11 May 2024

We started the morning by ticking off some species for the day in the AECI Parking lot, before undertaking the painstakingly slow process of making our way through the gates of the business park. Due to Vumbuka Nature Reserve being in the same business park as Umbogavango Nature Reserve, there is always a chance of something special being recorded. By the time we got into the reserve, we had already recorded species such as Hadada Ibis, Cape White-eye, Red-capped Robin-Chat, and Black-headed Heron.

The day was overcast, which meant it was cool, but it also meant that the species count was a little lower. Since no one else was familiar with the layout of the reserve, we decided to stay together in one group. This meant we had more eyes and ears to find birds, but it also posed challenges in ensuring everyone in the group saw the species spotted by others.

As expected in the reserve, the morning required us to have our ears open and tuned to the calls of the birds. By identifying the calls we heard, we were able to record Sombre Greenbul, Yellow-bellied Greenbul, Spectacled Weaver, and Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird. This is one of the benefits of being part of bird club outings. The newer birders were able to learn some bird calls from the more experienced birders in the group.

We made our way along the path, walking slowly to try and see any movement in the trees around us. At first, it was more ‘bird-listening’ than ‘birdwatching’. However, we did get visuals of Olive Sunbirds moving in the trees around us and a Red-capped Robin-Chat.

As we navigated the lower sections of the reserve, we were excited to find a bird party moving through the trees around us. Although these were mostly birds that we had already recorded for the morning, it was great to observe their behavior. We did, however, add Black-backed Puffback to the list, and some of the group were lucky to see a Spotted Eagle-Owl well hidden in the trees before it flew off.

The back on the northern side of the reserve is normally a fantastic area for birding, and this again was one of the busiest sections we had for the morning. We saw Golden-tailed Woodpecker, Fork-tailed Drongo, and a flock of Cape White-eyes together. We were very excited to see a pair of Black-throated Wattle-eyes in the last section of the road. Most of the group managed to get some good views of this special species.

We took a small and slightly challenging path on the way back that cut through some deeper forest. This is often an area that is good for Black-throated Wattle-eye, but the path was quite quiet this morning. We did the main loop road around the top area of the reserve to end the morning. We were hoping to find Spotted Ground-Thrush, but they eluded us. However, the path added some new species to the list, including Black-headed Oriole, Purple-crested Turaco, Brown-hooded Kingfisher, and an exciting flyover by a Black Sparrowhawk.

The fragmented grassland area was a lot quieter than usual, but we practiced our LBJ identification skills with a Tawny-flanked Prinia and Zitting Cisticola moving in the grass. The trees along the road rewarded us with a fantastic view of a Lesser Honeyguide.

We ended the morning with a quick time of refreshments under the lapa area. While enjoying our snacks and coffee, we were excited to get some close views of a Black-throated Wattle-eye only a few meters away from the group. We ended the morning with a modest total of 50 species.

Report by Adam Cruickshank