Pilanesberg update

Finally, a chance to sit in front of my computer and update things.

Summer has truly arrived, as can be witnessed in the incredibly high temperatures, phenomenal thunderstorms, and multitudes of migrants settling down for the next few months.

Violet-backed Starlings are being seen daily, while the cuckoo's are making sure they are being heard. Black, Red-chested, Klaas', Levaillant's and Jacobins Cuckoo's are all joining in the chorus in amongst the beautiful call of the African Fish-Eagles that nest in Sun City. Interestingly enough, I have seen two juvenile Fish-Eagles flying together, having in previous years only noticed one individual being raised. Within our staff village, there is a pair of Black-collared Barbets busily feeding chicks, competing alongside a pair of Black Flycatchers. Cape Wagtails successfully raised two chicks already, and have now started on their second clutch for the season. Scores of White-rumped and Little Swifts have started building nests under the Sun City Skytrain rails, joined by a few Horus Swifts. Cattle Egrets are making themselves heard, with hundreds roosting and nesting in the trees within Kwena Gardens crocodile sanctuary.

The Yellow-throated Sandgrouse are still showing well at the Sun City site, even with the abundance of water around. A few birders have visited the site recently with great success. While out in the farmlands south-east of Sun City on Sunday, I had a flock of roughly 20 Sandgrouse fly past. On looking at Google Earth maps, I can see a small dam that could well be another drinking site, and will head out there soon for confirmation.

I also received a report from Andrew Jackson of Pilanesberg Wildlife Trust yesterday, that he had seen roughly 30 YT Sandgrouse on the Moloto Drive within Pilanesberg NP. As far as I can tell, this is a first for the Park.

With the great rain we have been experiencing recently, the Pilanesberg is looking very nice, and green. Along with this comes great animal sightings and some great birding!!

Happy birding and atlassing!!

Sandgrouse Success

The first few days of September 2009 saw a Great Challenge between Man and Bird, more specifically Joan Faiola, Karen Dixon, Barbi Forsyth (all members of Wits Bird Club) and myself versus the beautiful Yellow-throated Sandgrouse.

The Team

l - r Stuart Groom, Joan Faiola, Barbi Forsyth, Karen Dixon

Courtesy of Barbi Forsyth

The Target


The Great Challenge

In 1989/90, Sheila Blane of Wits Birds Club conducted a study of the Yellow-throated Sandgrouse, which was eventually published in Ostrich. All we know of the species is contained in this study, and although Warwick Tarboton ringed 6 birds in the 89/90 period, these records never made it onto the SAFRING data base. With this in mind, Joan contacted me a couple of weeks earlier with her suggestion to attempt to ring some sandgrouse at the Sun City site. What made this tricky was that we had no idea what would work on the Sandgrouse, so this would be a definite learning curve for us.

We had everything we needed:

Our Experienced Ringer - Karen Dixon
Our Observant Observers - Joan and Barbi
Our “Muscle” - Me
Our Bird Food - Chick Chick No. 1

Now all we needed were some willing Sandgrouse.

The Great Challenge began.

1st September 2009

Today saw the team setting up traps around the stream and in the surrounding grassy areas the birds were known to “graze” through. The Sandgrouse turned out to be very skittish near the traps, and avoided them completely. A slight rearrangement of traps took place for the afternoon’s attempt, but with no success.

Sandgrouse 1 The Team 0

2nd September 2009

Our Challenge was put on hold for the morning so that we could attend a meeting with Mr Ralph Makanya of the Royal Bafokeng Nation, the person responsible for the land under the Bafokeng’s control. We outlined our plans and intended activities, and were given permission to set up mist nets on tribal land. We left the meeting eager to get going that afternoon.

Whilst trapping the previous day, numerous Sandgrouse were seen to land at a spot roughly 70m further up the stream. Nets were set up at this site, and the wait began. The Sandgrouse gave us a hard time again, with all of them landing anywhere but at our targeted site. After calling it a day, the nets were taken down and packed away, and within 5 minutes of this, Double-banded Sandgrouse were landing and pecking away at the seed laid out by us, right where the nets were moments before.

