!!!! The Great Twitch !!!!

The recent flurry of activity on the rarity front in South Africa has caused quite a stir amongst birders, and twitchers. Now I have never really included myself in the category Twitcher, and have only done the twitching thing for a handful of birds, those being (amongst possibly a FEW others):

1 - Pectoral Sandpiper at Roodekoppies Dam, North West
2 - Tree Pipit at Kgaswane Nature Reserve, Rustenburg
3 - Greater Sheathbill at Cape Town Waterfront ( we were in Cape Town visiting family already, so this one doesn't really count)
4 - Red Phalarope at Ruighoek Dam, Pilanesberg (my back garden, I had to get this one)

Initially, I enjoyed watching the emails back and forth from Trevor Hardaker about the Golden Pipit, and equally enjoyed watching everyone jump up and make plans to head off to KZN. However, the longer I watched the emails, the more I had the itch to join the insane travellers. I also was thinking I had to do something wierd and wonderful before an interesting 2010 came to an end.

Then the titbits from Muzi Pan were thrown into the pot, and thoughts intensified. Soon after, Rufous-bellied Heron was added to the potential lifer list, and things got interesting!! Plans started forming in my mind, together with the ever increasing stress that I would soon download emails to find one from Trevor saying "You missed out!!!"

The bug had bitten.......

Saturday 18 December was earmarked as D-Day, and plans continued. The few days preceding the 18th were racked with worry every time I checked emails, but every time I had a look, I could breathe a sigh of relief as I read Trevor's continual updates.

A colleague, Darren, and I jumped in a car at 23:45 on Friday night and shot off to Joburg. After switching cars and collecting my wife, we fetched my parents and hit the road. My thoughts of arriving at 09:00 worked out very well, and we found ourselves approaching the Pongolapoort Nature Reserve at just after 09:15.

At the gate, tickets were hastily purchased, fellow birders met, and the rush to the Golden Pipit spot commenced. Please let it still be there!! I have to admit I was intensely relieved to arrive at the Tsessebe/Nkonkoni Junction to find a beautiful yellow ball of feathers walking around on the road.



Golden Pipit on take-off



Over the next half an hour, we were treated to some awesome views of a displaying Golden Pipit, who relentlessly pursued every other bird in sight. Nothing was given breathing space, and Bulbuls, Weavers, Shrikes and Cisticolas were duly sent packing if they got too close.

Golden Pipit displaying

 

Golden Pipit resting for a moment

 

Golden Pipit heading off for more displaying

 

Golden Pipit just after landing

 

Golden Pipit showing stunning colouration on take-off

 

Golden Pipit - another short rest

 

Golden Pipit - what a beauty

It got to the point where we actually turned our back on this stunning bird and headed off to pursue our other specials. What a shame, I could have watched him for hours.

Next stop MUZI PANS. We rushed off toward Hluhluwe, and finally found the pan that housed the Rufous-bellied Heron. Try as we may we could not relocate the bird, despite it having been seen 30 minutes before we got there. We left the pan with plans to check it out on our way home.

A number of birders had already gathered at the edge of Muzi Pan when we arrived, and we joined the search for Yellow Wagtail, Buff-breasted and Pectoral Sandpiper.

The Yellow Wagtail turned out to be the easiest, and everyone in our group had good views.

With patient scanning through binoculars and scope, I finally picked out the Buff-breasted Sandpiper standing in amongst numerous Kittlitz's Plovers. It showed relatively well for the next hour, occasionally disappearing in flight, but returning soon enough.

With some more detailed scanning, and our departure time looming, I managed to pick out the Pectoral Sandpiper amongst the Wood Sandpipers, allowing good views to our group (lifer for most).

For my colleague Darren, he was very happy to also add Pink-backed Pelican and Blue-cheeked Bee-eater to his life list.

Just as we were about to drive off, I decided to have a go at the Red-faced Cisticolas that were calling frenetically in the surrounding reed-beds. We were fortunate, and a short playback drew 2 birds out of the reed-beds, allowing great views.

With sadness, we had to leave Muzi Pan and all its offerings. We made another short stop at the roadside pan, but the Rufous-bellied Heron was having nothing of this, and we noted our first dip of the trip.

The long road home was tackled, and a satisfied bunch of twitching birders finally made Joburg at just after midnight. Darren and I finally crawled into our welcoming beds in Pilanesberg at 03:00, a massive 27 hours on the road!!

