low down in a tangle. 
Passing back past the overgrown pond produced a Belted Kingfisher, but not the Wilson's Snipe that Amy had mentioned earlier. Sibley does not mention Wilson's Snipe, nor does Peterson. National Geographic mentions it in passing as the former name for Common Snipe. It is a popular inclusion in posts on http://www.bcvanbirds.com/ however and my colleague G.L. has spoken of it. I would not know how to differentiate it from a Common Snipe, but since I saw neither, it did not present me with a problem. Since writing the above, I have checked through my assorted information sources and have prepared a Wilson's Snipe ID pack in case I ever face the challenge of the subtle differences between the two.
I have found that the Wilson's Snipe Gallinago delicata is also known as a Fantail Snipe. It was previously conspecific with the Common Snipe and in many accounts, is still considered thus.
It can be differentiated from G. gallinago by conspicuous white trailing edges to the wings.
It is distributed from the Aleutian Islands and Alaska to the southern USA. It winters to the northern part of South America.
As I trekked my way back past the rowing club, a disturbance in the water caught my attention. A River Otter was hunting around and under the floating docks while a Pied-billed Grebe watched on. While I say "hunting", otters manage to make even the essential chores of life look fun. Perhaps she was just playing. 
A heron sitting out on a birch snag with the browns of the season in the background made my favourite picture of the day.
A heron sitting out on a birch snag with the browns of the season in the background made my favourite picture of the day. I was just preparing to put the camera away after this shot when an immature Bald Eagle flew over with something in it's talons. It settled in a tree above the sailing club and fed on it. Dark feathers fell from the prey showing that the young bird was quickly taking a lead from it's parents who are said to feed exclusively on the waterbirds of the bay. I noticed on the few occasion that I saw eagles today, that they get harassed far more than the eagles of Boundary Bay, Vancouver (see post 20th December). Perhaps the birds at Boundary Bay see so many eagles that they can't afford the time to mob them all. At Union Bay the eagles are fewer and further between, allowing the smaller birds a rest and a chance to feed before having to chase off the next predator. The young eagle was not allowed to settle even though it was pre-occupied with it's lunch and probably not an immediate threat.
It was harried from the sailing club to the top of a conifer on the lawns outside the stadium dropping it's lunch as it left. From there it flew back out over the water and was gone.
It was harried from the sailing club to the top of a conifer on the lawns outside the stadium dropping it's lunch as it left. From there it flew back out over the water and was gone. Mammal species;
Beaver 2, River Otter 1.
Bird species; 34
Pied-billed Grebe 5, Double-crested Cormorant 200, Great Blue Heron 4, Wood Duck 4, Mallard 60, Gadwall 50, American Wigeon 500, Northern Shoveler 4, Green-winged Teal 40, Canvasback 1, Lesser Scaup 60, Bufflehead 80, Hooded Merganser 12, Common Merganser 5, Ruddy Duck 1, Red-tailed Hawk 1, Bald Eagle 3, American Coot 800, Kildeer 2, Anna’s Hummingbird 3, Belted Kingfisher 2, American Crow 300, Black-capped Chickadee 4, Bewick’s Wren 2, Marsh Wren 1, Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1, American Robin 10, Starling 15, Spotted Towhee 3, Golden-crowned Sparrow 4, Lincoln’s Sparrow 2, Song Sparrow 15, Red-winged Blackbird 20, American Goldfinch 15.
Pied-billed Grebe 5, Double-crested Cormorant 200, Great Blue Heron 4, Wood Duck 4, Mallard 60, Gadwall 50, American Wigeon 500, Northern Shoveler 4, Green-winged Teal 40, Canvasback 1, Lesser Scaup 60, Bufflehead 80, Hooded Merganser 12, Common Merganser 5, Ruddy Duck 1, Red-tailed Hawk 1, Bald Eagle 3, American Coot 800, Kildeer 2, Anna’s Hummingbird 3, Belted Kingfisher 2, American Crow 300, Black-capped Chickadee 4, Bewick’s Wren 2, Marsh Wren 1, Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1, American Robin 10, Starling 15, Spotted Towhee 3, Golden-crowned Sparrow 4, Lincoln’s Sparrow 2, Song Sparrow 15, Red-winged Blackbird 20, American Goldfinch 15.
I kept an eye on the falcon through posts on 
The excellent, new Canada Line whisked me from downtown Vancouver to Bridgeport Station in 17 minutes. From there it was a simple skip on the 351 from bus stop 8 to Matthew’s Exchange. 96
Further out was a tightly packed raft of 
Northern Harrier and Peregrine Falcons ensured that all the birds on the bay were on their guard. At one point 2 peregrines were harassing a flock of 
More peregrines were attacking the flocks, but the falcon I wanted to see was much bigger than these. At up to 3lbs, the 
The bird seemed settled and did not look inclined to fly, so we left him and turned our attention bay-wards again. 
