Richards Bay and the Bird List exceeds 650!

The weather did an about turn today, cool and rainy conditions as we left Lake St. Lucia to head south to Richards Bay to meet Michael Blose from Birdlife. This was our last opportunity to find waders before the end of the Big Birding Year. Michael organised us access to the Harbour and we arrived at dawn just in time for low-tide. The waders were far out in the Estuary and we did not have a decent scope.

Well I did the only thing I could think of, wading out to the birds and at times the water was thigh-high! Fred and Michael also had tricky moments sinking into the mud. I have mentioned the borderline of obsession that birders experience and this was one such moment for me, total disregard for my Karriemor hiking boots and for getting wet and muddy. In fact I loved the feeling of the freedom to do just what I wanted.

I have noticed a shift in myself, that I am taking more physical risks since I turned 50 than I have taken in a lifetime - snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef, dog-sledding in Norway, walking holidays in Europe and now quietly slipping into water to bird, even saw a small ray just in front of me as I waded out to the sand banks.

An Osprey sitting on a sandbank and Greater Sand Plovers took my list to 650 and the plovers were a lifer as well, just fabulous, also added Terek Sandpipers as I had not found them at the West Coast National Park earlier in the year.

The day was rounded off with a visit to the Raffia Palms of Mtumzini and some real close-ups of Palm-nut Vultures.

Gwalagwala, St. Lucia

How is it possible that it has taken me almost two decades to both hear and see an African Emerald Cuckoo? This exquisite bird was a highlight for Fred and me in St. Lucia this morning while birding along the trials of Gwalagwala. It was calling its distinctive 'pretty georgie' with the caterpillar in its bill. I was completely dazzled by the irridescent green combined with yellow and I was reminded why I chose to bird, its the sheer pleasure of seeing the wonder of the world around us.

Birding in Gwalagwala, the coastal forest on the Lake St. Lucia Estuary, was a joy. The trail is named after the Zulu word for Turacos and it is a very aptly named too as we were treated to good views of Livingstone's Turacos all along the walk. The Brown Scrub-Robin (below) was another easy sighting for the year list as was Rudd's Apalis.

Fred has another funny story for his repertoire after a run-in with a KZN ranger at Cape Vidal. We were illegally out of our vehicle and working a small pan for Rufous-winged Cisticolas. The PDA with the bird calls is faulty so Fred was carrying his laptop under his arm when the ranger arrived. What an amusing scene with Fred being asked if he was intending to poach rhinos - with a laptop!?! We giggled for hours afterwards and had our second lifer for the day.

Mkuse for Pink-throated Twinspots

Mixed reviews for todays trip to Mkuse.

I suppose it was always going to be difficult to live up to its reputation as a birding mecca here in KZN. I did expect to see more birds than we did, Mantuma Camp was very quiet and overrun by black-jacks. But having said that I did get to see the Pink-throated Twinspot, both male and female. If you had to ask me to chose one bird as my favourite it would be a Twinspot. They are just so exquisitely patterned with a spectacular colouring. Fred managed to get us a photo for the blog even though the pair were skulking in the deep shade.

We entertained ourselves at the hides by watching Terrapins do what terrapins do... here a pair were doing the high jump out of the muddy puddle reaching for the frogs eggs on the overhanging branch. They were using each other for leverage.

Among all the different habits one I particularly enjoy is the Fever Tree Forests. This one alongside Musi Pan was a highlight today even though we still could not find Neergaardt's Sunbirds, not for want of trying for two days in a row now.

I am feeling rather inenchanted with the bird as is Themba who is decidedly grumpy with his lack of success.

Another bird that challenged us over the last two days was the Red-fronted Tinkerbird. Its loud, ringing and monotonous call has been dominant on our walks, but was impossible to locate each time. We saw one eventually in a Fever Tree bobbing its head side to side to throw its voice out in all directions. Such a big sound from such a tiny bird.

We are now back at Nibela Lodge, tired after a 14 hour day, talk about stamina required for birding in the heat and humidity for hours on end! We have 9 birds to go to get to 650 birds for the Big Birding Year. Will be a wonderful achievement to do so.....

