The Trekkie's Forum

Yip, its time to put on the flippers and get the swimsuites on and that rubber thingy and lets paddle through the Lowveld and spot those buggers...

This is the Southern African Rare Bird News Report issued at 21h45 on Monday, 23 January 2012. Information has been gleaned from various websites, email groups as well as from individual observers who have passed on their sightings. This report cannot be taken as being totally comprehensive as it is based only on information made available at the time of writing. All bird sightings reported here are reported in good faith based on information as provided by the observers. Any inaccuracies are totally unintentional and the writer cannot be held liable for these. For those who may have only joined the group recently and are interested in finding out what has been seen in the past, previous reports can be viewed at http://groups.google.co.za/group/sa-rarebirdnews

WESTERN CAPE   
Starting in the Western Cape, the birds at Langvlei near Vleesbaai have continued to be popular and the biggest drawcard, the HUDSONIAN GODWIT, was still showing well this morning. There were also reports of the BAILLON’S CRAKES received over the weekend from this site. Elsewhere in the province, the PECTORAL SANDPIPER on Pan P1 at Strandfontein Sewage Works was also still attracting attention on the weekend whilst the AFRICAN PIED WAGTAIL at the Postcard Café near Jonkershoek continued to show as well.  The EURASIAN OYSTERCATCHER was also still on view at Seeberg in the West Coast National Park yesterday while there have also been a number of reports of small groups of AMUR FALCONS from the Garden Route area near Sedgefield and Plettenberg Bay.

NORTHERN CAPE
In the Northern Cape, Spitskop Dam north of Kimberley was still producing a few good regional birds late last week with the pick of the crop being a TEREK SANDPIPER whilst both RUDDY TURNSTONE and YELLOW WAGTAIL were also present at the site.

EASTERN CAPE
In the Eastern Cape, a BRONZE-WINGED COURSER was located in the Kaba Valley adjacent to the Woody Cape section of Addo National Park on Saturday, a particularly good record for the province whilst the RED-TAILED TROPICBIRD that has returned to the St Francis Bay area over the last few seasons was once again back in action from last week and still seen intermittently over the weekend.

KWAZULU NATAL
Moving into Kwazulu Natal, the SHORT-TAILED PIPITS at Cedara have certainly been attracting a lot of attention from local twitchers and were still entertaining people over the weekend. This morning produced both a RUFOUS-BELLIED HERON and a LESSER MOORHEN at the Sappi Stanger wetlands whilst there has also been a slightly delayed report received (7 January) of an exhausted juvenile SOOTY TERN at the Tugela River mouth which has been subsequently taken into care in Durban North.

MPUMALANGA
In Mpumalanga, the Devon area produced some interesting birds on Saturday with at least 3 CUCKOO FINCHES and a single RED-FOOTED FALCON being noted.

FREE STATE
In the Free State, a BLACK-CHESTED SNAKE EAGLE in fallow lands between Vierfontein and Viljoenskroon on Saturday was a notable find.

NORTH WEST
The North-west Province also turned up a RED-FOOTED FALCON, this time at Vaalkop Dam Nature Reserve yesterday.

GAUTENG
Gauteng is still entertaining visitors with the “friendly” BAILLON’S CRAKES at Marievale Bird Sanctuary which were still present today, but the last report of the SPOTTED CRAKE there was on Friday afternoon. A PALE-CROWNED CISTICOLA also still persists in the area while, in Centurion, a EURASIAN HONEY BUZZARD is also still showing intermittently.

LIMPOPO
Limpopo Province has had a glut of interesting seabirds (never thought I’d ever see myself say that…!) after the recent storms that have ravaged the area including SOOTY TERNS at both Letaba in the Kruger National Park and at Hoedspruit (originally identified as a Bridled Tern erroneously) and a EUROPEAN STORM PETREL at Shimuvini Camp (the latter bird unfortunately subsequently died).

The weekend also saw the discovery of a PECTORAL SANDPIPER at the MPCA Dam along the Zaagkuildrift Road as well as a RED-FOOTED FALCON at the Kgomo Kgomo bridge.

A request has also been received that, should anyone find dead birds, please pass it on to your nearest museum (Durban or Ditsong National Museum probably the most appropriate) with details of the date and exact locality that you found it.

NAMIBIA
Finally, in Namibia, a YELLOW WAGTAIL has been present at the NamibRand Nature Reserve recently whilst, over the last 3 days, at least 3 EURASIAN OYSTERCATCHERS were present at Sandwich Harbour.

BREAKING NEWS

I have received a report of a GREY WAGTAIL seen yesterday on the lawns of Bergland Lawns near the Blougat Nature Reserve in Gauteng. Apparently, according to Google Earth, the co-ordinates for the site are 26.075345, 27.727493. The area it was seen in was about 200m away from the river there.

Also of interest, I have received a report of a RED-FOOTED FALCON seen at Cookhouse in the Eastern Cape yesterday as well.

Lastly, I must just apologise to Tony Archer. I erroneously credited Etienne Marais with taking the photo of the Black-chested Snake Eagle near Viljoenskroon in last night’s report when the photo was actually taken by Tony. Sorry about that!

Good luck if you are planning on chasing any of these and keep us updated!

Kind regards
Trevor

Excellent!

Keep us posted, Punk!

Punk,is it below the sewerage works? Where is the stream mentioned?
Might go there this afternoon/tomorrow as its close to home

Correct it is below the sewage works. Next to the Krugersdorp Game Reserve. The only stream I know about runs to your right if you enter from the sewage works side. I am not sure how accessible the stream is thou as I have never actually birded along it. I know you can make a right turn as you approach the dwellings at the far end and at one point the stream crosses the road but otherwise I am not sure.

Thanks for the update, Punk!