Intaka Island, Cape Town, Jan 2014

This year will bring lots of new sites and experiences to Redgannet. As a handicap in the 10,000 Birds year lists, I can only count birds that are seen from new places or from sites that have not previously featured in Redgannet. I consulted eBird’s Hotspot Explorer for some ideas for a visit to Cape Town and found a small marsh surrounded by a large retail and social complex to the northeast of the city at Google Earth ref; 33 53 17.40S 18 30 48.19E. The complex is known as Century City and the marsh, which is hemmed in by a canal, is Intaka Island.

“When development of Century City began in 1996, the 250 hectare area was largely covered by invasive alien vegetation and degraded wetlands”.

The award-winning Intaka Island is now 16 hectares of multi-purpose nature area, home to 212 species of indigenous plants and 120 species of bird. By the time I arrived from the airport and sorted a parking permit (Clampers operate in the area. See below), it was noon on a hot, hot day.

A path leads out from the visitor Centre and I chose to start to the left for a clock-wise circuit. Small open areas of water have been cut into the reeds and each was edged with Red-knobbed Coot. The first patch is overlooked by a small verandah at the Visitor Centre and a Purple Heron stalked the shallow water. After a short walk, the sound of gushing water caused me to lean out over the balustrade of the boardwalk to see what was going on. Water is pumped in from the canal system and squirts out from a long spreader bar. This kick-starts a filtration system that maintains the quality of water around the complex. The water filters through four stages before seeping back into the canal system.

On a Friday afternoon, the marsh was very quiet and I made my way round slowly, noting Yellow-billed Duck, Common Waxbill and lots of Red-eyed Dove. I soon came to a lake. Out on the open water, a couple of Cape Shoveler floated in the gentle breeze, Long-tailed Cormorants fished and a small flock of Hartlaub’s Gulls kept up a raucous screeching.

A pair of hides sit back to back, one giving views across the open water of the lake, the other looking across the flooded meadow that is the final, fine filtration stage. Dead branches have been carefully placed around the hides and the birds readily use them as perches. A Long-tailed Cormorant posed right in front of the Meadow Hide. Another birdwatcher was already in place and had been enjoying some exciting kingfisher action shortly before I arrived, so I sat to wait and see what might happen. It was pleasant to sit out the heat of the early afternoon in the airy hide. 

A Lesser Swamp-warbler picked through the reeds and a Long-tailed Cormorant fished through the floating weeds in front of the hide. I dropped around the corner for a quick look at the other hide by the lake and was almost immediately called back by Pat, the other birder, as a pair of Pied Kingfishers had just flown in to the Meadow Hide.

Pat explained how to differentiate between the sexes and it seemed that both of the birds were females. After a short while, a male flew in with a fish and passed it to the female on his right to the accompaniment of much squawking from both sides. 

Was he an adult with two female young, or was he trying to impress a potential mate? Thoughts on a postcard please. Pat suggested that the belt at mid-belly (his masculine indicator) was not very distinctive and that he may still be quite young. He continued to fish in the flooded meadow, but plunged from a standing start on the dead branches rather than hovering and diving.

At the Lake Hide, Pat pointed out a Malachite Kingfisher on a man-made structure in the lake. African Darters fished in front of the hide and the Cape Shovelers had now drifted onto the near bank where they joined Egyptian Goose, Blacksmith Lapwing and a Black-headed Heron.

The hides have been placed so that the Meadow hide is best positioned for morning light and the Lake Hide comes into its own in the afternoon. As the afternoon began to cool, I ventured from the shade of the hide and quickly found myself back at the Visitor Centre where a White-throated Swallow rested for a moment in the reeds. There was a pair that kept returning to the underside of the building and may have had a nest there.

I still had plenty of time, so made another circuit. This time a Little Bittern flushed from the reeds and a weaver made me reach for the field guide. I think it was a female or young Pintailed Whydah and got support for that when a breeding male stopped close by.

There is another section comprising about half of the reserve that is seasonally wet and is mostly designed as a sanctuary for Fynbos species of plant that are endemic to the area and potentially threatened as Cape Town spreads. I didn’t explore this area, but returned to the Lake Hide to watch a Long-tailed Cormorant which had caught a frog and spent ages subduing it and jockeying it into position before swallowing it headfirst.