Sandgrouse 2 The Team 0

3rd September 2009

This was our last chance to succeed, as Joan, Karen and Barbi were heading home later in the morning. We were at the site at 05:45, and immediately started stringing nets around the original site. While still setting up the first net, we narrowly missed bagging ourselves a few Double-banded Sandgrouse who somehow just managed to miss the nets. Once the nets were up, the wait began again. First bird to test the nets for us was a male White-browed Scrub-Robin, who was ringed and released. The first Sandgrouse started flying past just after 08:00, but none were keen on getting caught. They mostly seemed to be landing at the other site further up the stream. Barbi and I broke away to this site in the hope of making sure the Sandgrouse choose somewhere else to land, preferably in amongst the nets. Time steadily ticked past, until a great shout arose from Karen, she had one. What??!! Could it be true??!! The excitement was palpable as we all rushed back to the vehicle. With shaking hands, we all squeezed into Barbi’s Landrover. There was no way we were letting this one get away!

Courtesy of Karen Dixon

After a few deep breaths to calm the nerves, Karen carefully started recording all the necessary measurements on a beautiful male Yellow-throated Sandgrouse:

Ring: PA09626

Time: 08:30

Mass: 424g

Tail: 95mm
Tarsus: 36.1mm
Head: 49.8mm
Culmen: 18.0mm
Wing: 225mm (minimum chord *)

(* Minimum Wing Chord means that the wing was relaxed and not stretched along the rule. This is often necessary for larger birds.)

After capturing all the necessary information, and some quick photo opportunities, the male was released.

Sandgrouse 2 The Team 1

Courtesy of Joan Faiola

While watching the male fly off, I had a “gut-feel” moment and headed back to the nets to check up, and couldn’t contain my excitement when I saw another Sandgrouse caught in a different net. The sprint was on, and soon, I had the second male in hand. Wow, what a feeling!

After the shock of our double success wore off, Karen again started the meticulous measuring process:

Ring: 693480
Time: 08:46
Mass: 359g

Tail: 90mm

Tarsus: 30.9mm

Head: 50.6mm
Culmen: 15.7mm

Wing: 222mm (minimum chord)

Courtesy of Joan Faiola

Once Karen was done, we spent a moment allowing this amazing moment to settle in, before sending the male on his way.

Sandgrouse 2 The Team 2

Courtesy of Joan Faiola

However, the Sandgrouse were not finished with us yet. Barbi’s shout reached us with word of yet another Sandgrouse caught in the net. Again, the sprint was on, but sadly, as I reached the net, the male managed to extricate himself with a few twists and turns and hastily flew off. So close, yet so far!!

Final Score:

Sandgrouse 2.5 The Team 2.5

I must say a massive well done to the team for pulling this amazing feat off, it was a job well done!! And congratulations on being the first to add this charismatic species to the SAFRING data base!

Birdlife Northern Gauteng Sandgrouse Search

Yesterday morning saw a group BLNG birders braving the cold weather hoping to find the Yellow-throated Sandgrouse (YTSG).

After we relocated one vehicle who missed the turn-off (sorry, my mistake), we made our way quickly to the Sandgrouse site south of Sun City. We arrived just after 08:00, and immediately started looking for the birds I expected to have arrived already. The window of opportunity I was expecting, after recent visits, was 07:45 to 09:00. After 15 minutes of searching and waiting, the unmistakable call of the YTSG heralded the approach of a pair. A nice "fly-by" view was had by all, before the birds landed out of sight. I decided not to rush off in search of these, and rather wait for others. The next pair decided to land within metres of our vehicles, but out of view for us. Again, I chose to wait, and within minutes a small group landed in view about 60 metres away from us.

Over the next half an hour, we had a number of small groups coming and going, and were finally rewarded when a group of 5 landed roughly 20 metres from us. Great views were had by all as the birds settled, and slowly moved off towards the stream. One male very obligingly stopped to dust-bathe and allowed some of the birders to approach to within 10 metres for some great views and photo's.

