Bone Eaters of the Berg

'Climb the mountains and their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their freshness on you, and the storms will give you their energy; while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.' John Muir

I found this quote by the Scottish-born, American 19th century naturalist John Muir, on a bench plaque at the foothills of the Drakensberg this morning and I do not have better language to describe being in the mountains, walking along endless contour paths and taking in the scenery.

Our trip had been planned quite some time back to ensure we could get a day at the Bearded Vulture Hide at Giant's Castle. A Big Year would not be a big year without seeing these large, solitary vultures of the Drakensberg, known as the bone eaters. I was intrigued by their ossuaries, or bone-breaking sites, which are used by Bearded Vultures (Gypaetus barbatus) to prepare and store bone remains. I read that they break the bones to access the nutritious marrow and to reduce the size of bone remains for ingestion. Although I had seen the Bearded Vulture in the mid-90's while walking in the Amphitheatre, I had not in fact seen the 'beard', in all honesty not seen much beyond the distinctive wedge-shaped tail.

So, Monday morning early, June, Ross, Fred and I were installed in the hide, which is a concrete bunker perched precariously on the edge of a ridge, about 4 kilometers from the Giant's Castle Camp. There was the ossuary, right below the hide, littered with the sun bleached bones.

What an experience.

We were treated to magnificent eye-level views of a handful of juvenile Bearded Vultures as well as the quite magnificent adult throughout the morning. I saw that beard! As June said, she could feel her soul soar alongside these huge birds as they effortlessly moved along the cliff edge following the thermals. We sat quietly for hours, silently hoping for a bird to settle near the hide while Fred revelled in the photographic challenge of the birds in flight.

It was not to happen. And it also did not matter as it was a quite perfect day. Our picnic in this beautiful setting must be the best picnic of the year and we all revelled being together and sharing an experience in nature which is at the heart of the Big Birding Year.

Gentle day of Wild Flowers on the West Coast

After the harshness of our day out to sea, ambling around the West Coast National Park was blissful. I had timed our visit to Cape Town to both take in a winter Pelagic and to see some of the famous floral wonder of the West Coast. I was not disappointed. The Postberg section of the park is open for the flowers at this time of year and it is beautiful to drive around, rocky outcrops, glorious seaviews and the detail of the flowers. We even came across a new bird on the drive, two Karoo Larks on the roadside, a great thrill as our time at the Geelbeck Hide had still not come up with Curlews.

I was also on the lookout for Korhaans and we found a Southern Black Korhaan among the flowers, calling and generally looking very pleased to be part of the energy of spring.

One of the joys of birding is stumbling upon the unexpected, we were driving down to the Seeberg Hide and saw this Cape Spurfowl having a sand bath. The bird just ignored us, rolled and flicked the sand with gay abandon and you could feel its sheer pleasure for this simple task.



Antarctic Terns come into our waters from the south to roost on the rocky shoreline during winter and are going to be on their way very soon, so I checked in with Marje from Birding Africa and she sent me a map to a reliable site for the terns. We left the park late afternoon and drove up to Jacobs Bay, parked south of the houses and walked along the rocky shore. Thanks Marje they were there are promised, red bills, red legs, set off against the lichen on the rocks, wonderful way to end a special day in a place I just love.

A Tough Day out to Sea

The Obsession left from Hout Bay at about 8 am this morning, the harbour looked serene sheltered in its bay and we were all quite optimistic. I was bemused by the boat's name given how this birding year has become border-line obsessive.

I was a bag of nerves though, the Obsession is a small fishing vessel and did not even have enough seating for the 10 of us on the boat. Drugged up to the gills I was seasick within the first hour and all I could think about was 'please let this be over soon'. It will have to be our last pelagic as Fred also suffers terribly out to sea. The weather was good, very little wind but the swells were huge, I got totally drenched and my body is still aching and bruised from bracing against the rocking and rolling of the vessel.

