16 June 2009

A special Hoopoe in the trap

Today marked a personal highlight and milestone. I ringed the 250th bird since I got my ringing licence at the beginning of February 2009. The bird that had the honour of this milestone was an African Hoopoe (Upupa africana – Rob 451 – Ring CC94703). I trapped it in snaptrap in my garden – that was after putting out traps for 5 days in a row on the lawn. It was very interesting to watch the Hoopoes (there were two birds at times) as they went probing all over the lawn. They even probe their bills through the netting of the snaptrap, but don't go for the mealworm in the trap. My "very unscientific" conclusion after watching them for many hours, is that they feed on feel rather than sight. Other species went straight for the wriggling worm. Capturing Hoopoes in a snaptrap is more by accident, in my opinion, than inticing them by the bait into the trap.


Note the big white window in the wing of the Hoopoe – indicating the wing pattern of the male bird. The female as more black patterns in the wing and not such a large wide window. Also note the wax sheaths on the rectrices showing that the bird is moulting it's tail feathers. The wing primaries showed no moult.


This was the second Hoopoe that I ringed. The first being over Easter weekend on the farm Tasmania to the south of Aliwal North.

The weather had not been very favourable for atlasing for SAPAB2 this "long weekend", so I put out the traps to see if a few birds will succumb to the juicy mealworms. Yesterday I went to the local golf course – the wind was strong, but a few birds could be captured and ringed. We (the kids and I) had a few magnificent sigthings of raptors. The first was a Lanner Falcon charging swiftly after a Cape Turtle Dove. The dove was lucky enough to escape. Shortly after that we heard an African Fish-Eagle calling over the water at the Islands Spa. Not long after the call, we saw the magnificent bird flying overhead. Then we had sightings of a Black-shouldered Kite hunting low over the reeds and the fairways of the golf course – hovering time from time to get good views of possible and unsuspecting prey. Seems as if the raptors don't really mind the wind and the chill of winter.

At the end of the weekend a whole flock of Red-winged Starlings had been ringed – no less then 20 of them received a bangle to wear.

07 June 2009

Birding on the Border

After a few hectic weeks at work, I had a very welcome break yesterday, and what better way to start a few days of leave with a day out atlasing for SABAP2. I mapped out 4 pentads just north of Zastron and to the west of the Lesotho border. The weather was not very favourable for birding … we started out with a temperature of just around 3°C and a chilly wind blowing. The temperature rose throughout the day, but the chilly wind did not subside. Eventually the day turned out quite a few interesting surprises.

Neels – a long-time non-birding friend – and myself set out early to start the first pentad just after sunrise. 3005_2705 was the first pentad of the day with rolling grass hills, a few farm dams and dotted with bare poplar groves. Common Fiscals were abundant and the fences were dotted with both male and female African Stonechats as well as Anteating Chats. The colourful Cape Longclaws were also regularly seen. The first special of the day was the Barn Owls in the rafters of an old abandoned farmhouse. Another regular sight was the small groups of Blue Korhaan – adults with two or three young birds. At one of the farm dams we had a great sighting of a juvenile African Fish-Eagle with its blotched moult and shortly thereafter we were entertained by 3 Ludwig's Bustards. Through the binoculars we had wonderful sightings – unfortunately just too far off to take photos. A single White-breasted Cormorant sat on guard on the wall of a cement reservoir and we spotted two Cape Crows – a sight not regularly seen in this parts of the country.

We moved through a part of the 2nd pentad – 3005_2710 – where we had a single Swainson's Spurfowl, and again the Common Fiscals and Stonechats amongst the sightings along the road. Later the day when we did the second trip through this pentad we had a single Lanner Falcon just before sunset. We saw a surprising variety of water birds throughout the day. Red-billed Teal were spotted on a dam near the wedding venue Onder-die-Akker. It had been the only sighting of these ducks for the day. Troups of Helmeted Guineafowl were spotted throughout the day as well.

View from the mountains towards Zastron



Boesmanskop – 3000_2705 – was next in turn. A Hamerkop patrolling a very dry Witspruit (stream) had been a special in this pentad. We saw both the variations (grey and black) of the Mountain Wheatear and had good sightings of the Southern Pale Chanting Goshawk. The sole sighting of a Familiar Chat for the day was in this pentad. One of the very specials of the day had been the Rufous-chested Sparrowhawk in a poplar grove near the farm Trianon.

Now we moved to the mountains towards the border of Lesotho. The first sighting was a real treat – 2 Black-shouldered Kites were mobbing a Jackal Buzzard … and they gave the bigger raptor all their best. Eventually the buzzard flew off into the distance, annoyed by the look of it. We met the wife of the owner of the farm Geheeltevrede along the road and she gave is permission to go up the mountain on their farm. And this was the highlight of the day.

Neels - with one foot in Lesotho - birding on the border

The road took us up to the Lesotho border and we could see far into Lesotho and the south-eastern Free State. Although it was overcast, it was clear enough to see in the distance. We were entertained by a Verreaux's Eagle soaring just about 30m off, but in the strong gusts of wind it was blown away towards the east quickly. In one of the sheltered kloofs we spotted a female Drakenberg Siskin and Karoo Prinia responded ferociously to my pishing. They were displaying and calling over the Ouhout and Broom Karree (Rhus lancea) and had been quite annoyed by the intruder. Back down from the mountain, we hit the grassveld again and soon spotted a Black Harrier – it permitted us good view, but once again out of reach of my camera lens.

As we were returning after sunset, Neels (remember, he is a non-birder) remarked: "Even I can now recognise a Common Fiscal in the dark." We really saw them in abundance all day. And the African Stonechats with their bright chestnut chests had been an entertainment as well.

Although cold and windy ... a special day with 4 new pentads done for SABAP2 and two souls revived.