A "successful chase" was called by everyone, and most of the group headed off to Pilanesberg for some more birding. The remaining few got out some coffee and rusks to celebrate, and whilst standing around, a single male YTSG landed on the gravel, allowing a brief view before taking off again. This was just after 10:00. Another single male alighted in the same area at around 10:20, and allowed a brief photo opportunity before moving off.

I estimate a total of around 30 - 35 YTSG for the morning. Total species noted was close to 40 species, quite a low number due to our intense focus on the sandgrouse.

Some nice species noted were Kalahari and White-browed Scrub Robin, Violet-eared Waxbill, Magpie Shrike, Black-chested Snake-Eagle, Brownthroated Martin, Pearl-breasted and White-throated Swallow, White-winged Widow (starting to show breeding plumage) and Marico Sunbird. An interesting sighting of one melanistic Gabar Goshawk was seen by Niall Perrins who was trying to sneak up on the YTSG for photo's.

Thanks to the members who drove all the way out here to join us.

Successful chase

I was very glad to receive a request recently to chase the Yellow-throated Sandgrouse (YTSG).

This request came from Sharon and Fred Kersten (http://www.kerstenbirding.com/), as this is a species that is both new to them and the list Sharon is working on for the year 2009.

After a chilly start this morning at 07:00, we made our way to the Sun City site in anticipation. I was looking forward to this outing, as I have not seen the YTSG at this site for some time now. This is due to my poor timing, and only managing visits during fruitless times of the day. I still had faith!!

The "dawn chorus" kept me very busy trying to ID the numerous species calling around me, and we had nice views of Marico Sunbird flitting around, as well as a beautiful Kalahari Scrub-Robin. Crested Francolin were calling harshly, and a couple of African Wattled Lapwings joined in for good measure.

After an hour of patient waiting (I still had faith), 4 YTSG made a brief fly-over and never stopped. I was secretly concerned that this was it, but withing minutes a few more flew over and I picked out the typical "ipi aw aw" call of these beautiful birds. For the next hour, we had over 30-40 YTSG flying sorties, scanning the area below, and had some stunning views of a few groups flying past with the sun lighting up the amazing markings of both male and female. A handful alighted on the sandy soils for a spot of dust-bathing, allowing for some good views.

During this time, we kept noticing a number of YTSG coming in to land behind a few trees within 50 - 100m from the original site, and upon investigating, we came across another 2 sites with a "shallow bank down to the water" that these birds prefer. Amazingly (and some say "Murphy's Law"), while we were investigating these sites, a few YTSG chose to land right next to the spot we were standing on minutes before, mere metres from the cars.

We called it a morning around 09:30, with Sharon and Fred heading off to Borakalalo. Even as we were finishing up, individuals were still flying past and landing near the stream.

It was difficult to confirm numbers, but the total must have been over 50 individuals by the time we left. Fred was kept busy with taking some pictures, which I have been assured will be shown on their site. From the few he showed me, there were some great images. Have a look.

Happy birding and atlassing!!!

Pilanesberg Update

After way too long, here is an update on how Pilanesberg is looking after just over 2 years of SABAP2.

The central pentads are growing nicely, with 2 pentads already over 25 cards, and Pentad 2515_2700 only 1 card away from turning RED.




3 of the pentads (light blue) are only 2-3 cards away from changing colour, which will make them Dark Blue.

In addition to all the cards submitted, it is great to note that the majority of the Pilanesberg pentads have over 140 species recorded, with some over 180, as shown on the species richness map (http://sabap2.adu.org.za/spp_richness_map.php).

This is a great achievement so far, and thank you to the atlassers who have assisted with getting Pilanesberg to where it is now.

Something different!!

It is amazing how a person gets used to your surrounding areas with the relevant birdlife, and how great it is to get away to a completely different biome!

