Saturday morning outing - 20th Feb 10

Four club members (Robyn, Adel, Andrea and Gerhard) met up at FTL at 7.00am on Saturday and headed off to Robertsvlei Road to do a spot of local birding. We drove slowly down the road on the tarred area not finding too much to see except the usual suspects like Egyptian Geese. We did also see Swee Waxbill. Further down the road we hit the dirt road and scanned the forests on one side and the bush on the other. Karoo Prinia are always the first to make an appearance. It was fairly slow going but we managed to spot 13 birds in the first hour including a lovely view of the Orange-Breasted Sunbird. Towards the end of the road was a very special find. A pair of African Olive-Pigeon's were spotted and we had great views of them. Although they have been seen in Paarl, I have personally never seen these birds in Franschhoek so I would be interested to hear if anyone else had ever seen them. Here is a pic for easy identification.

 

At the end of the Robertsvlei Road we turned towards the back of the dam and were surprised to find the gate open so we went in.  Before we reached the water we spotted a black raptor sitting on a fence post so decided to investigate.  It turned out to be a special find for us - a Black Sparrow-Hawk.  While we were watching it, the resdient Verreaux's Eagle flew past.  Very nice to see 2 black raptors in one go.  We went on further and found no bird life on the dam itself.  At the end of the road we stopped for a tea break and while resting in the shade (it was about 40degrees at 9.00am), Adel spotted a Hamerkop jump up onto the sluice gate, another nice bird rarely seen in Franschhoek.

 Black Sparrow-Hawk and Verraeux's Eagle

We then made our way back past the dam and and continued on the tarred section of Robertsvlei rd past Paradise Stables and stopped to view the dam further on on the right hand side.  A few water birds were there.  We then moved on to Otter's Bend but by now it was extremely hot and getting late.  We walked along the river and saw a female Paradise Flycatcher which was great.

It was a fun mornings birding and thanks to Andrea and Gerhard for joining us. 

A must-watch bird clip from David Attenborough

David Attenborough is well known for his National Geographic nature films but this clip is especially fascinating to us birders. Please watch and enjoy. If your computer is slow, you can press play and then pause immediately and allow the clip to load fully before pressing play again. It is fantastic.

Minutes of meeting - Wednesday 10th Feb 2010

BIRD LIFE BERG RIVER
MINUTES OF MONTHLY MEETING
HELD ON WEDNESDAY, 10 February, 2010 at 7:00 pm, 

AT FRANSCHHOEK TRAVELLER’S LODGE

Present: Robyn                          Apologies: Andrea
             Adel                                            Johann
             Clive & Marlene                      Neville

             Mark                                            Linda
             Jill                                               Gerhard

             Helen                              
             Jane
             Pam
             Gavin

             Cynthia


Non-members: The meeting was attended by two tourist visitors who read about the club in the Tattler.

1. Business:


· New members: New member Gavin de Toit was welcomed to his first meeting

· Membership: The club’s current membership list totals 17 people. All members were encouraged to talk about the club to others, with the aim of increasing membership in the club. Robyn provided membership cards to all current members.

· Blog: The Berg River Bird Club blog is up and running. Members commented that they have had no trouble accessing the blog site. Those who haven’t visited the site were encouraged to do so. (www.birdlifebergriver.blogspot.com) The blog site will serve as our website until we have resources to establish a proper website.

2. Activities:

Upcoming outings:

· The club is planning a “soft camping” trip to Verlorenvlei (Elands Bay) on the 26-28 Feb. Modest accommodations have been secured in a house that sleeps 6. Club members will depart Friday afternoon and return Sunday afternoon. Those interested should contact Robyn for details, or visit the blog.

· Members had a general discussion about the possibility of outings to the homes/holdings of some of the club members.

· Club project - Franschhoek Bird List Book: The club plans to publish a book listing birds seen in Franschhoek. It was agreed that the list will include residents, flyovers and migrants (with associated designation). All members were encouraged to provide information on their monthly lists, so the booklet can include those details. The club’s list is currently maintained on the blog. The format for the book may be similar to a booklet being developed by Segfried Schäfer of the Franschhoek Tattler. He is preparing a pocket sized book on fynbos, and has suggested that the club’s bird list booklet be similarly produced, so they could be marketed as a set. Mark suggested that Sasol might be approached to provide funding support for printing.