 Bird list for Intaka Island; 30

Egyptian Goose 5, Yellow-billed Duck 20, Cape Shoveler 2, Cape Francolin 2, Little Grebe 1, White-breasted Cormorant 12, Long-tailed Cormorant 25, African Darter 6, Great White Pelican 11, Little Bittern 1, Grey Heron 1, Black-headed Heron 1, Purple Heron 3, Black-crowned Night-Heron 2, Red-knobbed Coot 45, Eurasian Moorhen 5, Blacksmith Plover 15, Hartlaub’s Gull 7, Speckled Pigeon 1, Red-eyed Dove 30, Ring-necked Dove 1, Laughing Dove 15, White-rumped Swift 3, Malachite Kingfisher 1, Pied Kingfisher 3, Pied Crow 8, White-throated Swallow 3, Greater Striped-Swallow 1, Cape Bulbul 1, Lesser Swamp-warbler 1, Karoo Prinia 3, Cape Robin-chat 1, European Starling 6, Red-winged Starling 3, Southern Double-collared Sunbird 1, Cape Wagtail 12, Cape Sparrow 4, Cape Weaver 4, Red Bishop 8, Common Waxbill 25, Pin-tailed Whydah 3.

Visit the dedicated African Page for more posts from Cape Town, including Strandfontein, Betty’s Bay and of course, Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens

Birding, Birdwatching in Cape Town, South Africa.

Crawling

This post is a copy of the 10000 Birds sumbission.

The ground is my friend. For someone who spends so much of his time in the air, the feeling of a secure surface comforts me as a mother's hug soothes a child.

Since becoming an adult I have maintained a respectable distance between me and the ground as befits a grown-up conforming to public dignity, but a recent aquaintance has caused me to reconsider my attitude and revert to the horizontal.

Jeannie loves to crawl. She crawls through the grass and the undergrowth, seeing things that are missed or trampled underfoot by the vertical adherents. It's a whole other world down here where the small things are. In the words of Sebastian the Crab (The Little Mermaid, Walt Disney) and as echoed by Jeannie, "Darlin' it's better, Down where it's wetter, Take it from me!"

Jeannie is possessed of a hunger to explore every last inch of her beloved Moreleta Kloof Nature Reserve, in Pretoria, South Africa and she finds that getting right down to it can reveal so much more than remaining upright. That's obvious, of course, but how many of us actually get down onto our bellies to inspect something from a different perspective? The last time I did, a concerned birder thought that I had collapsed and came across to check that I was OK!

Now you or I might be too concerned about public opinion to be caught with our behinds sticking out from a bush, or we may worry that our children will be bullied at school for having an eccentric parent (in fact, when I go out, my family insist that I leave all identification at home so that if I die doing something stupid, they won't have to suffer the indignity of being associated with me). This does not prey on Jeannie's mind however as she slithers and slides through the reeds of the wetland discovering new and exciting things every day. Her grandchildren take an active interest and even join in.

Moreleta Kloof is nearly 100 hectares of South African bush fenced off as a nature reserve. The kloof (cliff or escarpment) overlooks the reserve from the north-west. Rademeyerspruit (stream) runs along the base into a weedy vlei (dam) thence into the reed beds towards the north-east. The rest of the sanctuary is made up of grassland, scrub, riverine forest and protea hillside. Jeannie seems determined to wriggle inch and scramble her way through all the habitats and experience as much as the area has to offer.

The thought of what might be encountered in the South African leaf-litter from the viewpoint of an ankle causes me some reservations, but also adds an excitement that cannot be found at my fully drawn height. My imagination is running wild at the prospect of following Jeannie into the swamp where she immerses herself as deeply as she can into a place that she loves so passionately. Jeannie is usually covered in scratches from sliding through the undergrowth and ticks and leeches are her constant companions, but she still crawls enthusiastically into patches of bush that most of us miss with our staid "stick to the path" policy.

Please understand that I am not encouraging readers of this blog to abandon birding protocol and forget their values that respect creatures' rights to live undisturbed. Most reserves maintain a "stay on the path" policy because visitor numbers are high and the damage and disturbance caused by people leaving the tracks would be considerable; Jeannie is very lucky to have access to a very quiet wilderness where her impact is insignificant. She minimises her effect by following the trampled tracks of the zebra through the grassland, the Blesbok through the reeds and tiny antelopes called duikers make inroads into the bushes that allow her access there.

I realise that I may be burned at the stake for encouraging people to go off-piste, but I am convinced that anyone reading at this site has a sense of what is appropriate and where, when and how a path may be left. It may also be blasphemous to suggest that they might find anything other than birds while they are crawling, but what a world there is to see when you are knee high to a grasshopper.

I have committed myself to a crawling session with Jeannie on my next visit and I am very excited about it. If anyone else has tried it, leave a comment. If you want to try, please beware in public parks. I took a short walk on my local patch to assess the potential for crawling and found that human litter and dog faeces were probably the biggest obstacle to a good slither.

Start in your garden, then approach your local reserve to see if they would be amenable to such an idea. Perhaps put in a request for a ranger-led scramble to test the waters. The thought of getting down and dirty at this cold, wet time of year may not sound appealing, but a bit of ground work may need to be done first. My thoughts are that late summer, after the sensitive times of flowering and nesting are done, would be a good time for crawling, so make enquiries with this in mind.

