Birding in the cold

Extrrrreme Birrrrding

Over the weekend of 18-20 April a few members of BirdLife Free State visited the Aliwal North district on an outing.

The Friday night started with a lifer or two for some of the members - they had their first look at a Barn Owl and Spotted Eagle Owl.

The Saturday produced good birding and a few specials were spotted throughout the day. Ludwig's Bustard (unfortunately too far off to take proper photo's), Lesser Honeyguide, Red-throated Wryneck, Black Stork and Pale-winged Starlings were amongst the good finds of the day. Two real specials for the day had been the two Kimberley Pipits spotted at an empty farm dam. Riette Griessel of Garingboom had been part of the group and she confirmed the sighting of the Kimberley's. More than 80 species were ticked on the Saturday, the last one being Red-winged Francolin at dusk.

The group experienced the first taste of winter on the Sunday morning when they visited Kramberg - the highest point in the area - 2018m asl. Sleet pelted down and snow started to accumulate in the crevices and at the bases of the plants. Someone remarked: "Now, that is extreme birding!", after a reading of the temperature in the car indicated a sub-zero outside temperature. It was -2 deg C. Two very distraught Verreaux's Eagles were spotted on the mountain - the wind buffeted them to and fro.

Who said birding could not be an extreme sport?

The Hamerkop nest

The Hamerkop nest

In Oct 2006 I saw first saw the beginnings of this nest of a Hamerkop (Scopus umbretta) next to the road to Goedemoed in Aliwal district. It was interesting to observe this nest being built next to the road - quite a busy road in the countryside. I saw it grow from a few sticks balanced precariously on the rocky ledge to its current size. But I never saw the birds near the nest - sometimes saw a bird flying over a dam a little way off with nesting material, but never near or towards this particular spot.

The birds normally nest in suitable trees, but nests (like this one) are found on cliffs as well. The opening of the nest is well over the overhang of the cliff to prevent predators entering the nesting chamber. In his book, A guide to nests and eggs of Southern African Birds (Struik 2001), Warwick Tarboton mentions that a single nest can consist of up to 8000 individual pieces of material and can weigh anything from 25-50 kg. The nest may be used only for one season and occasionally a second season.

A few weeks ago (March 2008) while atlasing the pentad for SABAP2, I saw this Hamerkop perched on the rock just above the nest. The very first time I observed a bird near the nest. At closer inspection I realised the nest could be "active" as there were fresh droppings at the entrance and on the rocks below the entrance.

I visit the site at regular intervals, but cannot confirm any breeding activity, although fresh droppings are observed around the nesting area. A clutch is normally 4-5 eggs and takes between 28 and 32 days to incubate. I do not want to disturb any breeding activity that may occur, and the spot is quite inaccessible. I'll keep an eye open and report any findings on successful breeding. Since I first observed activity around the site and taking the time of incubation and nestling/fledging (44-50 days) into account, we may have a few young birds around (if any!).

What was of interest to me, was the fact that the site was still "active". Usually a nest is used only once, occasionally for a second season - this one seems to be active for a longer period. It even seems that fresh material was added to the dome. Apparently this type of nest "ranks as the largest domed nest built by a pair of birds" (Tarboton, 2001:32).

Red-billed Oxpecker

My first for the Eastern Cape

We saw our very first Red-billed Oxpecker (Buphagus erythrorhynchus) in Addo Elephant NP on 30.03.2008. There were three of the birds on the Buffaloes at the Carol's Rest waterhole.

We were quite delighted to see them, as these birds were re-introduced to the area after an absence of many years.

This was our first sighting after many visits to Addo over the past four years - and the first for the Eastern Cape as well.

A small colony of the birds were re-introduced to the Somerset East district as well. Planning is in the pipe-line to re-introduce the species to Mountain Zebra National Park as well - this is a project of the local region of the Sanparks Honorary Rangers.