The Trekkie's Forum

On the 6th August 2011 my family and I had a stunning day out starting on the bridge at Kgomo Kgomo just after sunrise, before travelling along Zaagkuildrift Road (stopping for an hour or two to bird at Wolfhuiskraal) and ending off at the MCPA dam near Pienaarsrivier. It is really dry and dusty in the whole area and the floodplain is drier than I have even seen it (although the river is running quite strong) - but all along the route it made for decent birding because the bush is either burned back or really dried up. It meant that we got close to the rivers in many places and even found a few water spots we never knew existed (in many places we could see for up to 100m into what would normally be dense bush).

Here are some scenery shots we took on the day - firstly around the floodplain showing just how dry it is there:

   

Then some shots on the dry Zaagkuildrift Road:

   

Some shots around Crake Road and the bridge over the Pienaars River on that road (believe it or not, but there was not one bird around the bridge - the resident Hamerkop, Green-backed Heron, Little Egret, Pied Kingfisher, etc, etc, etc - were all missing):

               

Some shots at Wolfhuiskraal - Dan was away but said we were welcome to spend as much as we wanted on his property:

           

Finally some shots around the Moretela Community Property Association Dam (we walked all the way around the dam to the far side where the herdsmen were looking after the cattle:





               

A cause for concern was seeing hundreds (no exaggeration!!!) of spent Shotgun shells on the banks of the MCPA Dam. I can't figure out who would be shooting so much around the dam in what is surely a protected area. Surely folk are not shooting birds! There was substantial bird life around the dam so it does not seem like all bird life has been chased away. Here is a pic we took of the pile of spent shells:



We saw 98 bird species on the day (and we were back in Joburg by 3:30) - not bad, for just over half a day of birding in winter!

A highlight was taking a 14 year old (Kenan) with us who today started keeping a life list - so every bird he saw today was a lifer. I had to take it slow to not overwhelm him so it meant less time for photography and bird hunting for myself, but it was a real privilege to get someone new going in this amazing hobby. Here is a picture of what looks like the Pied Piper leading the kids out of the town:



Some of our birding highlights included two Secretarybirds about 4kms from Pienaarsrivier on Zaagkuildrift Road, Greater Honeyguide on the floodplain at Kgomo Kgomo, Pearl-spotted Owlet on Crake Road, Black-chested Snake-Eagle on the Kgomo bridge, Bushveld Pipit at Wolfhuiskraal....In fact every bird we saw today was a highlight because it was a lifer for Kenan! I did not have him tick every bird we were seeing as that would have been overwhelming and I wanted to make sure that he was experiencing each sighting and not just ticking what we called out. He had to see it with my binocs and comment on some key feature before he was allowed to tick it off in the booklet I gave him.

An interesting sighting was of a bird on the flood plain that I have struggled to identify. I believe after looking at the poor shots from all angles that it is probably Greater Honeyguide. It flew off as I started to sneak up on it:

       

Another great sighting was of what I suspect is Bushveld Pipit. It was spotted flying into a tree as we drove along the dirt road on the far northern section of Wolfhuiskraal - in the fenced area behind the bush camp:

               

Another Pipit sighting that is difficult to confirm happened on the flood plain where 2 Pipits - very upright in stance and not distinctly marked on the back. I'm leaning towards Buffy Pipit but not sure I can be that sure from these pics:

           

Possibly the biggest highlight was seeing two majestic Secretarybirds walking through the private game reserve just before the MCPA dam on the northern side of Zaagkuildrift Road. My wife said that she wanted to see a Marsh Owl and Secretarybird on the day and I was not very hopeful as I have not seen Secretarybird on the ten previous times that I have driven this route. She got an Owl, not Marsh but Pearl-spotted, and then not one but 2 Secretarybirds!

   

Here are some pics that show some of the other highlights we had on the day:

                                       

Oh, as usual - here are some mammal sightings from the day - slim pickings this time:

   

Here is a list of birds that we saw in alphabetical order: African Darter; African Firefinch; African Fish-Eagle; African Hoopoe; African Jacana; African Pipit; African Spoonbill; African Stonechat; African Wattled Lapwing; Arrow-marked Babbler; Black Crake; Black-chested Prinia; Black-chested Snake Eagle; Black-shouldered Kite; Blacksmith Lapwing; Black-throated Canary; Blue Waxbill; Brown-crowned Tchagra; Brown-hooded Kingfisher; Buffy Pipit; Burchell's Coucal; Burchell's Starling; Bushveld Pipit; Cape Glossy Starling; Cape Sparrow; Cape Turtle Dove; Cape Wagtail; Capped Wheatear; Cattle Egret; Chestnut-vented Tit-Babbler; Chinspot Batis; Comb Duck; Common Moorhen; Common Mynah; Crested Francolin; Crimson-breasted Shrike; Crowned Lapwing; Egyptian Goose; Emerald Spotted Wood Dove; Fork-tailed Drongo; Giant Kingfisher; Golden-breasted Bunting; Greater Honeyguide; Greater Kestrel; Green Wood Hoopoe; Green-winged Pytilia; Grey Go-away-bird; Grey Heron; Hadeda Ibis; Hamerkop; Helmeted Guineafowl; Kalahari Scrub-Robin; Laughing Dove; Levaillant's Cisticola; Lilac-breasted Roller; Little Egret; Little Grebe; Magpie Shrike; Malachite Kingfisher; Marico Flycatcher; Namaqua Dove; Natal Spurfowl; Northern Black Korhaan; Pearl-spotted Owlet; Pied Crow; Pied Kingfisher; Pin-tailed Whydah; Rattling Cisticola; Red-billed Buffalo Weaver; Red-billed Firefinch; Red-billed Hornbill; Red-billed Quelea; Red-billed Teal; Red-eyed Dove; Reed Cormorant; Rock Pigeon; Sacred Ibis; Scaly-feathered Finch; Secretarybird; Southern Grey-headed Sparrow; Southern Masked-Weaver; Southern Red Bishop; Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill; Speckled Pigeon; Spur-winged Goose; Squacco Heron; Swainson’s Spurfowl; Tawny-flanked Prinia; Three-banded Plover; Whiskered Tern; White-bellied Sunbird; White-browed Scrub-Robin; White-browed Sparrow-Weaver; White-faced Duck; Yellow-billed Duck; Yellow-billed Stork and Yellow-fronted Canary.