Despite the Ellingham Estates management recommending we cancel the outing, a few of us who live nearby went to the meeting point anyway, in case some people had not read the email advising of the cancellation. The weather was not too bad, if a bit windy, the roads were muddy in spots but had clearly drained quite well so we decided to take a walk to one of the dams. The rain did come down after a while but before that the four of us had a few good sightings.
As well as the usual suspects (toppies, fiscals, starlings, doves), there were lots of White-eared Barbets though we did also hear one Black Collared Barbet. The Yellow-throated Longclaws were also out in abundance as well as some beautiful Grey Crowned Cranes perching on the top of the trees in full view. The sighting of the day was a bird that we battled to identify until later when Sandy Olver dived into the bird book and let us know that it was a Jacobin Cuckoo. I only realised that I had a picture of it this morning – see what comes of pointing your camera at a tree and hoping for the best when battling to see the bird through the viewfinder. It may be a juvenile still hanging around the surrogate parent. According to Roberts, some Jacobins do stay all year.
The other exciting sighting was a pair of White-backed Ducks in between the lilies. Sandy insisted they were there and eventually we all saw them. The light was not good so it took us a while.
The most hilarious moment of the day was when Sandy and Tina determined to brave the barbed wire fence and harvest some guavas – more of those pictures later.
Photos by Penny de Vries
Water LillyWhite-backed DuckYellow-billed DuckAfrican MonarchAfrican JacanaTina, Sandy and BarryJacobin CuckooGrey Cowned CraneWhite-eared Barbets
Led by Lesley Frescura and about a dozen members visited CROW (Centre for Rehabilitation of Wildlife) in Yellowwood Park, which is a registered non-profit organisation established in 1980. It aims to rescue, rehabilitate and release wildlife which has either been injured, orphaned or displaced.
We were met by the director, Claire Hodgkinson who gave us a slide show presentation informing us of CROW’s mission and how they achieve their objectives.
After the presentation we were taken around the holding pens. Claire and Sue informed us how each of the creatures was cared for and their procedures for release back into the wild.
Sue then took us into the wild bird hospital which is normally off-limits (for fear of causing additional stress).
This was followed by tea and cakes and Lesley presented Claire with a cheque for R2000 as a donation from BirdLife Port Natal. See attached picture.
They need as much help as we can afford so if you would like to help in any small way please contact Claire.
Old blankets, newspaper, ice-cream tubs are a few of the things they need. Cash donations are of course also welcome. Visit their website for more information.
The following picture gallery is of wildlife found in the Le Domaine estate, Hillcrest, Durban. The photographs are mainly of birds we have been lucky enough to capture.
There are also a few of wildlife seen on the estate.
I have shown who has taken the photo in each caption unless it was taken by myself.
I hope you enjoy this record.
Paul Bartho
African Firefinch
African Firefinch – female
African Firefinch – looking rather wet
African Goshawk – juvenile
African Paradise Flycatcher
Amethyst Sunbird – immature male
Amethyst Sunbird – immature male
Black Crake
Blue Waxbill
Brimstone Canary
Bronze Mannikin
Cape Robin-Chat
Cape Robin-Chat – juvenile
Cape Rock-Thrush
Cape Rock-Thrush
Cape Wagtail
Cape Wagtail – juvenile
Cape White-eye
Cattle Egret – Frank Kihn
Cattle Egret
Common Fiscal
Common Moorhen and young
Common Moorhen in nest unusually high – immediately below the Reed Cormorant
Common Moorhen on nest set on high
Common Moorhen
Common Moorhens – fighting
Crested Barbet
Dark-capped Bulbul
Dusky Indigobird
Egyptian Geese and young
Familiar Chat
Fan-tailed Widowbird
Fulvous Duck – hybrid
Ghost Bird
Grass Carp
Greater Double-collared Sunbird
Greater Spotted Genet
Greater Spotted Genet
Greater Spotted Genet
Grey Heron
Hadeda Ibis
Half-collared Kingfisher
Half-collared Kingfisher
Half-collared Kingfisher
Hammerkops
House Sparrow
Laughing Dove
Little Grebe
Little Rush-Warbler
Long-tailed Finch
Malachite Kingfisher
Pied Kingfisher
Pin-tailed Whydah
Purple Heron
Purple Heron
Purple Heron – what a rump!
Purple Heron – up up and away
Red-backed Mannikin
Red-backed Mannikins and young
Red-eyed Dove
Red-knobbed Coot
Reed Cormorant – lovely red eye.
Reed Cormorant – juvenile with yellow eye
White-breasted Cormorant – lovely blue eye
Sacred Ibis
Slender Mongoose
Southern Grey-headed Sparrow – juvenile
Southern Red Bishop
Southern Red Bishop – losing its colour
Speckled Mousebird
Spur-winged Goose
Spur-winged Goose and young
Spur-winged Goose – Gosling
Thick-billed Weaver – male
Thick-billed Weaver – female
Three-banded Plover
Village Weaver
Village Weaver – he’s got one eye on you – just in case.