A few hours out of Hout Bay we came in close to a trawler and the volume of seabirds was quite spectacular, Pintado's, Gannets, Shy and Black-browed Albatross, White-chinned Petrels, Wilson's Storm-Petrels, almost too much to take in and certainly a life event. But forget trying to find rarities I was challenged just to be present.

Bruce did find us some new birds though, Subantarctic Skua, Northern and Southern Giant-Petrels and a very brief glimpse of a Great Shearwater.

Fred managed to take some photos:

...Pintado Petrels feeding behind the trawler and the ubiquitous White-chinned Petrel taking off...







....the impressive Southern Giant-Petrel right next to us surrounded by Pintado's...


...and a juvenile Black-browed Albatross with a smaller, captivating Pintado Petrel.

Quarter Three Report

The winter months saw a slow but steady increase in the number of birds seen for the Big Birding Year, adding 35 birds for the three months. I was also most pleased with having seen 5 lifers during winter , the most exciting being the Orange Ground-Thrush at Marutswa Forest near Bulwer and the delightful Yellow-throated Sandgrouse near Sun City. I am also tracking how may of the near-endemics and endemics I see during the Big Birding Year and to date we have seen 85% of the near-endemics and 71% of the endemics.

I have loved been out in the bracing cold and there was only one occasion while in the Berg with my family that we had to abandon being outdoors because of the gale force winds. We travelled 7000 km during the quarter, especially into Kwa-Zulu Natal, Free State, a visit to Dullstroom and to Magoebaskloof. Fred and the Jeep have been constant companions and we have enjoyed exploring places closer to home like Borakalalo and Vaalkop Dam Nature Reserves. I joined the bird club early one saturday morning to learn more about ringing as well, loved getting into the details of birds but I realise that ringing will not be my forte.

I spent special days with my sister and her family at her home in Hilton and we birded together in the Midlands. Doreen is now a convert, she is loving her birding both in her garden and further afield, she has bought her bird book and her list is growing, marvelous to see - go Dors! Even Inel joined in while she was out from Australia and I had little Jos scanning the skies for vultures on our walks at Sterkfontein Dam.

Another high-light for the quarter was birding with Jan and Martie. We spent a marvelous morning in Dlinza Forest at Eshowe guided by Jotham and the birding was a real treat.

I am pleased that I managed to keep the focus on birding throughout the winter and we birded for 28 days over the 3 months. This is an achievement given the pull of a duvet day, hot chocolate and a good book, maybe next year....

I now have three months left to chase both the remaining birds on my list as well as lifers. I started the Big Birding Year with a life list of 592 and I go into this last quarter with 581, only 11 birds off my starting point. As Phil just said its amazing where a passion can lead one, or is it an obsession, either way I had not really expected to be tracking these sorts of numbers and my expectations for the year have already been exceeded. Seeing the two Side-striped Jackals while birding in the forests of Magoebaskloof was a gem of a moment and there have been so many of these unexpected joys during the year.

The next step is to see how 'big' I can make the year. Brian has challenged me to 650 and I do love a challenge. My life list is at 661 and I am now harbouring intentions of getting it to 700. I am blogging at the flat in Cape Town and tomorrow is an important day to start the last quarter, a winter pelagic leaving from Hout Bay. I am nervous, dreading the swells but excited at the possibilities of new seabirds.

Weekend at Borakalalo

The Pearly was calling at dusk and Fred got a good fire going in the boma on saturday night, we had coffee with Italian nougat and I was planning the sunday birding. It all seems quite blissful but looking back I was frustrated most of the time. Each spot that we birded didn't reveal its special, the Quarry for Striped Pipit (yet another weekend with no success on this bird!), the picnic site for Grey Penduline-Tit and the longshot, a Finfoot as we walked at dawn along the Moretele River Walk. I thought I may have seen the Penduline-Tits but when I saw a Crombec in the birding party, I was then not sure about the tits, and of course the party flew off and I was left even more grumpy. It felt as though I am now trying too hard and some of the pleasure was slipping away. Even the antics of the Puffback seemed to be trying to lighten my mood....

It also did not help our mood when the Vervet Monkeys stole our breakfast provisions...

