Big Birding Year gets to 500!

The Shrika sighting at Halali Camp during our morning walk brought my Big Birding Year total to 500 birds seen since starting out in the Waterberg in December. Champagne breakfast was in order!

Our stats for the two week Limosa trip with Callan was over 250 birds seen, 26 lifers and 87 birds added to the Big Birding Year list. Wonderful mammal viewing and some other intriguing finds along the way, like Fred almost stepping on this Horned Adder while we were targeting the Herero Chat.
We are now leaving Windhoek and making our way up to the Caprivi via Roy's Camp near Grootfontein - to find yet another babbler.... it starts again, a new list and more birds to be seen.

The Startling Beauty of Etosha

Etosha surprises with its stark vast flat expanses, the plains seem endless and the Etosha Pan is so full after the good rainy season, that it feels like a coastline. Trees are scarse and create exquisite backdrops for scenic photos and wonderful sunsets. The waterholes are a joy to watch for zebra coming down to drink, sandgrouse arriving in squadrons at sunset.

This is a place of fine grey dust and for long slow breathing.

I had many firsts - a Black Rhino at the famous Okaukuejo waterhole, the diminuitive Damara Dik-dik, the rare Black-faced Impala, Hartman's Mountain Zebra, African Wild Cat as well as Springhare on the night drive from Hobatere Lodge and Congo Rope Squirrels.

We saw huge herds of plains Zebra, Springbok, the Hartmans Mountain Zebra which is only found in the rocky far west of Etosha, giraffe, blue wildebeest and the impressive Gemsbok.

Love the 'bum' shot, Burchells on the left and Hartman's on the right clearly show the differences between the two zebra species here in Namibia.

Birding was a treat too, Kori and White-quilled Bustards were common sightings on the plains. Larks, coursers, sandgrouse all flourish on the plains.The morning drive from our first camp was also my first views of the challenging Pink-billed Lark. Another exciting lifer at our final camp, Namutoni, was the Red-necked Falcon a spectucular small raptor that obligingly sat for us at the ubiquitous waterhole.

There is a mud track that extends into the Pan where we were able to get out the vehicle and watch the selection of birds that are adapted to the salinity of the water, like the Chestnut-banded Plovers and rafts of Avocets. As you can see in the photo it is surreal to be surrounded by this amount of water in such an arid setting as Etosha.

Appreciating Detail in the Life of Birds

I am learning to see and appreciate detail as I go through this Big Birding Year.

So much of my birding over the years has been about identification and less about noticing what birds are doing. Callan has made bird behaviour come alive for me.
An example has to be that I have always known that certain birds are parasitic and get another species to raise their chicks, like the Firefinches which are parasitised by Indigobirds, but I have never seen it happen. Our early morning call at Erongo was Callan with news that he had firstly heard, then seen a female Dusky Sunbird feeding a Klaas's Cuckoo chick.

The chick mimics the call of the Dusky's chicks, apparently it sounds like a nest full of chicks and the Sunbird dashes about frantically fetching and feeding her monsterous 'chick'. The chick gets all excited as the sunbird approaches, it opens is beak, quivers and lifts a wing. Fred was thrilled with this photo, the chick looks like it is swallowing its surrogate mother.

A couple of days later at the Hobatere waterhole we had another treat, a Meves's Long-tailed Starling feeding her two Great Spotted Cuckoo chicks, once again it was startling to see the starling responding to the desperate calling of the cuckoos. On some level I can relate, feel the same about my 'fledgling' at times, still feeding him!



Handling birds is something I avoid. But I was thrilled to be the ringers 'helper' on our night drive with Steve, who's Hobatere Lodge is a gem on the western edge of Etosha, a remote and beautiful area of rocky outcrops, mopane and acacia woodland.

