On becoming a Twitcher

Talk of the Macaroni Penguin started around lunch at Damhoek Nature Reserve on Saturday. I had spent the morning birding with the Club and the woodpecker drought was eventually broken with a good view of both the male and female Cardinal Woodpecker.

I then spent the evening, under the duvet with a Gauteng storm raging, reading 'The Big Year', the story of the 1998 Big Year. The North American Big Year is all about the obsession of chasing rarities to break the record of the number of sightings in a calendar year and is is an extreme form of birding. I have no doubt that this influenced my behaviour the next morning.

Quote: The Big Year, Mark Obmascik
"The truth is that everyone has obsessions.
Most people manage them.
Birders, however, indulge them."

Macaroni Penguin Eudyptes chrysolophus
First reported on 25 February 2009 from Brandfontein just west of Cape Agulhas and still present on 2 March 2009. This is the 13th record for Southern Africa.

Sunday morning, 1 March, I officially transitioned into a Twitcher, booked a hurried ticket to Cape Town, called a bemused Fred, drove a 500 kilometer roundtrip to a remote beach spot west of Cape Agulhas to see the Macaroni Penguin. The bird is moulting and looks lost quite frankly - I know that is a human condition but Fred and I did experience a flatness on seeing this bird so far from where it should be.

So I am a listing birder, with twitcher tendencies, that chased a rarity and lifer yesterday which was a megatick. Confused, here are some definitions that I have copied across from the Zest for Birds website (acknowledgement to Trevor Hardaker) which clears up all the subleties of the labels in the birding community:

Birdwatcher: A broad brush stroke definition describing a person who gains enjoyment from bird related activities, whether just in the garden or local patch or further afield. Does not categorise the keenness of the birdwatcher or the intensity of the bird watching, and has a certain stigma attached to its use due to the plethora of "birdwatcher" jokes which are foisted upon one by non-birders.

Birder: The popular term describing a person who is regularly active in the field finding, observing, counting and/or researching birds. Generally has been bitten by the "birding bug", and consequently birding is his major activity outside of work, especially when away from home. Will plan holidays specifically to maximise birding opportunities.

Twitcher: A birder in all the good sense of the term during normal times, but responds with frenzied activity to news of rarities in his region, and will spend large amounts of money and travel long distances at short notice in order to see a rarity or new bird. Consequently is the subject of scorn from certain birdwatchers who find this eagerness to see new birds distasteful. Is often accused (and sometimes guilty) of contravening the Code of Ethics in his desire to see a new bird. Due to his extra focus on rare species, it is the twitcher who very often discovers new or rare species in the region.

Ticker (aka Lister): A person whose prime focus in birding is the compilation of his lifelist, generally in a competitive way. Has very little interest in spending more than a few moments with the bird, and once seen, shows little desire to see the bird ever again.

Rarities

So, what are these birds that persuade people to put their hand (or their pride) in their pocket and rush off to remote parts of their region. Again with some reference to Bill Oddie, here are a few definitions:

Rarity: A species that has seldom, if ever, been recorded in the region before. Often a migrant species that has overshot, reverse migrated, or been swept out of its range by abnormal weather patterns.

Lifer: A species that is new to you, ie you have never seen it anywhere.

SA Bird: A species that you have seen elsewhere in the world, but that is new to your Southern African list.Tick: A new bird on your list, once you have seen it. Can be either a lifer or an SA bird.

Megatick: A very rare species which you have just seen. The "mega" is an attempt to convey the enormous excitement you feel.


On our way back we had an extraordinary snake sighting, too upclose and very personal. This year of birding has already exposed us to nature in a way that has not happened before. Such a joy.

Big Birding Year Quarter One Report

Trevor Hardaker has the number of birds seen per year in Southern Africa as follows:
2005 - 798
2006 - 816
2007 - 839
2008 - 823

I am going to use an average of 820 to track my Big Birding Year numbers.


For the first quarter I have seen 44% of the birds normally recorded by the community of birders in South Africa. My life list is at 613 and as can be seen in the table below I have added 21 lifers to my list in the first quarter. My objective for the year is to resee my list and I am 59% of the way.
I am also chasing a 2009 Gauteng Birding Challenge and have started slowly - 107 birds for my Gauteng list, in 2008 a couple of birders exceeded 450, so work to be done on this list. The objective is to see as many birds in a 100 kilometer radius around both Johannesburg and Pretoria.



I have involved myself in my Bird Club to experience the conservation side of birding through data gathering. Laura and I went CWAC'ing out at Elandvlei and I plan to do more outings as the year progresses.
I have registered as an observer with the Avian Demography Unit and submitted my first observation form after birding at Lissataba.