A family wedding saw my wife, kids and yours truly jetting off to Cape Town on Friday, 10 July. Sadly the Capetonians didn't arrange great weather for us, with the resultant massive flooding in and around Cape Town. Sunday saw us packing house from Fishhoek to Gordon's Bay, with the weather only bettering on the Wednesday. We grabbed this opportunity immediately, and headed off to the Harold Porter Botanical Gardens in Betty's Bay. My wife was immediately provided with 2 lifers, Swee Waxbill, and amazingly close sightings of Cape Siskin. It was great to be out birding, although the toll of 2 small kids showed in the small list we managed to put together. We will be back.

Family gettogethers took up a lot of our time, but we did squeeze in a visit to the Helderberg Nature Reserve in Somerset West. Within minutes, my wife notched up Brimstone Canary, the third and last lifer for her. We were spoilt with phenomenal displays by Cape Sugarbirds and Orange-breasted Sunbirds, along with many of the other 'usuals'.

Interestingly enough, we had a view of a Klaas' Cuckoo around the nursery area, and judging by the numerous reports on SA Birdnet, there seems to be a large number overwintering this year. I have personally recorded a few Klaas', based on call, around Pilanesberg and Sun City already.

We noted numerous spots as we were travelling that will be visited during our next trip south, whenever that should be, and look forward to the completely different, yet refreshing, birding available!!

Superb Atlassing Efforts

I received an email recently from a fellow atlasser Tony Archer, # 10437, (see his SABAP2 stats here: http://sabap2.adu.org.za/data_summary_observer.php?Obs=10437), informing me of a trip he was planning into the western areas of North West.

His target was to atlas at least one pentad in each untouched Half Degree Grid Cell left in the North West, and as the Coverage map shows, ( http://sabap2.adu.org.za/coverage_map_mapped.php), he has done an amazing job.

There are now only 3 HDGC without a atlassed pentad, 2 of which overlap into neighbouring provinces (Go to the coverage map and select 'Empty Half Degrees" and refresh)

This great atlassing effort from Tony has pushed the North West's coverage to 21.7, ie 322 out of 1486 pentads atlassed.

Well Done!

Late Migrant Surprises!!

By now, as the SABAP2 LAMP challenge is proving, the majority of migratory birds have headed to greener pastures. There are naturally those birds that feel that South Africa's Winters aren't THAT bad, and choose to stay.

Nonetheless, while atlassing pentad 2520_2705 yesterday, I was quite surprised to see a single Jacobin's Cuckoo over our companies Game Farm yesterday.

This was followed up today by a single White Stork circling over the Kwena Gardens Crocodile Sanctuary.

Roll on Winter, and I'm already on the lookout for the beautiful Fairy Flycatcher that will start moving into our area soon.

Happy atlassing!!

North West reaches 20%

I was very impressed to see that the North West province has now reached 20.4% coverage. This equates to 303 of the 1486 pentads overlaying the province having been atlassed at least once.

To reach this percentage, 1008 cards have been submitted, constituting 59 507 records, with an average of 59 species per card.

To date, the highest species count on a card in the North West is still 143.

Of the 303 North West pentads:

- 6 pentads have over 25 cards submitted
- 8 pentads have 16 - 24 cards submitted
- 14 pentads have 11 - 15 cards submitted
- 13 pentads have 7 - 10 cards submitted
- 27 pentads have 4 - 6 cards submitted
- 89 pentads have 2 - 3 cards submitted
- 146 pentads have been atlassed once.

On the species diversity front, North West stands as follows:

- 35 pentads have a species count of between 106 and 140 species
- 22 pentads have a species count of between 141 and 180 species
- 14 pentads have over 181 species recorded

Well done to all atlassers who have had a hand in these stats!!!

Atlassing discoveries

While out atlassing pentad 2520_2705 covering Sun City, I spent an hour or so with my parents birding in the Cascades tropical gardens, with the aim of ticking Meyer's Parrot amongst a few others.

Eventually, the shrieking call of the Parrot caught our attention, and we got some good views.

However, we were greatly surprised to note a second Parrot being chased around by nothing other than a Rosy-faced Lovebird. After some debate, including a trip into the aviary, the second parrot was confirmed as a Senegal Parrot.

There is no doubt that these 2 birds escaped from the aviary, as although they are listed on the aviary list, they were nowhere to be seen.