The helper records the data from the bird that is being ringed; tarsus, ulna, wing, skull lengths and the weight of the birds. Steve catches the birds at night using the vehicle lights, a powerful torch and a large net. We had amazing views of a Spotted Thick-knee, Square-tailed and Rufous-cheeked Nightjars as well as the beautifully delicate Bronze-winged Courser. It all happens very quickly and the bird is then released. Fred and Anita both had a go at the trapping, its a real buzz and certainly not as easy as Steve makes it seem.

....getting ready...

....Rufous-cheeked Nightjar and the beautiful Bronze-winged Courser being ringed and then released...

Last night we really got into the detail, we saw a Small Buttonquail after dinner in the Waterberg. It was immobilised by the vehicles lights and kept perfectly still while the cameras flashed. Callan then found a dead Buttonquail which he took back to the room to take DNA samples. Anita and I quietly watched as he poked and prodded the dead bird, I took in the detail of its feathers and little skeleton, its 3 toes, an unusual perspective.

Another real pleasure of the trip has been watching raptors, understanding how to identify them in flight and recognising the juveniles too. We have had Booted Eagles, Shikras, Bateleurs, African Harrier-hawk, who we saw raiding the nest of Red-billed Buffalo Weavers, Red-necked Falcons and a rare sighting of Amur Falcons which are mostly birds of the eastern part of Southern Africa.

At the Halali waterhole in Etosha we spent ages watching these Gabar Goshawks circle the waterhole, swooping on the doves drinking. The white above the tail is the identification indicator!

Target Birding

The Christine Marais drawing from her book "Birding in Namibia" captures the essence of the place we are in now and the Hartlaub's Francolin we saw this morning.

So I have learnt that there are two ways to bird.

One is to choose an environment that will produce good birding opportunities, arrive, set-up scopes as required, mimic the Pearl-spotted Owlet if you are in the bush, and wait and see what birds are around.

The second approach, ‘target birding’, is far more strategic and has a specific destination in mind with the objective of finding a (mostly) challenging bird or two that are known to be breeding in a known locality. All the possible equipment is taken into the field, scopes, recording and playback equipment. This is stressful birding as once a stated bird is being chased it makes for the risk of failure. But success is exciting, here is the Tractrac Chat found only on the Namib gravel plains which we found on our second attempt.

I experienced both of these approaches to birding with Callan over the last two days.

Yesterday our target bird was a Herero Chat, notoriously difficult to find. We were in the bush at the bottom of the spectacular Spitskoppe (below) for a two hour stint in the heat of the day, slowing doing the playback call, scanning each and every bush and walked away without a sighting. Karoo long-billed Lark on the road from Spitskoppe to Erongo Mountains

This morning, in the rocky outcrops around our lodge here in the Erongo Mountains, we had three target birds – Hartlaub’s Francolin, Carp’s Tit, and the Rockrunner, as challenging, and we had superb sightings of all three in the fresh cool dawn air, quite a blissful experience. As Callan hears the birds call he records them and uses their own calls for the playback. Certainly created much curiosity from the birds and in some cases it spooks them to hear another ‘bird’ with their personal calls.

The gang birding this morning for our target birds:

It’s a treat to be at the lodge, tented accommodation with awesome views, great food and lovely service from Timo. Also good to chill and recharge after many days crossing this vast country.

This is the view from our breakfast table this morning watching Rosy-faced Lovebirds and Chestnut Weavers.

The charming Rock Hyrax that keeps us awake at night here at Erongo with it range of strident calls.

Am loving the diversity and space of Namibia and its contrasts from gentle to fierce depending on where you find yourself.

"When the well's dry, one knows the worth of water" Benjamin Franklin

My 'Bucket List' Day

Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman in The Bucket List, make a list of all the things they want to do before they die – their kick the bucket list. On my list was to experience the dunes and gravel plains of the Namib, so today I ticked one of the items on my Bucket List.
There are days that are so rich in my life that the experiences creep up on me, grab my heart and stay with me, today was such a day. The Dune Sea, resting right up against the Kuiseb River bed, just south of Walvis Bay and extending a few hundred kilometers south, is a place of the soul. Colour, textures, shapes, sounds, smells, all blend to make it beautiful in the early morning sun.
These photos tell some of the story.
































