Report Back by Elena Russell.
There were 7 of us and our bird count at tea was 44 – then Jenny spotted a Southern Tchagra on leaving the reserve and Ros spotted a juvenile Fiscal Flycatcher and Crowned Eagle which brought our count up to 47.
Large areas of the reserve have been burnt, I thought the veld was only burnt before the Spring rains but I’m no fundi on grassland management so maybe this is a new strategy?
We had great views of a Long-crested Eagle and eventually found the White-browed Scrub- Robin; lots of Bronze Mannikins; Sombre Greenbuls; Dark-capped Bulbuls; a few Cape White-eyes; Thick-billed, Village, and Spectacled Weavers as well as Dusky Flycatchers.
The best bird-party we had was in fact in a burnt area but up adjacent to some gardens. Here we had Yellow-throated Longclaw; Southern Boubou; Brown-hooded Kingfisher; Rufous-naped Lark; Yellow-fronted Canaries; White-eared Barbets; Southern Black Tit; Fork-tailed Drongos; Black Flycatchers. And heard: Crested Barbets; Golden-tailed Woodpeckers; Black-headed Orioles; Yellow-rumped Tinkerbirds.
As we were having tea we picked up Terrestrial Brownbul and Red-capped Robin-Chat. The three butterfly pictures are :– Blue Pansy, African Common White and Mocker Swallowtail. In fact the butterflies at times outdid the birding!!
Not to mention the tree “huggers” – we all had a very pleasant morning!!
Thanks to John for the photos.
Cheers
Elena