Although it is unfortunate that escapees are on the loose, we still watched the interaction with amazement. Especially the interaction between the Lovebird and the Senegal Parrot. On numerous occasions, the Lovebird was seen to be "dancing" in front of the Parrot, bobbing a few times, then turning 180* on the branch, followed by more bobbing and more turning. It seems that the Lovebird was living up to its name.

Having moved on from this activity, I was very glad to locate the pair of Little Sparrowhawk again within metres of where I had previously watched the male trying to interest the female in some nest-building. The pair seem to be content in this area, even with the hustle of visitors around the swimming pool.

Now I just have to wait for the Out of Range forms to be generated by our escapees. Even though the record will not be included in the data, it will still be interesting to see the "distribution" of the numerous escapees floating around South Africa.

Autumn Atlassing

Winter is well on the way to catching up with us, and this is very evident when spending a bit of time bird-watching. Migration has begun in earnest, and migratory species numbers are steadily declining.

In my earlier birdwatching years, I have been aware of these birds leaving and arriving, but have never really focused on this. That is where SABAP2 has changed my view, as I am now constantly looking out for the moment these species pack their bags.

Most of the Barn Swallows have moved on, but a handful were still scouring the fields near my house (2525_2700) on Friday, 13 March. Black Cuckoo has still been calling, as well as Diedericks. The Willow Warblers have already started their journey, and haven't been seen for a few weeks in my area. A Spotted Flycatcher was still frantically busy this morning catching any insect that dared move in front of his beak, preparing for the long journey. Lesser Striped and Red-breasted Swallows have still been relatively common till this weekend, maybe the cold mornings made them make up their mind to move.

The Woodland Kingfisher's striking call was common in my garden up till mid January, and has been silent since then. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the call on 5th March while out with guests at the Predator Park not far from Sun City (2520_2710).

In an attempt to "map" the departure of birds, SABAP2 is running a project called LAMP, the Long Autumn Migration Project, running from 1 March 2009 to 31 May 2009. The idea is o go deep in pentads, as this will clearly show the departure of the migratory species. For more detailed info, visit the SABAP2 website and have a look.

Happy atlassing!

Pilanesberg Atlassing

Atlassing over Pilanesberg has been a bit slow in recent times, not surprising as everyone went back to work during January. Not to worry, weekends are still available to benefit from the great birding that is on offer as the seasons start changing.



For those following the coverage map, pentad 2510_2705 has finally turned BLUE, while 2515_2705 has joined the Sun City pentad (2520_2705) as RED. This now leaves only 3 pentads just short of turning BLUE.



For those visiting Pilanesberg soon, why not target some of the lesser known pentads, and lets see if we can get Pilanesberg thoroughly atlassed. If you are interested in the Pilanesberg map with the pentads overlaid, please contact me on stuartgroom@xsinet.co.za for a copy.

North West Atlassing

North West Province has a total of 1486 pentads covering the area, and to date 241 pentads have already been atlassed at least once. This equates to a coverage of 16.2%, not far behind the overall SABAP2 coverage of just over 20%.

In reaching the 16.2% mark, a total of 755 card were submitted, constituting 44 625 records. This is an average of 59.1 species per card. The highest species for a North West card is 143, not an easy target. Next target 200???

Thanks to all the observers who contributed to these stats, this is a job well done.

Pilanesberg Atlassing

With all the fun of watching the BASH statistics being reached, I have only now got to update the Pilanesberg map.

As reported earlier, 2520_2705 has hit RED, with 2515_2705 only one list away!!

Sadly, the 4 green pentads have gone unnoticed for some time. Pursuing my challenge to TURN PILANESBERG BLUE (and RED ;-) I urge all atlassers visiting Pilanesberg in the next short while to target these areas, as there is some good birding to be had in these pentads.

2510_2700 is just 4 lists away from hitting BLUE

2510_2705 and 2510_2710 are just 1 list away from BLUE

2515_2710 needs 2 more for BLUE


Help is on the way for some of the North-Western Pentads with the new Black Rhino Lodge situated in close proximity to these, so I hope to see these reach BLUE soon.