Anyway I did eventually pull myself together, Fred found a store and stocked up, we made a good lunch and then ambled along the Klipvoor Dam waters edge which with a stretch of the imagination feels like Botswana. I spent time enjoying the hundreds of waterbirds and working on the identification of the waders on the muddy banks.

The list by the time we left was over 80 birds and I am now planning a pelagic trip from Hout Bay for this weekend. I am not looking forward to the sea but I am really looking forward to swelling my list.

My friend Sharon sent me this quote which is a special way to herald spring:

Everything is blooming most recklessly;
if it were voices instead of colours, there would be an
unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.
~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke

Dipping on Striped Pipits

I had no success with finding Striped Pipits on the rocky slopes of the Walter Sizulu Botanical Gardens early saturday morning and it certainly was not for want of trying either. We eventually settled into our legs as my friend Natalie says, packed water and KitKat, and had a glorious walk along the perimeter. We spotted a pair of Pipits on the rocky ridge and I willed them to be striped with yellow-edged wings - but no luck.
The Verreaux's Eagles were soaring above us and are always an impressive sight over the gardens. We watched the juvenile on the nest from the videocam in the office and it seems about to fledge, it is special considering how built up the area is around these birds.
Hamburgers and rugby were the next distraction before we took a drive to Northern Farm. We had never been there and have heard about the Farm mostly from cyclists and wanted to get a sense of the space. Enjoyed the late afternoon light on the dams, watched a Greater Kestrel and added Capped Wheatear to the Gauteng Challenge before heading home.

Yellow-throated Sandgrouse

It was surprising cold in the field near Sun City as we were quietly waiting with Stuart Groom for the first of the Yellow-throated Sandgrouse to make their fly-over. The stakeout was along a stream in the open savanna that is fed from the Sun City overflow very close to the main access road to the complex. The area has sandy patches as well as water pools with low-angle approaches that attract the sandgrouse as an early morning drinking and sand bathing spot.

I had connected with Stuart via his blog and he kindly agreed to meet us, share he knowledge and take us to this particular stakeout. We were treated to wonderful views of the birds flying in, some 30 to 40 birds over the couple of hours we spent at the stakeout, their characteristic calls and their flying actions making them so distinctive. We were treated to good close-ups of both the males and females of this large sandgrouse and I was completely taken in by them, the beautiful colouration and their behaviour made them one of my special lifers for the Big Birding Year.

The plan for the rest of the day was to explore the lesser known nature reserves to the North-West of Gauteng - Vaalkop Dam and Borakalalo. I was well organised with coffee, a picnic and a reasonably willing Fred to amble around back roads and explore and I also had some target birds to tackle for the year.

Vaalkop was quiet, felt unspoilt and the muddy edges of the dam was a treat for water birds - spoonbills, storks, cormorants, heron, ducks, crakes, gulls, fish-eagles, bee-eaters, kingfishers made for a good place to sit, to watch and just to be without listing. Walking along the edge for Black Heron came to an abrupt halt when I disturbed a hippo! We then birded from the various approaches roads from the car and I did find 3 Black Herons canopy feeding, an interesting hunting method, they use their wings like an umbrella and the shade it creates, to attract fish. The photo below shows the canopy feeding, bit far away but I was cautious about the hippos and crocodiles....

We got into Borakalalo late afternoon and did not have much time to explore, so drove straight to the picnic spot in the broad-leaved woodland along the game drive. The plan was to find a birding party and patiently wait for Bennett's Woodpecker which is known to be around this spot. As we turned into the picnic area, I saw a flash of olive green and Fred saw a woodpecker. We were out the car, creeping up to the bird, saw the spots and the brown facial markings of the female and we had our Bennett's! All in a few seconds.

I was hoping our luck would hold for an African Finfoot along the Moretele Walking Trail. We kept a vigil until dark at their known breeding sopts but it was not to be, so looks like I need to book into the tented camp and try again soon. Sixteen hours later we arrived home, the joy of birding.