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.