Friday after work we left for Hazyview and drove without incident via Sabie. This was our first weekend out with the Middelburg Bird Club and our chairman arranged some decent accommodation for all of us just outside Hazyview. There was still a bit of daylight left when we reached Sabie and we started atlassing on the last stretch towards Kwambali Riverside Lodge. It was early evening already so not many birds were around but we did pick up some African black swift, Black saw-wing, a great view of a Yellow-rumped tinkerbird and in the dark gloom of a pine plantation, an African goshawk. We checked in at Kwambali at 6pm, met Billy (Middelburg Bird Club chairman) and a few others and enjoyed views of a family of Mountain wagtails in the Sabie river flowing just outside our cottage. Feeling hungry, we decided not to braai and threw a couple of steaks in a pan and some roasties in the small grill in our cottage. It was quite humid but luckily not too hot and the fan in our lounge and bedroom helped a lot. After dinner we headed straight for bed, anticipating an early start on Saturday.
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| Green-backed heron |
Instead of birding a different area today, we thought that an early morning visit to Lake Panic could get us some new species, especially weavers. It was still dark when we left Kwambali but the sun rose into a clear sky just as we reached Paul Kruger gate around 05:15. The queue was short and soon we were heading for Lake Panic. Thankfully, only four other vehicles were there and we stayed for a good half an hour. The weaver nests were still ominously quiet but we did get a single Lesser masked weaver. A Malachite kingfisher and Wire-tailed swallow were further welcome additions and when we left the hide, we were already over fifty species. On the other side of Skukuza camp we saw a tall circling tower of vultures. Luckily we were able to stick with them as they started descending, finally ending up on a dirt road following the southern banks of the Sabie river. There was obviously a kill but unfortunately it was in the middle of the river and completely obscured. Strangely, there were no other cars and we had the spectacle all to ourselves – we worked our way through every single bird and ticked White-backed, Hooded, Lappet-faced and White-headed vultures, Marabou storks (lots) and a couple of Yellow-billed kites. With the day now heating up seriously we headed back to the Sabie river road and worked westwards to exit the park just after 11am. We had already seen over a hundred species on the day and figured we could get quite a few more on the drive home. A quick stop at Kwambali to drop our completed checklist and cottage keys, got us Cape white-eyes, Yellow-fronted canaries, Kurrichane thrush, Bar-throated apalis and a Long-crested eagle. Then we took a slow drive up towards Sabie, finished off our atlassing and added more birds (Southern double-collared sunbird, Steppe and Jackal buzzards, Bronze mannikin, Pied crow). With Long Tom pass behind us we descended into Lydenburg where we saw a Long-tailed widowbird and a Mallard at a small pond. Through Dullstroom we only added Ant-eating chat and both inland cormorants but in Belfast we were happy to add Pied starling and Speckled pigeon. Feeling confident that the lack of rain so far this season had created good mudflats at Wonderfontein and Leeuwfontein pans, we decided to make small detours to these. Without planning it, we now realized that we actually had a small chance of breaking our own daily record of 153 species. We reached Wonderfontein around 16:30 and it delivered big time! Right in front of us were three White-backed ducks – hands down the best view I’ve ever had of these uncommon ducks. Other birds included both White-winged and Whiskered terns, Wood sandpiper, Red-knobbed coot, Grey and Purple herons, Little and Great crested grebes, Grey-headed gull, Cape shoveler, Spurwing goose and Southern pochard. Surprisingly, no teals or other ducks. Adding a large raft of Greater flamingo from one of the other pans, we ticked twenty new birds for the day just from the pans – we now stood at around 150 species, give or take - we were in for a real good chance to break our record! Screeching to a stop just off the N4 highway at Leeuwfontein, it was obvious that this was going to be good stop. So we made the effort and drove to Alzu’s petrol station from where we picked up the farm track to the pan. Just driving the short 2kms to the pan was fantastic – Cape sparrow, Greater striped swallow, Capped wheatear (!), African stonechat, Pin-tailed whydah and Swainson’s spurfowl were all new. At the pan, the water level was so low that what is normally a small island, had grown into a bridge, splitting the pan in two shallow ponds with lots of waders around. African snipes were the most obvious birds around – there were probably about twenty of them. The waders were more difficult as they were almost impossible to approach on foot and just a bit far for our binoculars in the fading light. The only ones we were confident to add were Kittlitz’s plover, Little stint and Curlew sandpiper – there were lots of these three around and some were close enough to ID 100%. There probably were some Ruff and Common greenshanks too but they were so far off that we just couldn’t tick them with certainty. Other birds seen were African spoonbill, Cape longclaw, African pipit and flying around the bridge over the N4, Little swift and South African cliff swallow. Not entirely sure of our total count at this point, we decided to see what we can find at home. We rushed home as dark and angry clouds built in the west and got to Middelburg just before 6pm. Not expecting too much so late in the day, we were quite surprised to add a further eight new birds: Karoo thrush, Little egret, Cape weaver, Little rush warbler, Fan-tailed widowbird, Yellow-billed duck, Red-collared widowbird and Crowned lapwing. Wew! We parked at home and unloaded the car in the evening gloom and decided to have pizza for dinner. Still unsure of our final count we figured we could have pizza either in celebration or commiseration – time would tell!
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| Purple-crested turaco |
