A significant number of bird listers eventually tick Bat Hawk on their life list by going to a known location like Magoebaskloof's Rooikoppies Bat Hawk site where a successful twitch is just about guaranteed. Although I had put Bat Hawk on my wish list for my trip to Northern KZN, I did not have any real expectations of seeing one. So, great was my surprise when I ran across this bird in the Cape Vidal reserve!

As Bat Hawks have this reputation (gained probably unfairly from birding experience with the Rooikoppies Bat Hawks) of roosting in the same tree or area day after day, I was rather disappointed not to find the hawk again on subsequent days. To honestly own up – initially I had no idea which raptor I had photographed… it was only after some heavy research back at “base camp” that the birds identity fell in place. Of course that is when you wish you spent more time getting better pix!

In the end the photographic evidence was not all that bad... Not as bad as those of my first Narina Trogon, for instance! That story I tell (with a red face!) I went to Dlinza forest in Eshowe and shortly after entering the tree top boardwalk I had three lifers in the same view! Narina Trogon, grey cuckooshrike and olive woodpecker were all firsts for me and I could see them all simultaneously from the same vantage point. I set ISO at 1600 and f-stopped down to the maximum aperture (f5.6) and started carefully snapping away at the birds. The Trogon was especially accommodating as she posed in great light and even did an aerial display every now and then while deftly collecting an airborne meal! Not every day that one runs into a bird party consisting amongst others of these three species, hey.

So, back at "base camp" it was with bated breath that I started setting up to download my precious pix... only to discover that I never had a flash disk in the camera!

A lesson learnt - the Canon 40D doesn't have a good enough alerting system to warn the excited photographer that he has zero chance of recording his experiences without a flash disk inserted. 

• 07/01/2009 13:11 - New chicks transmit data
• 18/12/2008 16:48 - Ringing the yellow fellow
• 17/12/2008 11:56 - Engagement party with risky benefits
• 15/12/2008 11:11 - Power cuts, mini-blogs, lifers and early rising
• 02/12/2008 12:40 - Ringing Wakkerstroom
• 21/11/2008 13:06 - #5: Composition
• 30/10/2008 13:28 - #3: Perception
• 25/10/2008 09:44 - #2: Break the mould