Fred and I have travelled 10500 kilometers to get to birding spots around the country- cars, planes and a boat (reflected in the graph below).
We started the Big Birding Year in the Waterberg before moving on to Cape Town for 5 weeks. We took day trips around Cape Town from the sewrage works to glorious mountains and beaches. The day up the West Coast where Otto Schmidt assisted me in the identification of a national rarity - the Common Redshank, was a treat.
Our first ever Pelagic Trip out from Simonstown was trying, had both of us hanging over the side of the boat with seasickness. But, bird number 600 was a magnificent Shy Albatross, that plus another 11 new birds like the White-chinned and Pintado Petrels certainly made it all worthwhile -I recovered very quickly once we got to land and had loads of fish and chips drowned in tomato sauce, great remedy.
We had good birding in the Overberg with Bri and Di and our January lifer was the Agulhas Long-billed Lark another hot, dusty, dry day in the Cape summer and we were walking the dirt roads hunting down the lark.



Millstream, our timeshare near Dullstroom was the first stop after Cape Town and I have always loved ambling around the property birding and looking at the wildflowers. The perenial favourites like the Buff-streaked Chat and the Groundscraper Thrush made the list.
The focus then shifted to the lowveld bush since getting back home in mid-January, days in Kruger National Park with Dad, on game drives with the gang at Selate Game Reserve as well time spent at Lissataba with the Krones have added nearly 100 birds. Our day out with Peter Lawson to spot a Blue Swallow was thrilling although frustrating at the same time because the quick glimpse of the female left me wanting to see more. Also a very good day for ID'ing the cisticolas that were calling at both Kaapsehoop while we were patiently waiting for the swallow and closer to Nelspruit.

I can tell from my sunburnt arms that we have been outdoors this summer, to date we have spent 41 days outdoors, some of those days were sunrise to sunset! That's 41 out of a possible 90 days - 45% of our time birding, no wonder Fred is giving me a hard time about trying to run his business in between all the travelling.

The next quarter planning is Pafuri with Hayley, Wakkerstroom with Nikki and Geoff in March, a fabulous trip planned for April to Namibia and Botswana with Callen Cohen. May will be time to bird here in Gauteng. The countdown clock still shows nine months...

And then just maybe?? see below....

Twitchers break world record of species spotted
From The Independent - 30/12/2008 (92 words)
BIRDING A British couple have broken the world record for spotting the most species of birds in a year. Alan Davies and Ruth Miller, from North Wales, sold their home in Llandudno to fund their birdwatching trip, which they called The Biggest Twitch. The couple say they have observed 4,327 different species during their year-long tour, which has taken in British back gardens, Asian rainforests and Arctic ice caps. The previous record was 3,662.

BIRP'ing in Lissataba Private Reserve

Back in the Lowveld a week later with Bernie and Martie at Lissataba. Looking out for breeding birds we saw this female Namaqua Dove on her nest.

Time to experience observing for the Birds in Reserves Project:

Extract from the Avian Demography Unit, UCT website: http://birds.sanbi.org/birp/birp_frameset_parent.htm
'The basic purpose of BIRP is to compile a comprehensive catalogue of the species of birds
which occur and breed in South Africa’s many protected areas. A database of this kind will
help to identify the species which are as yet not adequately protected and will also provide
the managers of protected areas with information useful in setting management policies.'

Lucy Hughes, who is living at Lissataba, navigated us around the BIRP details and submission of the data to the ADU. The four of us tackled the birding with intent, noting breeding activity - which is not always that obvious, and clocked up 76 sightings for the weekend, making sure that we covered any many different habitats as possible. I have submitted the data, registered and am now waiting for my Observer Number.

It was a treat spending time with Martie, catching up on our lives while bouncing around on the Landy, long, hot, steamy days and thick impenetrable bush. The African Jacana watching a dragonfly entertained us at the birdhide. Some good sightings too for the Big Birding Year, African Hawk Eagles flying low at the house and also lots of fun with the call of a Pearl-spotted Owlet which Fred eventually found in one of the trees near the main camp.

Selati Game Reserve

The bush revealed its detail to us during our visit to Selati Game Reserve, Marius showed us spiders, their webs and wove stories about 'balooning' males moving acrobatically to land on, hopefully, the right females' web. The photos below are the Kite Spider on the left, we watched her weaving the web in the early morning sunlight and the right hand photo is a Golden Orb web, the female is huge compared to the tiny male.There is so much to know when you start to see the detail, our first night out we found an antlion in the imago phase, it is a very feeble flier and we watched it fluttering about in the night, laying its eggs. The adult is thus rarely seen in the wild because it is typically active only in the evening and I was amazed that this is the same antlion we tease in its sand trap. Saw fireflies one night and quietly watched their light show.

Glorious Nyalaberry Tree and the delightful

Double-banded Sandgrouse.

The gang - Bev and Keith, Barry and Gee, Pete and Karin and Marius ready to tell more bush stories. Leaving the lodge, we glimpsed a Sable bull on our first trip out and Pete shared the auction cost for a bull can be as much as R3m! The bush was dense and lush and the animals well concealed as can be seen from this picture of the Eland bull peeping out at us. We had good views of Rhino and spent time watching male giraffe 'necking' a gentle action that felt more like courtship than male aggression, did not know that the collective noun is a journey of giraffe...there were teachers amongst us.


