We enjoyed some early morning birdwatching in the car park before departing from our first hotel, noting Cape Sparrow, Acacia Pied Barbet and White-backed Mousebird, with a lovely blue bill, as the highlights of this impromptu session. Our UK guide, on his first trip to Africa was gutted to miss the barbet, and this was a source of much mirth and leg pulling as the week went on.
Once loaded, we drove to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, and were soon encountering a great variety of birds. A Cape Canary sang from a tree at the car park as we arrived, and in the first few hundred yards of the garden we had seen a Red-winged Starling sunning itself on the roof, a flurry of grey and green Cape White-eyes, constantly flitting and calling as they foraged through the bushes, a showy Cape Robin-Chat, and a stunning Southern Double-collared Sunbird glittering in the sunlight.
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| Cape Canary |
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| Red-winged Starling |
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| Southern Double-collared Sunbird |
As we reached a shady shrubbery, an Olive Thrush hopped silently through the leaf litter, and a Hadada Ibis strolled the path at point blank range. A subtly beautiful Lemon Dove was feeding on the ground nearby, gradually moving to within feet of Stephen. Apparently this is not an easy bird to find, so we appreciated such incredible views.
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| Hadada Ibis |
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| Lemon Dove |
Reaching a more open corner on the edge of this wooded glade, a stunning Cape Batis and Paradise Flycatcher appeared in quick succession, and our guide Erik pointed out a tiny nest belonging to the Paradise Flycatcher. Quietly roosting in a tall tree we spied an African Olive Pigeon, a huge and impressive pigeon, with bright yellow eye and bill, but incredibly unobtrusive in the dense leaf cover. Back in the open garden a Dusky Flycatcher was sallying forth from the branches chasing insects, and a skulking Sombre Brownbul, with diagnostic pale eye, which had been singing loudly throughout the gardens was finally found in a decent viewing position.
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Sombre Greenbul
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Continuing into the flower gardens, a Cape Sugarbird was amongst the Proteas, but disappointingly, refused to show itself well. A small movement drew attention to a Grey Francolin with chicks, which lingered for several minutes, seemingly undisturbed by our quiet observations. Elsewhere a group of Forest Canaries were feeding amongst the flowerbeds, then in a flurry of activity we found a noisy and very smart Bar-throated Apalis, a striped Karoo Prinia with a long tail, and a rather dull female Malachite Sunbird carrying nesting material. In a large tree a noisy Fork-tailed Drongo sat in a prominent position for several minutes, allowing us to note its dark red eye. As we approached the main gate, on a path overlooking the lawn, a stupendous Swee Waxbill briefly alighted on a tall stem, before flying away with a flash of brilliant red rump and tail feathers. A Cape Bulbul with white eye ring showed well, and another Cape Canary feasted itself on flower seeds at very close range. Finally, and bizarrely, we encountered the Spotted Eagle owl known to frequent the gardens, sat in a hanging basket where it had bred with a young chick!
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| Cape Francolin family |
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| Forest Canary |
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| Fork-tailed Drongo |
After leaving the gardens, we drove to a small wetland. The birds were quite distant and the windy conditions here made viewing quite difficult even with a scope. However Purple Heron, Malachite Kingfisher and the relatively unimpressive White-backed Ducks were all new birds of note for the trip.
Our next stop was at the beach, again extremely windy. A few African Oystercatchers were on some distant rocks, and equally distant were some Crowned Cormorants, but the views were very disappointing, and I hoped we would do much better later in the trip. Sandwich Terns roosted on the beach and a couple of Speckled Pigeons waddled in front of us - finally a bird we could see really well! Walking along the promenade, we were surrounded by Greater Striped Swallows circling overhead, showing rufous rumps as they dashed past. A Rock Kestrel perched on a nearby rooftop, again quite distant. Our target here was the White-fronted Plover, and after some time scanning the beach, Steve spotted the bird, well camouflaged against the white sand, but once located, we all had excellent views.
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| Specked Pigeon, with male displaying |
After a very full morning, we stopped at a restaurant for a late lunch, where we enjoyed close views of a female Southern Fistral, a female Cape Weaver and a Southern Masked Weaver, more Cape White-eyes, several Hartlaub’s Gulls feeding on the lawn and a Black-winged Kite sat on a telegraph wire.
In the afternoon, we stayed on the bus, driving to an area of agricultural fields around Philadelphia, searching for larks and other species associated with this terrain. Both Red-capped and Large-billed Larks were easily spotted, both on the fencelines and foraging in the fields. A Capped Wheatear sat up and posed ostentatiously on a fence post, as did several boldly coloured African Stonechats, then a Pin-tailed Whydah floated past, its long tail dangling and dancing in the wind till it alighted on the fence. Helmeted Guineafowl were everywhere, together with several Black-headed Herons, in their preferred habitat away from water. In a roadside shrub we stumbled upon a group of Red Bishops at point black range, whilst on the ground a smattering of Crowned Lapwings were spotted and a flock of Pied Starlings appeared in an adjacent field.
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| Pin-tailed Whydah |
It had been a long day, exploring a range of habitats, but with 84 species seen, we had been well rewarded for our efforts.
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