A clear beautiful morning – so although the birding was not quite what we hoped for, the weather was perfect and the harbour, the city and the Queen Mary 2 all looked stunning.
There were lots of Grey headed gulls in and out of breeding plumage, Common Ringed Plovers also going into breeding plumage. Egyptian and Spur-winged Geese, a couple of Greenshank, Curlew Sandpipers, Goliath & Grey Herons, Little Egrets, Kelp Gulls, Blacksmiths, Caspian & Swift Terns and lots of Pink-backed Pelicans. Superb displays by the Fish Eagles and a Black Sparrowhawk went by at speed. Later on we walked down to the boardwalk and found the Black Spar’s nest. Some of us were lucky enough to see the Mangrove Kingfisher and Purple-banded Sunbird – total count for the morning 53.
After an update by Roy on BMCG – 9 of us retired to Buds for lunch and little liquid refreshment whereupon another great time was had by all!
Elena Russell
(PS: the butterfly is a White-barred Acraea – John Bremmer’s photos of the Fish Eagle the rest of the photos are Dave Rimmer’s)
Jenny Norman and I (Elena Russell) visited Tala Game Reserve on Easter Sunday (last Sunday of the month & BLPN members get the discounted entrance fee! but remember you must contact them first don’t just rock up). The hordes did descend but we got there early so had the dam and picnic site to ourselves for the first few hours and got a good list going – we then set off to explore the rest of the reserve. Lots of cisticolas; Zitting, Lazy, Croaking, Levaillant’s and Neddickys but no Rattlers. We dipped on some of the more common birds, not one Euplectes species was seen all day but we twitched on a few summer visitors which we thought might have already flown i.e. Willow Warbler, Red Backed Shrike and Spotted Flycatcher.
The game is plentiful and a baby giraffe had us oohing and aahing as well as young Eland, Kudu and Wildebeest and we did see the Rhino. I joked about no oxpeckers whereupon we came upon a superb Kudu bull with a pair of Red-Billed Oxpeckers + a juvenile on its back. Shortly afterwards we met up with one of the rangers (John) and had a brief chat (have you ever known Jenny not to have a chat) and he said that there used to be only about 5/6 oxpeckers in the reserve but over the past few months had increased to about 50 – due he thought to the fact that the Parks Board had had a breeding programme going and had released a number of Red-billed Oxpeckers in Umfolozi/Hluhluwe a few years ago and some of these birds must have migrated down to various reserves in KZN.
John also happened to mention that a few weeks ago a Flamingo flew in an stayed for a week and that the Pale Chanting Goshawk still appears about every 6/8 weeks and seems to hang around the entrance area and Acacia Lodge for those birders who would like a rarity on their KZN list.
We had good views of Martial and Fish eagles, Jackal Buzzard, Black shouldered Kite and an African Marsh Harrier quartering a grassy hillside in the late afternoon was special. At the end of a very good day’s birding a Long Crested Eagle brought our count up to 99 – we didn’t crack a 100!
Red-billed Oxpecker
Burchell’s Coucal
Red-backed Shrike
Black-shouldered Kite
Diedrick’s Cuckoo
Malachite Kingfisher
Rayed Blues
Elena Russell & Jenny Norman – (Jenny’s photographs).
Sally and I are back from our impromptu wanderings around Natal. We headed to Mahai for 5 days, Ithala and Ndumo for 4 days each then 2 days each in Bonamanzi and Richards Bay.
We had interesting sightings in most places.
To enlarge the photos – single click (left mouse button). To return to the text either select the back button (if enlarging the large photos) or find the “X” at the top left for the enlarged smaller photos.
Mahai
At the Tower of Pizza restaurant (10kms before the entrance gate to the Royal Natal NP) at roosting time the tree behind the restaurant served as the roost for what appeared to be thousands of Amur Falcons. The sky turned black (much like the swallows used to do at Mount Moreland) and then they fell as rain into the tree making a loud racket as they did so.
Even more surprising at the same venue in the trees and cell phone tower beside the main road, we saw at least 70 (and likely more) Southern Bald Ibis taking up their roost positions for the night. Some were even on the wires across the road.
Southern Bald Ibis – MahaiSouthern Bald Ibis, Mahai
Nearby there is a Parks Board reserve called Poccolan-Robertson’s Bush NR. (GPS: S28.33.890; E29.05.053). There is an Eskom power plant pumping facility at Kilburn Lake immediately before the reserve. Venturing to the top we found an excellent mix of Bushveld and Highveld birds. The two habitats meeting in a transition zone. There were Chorister Robin-Chats mixing with Acacia Pied Barbets for example.
Chorister Robin-Chat, Mahai
Bush Blackcap was heard and seen in the bush beside RN NP Reception. Other specials seen/heard in the area include: Ground Woodpecker, Cape Rock-Thrush, Bokmakierie, Mocking Cliff-Chat, Peregrine and Lanner Falcons, Fiscal Flycatcher, Malachite Sunbird, Mountain Wagtail, Barratt’s Warbler, Cape Vultures.