Even more so, the Dune Sea is also a story of Namibia’s only true endemic, the Dune Lark that has made this part of the world home. Finding this bird is a life event for a birder. Callan quickly found it, (can sometimes take hours) and the sighting was wonderful with good views of the bird and hearing its call.

Dune Lark in the vegetation around the Kuiseb River bed.



















The second part of the day was the fiercely harsh gravel plains that stretch for many kilometers beyond Walvis and Swakopmund. The green and orange lichens of the plains create a patina of colour amidst the barren landscape peppered with hardy scrubs. Once again, amid all this harshness we were looking for two birds that make it their own – the Gray’s Lark and the Tractrac Chat.
We had clear views of the Lark, which blends into the stony surface with ease. Yet another memorable sighting for my Big Birding Year.

























The gravel plains are also the place of the enigmatic Welwitchia. I have seen so many photos of this plant but still it astounded me. Nothing quite prepares one for its form, its size, its complexity amid seemingly so little to nourish it.

By this stage I am quite in awe, the day has visual texture and an assault on all the senses, tumble drier heat; cold, clammy fog; climbing red dunes; vast plains; seaside towns; chilly sea breezes….

Yet again, we move onto our final sunset birding on the Sandwich Harbour estuary and salt pans. Loads of waders, gulls and cormorants coming and going. We loved seeing the Curlew Sandpiper coming into their red breeding plumage. As the sun was dipping low, Callan found us a female Red-necked Phalarope in breeding plumage; I was beside myself, such a treat to spot this bird in South Africa!

Here is the group birding at sunset in cold, windy conditions but so delighted with the days birding, the places it has taken us to and the joy of being in a special part of our planet.

The Road less travelled, Windhoek to Walvis Bay

Our day took us through the mountains and mountain passes –Kupfersberg, Gamsberg, Kuiseb; between Windhoek and Walvis Bay on the road less traveled. The scenery is vast, rolling, punctuated by impressive mountains as one leaves Windhoek. The rainy season has left the countryside swathed in grass, which is a visual treat all the way, it only petters out about 50 kilometers from Walvis Bay when the Namib gravel plains take over. At this point the sun had set and Callan navigated through the dark to get us to our rooms here in Walvis, all happy with the day and wearied by the drive.

This is the view coming into the Kuiseb Valley, rolling hills as far as the key can see - why I kept seeing butter icing on hot chocolate cake I am not sure, shows you where my mind goes even when I am birding.

The birding along the way was a treat. The huge Sociable Weaver nests are magical set against the big blue sky. We saw little gems like the Violet-eared Waxbills, Scaly-feathered Finch, Desert Cisticolas as well as the impressive Kalahari Scrub Robin along the way. Tawny's and PCG's (note the birding jargon I am learning) too.

Chat Flycatcher, Ludwig’s Bustard (below) and Rosy-faced Lovebirds were all additions to my life list. We also saw Kori Bustards lopping through the golden grass.

My delight for the day was the adorable Rosy-faced Lovebirds in a Camelthorn among the Sociable Weavers. Last time I saw these little gems was having tea with Mich on her veranda in Sandton, watching them as her birdfeeder. What a joy to see them in their natural habit.

Oh by the way, this trip has the group crawling, on hands and knees....not for birds only but for anything that is moving. Here Anita and Callan are earnestly photographing gorgeous tiny butterflies, called Grass Jewel Blues clustered around mammal 'poop' while Di and Nigel are just as intrigued! No Fred, I am not planning a Big Butterfly Year.

Windhoek Birding

Nothing quite like having a leisurely breakfast and seeing a new bird. What looked like an old favourite at first glance turned out to not be a Red-billed Hornbill but the Namibian Monteiro's Hornbill.

We pottered around the hotel for the morning, reading at the pool, eventually getting into Barbara Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible and waited for the group to arrive from the UK and Callan from Cape Town. I must admit to feeling like a kid on Christmas Eve, time slowed down and the anticipation kept building.