I have now heard terms such as insane and mad and ......... used in reference to our road trip by family and friends. When asked if I would do it again, naturally the answer was an immediate:

HELL YES, JUST NOT ANYTIME IN THE NEAR FUTURE!!!!!!!!!!

Happy birding and twitching ................

Confirmed ID

I received some very prompt responses all agreeing on a young Black-crowned Night-Heron for the pictures below.

Thanks for the replies.

Any clue??

While out birding today in Pilanesberg, I stopped off at Bathlako Dam in the west of the Park. I was then presented with views of the following bird, confusing me no end as I only had one field guide with me. It was considerably larger than the numerous Green-backed Heron moving around, with the body easily twice the size of these Herons.

I have searched through all my books, and I think I have it confirmed. However, I would like to see what everyone else thinks .............

Finally, a Cuckoo Finch ... or 50

A rush out to the farm dam outside Kroondal, Rustenburg, yesterday turned out to be absolutely worth it.

My wife and I  joined Geoff and Shaun from the Rustenburg Bird Club and within 10 minutes were spoilt with fantastic views of a male Cuckoo Finch sitting not more than 5 metres from the vehicle.



Cuckoo Finch - Kroondal Dam, Rustenburg 05/12/2010

 Over the next 30 minutes we saw a flock of easily 50 individuals! WOW!! This is definitely worth a visit for anyone in the area.

Sandgrouse update

After I recently noted that the Sun City Site had dried up, I have taken to visiting the Sunflower Fields with birders looking to target the Yellow-throated Sandgrouse.

This has proved successful, and continued this afternoon. We arrived at the Fields close to 16:45, and set about scanning the ploughed fields. This proved tough going, and we made our way to the end of the fields without success.

At this stage I was hoping to strike it lucky at the spot where I witnessed the young drinking from the male. With a brief scan of the short grass, we managed to pick out a small group of Sandgrouse about 70m off. The birds were very relaxed, and we were able to walk around them to get the sun in our favour. With patience, we managed to get to within 25m of the closest group of 3 birds, with the second group of 4 another 10m further back.

We had a careful look at the group of 3, and we agreed that it was a pair with a younger bird. This youngster was noticeably smaller than the parents, and was an absolute mirror image of the mom. The group further back was made up of a pair and 3 sub-adults, these 3 looking just like the female again. I do not think this family was the same as the group I saw previously as I feel these young were larger. However, I can't be fully sure of this.

After getting fantastic views, they finally took off calling their distinctive call. This caused more birds to take off deeper in, and a flock of roughly 30 headed off deep into the fields.

We left the fields in high spirits, and with a half hour spare, we decided to pop in to the Sun City site to try for Double-banded Sandgrouse. As we approached the site, I was THRILLED to see that the stream was in full flow again!!! We parked alongside the stream and started scanning the skies for movement of the Sandgrouse. After waiting for 10minutes, I happened to look behind us in the bush, and spotted 3 Double-banded Sandgrouse sitting not more than 30m away.

We ended the fantastic afternoon at 18:20 and savoured sightings of 2 beautiful Sandgrouse species in one afternoon!!

I have not approached Sun City again about the waterflow through the stream, as so was surprised to see it flowing. I cannot be sure how long this is going to continue, but long may it last.

Happy sandgrousing........

WOW!! What a special sighting!!

I was contacted recently by birders that wanted to find the Yellow-throated Sandgrouse. With the Sun City site useless at the moment, I fell back on the Sunflower Fields.

This morning we were on site at 06:00, and started scouring the recently ploughed fields. At one of our stops to search some more, we noted a Temmincks Courser ahead of us on the road verge. Immediately, a young chick showed itself, and ran after its mom. Roughly 20m further on a second adult stood beautifully, surveying the activity. The mother and chick allowed us to stop right next to them (+-5m) and posed quite nicely for some photos.

Adult Temmincks Courser

Temmincks Courser chick

We continued searching the fields for the Sandgrouse in vain. At the end of the road, as we were about to turn around, a male flew in and landed about 100m off the road. As we got out of the vehicle, we disturbed a few birds that fortunately landed again about 40m from us. The excitement was great, as we could see a male and female beautifully. Upon closer inspection, there were another 3 birds following the male continuously. These 3 were more than half the size of the adults, giving me my first sighting of juvenile Sandgrouse in almost 4 years of watching them!

