Lynedoch Winter List

Last Saturday (7th of Aug), a 3-person team set off to do the winter bird list at Lynedoch Eco Village as a follow-up to the Summer list we did in January.  In total, we listed 30 birds, 17 of them the same species as in January but 13 of them were totally different  birds. 

Thanks to Jill Heistein for joining us for the morning.

There was much nest-building by the Cape Weavers in full breeding face flush

 and Southern Masked Weavers in full face mask.

Lots of Cape Sparrows, something we don't see in Franschhoek so much anymore.

And there were plenty of White-backed Mousebirds to keep us entertained.

 Cape Robin-chat, my namesake.

 We stopped off at Spier after the listing to add a few more birds to our atlasing card and found this sleepy African Darter on the water.

And we took photos of the weavers nest for the ADU's virtual museum (for more info on this new interesting website, click here).

Amethyst Sunbirds chicks have hatched

We were very excited to hear the faint "cheep cheep" call coming from the Amethyst Sunbirds nest in the big fir tree in our garden.  Even better is that the nest is right outside Room 28 on our first floor and we can get great views of the parents who are killing themselves feeding these hungry little mouths.

Daddy bird on duty

They are back and forth every 5 minutes so hopefully we will be able to get even better pics as the days go on.  The nest is facing slightly away from the building so we don't have 100% clear view but we can see the little beaks with their huge yellow gapes very clearly.  So sweet.

Mommy bird on duty

He is such a handsome fella

See the big yellow gape?  Just to make sure that mom and dad know where to put the food.

Open Wiiiidddddeeeeee

And lets not forgot about Mrs Hadeda sitting on her nest at the moment....

We are putting up with the early morning raucous but they sure are loud!

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Weekend atlasing - Sunday 25th July 2010

The atlasing project is a very important one for the ADU and I try to get as much atlasing done around Franschhoek as possible.  Sunday morning was beautiful weather wise and an excellent day to go atlasing in the south of our town between the vinyards, orchards and stud farms.  Around every corner there are gorgeous views of our stunning town and loads of birds were out and about.  Here are some pics for you to enjoy.  

A lovely Fork-tailed Drongo on the plum blossoms that are already adorning the orchards.

The Cape Canary's are all over town, singing their melodious songs.

Brown-throated Martins are the only martins around at this time of year and this one was enjoying the early morning sun.

Not forgetting our own dear little Amethyst Sunbird mommy sitting in her nest here at FTL.  We also have a pair of Hadedas nesting here in the grounds but they are not on the nest at the moment.  I'll post a pic of them when they are home.

On Saturday Adel and I went for a drive down the coast towards Bettys Bay and visited the Penguins at Stony Point. 

This little Cape Bulbul was sitting waiting for us in the car park and was happy to pose so beautifully.

The Kitlitz plovers were all over the beach, this is the male.

And this is the female.

Of course there were lots of penguins.

and lots of dassies, so sweet and not at all afraid of us.

And on the way home we stopped off at Rooisands, the new Nature Reserve next to Kleinmond and saw this handsome Pied Kingfisher doing his thing.


Always love being out and about in the Cape.  Hope you can join us soon.