The tide was receding now and the 
But they were still easily spooked and the never-ending stream of harriers and eagles would not allow them to settle. 
Two of the eagles put on an aerobatic display of close-proximity flying.
Monica managed to entice me into her car with the promise of a Snowy Owl. This would be a great consolation if the Gyrfalcon was not confirmed.
White-breasted Waterhen
I knew that rain was imminent, so chose to go to Singapore Botanical Gardens. It is easily accessible, taking only 15 minutes on a no.7 bus from outside the Capitol Building. I entered the gardens via the Napier Road gate at 06.00, shortly before sunrise. The gardens are open from 05.00 until midnight and entrance is free.
Since this started as a dragonfly post, I was focussing my attention around the various bodies of water, but following up interesting bird opportunities when they presented themselves. 
I heard the resonant, woody call of a Lineated Barbet and tracked it down in a fruiting fig tree nearby. A pair of very noisy Common Goldenbacks arrived into the same tree and threw the barbet into a frenzy of calling and posturing.
While I was trying, a young Oriental Magpie Robin came and joined me on the bench.
Possession of a hole seems to have sparked the dispute. After a time sizing each other up, the woodpecker lunged at the myna. The two birds fell, locked together for about 40 feet through the foliage, only separating when they hit the ground.
Back on the lawns by Symphony lake, a pair of Lesser Whistling Ducks were very approachable which made me wary of their wild status. There are Mute and Black Swans in the gardens as exotics. I saw two Hill Mynas early in the day, but their ability to wolf whistle and their extensive show tunes repertoire must disallow them on this occasion.
Here I found 4 Yellow Bittern, Blue-tailed Bee-eaters, Olive-backed Sunbird, 
Zebra Dove, and White-breasted Waterhen around the edges of the water. On a palm-filled island in the pond were Pink-necked Green Pigeon, Asian Glossy Starling, a Black-crowned Night Heron and another bittern.
Bird species; 25
I headed for Oare Marshes at Faversham on the Thames Estuary.
I set out from the car park along the path that runs beside the estuary, heading towards the Sea Wall hide. The estuary to my left was just approaching high slack water.
The light is much preferable in this direction although the sun was weak in the early December morning. Looking back across the eastern floods I was watching the island covered in Godwits when suddenly everything took to the air. 
Is there a term for the sudden take-off of all the birds? We use expressions like “something has put the birds up”, or the like, but is there not an onomatopoeic word like a “whoomph” or an indication of panic like a “flapper”?
it’s long, curved bill easily visible. It was flying north towards Sheppey. There are a few ibis around at the moment with a handful staying over at Dungeoness currently.
I continued on the path leading along Faversham Creek as far as the outflow where a Rock Pipit watched from the rail.
I returned the way I had come to take advantage of the dropping water level and watched the birds flying over on to the freshly exposed mud. Redshanks were first out. Soon there were Dunlin and Black-tailed Godwits too. 
A Ruddy Turnstone picked amongst the seaweed on the rock by the seawall.
This picture of a Wood Sandpiper for example, is brought to you instead of the Leopard that we would have seen if we hadn’t stopped.
I had planned the trip too tightly and almost immediately it became clear that we would have to drop a couple of sites. We started at Marievale, a superb wetland sanctuary southwest of JNB International Airport. Then on day two, we travelled to the Kruger National Park by way of Dullstroom’s grasslands and the montane forest at Mount Sheba. The whole of day three was spent in Kruger and we returned back to catch the flight home on day four after an early morning drive out of the National Park. All these sites are described in detail on the excellent website 
Long-tailed Widows were very obvious with their exuberant breeding plumage easily identified from distance. One sat close to the road for our first pictures. A wet area beside the road held Ruff, Three-banded Plover, Cape Wagtail and Levaillant’s Cisticola. Dry areas where the vegetation had been allowed to go to seed were full of Southern Masked Weaver, Red Bishop and Red-billed Quelea.
It was a 
Southern Masked Weaver
Red-billed Teal, Hotentot Teal, Yellow-billed Duck, Cape Shoveller and Southern Pochard.
Inside the sanctuary, we stopped at the Duiker Hide. White-throated Swallows sat on the cormorant posts with an African Darter. Out on the water a pair of Great Crested Grebes was courting and some White-breasted Cormorants and Black-winged Stilts were hauled up on a far off, raised mud-bank.