Wouldn't it be great if we could all be as lucky as Jeannie? But there are other ways to experience the smell of humus in the morning. Local reserves are always looking for volunteers to join them on working parties. Getting involved in a session will often bring the participants closer to the ground than they would normally care to be found. Even sitting quietly, observing what happens in a tiny space can bring a real intimacy between the watcher and the watched. There are a group of people in the UK called 'meter watchers'. They mark out a square with sides of one meter in a garden or other habitat and watch it. Simple, but very rewarding I am told. Have fun and let me know how you get on.

Rondebult, Johannesburg, South Africa

You may question my motives for visiting Rondebult Bird Sanctuary when the wonderful reserve at Marievale is so close. Both are wetlands to the south-east of Johannesburg with extensive reed beds and similar species lists, but each has their own appeal. Rondebult for example is much smaller and therefore much more intimate than Marievale. Small patches of water among the reeds are each served by their own hide and the birdy action usually happens within easy reach of a decent telephoto lens. For a photographer, Rondebult can be very productive, but there weren’t any today, only me.

I collected keys to the hides from the security post (more accurately, a lady with headphones audible over the traffic, dozing in the shade) and proceeded into a small grassed area planted with trees. Domesticated geese and peacocks shared the lawns with Kurrichane Thrush and African Hoopoe. Large-billed Weavers mixed with Common Bulbuls in the trees.

At the first hide, the key fob matched the colour of the security gate that ensured exclusivity for bird watchers. Each hide was furnished with a gate and a separate key. The colour co-ordination was only coincidental on the first gate and I had to resort to trial and error for the others. In a country where personal security is a full-time consideration (and at a site where the security lady was deaf and asleep), being able to lock myself into a hide made for a very relaxing stay. I assume that there is more than one set of keys in case 2 birders have seperate agendas.

A small island in front of the hide held a family of Blacksmith Lapwings, Cape Sparrow and a Black Heron fishing with its characteristic umbrella technique which shades the water reflections and enables it to see its prey more easily.

The second hide was very close and looked out onto the same body of water. In the reeds, a Large-billed Weaver appeared to be trying to tie three stalks together as a base for its “finely woven oval nest” (Hugh Chittenden, Roberts Field Guide 2007). This nest is built by the male. The females’ involvement is limited to the soft interior furnishings. I assume therefore that this is a precocious immature male which looks very like the female until he attains his adult plumage.

Out on the water, Red-knobbed Coots were the most populous bird with Egyptian Goose and Dabchick adding a little variety.

The most conspicuous birds were the colourful weavers. Southern Masked Weavers, Southern Red Bishops and Yellow-crowned Bishops are obvious and abundant near any water during the austral summer.

Rondebult provides them with everything that they need; reeds and water, therefore a constant chizzing and wheezing of performing males provided the sound track for the morning. The third hide opened onto a tract of long grass before the water. Weavers were collecting seed heads and carrying them away rather than feeding on them there and then, so the assumption here is that this female Southern Masked Weaver had selected a likely male and was lining his nest.

But even the combined colonies of gregarious weavers were outnumbered by a large roost of European Swallows in the reeds opposite the fourth hide. I guessed at about 200-300 until something disturbed them and the hirundine cloud that erupted from the reeds must have numbered 1000+. A Little Bittern went up with them and ‘quarked’ across the water to hide further along.

A couple of ducks dropped in for a quick visit. The Red-billed Teal swam out of sight around the corner while the Fulvous Whistling-Duck took one look and was gone.

I left the remaining hides until my next visit. I had arrived at 10.00 and had lost myself to the day very quickly. Since Marievale was so close, it seemed the perfect opportunity to compare them under the same conditions. Neither would really get a good chance to shine during the heat of the day, but such is the lot of a birder who must conform to airline schedules (my plane had not landed until 08.30 and I had been very lucky to disembark, hire a car and get into a hide by 10.00. The airport is south-east of Johannesburg and our hotel is to the north of the city. It makes sense and saves time and mileage to bird the reserves to the south straight from the flight).

