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??
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