The gang showed much patience for both the birding and the bird photoraphy. At one point Fred dipped on catching the Swainson's Spurfowl calling - four times in a row, so here is the bird at rest instead. Gave me lots of time to see its spur for the first time. About first times, we also watched a Lilac-breasted Roller 'rolling' above us, such a special display which I had not witnessed before in all these years of birding.

The birding was a highlight. On our first evening game drive we saw Verreaux's Eagle Owl which is the largest African owl, this owl is claimed to be the world's third largest owl, up to 75cm in height and a 2 meter wingspan. It was huge silhouetted against the skyline. Also saw plenty of Bronze-winged Coursers on the way back to the lodge.

The call of the Harlequin Quail drove Marius quietly crazy, there was an irruption of these quails in the rank grass! It took as a day or two to figure out what bird was calling and as it was new for us we then attempted to flush them. So, late morning blazing summer sun found us 'creeping' up on the calling birds. It reluctantly flushed, we caught a glimpse and a new bird for my life list - once again not as clear a view as I would like but it is getting harder and harder as the list expands. We did however have good views of the Small Buttonquails, they were also calling regularly on the drives.

Marius and I celebrating the confirmed Harlequin Quail.

One thing is puzzling me, 2 1/2 months into the Big Birding Year and I have no Woodpecker on the list!

The Selati River flowing strongly past the lodge, a rare sight we were told and a peaceful place to watch the world pass with a G&T in hand. Thanks to all for a great weekend of good laughter, good food and good sightings. Pete and Karin thanks for spoiling us.

Leaving the Kruger National Park

Lions on our way out.....
The iconic call of the Woodland Kingfisher defines the sound of the park in summer, juvenile waiting to be fed, we were watching while having lunch at Skukuza ....

Excitement of seeing a Double-banded Sandgrouse and the Black-bellied Bustard on our last evening drive.

On may way back saw Long-crested Eagle on the telephone poles, will take the birds as I find them!

One of the juvenile challenges has been solved, I sent a photo to Lawson's Birding and Leon confirmed our sighting was a Dark Chanting Goshawk juvenile, another tick for the year.

Blue Swallow, calling Cisticolas and Lowveld specials

Waiting up on the hills near Kaapsehoop for a sighting of a Blue Swallow with Peter and Enos seemed such a long shot, only one pair has been seen here this year. Wait we did and moved location too. The group was treated to a quick flypast by the female and I felt less than satisfied, it all happened so fast and my brain seems to shut down and I forget to notice details. So, my list now includes a Blue Swallow but I want to now go to KZN to see if I can see a male at some point.

Our day with Peter Lawson started with Cut-throat Finches nesting in abandoned weaver nests outside the Town Lodge in Nelspruit. I have always enjoyed the 'little lads' of the bird world and was chuffed to see the Swee Waxbills too later in the day in the forest at Kaapsehoop.

The photo below was a special visit to the McOnie farm to see the juvenile Crowned Eagle - second time lucky, the chick was born in October and a treat to see from the farmhouse's front garden! Thanks to all for the access to the farm on a sunday and my first upclose encounter with macadamia trees, ended up buying loads of nuts from Halls and eating them all day.

Another treat was Peter flushing the Lesser Honeyguide who was calling from high in the canopy and obligingly flew out on cue and showed itself...

This is Peter and I after a Red-faced Cisticola for my life list and we did get one too - Fred found it calling in the bush next to the road. It was a day for cisticolas - Wailing and Wing-snapping up in Kaapsehoop, Croaking on our drive out of Nelspruit, great help for me as I do not have a good birding ear which can be so frustrating.

Memorable images from the Kruger Park, the European and Lilac-breasted Rollers are common and an eyeful of colour against the sky line. We saw many juveniles on our travels, most of them stumping me but the Fish Eagle is a certainty and a glorious looking bird.

Halfway Mark in the Kruger National Park

The plan is to resee my list and yesterday I passed the halfway mark and saw a lifer at the Nkuhlu picnic stop, the Icterine Warbler.

It was a good day for raptors and we added Tawny Eagle and Brown Snake Eagle to the list. I must admit to filing to identify many of the juveniles though. I realise that I am noticing birds that I have paid no attention to seeing for many a year, like the Village Indigobird which I also found at Nkuhlu. The rain lifted and we had gentle sunlight on the grassy plains. The road from Sukuza to Lower Sabie is overgrown which makes viewing almost impossible but we did see Elephant and Buffalo in the Sabie River. I am enjoying the Phabeni road at the moment and we are seeing herds of Zebra, Wildebeest and Buffalo.

We held our breath waiting for the Red-billed Oxpecker each time we saw Giraffe, then eventually found oodles of them.

Sunset Dam at Lower Sabie was not as productive for birds as had I expected, but we did sit and watch a Goliath Heron moving imperceptively in the water waiting to fish.

The Wire-tailed Swallow watching us put in petrol at Lower Sabie.