Male with 3 chicks in foreground

The 3 young would not leave the male alone, and when we had a look through a spotting scope, we had phenomenal views of the chicks drinking/sucking water off the belly feathers of the male!!

Poor angle of two chicks drinking

WOW!!  I've read about it, and know about the belly-wetting, but to see the chicks in action was incredible!!

Nature has an amazing way of firing up your day...

No water!!! What now?

During a recent visit to the Sun City site with members of the Bafokeng Land Unit, I was disappointed to see that there was no water flowing through the stream. This has only happened once before, prior to me finding the "source" of the stream.

I quickly headed to the Sun City sewerage works, and had a very brief chat with the manager on site. He confirmed that the water was no longer flowing through the stream, as this was in line with Sun City's policy to recycle 100% of the treated water for use on the golf courses and gardens. Fully understandable.

I mentioned the site and the use thereof by the Yellow-throated Sandgrouse, and he suggested I send him some more information on the bird and the site as a start.

Hopefully we can come to some arrangement that will be feasible.

In the meantime ... EISH!

Ringing attempt # 2

It is already a year since ringers from the Wits Bird Club managed to catch a couple of Yellow-throated Sandgrouse at the Sun City site. For the write-up on the first ringing attempt, visit

http://stuartgroom.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html

Yellow-throated Sandgrouse pair

It was with this success in mind that Barbi Forsyth set up another outing. Tuesday afternoon, 7th September, saw Barbi and her 'entourage' of ringers, Karen, Gail and Dael scouting the site to plan the next morning's setup.

The ladies hard at work

I joined the ladies early on Wednesday morning and the vigil began. Just after 07:00, a number of Yellow-throated Sandgrouse flew by, with quite a few landing amongst the nets. Try as we may, we could not persuade any of the Sandgrouse that the net was a good place to be! The birds have a very steep take-off angle so even with nets 3m high, it was not sufficient to catch any. The day wore on, and numerous other species were netted and ringed, from Namaqua Doves to Violet-eared Waxbills, including two retraps from Karen's ringing last year, those being a Sabota Lark and a White-browed Scrub-Robin. Oddly enough, both these birds were side by side in a net. Maybe they have a support group going for birds with bling.

Namaqua Dove male

As the afternoon approached, excitement was increasing again, and soon enough the Sandgrouse started flying past. With some persuasion and a lot of luck, one female Yellow-throated Sandgrouse was netted and successfully ringed. This was the first female captured here, following on from the two males last year.

Success!!

Violet-eared Waxbill female

Dusk started settling around us, and the Double-banded Sandgrouse started appearing. We decided to leave the nets up as late as possible in the hopes of trapping one of these birds. None were interested in being given a new leg ring, and a decision was made to pack up. Gail started making her way towards her nets, and I stepped out from my hiding spot in the long grass, and promptly disturbed a female Double-banded Sandgrouse that had snuck in quietly. She headed straight into one of the nets, and gave Dael her first Sandgrouse to ring.

Double Success!!

Double-banded Sandgrouse female

Another attempt was made today, but very few birds were netted, none of them Sandgrouse, although one female Yellow-throated Sandgrouse flew into the net, and promptly managed to fly straight out again.

Oh so close ........

Well, with new successes in hand, and many adaptions to netting strategies, we will be at it again in about 6 months time!!!





  _

What a beautiful morning

Yesterday morning I met up with Japie Claasen and clients at the sunflower fields south of Sun City at just after 07:00. Shortly after starting along the road, we had views of a Lanner Falcon being mobbed by two Black-shouldered Kites. What a start. Not long after that, a pair of Yellow-throated Sandgrouse were seen within 20m of the roadside, allowing great views. We all had a good look before Japie headed further along the road. Being in a Landcruiser gave me some freedom, so I entered the fields on a small track (luckily the turf was fairly dry). I managed to find a few more pairs of Sandgrouse deeper in to the fields, with one pair allowing some great views at about 4m from the vehicle!!

It was at about this stage that Japie moved on to Pilanesberg NP to try his luck that side. I investigated further into the fields, all the while being presented with great views of Buffy Pipit, African Pipit, Chestnut-backed Sparrowlark, Longtailed Paradise Whydah, Black-thoated Canary and a pair of Temminks Courser.

I was then alerted to the unique call of the Yellow-throated Sandgrouse and saw a group of around 50 sandgrouse fly over me towards the fields. With a bit of searching back and forth, I ended up right next to a mine shaft entrance gate, opposite which was an open "gravel" area with a few semi-dry depressions of water.

