Report by Crystelle Wilson
Sunday 24 January 2016
The garden at Gramarye farm at Boston in the KZN Midlands benefitted from recent good rains and provided a flurry of feathered activity before we set off for the river.
Pin-tailed Whydah lorded it over the bird table, keeping sparrows and Village Weavers at bay.
Speckled Mousebird, African Dusky Flycatcher, Cape Robin-Chat, Olive Thrush, African Paradise-Flycatcher, Fork-tailed Drongo, Cape White-eye were among the resident birds at their regular hangouts.
The Fan-tailed Widowbirds, Southern Red Bishops, Levaillant’s Cisticolas and African Stonechat were noisily busy in the vegetation along the path.
Then the call went out to check out a Red-collared Widow perched on tall grass. Instead of a red collar, it had a yellow collar, a rare occurrence.
Dave Rimmer explained: “This colour anomaly is called Xanthochromism which presents as red pigment being replaced with yellow pigment. It is exactly the same genetic mutation that gives rise to the yellow forms of the Crimson-breasted Shrike or the Black-collared Barbet.”
The Little Rush and African Reed Warblers were very busy and gave good displays.
From the height of the platform we had excellent views over the grasslands. Noticing Cape Weavers, Fan-tailed Widowbirds, and a Yellow-crowned Bishop.
Decklan Jordaan built on his reputation as an owl spotter by pointing out a Spotted Eagle-Owl very well hidden behind branches in a willow tree along the river and then spotted a Barn Owl just further along.
A number of other birds were spotted on the walk through the grasslands.
There were much by way of plants and other creatures to intrigue people.
On the way back the resident pair of Grey Crowned Cranes was seen, but sadly with only one chick. On Friday evening I photographed the family with three chicks. On Monday morning I could confirm that there was only one chick remaining with the parents.
Once again we finished off the morning with a walk in the forest at Boschberg Cottages. On the way there were about three White Storks in one of the pastures.
Bush Blackcap was one of the highlights, while Cape Batis, Bar-throated Apalis, Sombre Greenbul and Terrestrial Brownbul also put in appearances as well as White-starred Robin-Chat and Purple-crested and Knysna Turacos.
My SABAP2 atlas list for pentad 2935_3000 had close to 80 species for the day.
Crystelle Wilson
Photos care of: Crystelle Wilson, Hennie and Decklan Jordaan, and the unacknowledged above by Paul Bartho
Look at comments on pics – have named the dragonflies! Had also put the correction in that Sandi mentions above!
Butterflies – not Neita brown but RAINFOREST BROWN