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.