Bird species; 41

Southern Ostrich 2, Little Grebe 2, Long-tailed Cormorant 6, Black Heron 2, Cattle Egret 8, Little Bittern 4, Yellow Stork 1, African Sacred Ibis 4, HadadaIbis 12, Glossy Ibis 15, Fulvous Whistling Duck 2, Egyptian Goose 12, Yellow-billed Duck 8, Red-billed Duck 1, Amur Falcon 2, Common Moorhen 3, Red-knobbed Coot 30, Blacksmith Lapwing 8, Grey-headed Gull 120, Red-eyed Dove 4, Ring-necked Dove 6, Red-faced Mousebird 2, European Swallow 1000, Greater Striped Swallow 10, Cape Wagtail 2, Common Bulbul 10, Kurrichane Thrush 2, Levaillant’s Cisticola 4, Zitting Cisticola 2, African Reed Warbler 8, Common Fiscal 3, Common Myna 30, Cape Glossy Starling 2, House Sparrow 20, Mossie 4, Southern Masked Weaver 25, Yellow-crowned Bishop 25, Southern Red Bishop 30, Large-billed Weaver 8, Yellow-fronted Canary.

Moreletakloof, Johannesburg, JNB

Moreletakloof is a small private nature reserve to the southeast of Pretoria, South Africa. The reserve claims some wonderful birds with Red-chested Flufftail and Ovambo Sparrowhawk on their list.

The guard on the gate let me in at 06.00 while it was still dark. It was cold too. I had 3 layers, gloves and a hat but found myself wishing I had more.

Through the gloom I could see a small herd of Blesbok to greet me by the car park and some Hadada Ibis flew noisily overhead. The large mammals are habituated and it is possible to approach quite closely on foot.

Today I felt in a clockwise mood and headed left from the car park towards Suikerbos trail. There was plenty of bird noise, but the sun was slow to rise and it was nearly 07.00 before the shadows of the night were chased away and the temperature began to rise.

In the low damp ground a few snags rise from the marsh. My first birds of the day were Grosbeak Weaver (Thick-billed if you prefer) in a flock of about 20.

Moreletakloof gave me 100 hectares of grassland, riverine woodland and protea slopes to explore during what turned out to be a beautiful morning. While the mammals were very approachable, the birds were aloof and camera shy.

Ostriches paraded through the grass and Common Bulbuls and Grey Louries perched up on top of the trees and bushes as is their custom. A Southern Boubou was calling strongly, but remained in deep cover.

I startled a Common Duiker which crashed off towards the spruit that runs through the reserve.

At the Southwest corner of the reserve, I met Jeannie, a Friend of the reserve. She walks here every day and was very pleased to see an international visitor.
Jeannie put me onto the website for the reserve. http://moreletakloof.co.za/ 
Sabirding also have a write up which gives more detail http://www.sabirding.co.za/birdspot/050213.asp

The path re-entered the riverine woodland on the other side of Rademeyer Spruit. The trees were busy with Cape White-eye, For-tailed Drongo and Common Bulbul.

Jeannie went on ahead and left me to the birding which was starting to warm up at last. A Crested barbet shared a snag with what I thought were penduline tits, but I did not get a good enough look and there are no supporting sightings. Cape Robin Chats called from the bushes near the bridge. A break in the trees further on gave me a good view of a pair of Hadada Ibis.

The dam would make a wonderful site to go looking for dragonflies later in the southern season, but for now it was quiet with just a few Southern Masked Weavers. A few males had half-heartedly started to build nests, but none of the females were taking them seriously yet.

Beyond the dam, the trail skirts the moist area and follows on to the Duiker Route. The smart money start on the Duiker Route and move around the reserve anti-clockwise I hear. The south facing slope here was home to a Fiscal Flycatcher in the top of one of the bushes.

A Cape Grass bird was singing furiously in the wet area below the dam, making me think that spring must be on its way.

A herd of Zebra were by the car park to see me off and I couldn’t resist the traditional photo of superimposed heads.

Bird species; 34

Southern Ostrich 4, Hadada Ibis 15, Helmeted Guineafowl 30, Crowned Plover 2, Red-eyed Dove 18, Ring-necked Dove 12, Laughing Dove 8, Grey Lourie 8, African Palm Swift 6, Speckled Mousebird 4, Red-faced Mousebird 6, Crested Barbet 2, Black-collared Barbet 1, Cardinal Woodpecker 1, Common Bulbul 30, Olive Thrush 1, Cape Robin-chat 2, Tawny-flanked Prinia 3, Cape Grassbird 1, Fiscal Flycatcher 3, Arrow-marked Babbler 4, Amethyst Sunbird 3, White-breasted Sunbird 2, Cape White-eye 20, Common Fiscal 1, Black-backed Puff-back 1, Southern Boubou 2, Fork-tailed Drongo 4, Pied Crow 6, Cape Glossy Starling 6, Mossie 4, Southern Masked Weaver 12, Grosbeak Weaver 20, Yellow-fronted Canary 3.

Mammal species; 4

Zebra 12, Blesbok 14, Springbok 4, Common Duiker 1,

Moreletakloof, Johannesburg, JNB, South Africa, Birding in South Africa.

Do elephants grieve?