In and around this spot, I managed to see close on 20 more sandgrouse, and I assumed this to be a roosting spot or something along those lines.

Based on this info, I gave Japie directions to the site, and in his call this afternoon, he mentioned arriving at the site this morning to see roughly 50 sandgrouse fly off to the fields. After a quick count, at least another 40 birds were still on the ground!!! He arrived at this spot at about 08:15.

Anyone wanting directions let me know.

More Sandgrouse sightings

I recently found some time to head into the sunflower fields south of Sun City to search for the Yellow-throated Sandgrouse.

I was presented with a good sighting within minutes of arriving, and this turned out to be the first of many. All of the sightings were seen from the road verge, as after all the glorious rain we have received recently, there was no chance at all of even walking into the fields due to the mud. A few groups were seen flying over, and all in all I must have seen near on 50 individuals.

A number of people have had the opportunity recently to visit the site, and I've heard good results for all the visits.

On my visit, the fields also presented good views of Greater Kestrel, Booted Eagle and Chestnut-backed Sparrowlark, with the surrounding village offering awesome views of Scaly-feathered Finch.

Sandgrouse sightings

A colleague has recently been assisting sunflower farmers in the vicinity with shooting of crop-raiding birds. The target species is Speckled pigeons, of which there are tens of thousands in the fields.

Of note is his reports of large numbers of Yellow-throated Sandgrouse utilizing the fields. He has regularly been seeing big flocks taking off in front of him.

Fortunately, with some assistance and guidance from me, he has learnt the key distinguishing factors between the Pigeons and Sandgrouse, and knows to avoid them.

With winter approaching, sightings of the Sandgrouse should improve nicely, so keep your eyes peeled when in the area.

Answer to the unknown bird......

I received a number of suggestions to answer my riddle on the young bird.

Herewith the ideas:

Village Weaver 5
Red-headed Weaver 1
Cape Weaver 1
Spectacled Weaver 1
A Sparrowlark 1

This indicates that it is most likely a Village Weaver, but we might need to wait till adult plumage to get a proper answer.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Unknown bird??!!

I received this image recently from my aunt who is based on a game farm near Phalaborwa. The family she is living with have rescued a number of birds, mostly chicks, that have been blown out of their nests in storms.

This little one was a recent addition to their collection, and they cannot place the species. Can anyone out there put a name to this bird? Please post a comment below the picture or email me directly at stuartgroom@xsinet.co.za . Thank you!!

The Twitch of the Tree Pipits

Luck was on my side yesterday, 22 February, when I downloaded emails. I had a long list of goodies to take care of in Rustenburg, and was preparing to leave.

My eye caught an email from Lisl van Deventer reporting a Tree Pipit seen in the Kgaswane Nature Reserve, Rustenburg. I immediately replied to this mail asking for more info, and received an immediate response from Lisl. Binoculars were picked up, bird books were found, and the idea of seeing a South African special foremost in my mind. While rushing to finish off a few things at work, I received a call from Etienne Marais, suggesting we meet up at Kgaswane. Great idea!


Two hours later, I arrived at the day visitor picnic site, to find Etienne's car, but no Etienne. I assumed he was somewhere in the surrounding scrub searching for the Pipit, and set about checking the area for bird life. Within minutes of arriving, I noticed a pipit-like bird land in a tree (pretty obvious!!), but had poor views against the light. Etienne appeared, and we headed off in search of the critter I had just seen.


Tree Pipit - Stuart Groom

We did not have a long wait, and were fortunate to have awesome views of two Tree Pipits sitting exposed on some bushes. Happy that we had found the two birds recorded by Lisl and party on Saturday, we were surprised to see a third bird fly in. Amazed at our luck, we were again surprised to see yet another individual arrive in view. Four Tree Pipits!!

Over the next 30 minutes we had crippling views of a number individuals, until they very willingly landed in the same tree. Surprised we were again, six Tree Pipits sitting together, with another just alongside in another tree.


Seven confirmed Tree Pipits!!!!!! We believed with all the movement that there may well have been up to ten Tree Pipits in the area!!!!!!

Five Tree Pipits - Stuart Groom

What a phenomenal morning!!!

Unusual sighting at Entabeni Game Reserve

Nature is a beautiful and amazing thing!! In the same breath, though, nature is not always fair!!

