The 26th November 2020 dawned as an overcast and cloudy morning with a promise of rain but despite this saw six of us gather at Jubilee Park for a sit-in. Jubilee is normally a well-manicured park but following the lovely summer rains we have been having in the highway area the grass was almost waist high in some places and I was pleased that we managed to get all participants across the walk between the two wetlands without losing anyone!
Mike took a few people off for a short walk but on returning they said the birding was extremely quiet and not much was seen that we didn’t see from our perch on the edge of the wetland.
Now where is that Magpie Mannikin – Jane Morris
There were a large number of Bronze Mannikins, a few Red-backed Mannikins and one solitary Magpie Mannikin that decided to put in an appearance.
The Thick-billed Weavers were busy constructing their precisely woven nests and two males along with a couple of female birds kept us amused for quite some time.
Male and female Thick-billed Weaver – Margaret Cooke
Village Weavers were building nests in a Palm tree in one of the residential properties and kept coming in to collect nesting material or come down to the water for a drink. Sunbirds were well represented with White-bellied, Olive, Collared and Amethyst all showing at various times. Starlings were also a point of discussion and we were able to add Black-bellied and Cape Glossy Starling to the list.
Fork-tailed Drongo sat out and called quite noisily for some time.
Fork-tailed Drongo – Jane Morris
As luck would have it about 2 hours into the sit-in the Municipal workers arrived to start cutting the grass. Deciding that the noise and fumes from the weed eaters would not enhance our birding we moved further down the road and sat in a clearing that gave us a view into some of the residential properties and the swamp forest area.
Fly overs here included African Crowned Eagle, a Steppe Buzzard and some Woolly-necked Storks. A Black-headed Oriole was also quiet co-operative and gave us some good views as he went about his business while a Brown-hooded Kingfisher came to look at us.
Brown-hooded Kingfisher – Heleen Els
Klaas’s Cuckoo and Diederick Cuckoo were both heard calling and Purple-crested Turaco hopped through the trees.
A very pleasant and relaxed birding morning was had by all and 42 species in total were seen.