It may not be fashionable to credit animals with so called “higher” emotions, but there is a lot of evidence that has prompted even cynics to consider the possibility.

During a recent trip to Pilanesberg NP in South Africa, I witnessed a poignant scene that leads me to anthropomorphosize along with the best of them.

Do elephants grieve or mourn their dead?

My colleague, H, saw 2 bull elephants in the distance. They were striding along with some purpose and my hunch was that they were headed for Maletse Dam on Dithabaneng. The larger of the two appeared to be in an agitated state. We had just left the dam where we had been watching some hippos sunbathing on the bank. From our position on the opposite bank we had also noticed the carcass of an elephant about 30 meters along the bank from the hippos.

We returned to that spot and waited for the elephants to appear through the trees. The first one to arrive seemed unsure of what to do. He didn’t appear to want to approach the carcass. Instead he stood and swayed for a short while, swinging his back foot as if trying to pluck up courage. He moved close to the carcass and began touching it gently with his trunk. Then he began making frantic motions with his head and trunk that we could only interpret as, “Get up! Get up!”

Supporters of grieving theories claim that elephants can recognise their dead relatives long after the carcasses have rotted away to just tusks and bones. They visit the remains and appear to mourn their loss even turning the bones over and sometimes carrying one away with them. Most remarked upon is the special interest given to the tusks of the dead animal.

The head and tusks of the remains in Pilanesberg were hidden behind some bankside vegetation, so we cannot say if the first bull was paying them particular attention, but he did spend some time brushing his trunk in the area where the head would have been and the presumption would be fair.

He seemed confused when he got no response and vented his aggression on a nearby African White Ibis. He flapped his ears and then filled his trunk with water and sprayed the bird. We put this down as a deliberate action as he did it 4 times and appeared to take aim on each occasion.

He now turned his anger on the hippos who were still sunbathing along the bank. They tried to stare him down for a few moments before taking the wise option and retreating into the water.

Now the second elephant arrived. He too seemed unsure of what to do. After a while he moved up the bank away from his companion and the body as if not wanting to acknowledge the situation.

He returned a little later and approached the carcass stopping respectfully before reaching out his trunk to touch it. He moved around to the head end, gently touching as he passed and inclining his head towards the body. After a few moments, he moved away and stood quietly.

The first bull became upset with the ibis which had landed on the carcass and he tried to swat it away with his trunk.

A few more spectators had begun to arrive and we decided to leave before a scrum developed. As we pulled along the road, we found a lion which walked out onto the road and began moving back the way we had come. We hoped that he might go to the water to drink, but then realised that he was headed for the elephant carcass. There were about 12 vehicles jockeying for position to see the elephants, but a couple pulled away as we arrived back and our original position became vacant again as the lion arrived.

The larger elephant had moved on, but the first was still by the body. He did not want to see the lions feeding on his fallen comrade and tried to make a stand but was forced to retreat when he realised that he was alone and a second lion appeared.

Neither of them drank during the time that we watched (and we returned after an absence of only a few minutes) which provokes a question about the reason for their purposeful walk to the dam. Did they come specially to pay their respects to a dead relative, or were they thirsty, but became overwhelmed with existential angst after their grisly discovery and forgot that thirst?

I do not know how the elephant died. Possibilities include poachers, old age or predation, though it looked like a big carcass. If it died recently, perhaps this was the first time that the bulls had encountered it. As I look back on the incident now, I recall the bulls, still very distant from the dam, raising their trunks to test the air. The wind was blowing in their direction and it was clear even to my atrophied sense of smell that something was dead. Is it possible that elephants can distinguish between the smell of a dead relative and a rotting hippo for example? H and I theorised that they would have been able to smell the dead elephant from a long way off and had made a special journey.

Whatever the truth may be, it certainly provided a touching moment and confirmed in my mind that we humans are very arrogant in reserving “higher” emotions for themselves.

I have found 2 mentions of the carcass with pictures showing that it is the same elephant. The earlier one indicates that the elephant died before 29th June. We saw it on 24th August and the lions were still feeding from it.