While out with Lee Gutteridge of Entabeni Nature Guide Training (www.natureguidetraining.co.za) this morning, we came across a lone Blacksmith Lapwing at a dam close to their camp. What made this sighting unusual was the little group of four ducklings that were following the Lapwing closely. The ducklings were no larger than a tennis ball, and thus very young. The dam hosts White-faced, White-backed and Yellow-billed Ducks, and our assumption was that the ducklings were Yellow-billed Ducks, as a pair landed in the vicinity of the ducklings while we were watching.

The Lapwing seemed a little flustered at all the attention, and would move a few steps whenever the ducklings approached. The attention couldn't have been too annoying, or the Lapwing would have found another spot on the dam to rest. While discussing all the angles of the scenario, we wondered if the parents were not in the area when the eggs hatched, forcing the ducklings to "latch" on to the first creature they saw, the poor Lapwing. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

After watching this interaction for 15 minutes, two Yellow-billed Ducks flew in and landed roughly 15 metres away from the surrogate "mom" and ducklings. We thought this answered a lot of questions, but within minutes, the adult Ducks swam away from the youngsters. We watched for a little longer, before moving off to continue on the drive, with a promise to return to the dam.

On our return, we quickly scanned the area, and saw the Lapwing looking relaxed, and alone. Not one of the four ducklings were visible. The Yellow-billed Ducks also seemed to have moved off completely.

The Lapwing/Duckling mystery continues.......

Birding Big Day with a twist - 28 November 2009

Two months ago to the day saw me eagerly starting a list for BBD 2009. At that stage I was quite content to bird out the day by myself, as my colleagues and BBD 2007 teammates were all unavailable.

My target pentad was the "Sun City and surrounds" pentad, 2520_2705, an awesome pentad that has Sun City complex in the NW corner bordered by Letsatsing Game Park (Gametrackers' private game reserve), and across to Kwa-Maritane lodge in the NE corner. The pentad then extends south to the village of Chaneng, encompassing the black-cotton clay fields that house the Yellow-throated Sandgrouse.

My list started at 06:15, and the first hour provided 40 species, including Barn Owl, Red-chested Cuckoo, Willow Warbler, Rattling Cisticola and Green-backed Heron. This, all recorded before I had moved out of our workshop in Letsatsing.

Hour 2 saw me creep up to 59 species, including Violet-backed Starlings and a bird party consisting of Puffbacks, Orange-breasted Bush-shrikes, Goldentailed Woodpecker, African Paradise-Flycatcher, Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird and White-throated Robin-chat. I also recorded Little Rush-Warbler calling in the reedbeds alongside the Cabanas' lake, a first for me in Letsatsing, pushing the total for this reserve towards 140 species.

Hours 3 & 4 added 25 species. I had great views of Little Sparrowhawk over the Cascades Aviary as well as good views of Black-chested Snake-Eagle. Sadly, the Meyer's Parrots were nowhere to be seen.

As the day drew on, I continued to notch up species between work. My 100th record for the day was a flock of Common House-Martins. I tried the YT Sandgrouse stakeout that afternoon, but only noted the Double-banded Sandgrouse arriving. My BBD 2009 ended with a Rufous-cheeked Nightjar, bird # 108.

Once home, I changed my target and set a new challenge. Looking at the Provincial summary and the SABAP2 website, the highest species list per card for the North West was 143. It had previously stood on 123, and I chased that previously to within 5 species, but before I could look, someone had changed the goalposts to 143 species.

I had my new challenge in mind as I started birding the following day, having 4 days over to find 35 species. The day started off well with Cape Vulture, Lilac-breasted Roller and Magpie Shrike showing off. A Squacco Heron was a nice record along the Cabanas dam wall. A Lesser Honeyguide performed well as well as a Spotted Eagle Owl in Letsatsing.

The fifth day on the card ended with me trying my luck at the YT Sandgrouse stake-out, and although I arrived a little late for the normal YT Sandgrouse "window", I was fortunate to have one male YT Sandgrouse fly-over. Last species to end my 5 day challenge was a Black-chested Prinia as I was leaving the stake-out.

Target: 143 species

Grand Total: 151 species

Target completed!!!!

Amazingly, some very common species did not find there way on to my list, and I can think of at least another 10 species that should be considered "common" and "easy to find".

Presently, the pentad's species list stands at a decent 244 species, so 200 on a card is not completely impossible!!

Anyone up for that challenge??