Our first outing in Namibia- Daan Viljoen, a nature reserve outside of Windhoek. Rolling hills and Acacias bursting with their varied pods and a chance to get started on the thornveld birds.

It has been a high rainfall season here in Namibia and the grass cover is thick and everything looks green. It will be interesting to see what the desert looks like when we get there tomorrow.




















Scopes are out, birders are ready, we were looking at both Hartman's Mountain Zebra in the background and following a Crimson-breasted Shrike in the trees in the foreground.

The Zebra were a first, missing the brown stripe on their rumps! We quickly added loads of birds to the list, Yellow-bellied Eremomela, Chestnut-vented Titbabbler, Marico Flycatcher, Great Sparrow, Black-chested Prinia, Pririt Batis among others. Callan has an exceptional ear and keeps pointing out the birds that are calling, he also mimics the Pearl-spotted Owlet which gets all the birds moving and coming to mob the 'owl'.

Lots of excitement at the next stop along the road, Callan noticed that a Lilac-breasted Roller and some Fork-tailed Drongos were harassing a snake. We all bolted across the field to get a look - Puffadder. Fred had a really good look at the snake but did not have his camera with him, I watched it slithering away in the grass and had a good look at the head. Felt like birding from the vehicle after that.

Added Red-billed Francolins to the list too which I had last seen in Botswana in 2001 en route to see the solar eclipse in Zambia.


Our next lifer of the day - Bradfield's Swift.


We had noticed them in the CBD the night before, and went back to the same spot on our way back from Daan Viljoen. The swilts roost in the dead foliage of the huge Washingtonia Palms that line the streets here in Windhoek. It was such a special sighting to see them coming in at speed, screeching and if there was one bird there was a hundred. They are ungainly as they try to move between the dried palm fronds with their weak feet.

Certainly the first time I have been able to watch swifts so close and to pay attention to the detail, I could see their eyes, their grey-brown colouring, the photographers in the group were able to get awesome photos.




We rounded off the day by having dinner back at Luigi and The Fish, completed the first day's checklist and planned our next day.

We head off for a few days to Walvis Bay. Its about 400 kilometers along the gravel roads of the Namib, time to look out for the huge nests of Sociable Weavers in the Camelthorns and the Pygmy Falcon that uses these nest chambers.

'Riding the Runway'

Fifteen hundred kilometers finds us booked into Hotel Onganga in Windhoek having driven, what Fred calls, the runway. The Trans-Kalahari is a real road trip, endless flat grassland plains, broken with scrub and thorn trees, dotted with goats, donkeys and the ubiquitous cattle of Botswana.

I relaxed back and watched the verge, pylons and telephone poles for raptors and added the Greater Kestrel and Pale Chanting Goshawk to our Big Birding Year List and watched a Red-crested Korhaan creep over the road.

Our stopovers in Gabarone and Ghanzi were less about birding than recovering from hours in the car but I spotted some of the common birds of the west - Red-eyed Bulbul, Red-headed Finch, White-browed Sparrow Weaver, Black-faced Waxbill, Shaft-tailed Whydah, Crimson-breasted and Lesser Grey Shrikes and Pied Babblers, always a good indication that we have travelled.

Namibia - Botswana Road Trip

The trip starts at dawn tomorrow as we make our way to Gabarone. The trip has been many months in the planning, buying the Jeep, deciding to join Callan Cohen in Windhoek for a guided few weeks to experience birding at it best in the autumn days of Namibia and then going off on our own up to the Caprivi Strip and into the Okavango Panhandle.

Our itinerary takes us from abundant shorebirds in one of Africa's richest estuaries, to finding the Rockrunner in the Erongo Mountains, the magnificent granite inselberg, into the haunting and desolate Namib Desert, the bizarre Welwitschia, as well as five days crossing Etosha National Park, to the Waterberg for the diminutive Damara Dik-dik.