For the full post on the visit to Pilanesberg, click on the link below;
http://redgannet.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/pilanesberg-johannesberg-jnb-south.html

Cape Town Specials

Whenever a Cape Town trip appears on my roster, my mind turns to the specialties of that unique area. The vegetation type known as fynbos is exclusive to the southern cape of Africa and supports many endemic animals. On the shoreline, the most iconic of Cape Town’s specialties is the African Penguin. Even non-birders flock (excuse me) to the boardwalks at Boulders, Simons Town.
This week I have made it my task, nay pleasure, to bring you a taste of Cape Town, but first, a selfish indulgence as I take a trip to Paarl Bird Sanctuary.
I have wanted to visit this sewage works in the Paarl valley since reading about in at http://www.sabirds.co.za/ and a beautiful morning awaited as I set out at 06.00.
To reach Paarl from Somerset West, take the R44 heading north through Stellenbosch. Turn right, east, onto the N1. The first turn off is for Paarl. Head up the main road, R45, to Lady Grey Road, turn right and over the river. Turn left on to Jan van Riebeck and you should start to see signs to the reserve after a short while. To avoid the town, stay on the N1 for an extra junction. As you turn off you will be on Jan van Riebeck
I arrived at 07.00 exactly and proceeded in an anti-clockwise direction. The sun was right in my eyes around the first half, but there were obviously a lot of birds. Long-tailed cormorants and Red-knobbed Coots skittered away across the water as I drove round. There were lots of duck and Dabchicks. A young African Fish Eagle flew from a large tree as I approached.
I had made nearly half a circuit before I stopped to get the camera out. According to the map on the side of a shed at the entrance I had reached the north-east corner of Pond C where I pulled up in the shade of some large reeds, looking out to a small island; reedy at one end and rocky at the other. A flock of White-winged Terns were dipping in buoyant flight to take morsels from the surface of the water. Egyptian Geese, Cape Teal, Red-billed Duck and Cape Shoveler shared the water with the bickering grebes while the edges of the reeds were haunted by Common Moorhens, Purple Swamphen and Cape Wagtails. The rocky end of the island was playing host to Black-winged Stilts and the terns who preferred a lie-in. There were large numbers of Cape Wagtail around the reserve, especially where the sewage treatment was still in it’s early stages. As the wine-soaked effluent passed through it’s most agitated stage, the wagtails were joined on the lawns by egrets. I didn’t pay them any attention as I was trying to get into position to see a harrier, but I am sure there were Little, Intermediate and Cattle. There is a heronry on an island in Pond 4, close to the squatter camp.
A large settlement tank, marked on the map as Pond 3 was teeming with birds. Hirundines of 4 different species flashed low over the water or rested on the wires. I wondered if the traditional scene from Europe of the swallows on the wires awaiting their journey south was re-enacted before the return leg. White-rumped Swifts were feeding higher. On the steep bank on the far side, a Water Dikkop patiently watched the hysterics of a flock of Grey-headed Gulls and the water was a profusion of wildfowl. To add to those already mentioned, I noted Southern Pochard, Maccoa Duck and Hottentot Teal. Blacksmiths Plovers waded at the waters edge on the near bank.
A hide looks out over Pond B. Dry ground in front of the hide held a large roost of Cape Shoveler and a Great Flamingo. Reed warblers were abundant and I got a good opportunity to compare the two most common ones, the Lesser (Cape Reed) Swamp Warbler and the Little Rush (African Sedge (Bush-)) Warbler. I was also pleased to see an African (Marsh) Reed Warbler (someone has been re-evaluating the common names again), some Levaillant’s (Tinkling) Cisticola and a (European) Sedge Warbler. The other hide looks out onto Pond A.
A causeway between Pond A and B looked enticing so I ventured a walk along it, encountering a Malachite Kingfisher as I went. The black bill indicates a juvenile. A small flock of 13 Eastern White Pelicans were on Pond A. Some were on the water, “swanning” with their wings very slightly raised to catch the wind and move them along.One suddenly decided to take a couple of turns around the reserve as though he had been reading my post for Dallas earlier this month. So JR, this one’s for you.
With one lap complete, I went for another turn, this time clockwise. Just beyond where I had stopped before to scan the island, a bridge crosses a small stream which flows through the squatter camp beside the reserve. An adult Malachite Kingfisher looked up at me from a fallen palm frond below the bridge. I went to cross, but a security guard with a dog turned me back saying that the area beyond this point was not patrolled and dangerous people came on to the reserve sometimes. There had been a few robberies of late and I was warned to be very careful of people who may be in the reserve.
A bit further on, I pulled in by Pond A1 and a man approached my car. He said his name was Brahm and he tried to tempt me out of my car with promises of tea and peanut butter sandwiches. It seemed an unlikely ploy if mischief was their intent, so I accepted. They were a group of bird counters and didn’t seem too malevolent on the face of it. Their figures for wetland birds would be sent to the University of Cape Town and thence to a bird demographic organization in Switzerland. It struck me later from what they were saying, that the security patrols had been laid on specially. Perhaps the patrols are not a regular feature, or maybe just at weekends. On a beautiful Saturday morning, I saw only one other person not connected with the monthly bird count. It would be well to check what security arrangements are in place at the gate on arrival.
One of the counters has passed her email address to me and I will put you in touch if you wish to check up on the latest security situation there. The local advice is to visit during the week. Their methods for counting are probably far more accurate than my slapdash efforts and I have adopted John’s figure of 207 White-winged Terns to save myself the laborious task of counting a flying flock. I also noticed that their list included something that I had missed. Some White-faced Duck had been counted and Brahm led me back to Pond 3 to look for them. He is not a birder, he busies himself waging a private war against alien invaders and replanting native species of trees on the reserve.
For the afternoon, I decamped to Paarl Rock in the mountain to the east of the valley. I found a delightful picnic site with a small pond and I spent the afternoon dragonflying. As ever, I refer you to http://www.redgannetsdragonflies.blogspot.com/