Happy atlassing!!

BASH STATS SMASHED

On visiting the SABAP2 website this evening, I was impressed to see that the rather HUGE targets set for the BASH challenge had all been reached. What an amazing sight to see what was accomplished in 2 months.

Herewith the stats:

Well done to Team SABAP2!!

Pilanesberg atlassing

Pentad 2520_2705 covering Sun City has turned RED! This is the first pentad out of 1486 pentads that cover the North West Province to have been atlassed 25 times or more.

Thank you to the observers who assisted me in reaching this target.

And unless an observer out there would like to prove me wrong, the next RED pentad is likely to be 2515_2705 covering the central area of Pilanesberg Nat Park (directly North of the Sun City Pentad), as it is currently standing on 24 full protocol cards.

Who will submit the 25th???

Yellow-throated Sandgrouse

The scenic route home today took me past the ploughed lands favoured by the Sandgrouse, but I was not fully expecting to find them, with it being 10:30.

I was therefore pleased to find a group of 9 birds feeding about 30m off the road. I approached on foot slowly, and at 20m, they took off, followed by another 11 birds that I hadn't noticed. I was happy to note that after flying a stretch, they circled and landed together about 80m away, having expected them to move off completely.

Now I can see why the jizz of a bird is so important to identification, because in flight the Speckled Pigeons and Yellow-throated Sandgrouse look very similar. This is till you notice the more pointed wings and more rapid flight of the Sandgrouse. With Pigeons and Sandgrouse sharing the fields, it makes identification quite tricky at first!!

And then there's the sandgrouse call to make life so much easier.

YT Sandgrouse update

With the thought of adding another pentad to the BASH statistics (see the SABAP2 webpage), we headed off to atlas pentad 2525_2705 yesterday. Sadly, after one thing and another, we only managed 1.5 hours before calling it quits.

The list started off well, with species like Yellow Canary, Abdim's Stork, Yellow-crowned Bishop, Chestnut-backed Sparrowlark and Yellow-throated Sandgrouse showing well. I'll know the full total when I get around to submitting the list.

Using atlassing as the excuse, my main target was to located the YT Sandgrouse again, and I was not disappointed. This site is proving very reliable.

To start, 1 male and 2 females were noted feeding in the ploughed lands, and the next hour saw us noting over 40 sandgrouse along the 3km of road.

This area has the benefit of easier access than the site just south of Sun City, although you have to work for the sighting. No such thing as sitting around waiting for them to land in front of you. With all the rain we have had recently (close on 300mm in January), I haven't ventured down to the Sun City site as getting stuck in black-cotton clay doesn't appeal to me. If we experience a few days of dry weather I will pop past this site and see what arrives. An update will follow if I don't get bogged down.

Rain, rain and more rain

40mm+ today, and its still dripping. The mornings rain very quickly put paid to what was supposed to be some good birding time. Oh, I did see a few birds, most resembling drowned rats, but the rest were doing the only sensible thing and staying under cover, like me.

The pentad covering Sun City (2520_2705) has finally turned RED, with the 25th list submitted recently. I was intending to make it 26, with a quick dash to pentad 2525_2705 in search of Yellow-throated Sandgrouse and the Temminck's Coursers I noted a few days back, but that was not to be.

However, without the distraction of birding, I could sit back and appreciate the beautiful rain and what it is doing to the veld in the area. Pilanesberg and surrounds is looking very lush, and the dams are nice and full. In my home pentad (2525_2700) I have recorded the following rainfall this season:

October 2008 - 80mm
November 2008 - 71mm
December 2008 - 26mm
January 2009 - 255mm and counting

This is still about 200mm short of our average, so still some catching up to do. When will there be time to atlas??

Here's hoping for a dry day shortly to get some fresh air and tackle some pentads.

Well Done!!!

Huge congratulations to the atlassers who pushed Gauteng's coverage to the magical 100% mark!

Awesome work!!

Next stop North West ????!!!!