A causeway crosses the water and leads to the Shelduck Hide on the far bank. The causeway has always been a very productive area and today, gave us our second otter. It could have been the same one. It acted in a very similar manner, cautious, but curious. It was very active not staying on the surface for more than a couple of seconds before diving and resurfacing a few meters away. Yet it made no attempt to escape our attentions.
Reed warbler calls and songs re-ignited our discussions and 2 warblers of different sizes only served to confuse us further.
At this, Martin let out an emotional sigh and admitted that he had been waiting to see that for a very long time. Our fieldguides disagreed as to whether the bird was a heron or an egret, but this would not detract from Martin’s satisfaction.
Possibly it had been trying to raid their nest, or had just unluckily wandered too close.
We were able to take photos and look up in our mammal book to find that it was a 
Samango Monkey as we went. We had not seen the real target bird for this site which was the Knysna Turaco, so we nipped into the forest for about 5 minutes. We thought we could hear one calling, but could easily have mistaken it’s guttural croaking for a Samango Monkey. Luckily, there were two turacos in good view and we were joined by a Starred Robin as we watched. Just before we left, we noticed that an 
But it is not easy to pass up sightings of Buffalo, Elephant and White rhino, especially when the Red-billed Ox-peckers were catching the light so well. 
We found 3 of the “Big 5” within 20 minutes of entering the park, with 4 Elephant sightings.. If it weren’t for the Elephant on the road close to camp, we would have only been a matter of moments late, but there was no way through a herd of mothers with small calves who were walking along the tarmac with no regard for Rocter’s knocking-off time. Not wishing to come between an elephant cow and her suckling calf, we had to wait for an opportune moment to pass and suffer the wrath as Rocter had to unlock the gates for us when we eventually arrived.
African Fish Eagle which went through an aerobatic display to catch it’s breakfast.
Far off in an acacia tree sat a young Martial Eagle and a small flotilla of White-faced Ducks drifted across the open water.
Shortly after we left the Zebra, we encountered a large Elephant moving along quite swiftly in the direction that we had just come from. We surmised that he was probably heading for the dam and may make a spectacular photo opportunity, but we were not keen to retrace our steps on the chance that he would perform for us. It was a very big dam and he would approach from the opposite end, about a kilometre from the viewing point.
We stopped for a small herd of Impala, one of which was playing host to a Red-billed Ox-pecker. Further on the Lilac-breasted Roller sat for us. Martin surprised me by suggesting a few improvements that could be made. To a Lilac-breasted Roller? He thought the head too big.
As we approached Skukuza, proper breakfast was fast becoming elevenses, so we decided to stay for lunch while we were there. We had to cross back over the river to get to Skukuza and a herd of male Impala were drinking from a pool beside the bridge. 
The reflections were too much to resist.
There were Greater Black-eared Starlings, of that we were sure, but there were also some with magenta coloured bellies which would indicate that they were the southern, lesser version. Once again the park checklist failed to mention the southern lesser and it too was a long way from home. So now we had 3 issues to discuss as soon as we had a moment.
A notice in the shade informed us that these were either, Peter’s or Wahlerg’s Bats, probably both. Of course, we can count neither.
The hide was jammed with people hoping that the lions would come back, but it was a beautiful place to be. Goliath Heron, Grey Heron, Openbill Stork, Pied Kingfisher, Malachite Kingfisher, Brown-hooded Kingfisher and Water Dikkop were all here in a very pretty setting. Well worth a visit if ever you are passing. As we left, vehicles were queuing up to get in.
Our distractions this time included a 
A giraffe adopted the classic drinking pose for us at a small waterhole and a pair of White Rhinos turned back towards us by the roadside.
We had not seen any crocs here during the previous looks and assume that they must have migrated up from the river when they heard about the hippo. Spotted Hyaenas were hoping to get in on the action too. We spent a few moments taking pictures of the crocs and then a Wood Sandpiper. I am ruing that decision now. A few hundred meters up the road, a cluster of cars had stopped to look at a leopard. Of course by the time we arrived, it had slunk into the reeds and disappeared for good. It was a slightly deflating end to the trip, but we still had to get out of the park.
A Yellow-billed Hornbill sat well for us this morning at a hide on the way to Crocodile Bridge Gate. 
A Crested Barbet was obviously used to human contact and approached very close.
But a Steenbok with eyes the size of tennis balls was irresistible and I had been hoping to get a picture of a big Kudu bull all week. Shortly before the gate, I eventually managed that.
At 10.00 exactly, we left the park, but our bird list wasn’t complete yet, we managed to add to it while travelling at speed beyond Nelspruit. A White-collared Raven was on the ground by the road and topped out 4 great days and brought our final tally to 173 bird for the trip, not forgetting 26 mammals.