11 January 2024

The day dawned damp and drizzly but virtually everyone decided to brave the weather and we gathered together at a spot just below the carpark overlooking the small dam and surrounded by some nice big trees. But the birds knew something that we didn’t and it was very quiet.

A Thick-billed Weaver was still busy building his nest and a few Village Weavers flew around.  A few people decided to go for a walk which turned out to be longer than expected. But they also came back with very few birds having been seen. Their best bird was a Blue-mantled Crested Flycatcher and they heard a Knysna Turaco. We had seen a fewPurple-crested Turacos and an obliging Dusky Flycatcher.

Most people left when it started drizzling a bit harder but the people who waited were rewarded with 19 Woolly-necked Storks flying over and then the bird of the day – an Ayres’s Hawk-Eagle circled around once before disappearing.

We ended the day with a disappointing 27 species.

Report and photos Jenny Norman