Atlassing Pilanesberg National Park

I am fortunate that my workplace is Pilanesberg National Park, a stunning reserve with great birding. Inevitably, Pilanesberg receives most of my attention when it comes to atlassing, simply because of the ease of access.

Pilanesberg covers 55o square kilometres, and is pretty well situated to allow for easy atlassing. The park has a road network of over 200km, allowing fairly good coverage of the 9 pentads accessible by the roads. 4 additional pentads cover some part of Pilanesberg, however, no public access roads are available. These I will tackle as I can with the assistance of other guides in the park.

Below is a map of Pilanesberg with the pentads overlaid (A printable version is available, email me for a copy)

I recently posed a challenge to other atlasers in an article I submitted to Pilanesberg News, a quarterly newspaper. This challenge was to turn Pilanesberg BLUE!!

11 cards in a pentad turn it Light Blue, 16 for Dark Blue, 25 for Red. 3 Pentads currently are Dark Blue, with one pentad (2520_2705 Sun City) needing only one more card to turn RED!!

Below is the latest coverage (number of cards per pentad) of Pilanesberg as at 25.01.2009

I challenge atlasers to focus on the pentads still needing some attention, and lets see how quickly we can TURN PILANESBERG BLUE!!

In search of Yellow-throated Sandgrouse

I was contacted recently by a birder interested in locating the Yellow-throated Sandgrouse (YTSG), and we arranged to head out today.

My first target was to search the mielie fields between Boshoek and Robega, with a back-up spot being the Sun City site.

We arrived at the fields just after 13:30, as I was hoping to discover a bit more about the schedule these birds follow; I had seen them previously between 16:00 and 18:00. We scanned the 4km of road bordered by fields back and forth a few times, and although we couldn't find the YTSG, I managed to pick out at least 6 Temminck's Courser's in a fallow field. Stunning birds these. All this while we were constantly watching an approaching storm, and hoping that it would miss us. We weren't that lucky, and the storm arrived in all its glory just before 16:00. Timing couldn't have been worse, as we collectively noticed a flock of 5 YTSG fly in and land just as visibility was being lost by raindrops covering the windows. A patient 10 minute wait ensued, and we were graced with a 5 minute reprieve from the storm, just enough time to locate the birds and have a quick look.

That was all we were given, the storm closed in again and we made our way home, "paddling" our way through flooded roads (at least the roads are tarred ;-).



Hopefully this spot will prove to be a very reliable stakeout as time goes.

See you there?????

Birding with a reason

When I first learnt of the Second South African Bird Atlassing Project (SABAP2), I must admit I found myself amongst many others that felt they could get more benefit spending their time differently. Although my father had been actively atlassing since the beginning of the project, the bug still didn't bite.


That was until I led a Wits Bird Club outing in search of the beautiful Yellowthroated Sandgrouse on the 23rd August 2008. The group leader, Mrs Gisela Ortner, delegated me to keep her birdlist as she atlassed the area surrounding the muddy little patch of water we were patiently waiting alongside. Thankfully, the Sandgrouse put in a great display, and everyone left happy.

Yellow-throated Sandgrouse pair

The following morning saw the group spending the morning birding on the Kedar Country Hotel property outside Rustenburg. My birdlist after 6 hours stood on 60 species, and this was to be my first list submitted towards SABAP2.

To date, I have submitted over 45 full protocol lists as well as over 20 adhoc lists. I have listed over 2800 records covering 327 different species.

You may ask the simple question: Why?

The answer is just as simple: Birding with a reason.

Gone are the days of visiting an area just to birdwatch. Now lists are kept, GPS co-ordinates noted, and plenty of birding is had!! These lists are submitted into the SABAP2 database, along with over 400 other observers' contributions, in a project aimed at improving our knowledge of bird distribution across the whole of South Africa.

Now an individual can contribute meaningfully towards an amazing project, and this gives me a reason to go out birding, knowing that I am making a difference.

For those looking for more information, visit http://sabap2.adu.org.za/, or hit the link on the righthand column.

Happy birding and atlassing!!!