Weekly update 24.01.10

Birds, birds, everywhere we look!

It has been quite a birding week for us this week and here's all news.

THE PAARL BIRD SANCTUARY

It all started last Sunday (the 17th of Jan) when 9 members of the club met up with Vernon Head and the rest of the Cape Bird Club members for a morning at the Paarl Bird Sanctuary.  We got there at 08h30 and made our way to the viewing platform looking out over one of the larger pans.  It was jam-packed with water birds (such as great white pelican and all 3 teals including the Hottentot Teal which is not often seen in the Western Cape) and we had Vernon calling out the names of all the swifts, swallows and martins that were darting about above our heads.  We spent about 2 hours there before we had all seen everything there was to see.

We then drove on around the pans and stopped along the way at the side of the pans to get better views there and then on to the hide.  We eventually ended up at the Kingfisher Pond for lunch under the trees and we did get a view of the Malachite Kingfisher that we were looking for.  It was a wonderful morning out even though the temperatures were well into the 40's.  I will mention again, because it is so important, that you are NOT encouraged to visit this area alone or in small groups.  A number of birders have been relieved of their possessions there by the neigbours and it is becoming a problem, even though there are 2 guards with dogs patrolling the grounds.  It is a great birding site but please go in large groups and take very good care.

RINGING AT THE CLARA ANNA FONTEIN GAME RESERVE

 The week continued for myself and Adel when we attended the most amazing netting and ringing of Barn Swallows at Clara Anna Fontein in Durbanville.  We joined ringers of the Tygerberg Bird Club and set up 3 mist nets in a huge reed bed in the private game reserve. Then we sat down in the field to await the arrival of thousands and thousands of Barn Swallows.  They seemed to emerge from the ground over the horizon like flying ants after a rain storm.  As the sun was setting, the sky above us was filled with birds as far as we could see.  The circled above us for a while and then all of a sudden they dove into the reeds and settled in for the night.  It is at this point that they get caught in the nets.  Once all the birds have settled in and no more birds are flying over head, we go in and carefully remove them from the nets.  They are then placed in specially made carrying boxes and we move to a birders house near by.  We then settle in for the next few hours and ring each and every bird, taking note of their wing measurement, count their wing feathers and in some cases, weigh them and take tail measurements.  In total we ringed 107 birds that night.  Special finds were a Banded Martin, which I had never seen before, and a re-catch, which is a bird that already has a ring and we found one that had been rung at the London Zoo. Very Exciting!~!

Each dot is a bird... the sky was filling up.

The lovely little Banded Martin surprise.

Brian, Robyn and Annina busy ringing

LYNEDOCH ECO-VILLAGE

Birding continued in full force on Saturady (23rd of Jan) with Robyn & Adel Kadis, Cynthia Woodsong, Johann Burger and Gerhard Hugo along with a visitor, Gavin du Plessis, doing the bird list at Lynedoch Eco-Village.  We spotted a total of 30 birds in the compound and were happy to find a Namaqua Dove and a little group of Common Waxbills along with Speckled and White-backed Mousebirds among the many others spotted.

SPIER ESTATE & EAGLES ENCOUNTERS







The Michael Jackson's Glove fan club

We then moved across the road to Spier and did a bit of birding around the back of the Eagles Encounters centre along the river.  We found a huge thicket of lovely ripe bramles so stopped to have a bit of a nibble.  We joined the Eagles Encounters 11.00am show and were allowed to have some of the owls sit on our hands.  We were treated to a demonstration of how the raptors hunt their prey and then walked around the centre having a close up look at some of the other raptors they have there.  Such powerful, beautiful birds.  After a quick picnic lunch we made our way home.

The Bino Brigade - Johan, Cynthia, Robyn and Adel and Gerhard at the back.

Left:  A Black-Shouldered  Kite hovering over his food.

Right:  A beautiful Secretary Bird



KESTREL COUNTING IN WELLINGTON

Later that afternoon we were once again on the move and made our way to Wellington. We could not find the roost at first and decided to stop on the side of the road and wait for the kestrels to start coming in.  Fortunately, Cynthia Woodsong provided a lovley road-side cheese and wine snack and we snacked in style!  As we were watching, the kestrels started arriving and landing on the nearby pylons.  We made our way towards them and found other birders already there and keeping watch.  They were all Lesser Kestrels except for one female Amur Falcon.    After a half hour or so we made our way into the densely populated neighbourhood where the Bluegum tree is that they roost in.  The sun was now almost completely down and the Kestrels had started coming in thick and fast.  They began circling above our heads (similar to how the swallows had) and then suddenly started dropping into the tree.  Amazing!  And thats when we started counting.  They hover above the tree for a few seconds, close their wings and dive.  Within about 10 - 15 minutes all the birds were in the tree and we had counted about 700 birds.  A great experience.

Once again, every dot is a bird, this time a kestrel.



We now have a break in our birding programme but we will soon be on the go again so check your schedule and join us if you can.