Callan has a reputation as one of Africa's foremost birdwatching and wildlife tour guides and when I first met him in 2001, for a day of birding in the Cape, I made a resolution to spend time with him again. So what better time than the Big Birding Year. The bird list for the trip is some 300 birds and the Namibian specials will be lifers for me, as this is my first time in this part of Namibia having only visited the Caprivi before, so lots of excitement and anticipation too.

Connectivity is going to be a challenge to keep the blog current but I plan to attempt to show Fred's photos and share some of the experiences.

Wakkerstroom Highlights: Crowned Cranes, Fegato di Pollo Penne and so much more

What better combination than good friends, glorious Italian food, a beautiful place with endless views and an 'Uber Twitch'. Wakkerstroom was a treat.

As we settled in with Nikki and Geoff on Friday night, Crowned Cranes arrived just beyond their garden where the pair roost in a dead tree, their calling makes my hair stand on end, its a haunting cry that carries over the wetlands.

We ambled down to the wetland with the dogs and Vespa in tow (Fred's next favourite cat after Baron), the water level was high, running dirty and we did not see too much. Couldn't find the Cliff Swallows either so we came back to get supper going. Geoff did not disappoint his liver dish is sublime, worth sharing the recipe. An ideal meal for the cold nights coming soon.

Fegato di Pollo Penne

Ingredients for 4 people: half kg cleaned chicken livers, 250 g bacon, 2 onions thinly sliced, 2 cloves garlic, olive oil and butter for frying, punnet of mushrooms sliced, flour seasoned with salt and pepper and oregano, 250 ml reduced fat cream, 2 T sherry, good pinch of dried chillies.

Fry the onions gently in the olive oil and butter, add garlic, then chopped bacon.
Fry mushrooms seperately then add to the onion - bacon mix.
Lightly dust the livers in the flour mix and fry in small batched until crispy.
Add all of the above together.
Gently heat through with the cream, sherry and chillies.
Serve the liver mix on a bed of penne, great with a Shiraz.....

Wakkerstroom mornings are already crisp and we were out birding in fleeces and jackets. I booked Sunday morning birding with Lucky Ngwenya and we met him at 6, it was misty and quite cold. The mist slowed us down in finding the Yellow-breasted Pipit up on the Utrecht road out of town but that was about all we missed, it was a 'birdfest'.







Nikki had so many lifers we kept laughing at her trying to keep track, from black Crows to Botha's Lark all on the same day!




Our stop at a patch of indigenous forest, still soggy underfoot from all the rain, was the start of some exceptional sightings - Bush Blackcap and my first lifer for the day, a Brown-backed Honeybird, a rather nondescript looking bird until it flies and I saw the extensive white of its tail.














Bush Blackcap


It was a day for larks and appreciating the vast grasslands around Wakkerstroom. Red-capped Larks, Eastern Long-billed Larks, Botha's Larks, Spike-heeled Larks, and we also glimpsed Rudd's Lark with its low flight, stubby tail when Lucky flushed it near Fickland Pan.

Spike-heeled Lark and Red-capped Lark (below)










The Eastern Long-billed and Botha's Larks were the next lifers for the morning and we had opportunity to spend time watching them, particularly the Botha's, in this photo you can see his pale throat, heavy streaking and pinkish bill.



Botha's Lark












I was once again reminded about being complacent when birding. We passed a flock of Crowned Lapwings which I was quite happy to ignore when Lucky casually mentioned that there were a few Black-winged Lapwings amongst them, lifer number four!

We passed numerous Crowned Cranes, Bald Ibises, Blue Korhaans, Mountain Wheatears as we drove around the back roads looking for the larks.

Another sighting that I enjoyed was finding a Red-throated Wryneck in town on a telephone pole, once again at least a decade since I had last seen this bird.








Red-throated Wryneck on the telephone pole in town








Thanks again Nikki and Geoff for opening your home to a weekend of madcap birding, it was memory making.