Bird species; 61

Little Grebe 40, Eastern White Pelican 13, White-breasted Cormorant 4, Long-tailed Cormorant 40, African Darter 15, Grey Heron 2, Black-headed Heron 4, Little Egret 8, Cattle Egret 6, Little Bittern 1, Sacred Ibis 60, Hadeda Ibis 4, African Spoonbill 12, Greater Spoonbill 1, White-faced Whistling Duck 4, Egyptian Goose 35, Spur-winged Goose 4, African Black Duck 3, Cape Teal 90, Yellow-billed Duck 25, Red-billed Duck 12, Cape Shoveler 80, Southern Pochard 4, Maccoa Duck 2, Yellow-billed Kite 1, African Fish Eagle 1, Cape Griffon 1, African Marsh Harrier 1, Helmeted Guineafowl 20, African Swamphen 4, Common Moorhen 40, Red-knobbed Coot 120, Black-winged Stilt 35, Pied Avocet 12, Water Thick-knee 1, Blacksmith Plover 25, Three-banded Plover 30, Cape Gull 4, Grey-headed Gull 250, White-winged Tern 207, Red-eyed Dove 4, Cape Turtle Dove 2, Namaqua Dove 6, White-rumped Swift 30, Malachite Kingfisher 10, Black Saw-wing 20, Plain Martin 100, European Swallow 100, White-throated Swallow 30, Greater-striped Swallow 15, Cape Wagtail 120, Levaillant’s (Tinkling) Cisticola 8, Little Rush Warbler 1, Sedge Warbler 1, African Reed Warbler 6, Lesser Swamp Warbler 20, Fiscal Flycatcher 2, Pied Crow 8, Common Starling 15, Mossie 20, Cape Weaver 20.


As evening approached, I returned to Somerset West and the Heldeberg Nature Reserve, nestling in the lap of the eponymous mountain. It is from here that I hoped to bring you a picture of a Cape Sugarbird.
The reserve is a small informal botanical garden and is one of my favourite sites in Cape Town. It is an easy 10 minute drive from the Lord Charles Hotel and the concierge will even drop you there if you ask nicely. If the gate is not open for an early visit, a car can safely be left outside the gate. RSA15 is the entrance charge for 1 person in a car.
The lower area is lawn and oak trees, but beyond the Mother Goose café (08.00-17.00) it is fynbos. This ecotype is a unique collection of plants found only near the cape. Picture a Scottish moor with scrubby bushes, then add sunshine, proteas, mountains, an ocean and fantastic birds and that is fynbos. A small pond by the café distracted me with it’s odonata again, but as the sun began to drop through the evening sky, I moved into the fynbos to try to get some of the cape specials. I had earlier noted a protea bush that the sugarbirds were favouring and close by was another shrub with red flowers highly fancied by the Orange-bellied Sunbird. This seemed a good place to stake out. As I moved towards my intended position, a Malachite Sunbird flew across the path. It came to rest on an agapanthus bloom in the shade. I didn’t hold out much hope with the poor light, so was pleasantly surprised that it came out at all. Some Cape Francolin and Cape Weavers approached closely while I waited for some other visitors to clear from the path. The bush I had my sights set on was in full sun and I tried to blend into the background to wait for the sugarbirds to show. In fact an Orange-breasted Sunbird was first on the scene and fed amongst the red flowers for a few moments before perching at the top of the bush and calling. Not long after, a pair of sugarbirds landed exactly where I wanted them and posed perfectly. Occasionally a visitor to Heldeberg may see a Bontebok; an antelope endemic to the cape.

Bird species; 25

Long-tailed Cormorant 1, Hadeda Ibis 2, Spur-winged Goose 3, Yellow-billed Duck 3, Cape Francolin 2, Helmeted Guineafowl 2, Common Moorhen 1, Red-eyed Dove 4, Cape Turtle Dove 3, Black Saw-wing 4, White-throated Swallow 2, Olive Thrush 1, Cape Robin-chat 1, Karoo Prinia 6, Fiscal Flycatcher 12, Cape Batis 3, Orange-breasted Sunbird 6, Malachite Sunbird 4, Southern Double-collared Sunbird 6, Cape White-eye 4, Cape Sugarbird 4, Pied Crow 6, Cape Weaver 8, Common Waxbill 8, Pin-tailed Whydah 1.