The Sand Forest of St. Lucia Wetland Park

The long awaited for week of birding in Northern KZN has started. We are booked into Nibela Lake Lodge. Our chalet blends magically into the surrounding Sand Forest and we woke up to the raucous call of Purple-crested Turacos. Its tranquil and walking on the boardwalks under the

canopy is wonderful.

Lake St. Lucia is still silted up at the mouth and is very low and has been so for the last 8 years, even so its an impressive sight from the lodge verandas.

The bird list here has endless possibilities so I was happy to be up and out into the Sand Forest at dawn. We are birding with Themba Mthembu for a few days and he was immediately picking up Neergaardt's Sunbird and Rudd's Apalis both of which I missed! My eyes just did not seem to be focussing and getting onto the birds.

Our first decent views of Woodward's Batis, calling is heart out in the Sand Forest here at St. Lucia

Eventually the rhythmn of walking set in as did the bird spotting and we saw Grey Sunbirds, Purple-banded Sunbirds and the treat for the morning, superb views of Woodward's Batis calling above us. Although I was alarmed to see yet another snake for the year, a Forest Cobra, really close to where we were walking.

By mid-morning I was taking strain in the heat and humidity but was rewarded with a Southern Banded Snake-Eagle perching on a dead tree as we were walking back along the trail.

After a picnic we headed out into the blazing sun onto the grassy St. Lucia flood plain for Rosy-throated Longclaw. The clumps of grass are knee-high and the walking tough but we did track down the longclaws which was an important tick for me for my Big Year List. Fred was so grumpy about missing the photo opportunity for our blog though, when Themba flushed the bird and yelled in delight and it flew away...

Black Kite and Senegal Lapwings were also seen on the flood plains. Never got to see that Neergaardt's or Rudd's Apalis during our afternoon walk at the False Bay Park, so tomorrow we are off to the world-renowned Mkuze. Hayley gave me a special book for my birthday this year which list the Top 100 Birding Spots in the World and Mkuze made the list, so hopefully it will be a noteworthy day for Fred and me.

A quick return to Wakkerstroom

By 7.30am on Monday morning, our last week of the Big Birding Year, we had two more lifers, a superb view of Barrow's Korhaan and a displaying Eastern Clapper Lark, which made me laugh with its antics.

Barrow's Korhaan in the low altitude grasslands on the Piet Retief Road from Wakkerstroom.

After Bryony and Gavin's glorious wedding on Sunday - well done Neville and Rosella, we were on our last road trip for the year at 3.30am, to northern Kwa-Zulu Natal with a call in to Wakkerstroom for some birding with Lucky and even more importantly, Breakfast Baguettes at the Hotel which are legendary.

Love it when the plan comes together, the target birds were Yellow-breasted Pipits which we saw in the mud puddle alongside the car on the Utrecht road, also managed a brief glimpse of the Pale-crowned Cisticola and a Rock Pipit.

So with 5 birds added to the year and baguettes eaten we made our way to the St. Lucia Wetland Park and our accommodation at Nibela Lake Lodge.

Doing time at Sewage Works

One thing that unifies birders is the quirky habit of popping past sewage works in cities that they visit, despite the unpleasant conditions they are great spots for birding. For two weekends in a row I have spent time at sewage works, last weekend in Pretoria and today at Darvil in Pietermaritzburg. In fact the first place I went to in Cape Town to start the Big Birding Year was Strandfontein - sewage works too.
I have been rewarded though! At Rooiwal a good view of a Sand Martin and even more thrilling was finding Red-headed Queleas this morning at Darvil.
I am here in Hilton to bird with my sister Doreen and I am loving her enthusiasm to find new birds for her list. We were all up early despite the mist and fine drizzle to diligently work all the reed beds for the localised but uncommon queleas. Our shoes were caked in mud, pants sodden and I was getting desperate for a cappuccino. I was about to give up after watching the antics of the Thick-billed Weavers and a Diederiks Cuckoo in a tree when I yelped with delight to see the brilliant red head of a lone quelea in the same tree.
Just before we left we had wonderful views of a flock of queleas that were in and out of the reeds on the upper dam, such a satisfying lifer, all the more so as this visit was planned in the depth of winter here in the Midlands and here I am, in summer and back birding. A vivid reminder of the relentless passing of time.

