The Trekkie's Forum

Sent out on the 1st Nov

WESTERN CAPE
Wow, it’s been a busy few days and, starting in the Western Cape, there was major excitement amongst Cape Town-based listers when news broke that the LONG-CRESTED EAGLE had been relocated at Helderberg College in Somerset West early yesterday morning. With news going out of the bird’s presence at 08h00 yesterday, it wasn’t long before a number of locals were on site, but unfortunately, they failed to relocate the bird. They spent the next few hours scouring the area, but to no avail and eventually gave up, only to have news spread again late in the afternoon that the bird was once again present. Shortly after 5pm, there were once again a number of locals arriving at Helderberg College and, this time, luck was on their side and they all managed to connect with the bird.

An early morning visit this morning by others revealed that the bird was once again present on its “favourite” pole in the complex and showed for a little while before disappearing again.

As a reminder, on entering the Helderberg College, one needs to take the second road to the left (a gravel road) and travel to the end of it and the bird is viewable from here down into the valley where it tends to favour sitting on the exposed pole in the early mornings and late afternoons. I have been sent co-ordinates for the site which are 34 deg 03.2’ S 18 deg 50.4”E, but please also bear in mind that a lot of the area is private property, so please act accordingly i.e. responsibly.

That was not the only excitement of the last few days – earlier this morning, news broke of an AFRICAN PIED WAGTAIL located late yesterday at the Uilkraal bridge between Gansbaai and Pearly Beach. With the “breaking news” alert going out at 08h00 this morning, the first birders were on site by 09h15 and connected with the bird immediately whereafter it showed well throughout the rest of the day (reported until at least 18h00 this evening).

This is an extremely rare bird in the province with the SABAP2 database showing only 2 records for the province since the start of the atlas, both of which are from the eastern parts of the province along the Garden Route. Certainly, it has been a long time since a twitchable bird was within striking distance of Cape Town-based birders who wanted to add it to their provincial lists with the last one probably being a well-watched individual in the V&A Waterfront in March 2005.

Over and above these exciting records, the irruption of arid zone birds south and west of their normal distributions has also continued with BLACK-HEADED CANARIES being reported at the A. van Wyk Farm School on Adderley Road just outside Durbanville (3 individuals) on Saturday and another 4 individuals present at the waterhole close to the Conservation Centre in Koeberg Nature Reserve yesterday. Added to this was a flock of 20 LUDWIG’S BUSTARDS reported on Thursday morning flying over Britannia Bay in the direction of Paternoster.

On the Peninsula, locals were still being entertained on the weekend by small numbers of WHITE-FACED and FULVOUS DUCKS at the temporary wetlands in Phillipi as well whilst it would appear that at least one AFRICAN OPENBILL straggler still remains in the province, a single bird still present this morning at Vermont Salt Pan.

Elsewhere in the province, the Garden Route area has not held back either with the WAILING CISTICOLAS still showing well in a patch of grassland in between cultivated fields west of George on Friday whilst further individuals were located at Sparrebosch in Knysna later that same day. Also of interest on Friday in Knysna were 2 WHITE-FACED DUCKS actively calling over the Hunter’s Home area in Knysna whilst, in the same area, at least one VERREAUX’S EAGLE OWL was still showing well as well. The Diepwalle State Forest just north-east of Knysna also produced a single CROWNED HORNBILL close to the turn-off to the “Big Tree” on Saturday, possibly the same individual reported from near the main office complex earlier in the week.

Other potentially exciting news came this morning from the George area where a possible KURRICHANE BUTTONQUAIL was reported in grasslands close to town. Although the record should remain as unconfirmed for now, it would certainly be worthwhile for locals to follow up on this and try to confirm it one way or the other as this could be another very exciting record for the province, with only a handful of previous records from the Murraysburg area.

EASTERN CAPE
Moving into the Eastern Cape, the popular and slightly out of range CAPE EAGLE OWLS in the quarry in Grahamstown were still showing well on the weekend with both parents and the 3 fully fledged chicks giving good views whilst Mayfield Dam, also in the area, still hosted the female MACCOA DUCK, a lone WHITE-BACKED DUCK, an immature LESSER FLAMINGO and a BAILLON’S CRAKE and had the added attraction of a PURPLE HERON, all of these species being rather rare in this part of the province. Local birders in the area continued to work hard and also came up trumps with a pair of BROAD-TAILED WARBLERS on a rocky hillside close to Grahamstown on the weekend, a species seemingly about 200km out-of-range! This is fantastic work by a small group of dedicated birders who are scouring this area consistently and is almost certainly going to pay off with an absolute mega in the not too distant future!

FREE STATE
In the Free State, there was some excitement yesterday when a WAHLBERG’S EAGLE was located soaring over the N8 between Kimberley and Bloemfontein, a record well west by several hundred km’s of this species’ normal range in South Africa.

GAUTENG
Gauteng was determined not to be outdone and produced 2 PINK-BACKED PELICANS at Elandsvlei (formerly known as Dickin’s Pan) close to Bapsfontein late last week, a species much sought after by local provincial listers.

KWAZULU NATAL
Heading into Kwazulu Natal, the province also got in on the action with some good regional rarities. A single GREAT CRESTED GREBE was located on Saturday on a farm dam opposite “Babanango Biltong” stall, 30km south of Vryheid on the R34 to Melmoth. This appears to be an exceptionally rare species in the province with only 2 pentads in the entire province showing records on the SABAP2 database, so definitely one that the provincial listers would be interested in chasing. This same dam also held 3 WHITE-BACKED DUCKS, another rather rare species in northern KZN.

Elsewhere in the province, a few AFRICAN OPENBILL stragglers remain on view as well with a single bird reported over Durban North on Saturday and another individual seen at the Sappi wetlands in Stanger yesterday whilst 4 AFRICAN BLACK OYSTERCATCHERS, a species reported from time to time on the north coast of the province, were present on Saturday at Sheffield Beach.

MPUMALANGA
Mpumalanga also had provincial listers running around on the weekend with the Komatidraai Estate still holding a number of provincial species of interest on Saturday including PINK-THROATED TWINSPOT, PURPLE-BANDED SUNBIRD, LESSER JACANA and YELLOW WAGTAIL whilst a BROAD-BILLED ROLLER was located in the first group of Sycamore Fig trees along the Alpha Loop near Skukuza in the Kruger NP on Sunday.

NAMIBIA
Lastly, in Namibia, the Walvis Bay area still held some appeal on the weekend too with at least 6 RED-NECKED PHALAROPES present along the Paaltjies Road just beyond the salt works and a single EURASIAN OYSTERCATCHER present near the Pump Station. The country didn’t stop there producing an excitingly out-of-range COLLARED PALM THRUSH yesterday on the farm Choantsas 292 near Tsumeb which was found drinking at a birdbath in the garden.