Mammal species; 1

Bontebok 3.

The next bird I wanted to show you was the Cape Rockjumper. This babbler likes boulder and rock strewn hillsides and the most reliable place I know is Sir Lowrie’s Pass. The Hottentot Holland mountains look down onto Somerset West from the east. Sir Lowrie’s Pass gives access to a spectacular viewpoint and a trail that runs into prime rockjumper territory.
My first spot of the morning was a couple of delightful Klipspringers, high on the rocks, jumping sure-footedly between the outcrops. Spotted Prinias were common this morning, but would not pose for me.
I wanted to reach a spot called Gantouw Pass.This has proved to be a reliable place to go looking for Cape Rockjumper in the past as recommended by http://www.sabirds.co.za/
I sat down between two rocky hillsides to watch for the birds and to have my picnic breakfast. 3 Cape Dassies kept a watchful eye on me as they warmed in the early morning sun.
After a while I decided that a more direct, positive approach was needed. A small trail leads from the historic cart tracks up to a pair of signal canons. Still no rockjumpers to be seen, but what a view.
I started back down and noticed a Klipspringer at the top of the far slope. I raised my binoculars to get a good look and saw the red breast of a rockjumper on the boulder beside it. I checked again and saw another bird hop up onto the Klipspringer and begin to tug tufts of hair from it’s moulting coat. Perhaps they were gathering nesting material? Then it became clear that the bird was a Red-winged Starling. I began to doubt myself and wondered if a glimpse of the red in the wing of the starling had caused me to think of the breast of the rockjumper.
Then to the right, a bird was seen scuttling through the crevices between the rocks and it was indeed the Cape Rockjumper, but sadly his photo was not practicable at that distance. Here’s one I made earlier on a trip to exactly the same spot 2 years ago.

Bird species; 14

Verraux’s Eagle 2, Jackal Buzzard 2, Rock Kestrel 1, Common Stonechat 3, Familiar Chat 6, Neddicky 4, Karoo Prinia 4, Cape Grassbird 2, Cape Rockjumper 1, Orange-breasted Sunbird 5, White-necked Raven 2, Red-winged Starling 4, Yellow Bishop 30, Cape Siskin 8.

Mammal species; Cape Dassie 3, Klipspringer 5,

And so to that most photographed of the cape specials, the African Penguin. At Betty’s Bay is the “other” colony, the second of only two breeding locations for the penguins on mainland Africa. It is less visited and less commercialised than it’s famous counterpart at Boulders.
A boardwalk protects the colony from tramping feet and a fence beneath it protects from dogs and land predators. It is open to the ocean where the penguins have to take their chances.
An entrance cost of just RSA10 seems very good value. The rocks here also act as a roost for as many as 4 kinds of cormorant, Today the Cape, Bank, and White-bellied Cormorants were present.
From Somerset West, take the N2 east and cut down to Gordons Bay. From here follow the R44 along the coastal route. Bettys Bay is about 30 kms along that shoreline.

Bird species; 7

African Penguin 400, White-breasted Cormorant 30, Cape Cormorant 500, Bank Cormorant 6, Grey Heron 1, Hartlaub’s Gull 15, Karoo Prinia 2.

Mammal species; 1

Cape Dassie 4.

If you ever find yourself in Betty’s Bay, make time for a little lunch at the Harold Porter Botanical Gardens. It is just a mile further east from the village.
I visited here to look for some more dragonflies and ended up seeing a snake and Orchid spotting.
The Disa flower is the provincial flower of the Western Cape I believe and it only flowers in January, so I was very lucky to catch it apparently. The snake, I could not identify, but some locals looked horrified and kept muttering “boomslang” under their breath.
In the early afternoon on a Sunday, the gardens had more to offer the dragonflier (?) and herpetologist than the birder, but the fynbos trail has proved interesting in the past. Today, time was pressing heavily upon me to return home.

Bird species; 12

Hadeda Ibis 2, African Swift 8, African Rock Martin 2, Cape Robin-chat 1, Karoo Prinia 4, Cape Batis 2, African Paradise Flycatcher 2, Orange-breasted Sunbird 2, Southern Double-collared Sunbird 2, Cape White-eye 15, Red-winged Starling 6, Swee Waxbill 1.

Driving around, I saw a few species that do not fit neatly into any of the above lists, but which help to bring the total for the trip to 101.
Western Steppe Buzzard 3, African Oystercatcher 2 Great Crested Tern 5, Alpine Swift 1, Speckled Mousebird 4, House Crow 20, Southern Masked Weaver 1.