One month left for the Big Birding Year

Its a good time to regroup and check-in with myself on where I am on this incredible journey.

I am at Millstream physically regrouping after the endless days on the road to Botswana for the African Skimmers. The days have been slow here, with long languid afternoons on the couch reading the 3rd book in the Stieg Larsson Millenium series - the 500 pages only lasted me 3 days.

Days of good food with our foodie friends, Geoff and Nikki, I kept adding a Portuguese spin to his wonderful Italian meals. In fact I just have to share the best Tomato Piri Piri Sauce ever from Tessa Kiros' book "Piri piri *starfish", Shawni and I smother it over our food.

Heat 1cup of olive oil in a heavy-based pan with 50g butter. Add 4 ripe, peeled and sliced tomatoes and 5/6 finely chopped red chillies and simmer for about 25 minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, a large pinch sugar and 4 finely chopped garlic cloves and cook for another 10 minutes. Puree with a hand-held blender and pour into sterilised jars.

The walks around Millstream are as wonderful as ever, my boots are a little muddy after the rain but what a joy to be able to amble around the grasslands. I have added African Purple Swamphen to my Millstream list, cuckoos are calling and the bishops and widowbirds are making their glorious transitions.


So where am I with my Big Year with one month to go.....

• Started the year with a Life List of 592.
• The Big Birding Year list is at 622,
• Travelled 41 000 kilometers to date, within South Africa as well as to Namibia and twice to Botswana,
• Braved the sea twice for pelagic birding,
• Spent 42% of our days this year birding,
• Added 83 lifers to our life list which is now at 676,
• Have reseen 91% of the birds on my starting Life List,
• Have seen about 80% of the birds that are seen in any one year in Southern Africa,
• Ticked 90% of the Near Endemics and 84% of the Southern African Endemics.
• I have birded with special people along the way, guides who shared their knowledge and friends and family who have shared the passion
• 29 days to go.....

The plan is to finish the Big Year by spending a week in Northern Kwa-Zulu Natal. I will also pop down to Hilton one last time to bird with my sister Doreen. We have a few days of birding planned in Gauteng too. So I sit with some curiosity about how the numbers will fall during this final month of birding as we hit the roads for the last time.

Abundance of the Okavango Panhandle

The Kavango river has a feel of abundance with flocks of birds either flying along the waterways or moving among the papyrus and reeds. I added African Openbill to my list and we saw loads of them along the grassy flood plains.

I was amazed to see about 10 Wattled Cranes on the flood plain too, an unexpected highlight for the trip.

Grunting or snorting hippos and crocodiles complete the scene as we floated past the birds.

We saw one Slaty Egret and flocks of the Black Herons flying side by side with the Little Egrets - why did I work so hard in Gauteng to find one for the list....

"Water: vehicle and idiom of all the inner voyaging that keeps us alive"

In Praise of Water, John O'Donohue

No trip to the swamps is complete without seeing the beautiful bee-eaters. Carmines were breeding along the banks near the Camp.

And the White-fronted seemed to be panting in the late afternoon heat. Loved being in this beautiful place again, another gem of a day for the Big Year.

Okavango Panhandle for African Skimmers

It's Sunday the 25th October, the heat is coming off the Kavango River and I am under the huge trees outside Chalet 4 at Drotsky's Camp in Botswana. Our boat trip up the river with Salvation was idyllic, we had time to take in the bountiful bird life and watch the African Skimmers, our purpose for coming all this way to the north west of Botswana. It is so thrilling to see them dip their unique lower mandible, no other bird has a lower mandible longer than the upper and skim the water surface for prey items.

The water levels are still high and the birds are social, breeding together on the few exposed sandbanks. Fred was able to get take photos of the eggs and chicks.

I have had the priviledge of seeing Black Skimmers too in the USA on a business trip to Amelia Island in June 1998. I was walking along the beach early in the morning before the conference got started and noticed a bird hurtling towards me at knee height. It was my first ever skimmer and I was beside myself with excitement, even called Fred to share the expereince.

The last time I saw the African Skimmer was in December 2004 with Brian and Di, same boat from Drotsky's, also with Salvation, but a very different photographic experience - Fred dropped his camera overboard! Brian did check-in with me to see whether we had any issues this time round, fortunately not!