3. Interesting observations:-

- Robyn and Adel reported their experience with ringing. More information is provided on the blog.

- Jill described an enjoyable experience watching a Darter fishing. At one point the darter tossed his fish into the air, all the better to improve the angle for eating the catch.  

- Robyn provided an overview of her recent experience with the CAR count. On this count she was finally able to see the Open-billed Storks that have been reported around the country.

4. Speaker

 Dinner was prepared for our guests by Cynthia Woodsong.  

From L-R: Gavin du Toit, Margaret Graham, Mike Graham, Cynthia Woodsong, Adel Kadis

The speaker for the February meeting was Mike Graham who presented a fabulous slide presentation of his recent birding trip to the Okavanga Delta. The club was hypnotized by the beautiful photographs, and enjoyed ongoing banter about the birds that were seen. Following the presentation, members chatted with Mike and his wife Margaret about their birding experiences. Mike offered to come again and present a similar slide show from other birding trips.

The meeting closed at 9:00 pm and light refreshments were served.

The next meeting is 10th March at 7:00, at the Franschhoek Traveller’s Lodge.

****IMPORTANT DATES TO DIARISE****

There are many events happening in the next couple of months that are of interest to birders.  A summary of them are listed here.  If you are interested in attending them or contributing in any way, please call or email me:

FEBRUARY:

22 Feb - The Percy Fitzpatrick Institute in Cape Town turns 50 years old. The "Fitztitute" is situated at UCT and does huge amounts of important research into our bird life.  Visit their site for more info.

20 Feb:  Club outing:  Birding in Franschhoek.  We are going to be exploring our own region today.  A drive around the side and back of the Berg River starting in Robertsvlei rd and then ending up at Otter's Bend to find the birds along the river.  Join us bright and early and bring a light lunch with you for afters.

 

26 Feb - Club weekend away at VERLORENVLEI (in Elands Bay).  This is our very first club week-end away and we will be staying at a self-catering cottage in the village. We will leave Franschhoek at 4.00pm and travel together to Elands Bay.  After a fun-filled weekend, we will be back on Sunday afternoon.  The cost of accommodation is only R150.00 per person for the 2 nights.  Bring your own food and essentials.  Book with Robyn or Cynthia by Friday 19th Feb 10.

MARCH:

7 Mar:  Today we are going to visit the wonderful Helderberg Nature Reserve in Somerset West.   This well-run reserve has fantastic paths to walk, ponds for water birds and we have seen Olive Woodpecker there very easily.  The birds are fairly accustomed to people so not very shy. Please join us for a lovely morning out and after a picnic lunch, we can pop down to the strand for a little walk on the beach and see what sea birds are around.

10 Mar:  Monthly meeting at Franschhoek Traveller's Lodge, Cnr Reservoir and Akademie Street, at 7.00pm.  Peter Nupen will be there to share the in's and out's of bird ringing and then....

11 Mar:  early this morning, Peter will be up netting birds and ringing them for us to have a look at and experience the thrill of holding a wild bird in our hands, studying it and releasing it.  Please join us between 6 and 9am.

19 - 21 Mar:  BirdLife SA's AGM at Wakkerstroom, Mpumalanga.  A wonderful event full of courses and displays and lots of fun.  Let us know if you are interested in attending.

  25 - 28 Mar:  This year is Biodiversity Year.  A Biodiversity Expo takes place at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and BirdLife SA have a stand there.  The first 2 days are for school visits (please let your local school know) and the last 2 days are for the public.

APRIL:

2 - 5 Apr:  EASTER WEEKEND.  I will be away with my family to a wonderful birding place called Little Stone Cottage on the Robinson Pass, between Mosselbay and Oudtshoorn.  Well known for spotting the elusive Narina Trogon, it is sure to be a great weekend away and I'll tell you all about it when we get back.  Hopefully we can do a club weekend there soon.