African Olive Pigeon, Mahai
Cape Glossy Starling, Mahai
Cape Rock-Thrush – female, Mahai
Cape Rock-Thrush – male, Mahai
Cape White-eyes, Mahai
Ground Woodpecker, Mahai
Ground Woodpeckers, Mahai
Groundscraper Thrush, Mahai
Levaillant’s Cisticola, Mahai
Malachite Sunbird, Mahai
Mountain Wagtail, Mahai
Red-collared Widowbird, Mahai
Spotted Eagle-Owl, Mahai
On the path between Tiger Falls and Gudu we were lucky to see a Grey Rhebok – a species of antelope neither of us had seen before. The way it fled over the steep and dense grass terrain was amazing.
Golden Gate
The new Vulture Hide is quite impressive. It has 2 rooms. One with windows totally glassed and the other with pull up flaps for photographers beside each look out window – as shown below.
Golden Gate Vulture HideGolden Gate Vulture Hide
However no-one could tells us who to contact to find out about new carcass placements. Several Black-backed Jackal were seen and a couple of Cape Vultures flew overhead. 30 or more White-necked Ravens hung onto the cliff face below the “Restaurant”.
Ithala
The camp site now has a HOT water outdoor shower with 2 shower heads side by side.
Ithala Shower
Two Blue Cranes at a water hole just after the Lookout Point on the Ngulumbeni Loop.
Blue Cranes, Ithala
Shelly’s Francolin unperturbed by us – but a lifer for me! Often heard in the past but until now never seen.
Shelley’s Francolin, Ithala
The following butterfly took us by surprise. We were looking down when suddenly what we thought was a leaf took off. Its camouflage was unbelievable – if we had not seen it move we would never have spotted it. Someone please ID it for us.
Ithala Butterfly – for ID Please
Some other sightings of interest include:
Secretarybird, Ithala
Red-billed Oxpecker, Ithala
Red-billed Oxpecker- juvenile, Ithala
Mocking Cliff-Chat, Ithala
Mocking Cliff-Chat, Ithala
Ithala Smelly Pooh – please ID
Ithala Smelly Pooh – please ID
Eland, Ithala
Ndumo
The water levels in the pans were so high that trying to find waders was impossible from any of the hides. However on a drive with Bongani to the back of the Nyamithi Pan we eventually saw many – some in breeding plumage like this Little Stint.
Little Stint in breeding plumage alongside a Common Ringed Plover, Ndumo
Opposite Nyamithi Hide there must be over 500 Yellow-billed storks, 100 Pink-backed Pelicans, Great White Cormorants all nesting in the Fever trees. Numerous Spur-winged Geese are also present.
Nesting Site, Ndumo. Only a small portion shown.
A number of other sightings can be seen in the following gallery:
Senegal Lapwing, Ndumo
Saddle-billed Stork, Ndumo
Martial Eagle – juvenile, Ndumo
Malachite Kingfisher with dinner for his young in the base of the uprooted Fever tree, Ndumo
Grey-headed Bushshrike, Ndumo
Gorgeous Bushshrike, Ndumo
Common Sandpiper, Ndumo
Black-winged Stilt, Ndumo
African Harrier-Hawk, Ndumo
African Green Pigeons, Ndumo
African Fish-Eagle, Ndumo
Yellow-billed Stork, Ndumo
Yellow-billed Stork – Ndumo
Trumpeter Hornbills, Ndumo
Woodland Kingfisher – Ndumo
Woodland Kingfisher – Ndumo
Tembe
As always an excellent place to find impressive elephants and to get chased by the youngsters. Birding was quiet in most areas.
Black-crowned Tchagra, TembeElephants, Tembe
Bonamanzi
The birding was quiet so we spent part of our time at False Bay. Some birds seen include:
Bearded Scrub-Robin, Bonamanzi
Thick-billed Weaver, Bonamanzi
Brown-hooded Kingfisher, False Bay
Long-crested Eagle, False Bay
Richards Bay
A small collection of 5 different terns (Common, Lesser Crested, Swift, Sandwich and Little) and 2 gulls (Kelp and Grey-headed) were together on the sand banks along the end of the Casurina trail – see following gallery:
Sandwich Tern in breeding plumage, Richards Bay
Sandwich and Lesser Crested Terns in breeding and non-breeding plumage, Richards Bay
Little Terns in non-breeding plumage – Richards Bay
Little Tern in breeding plumage, Richards Bay
Lesser Crested Terns, – one in breeding plumage, Richards Bay
Lesser Crested Terns – one in breeding plumage – Richards Bay
Terns, Richards Bay
Terns – Richards Bay
Swift Tern in breeding plumage, Richards Bay
Red-billed Firefinch – female, Richards Bay
White-fronted Plover coming into breeding plumage, Richards Bay
Birds are our Story 