10 Apr:  Visit to Paarl Rock Wildflower Garden.  Meidad from BirdLife SA will be leading us today.

14 Apr:  Monthly club meeting:  Doug Harebottle from the ADU will be with us telling us all about the SABAP2 project (South African Bird Atlas Project).

16 - 17 Apr:  The Cape Bird Club is hosting a Raptor ID Course at their venue in Newlands.  R200.00 per person and it is over 2 days with the first day being only in the evening.  Very good course to attend.

24 Apr:  Visit to World of Birds in Hout Bay.

MAY:

8 May:  A SABAP2 workshop will be held at the Christo Pienaar Centre in Durbanville. More info to follow.

FOR MORE INFO ON ANY OF THE ABOVE, PLEASE EMAIL US AT:

franschhoekbirdclub@gmail.com    OR     blbrsec@gmail.com

Wednesday Night Meeting 10 Feb 2010

Lillac Breasted Roller taken by Mike Graham

Last nights meeting included a wonderful presentation by Mike Graham on his extensive trip to Botswana and he had us mesmerised with his fantastic photographs of all manner of birds and wildlife.  It certainly made us eager to save every penny and plan a trip to the Okavango Delta, good camera in hand.  We will have Mike visit us again later in the second half of the year to show us more of his birding adventures so please look out for him in the diary.

Mike and Margaret surveying the delta by mokoro

The Spot-the-bird competition was won by Jill Heistein and she went home with a lovely bottle of red from Haut Espoir.

Beautiful lioness taken by Mike Graham

Our brand new secretary, Cynthia, then prepared a wonderful meal for our speaker and they stayed overnight at the Franschhoek Traveller's Lodge before heading back to beautiful Hermanus this morning.

Our next meeting will take place on the 10th of March at 7.00pm and we will have Peter Nupen explaining the intricacies of bird ringing to us and we will hear all about the exciting re-catches which allows researchers to obtain amazing information of the life-cycle, travels and habits of our birds.  The next morning he will have his mist nets up in the grounds of FTL and you are all invited to pop round between 5am - 9am and see him in action, catching and ringing our local garden birds.  You may even be able to hold a bird in your hand and release it, a wonderful experience.  

See you there and good birding. 

CWAC Count report back

Early on Saturday morning, Mariana Delport and I headed out to Arabella Golf Estate (just before Kleinmond) along with her Danish friend, Gurlie and Megan who lives in the area.  We drove through this very plush estate to the end where the Bot River Estuary is situated to count the water birds there.  This lagoon is linked to the ocean by a mouth that is open and closed at various times.  The water level was exceptionally low due to the fact that that mouth was artrificially opened earlier last year and then, after it was again artificially closed, it naturally opened due to the heavy rains we had last winter.  This second opening only a few months after the first opening has resulted in the water level falling drastically.  The mouth then naturally closed in December and since then we haven't had any rain to refill the lagoon. All this resulted in there being very few birds for us to count compared to the large numbers usually encountered there.  We did find 2 large groups though.  We counted 105 white storks and approximately 100 pelicans.  There were also many Hartlaubs Gulls and of course, lots of little waders and other odds and ends.  We were fortuante enough to see a pair of African Marsh Harriers (previously known as Gymnogene's), 6 different African Fish Eagles, 4 Pied Kingfishers and 1 Giant Kingfisher, a number of Steppe Buzzards and Jackal Buzzards and on the ground we saw White-fronted Plovers (and what we think was their eggs), a Common Whimbrel (which was  lifer for me) and a lovely little Bar Throated Apalis in the trees.  In total we spotted 65 different species of birds which was quite a good count for one area.  

Later in the morning we visited Rooisand area and the new bird hide that the Cape Bird Club has had constructed.  It is a beautiful big hide and excellently situated.  As it is mid-summer, there is no water around it at the moment but in winter it should be a great place to bird and I hope we will be able to make it down there for a a club outing.  By the way, the hide was apparently designed by Vernon Head whom we met at Paarl Bird Sactuary who is an architect.

Don't forget to join us for our monthly meeting this Wednesday at 7.00pm and BRING YOUR BINOCULARS along.  You are welcome to bring friends along too.  We will be hearing all about birding in the Okavango with lots of good pictures.  See you there!