h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I joined the bird club two weeks ago, and this was the first outing I attended. I thought we would be going to the Polokwane Bird Sanctuary, but we ended up going to a number of different places in the same area. Basically we were on cattle farms, but there was much wild land and we even saw lots of large game, including kudus, nyalas, tsessebes, zebras, impalas and waterbucks! The environment was very varied. There were farm fields and pastures, and we saw many birds in them and perching on fences. In the cattle kraals there were birds feeding on the ground. We went to several different dams. There was riverine woodland and open savannah.

But the highlight was a huge region where they dumped manure! They dumped offal too, which attracted … Cape Vultures! There were more of these endangered vultures than I’ve seen anywhere before! Some were flying overhead, others were perched in trees, and I got a very good look at them and even some photos. (But some of the other people got much better photos!) Along with the vultures there were Marabou Storks. These are huge storks with bare necks that also scavenge a lot. Also there were Sacred Ibises, also with bare heads and necks. There were more traditional storks too, namely white storks and Abdim’s storks. All of these fed in and around the manure.

But all of these I have seen before … even though I’ve never seen the vultures as well as this. The trip yielded two lifers for me … birds I hadn’t ever seen before. The first was the Redcapped Lark, one of our prettiest and most distinctive lark species. They were scurrying over the ground in the cattle kraals, I even saw one ‘dust bathing’ in a dry cow pie! The other lifer was the Orange-breasted Waxbill, one of our tiniest and prettiest bird species. I saw these in the reeds around a pond.

But another spectacular bird, which I had indeed seen before, also hung out in the riverine vegetation – a Longcrested Eagle! This dark brown eagle has an almost comically long crest of feathers on top of its head, and the feathers blow this way and then that in the wind. Talk about an unruly hairstyle! For some of the birders, this one was a lifer, since it is not at all common. But they do occur around here, especially close to reedbeds where they hunt vlei rats and other rodents.

Apart from the birds it was great fun to spend some time with people sharing an interest! I got on very well with the other folks, who were very friendly. Several were taking photos, so it afforded me the opportunity of chatting while watching and commenting on the photos they took. I exchanged contact info with the folks I got along with the best.

So here is the full bird list of what I (and the folks with me) saw:

1. Dabchick (Tachybaptes ruficollis) … a tiny swimmer, many, including a mother with four tiny chicks! They would climb on her back and she’d swim around with them for a while and then dive down and they’d come off again! So cute!
2. Whitebreasted Cormorant, Phalacrocorax lucidus.
3. Black-necked Heron, Ardea melanocephala.
4. Cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) … hundreds, or even thousands! Cattle farms, after all.
5. Abdim’s Stork (Ciconia abdimii), just one. A small black-and-white stork.
6. White Stork (Ciconia ciconia), several.
7. Marabou Stork (Leptoptilos crumeniferus), hundreds! Africa’s largest stork species, with naked head and neck and huge wingspan.
8. Hamerkop, Scopus umbretta.
9. Hadeda Ibis, Bostrychia hagedash.
10. Sacred Ibis, Threskiornis aethiopicus.
11. Egyptian Goose, Alopochen aegyptiacus.
12. Southern Pochard, Netta erythropthalma.
13. Yellowbilled Duck, Anas undulata.
14. Cape Shoveller, Anas smithii. These ducks have very long, wide, flat bills.
15. Redbilled Teal, Anas erythrorhyncha.
16. Cape Vulture, Gyps coprotheres.
17. African Fish Eagle, Haliaetus vocifer.
18. Longcrested Eagl,e, Lophaetus occipitalis.
19. Blackshouldered Kite, Elanus caeruleus.
20. Greater Kestrel, Falco rupiculoides.
21. Helmeted Guineafowl, Numida meleagris.
22. Ostrich, Struthio camelus.
23. Moorhen, Gallinula chloropus.
24. Black Crake, Amaurornis flavirostris.
25. Blackwinged Stilt, Himantopus himantopus
26. Threebanded Plover, Charadrius tricollaris.
27. Crowned Plover, Vanellus coronatus.
28. Blacksmith Plover, Vanellus armatus.
29. Wood Sandpiper, Tringa glareola.
30. Rock Pigeon, Columba guinea.
31. Redeyed Dove, Streptopelia semitorquata.
32. Laughing Dove, Streptopelia senegalensis.
33. Burchell’s Coucal, Centropus burchellii. (A large cuckoo that is NOT a nest parasite.)
34. Palm Swift, Cypsiurus parvus.
35. Pied Kingfisher, Ceryle rudis.
36. Brownhooded Kingfisher, Halcyon albiventris.
37. Whitefronted Bee-eater, Merops bullockoides.
38. African Hoopoe, Upupa africana.
39. Crested Barbet, Trachyphonus vaillantii.
40. Acacia Pied Barbet, Tricholaema leucomelas.
41. Redcapped Lark, Calandrella cinerea.
42. Greater Striped Swallow, Hirundo cucullata.
43. Barn Swallow, Hirundo rustica.
44. Pied Crow, Corvus albus.
45. Blackeyed Bulbul, Pycnonotus tricollaris.
46. Stonechat, Saxicola torquata.
47. Whitethroated Scrub-Robin, Cossypha humeralis.
48. Burnt-necked Eremomela, Eremomela usticollis. (This is a tiny warbler with a loud, ringing call.)
49. Titbabbler, Parisoma subcaeruleum. (Actually a bold species of warbler.)
50. Longbilled Crombec, Sylvietta rufescens.
51. Bar-throated Apalis, Apalis thoracica. (Another tiny, pretty warbler.)
52. Rattling Cisticola, Cisticola chiniana. (Drab savannah warbler.)
53. Tawnyflanked Prinia, Prinia subflava. (Tiny long-tailed warbler.)
54. Chinspot Batis, Batis molitor. (Tiny monarch-flycatcher.)
55. Cape Wagtail, Motacilla capensis.
56. Fiscal Shrike, Lanius collaris.
57. Lesser Grey Shrike, Lanius minor.
58. Southern Boubou, Laniarius ferrugineus.
59. Indian Mynah, Acridotheres tristis. (Starling originally from Asia, invasive over here.)
60. Marico Sunbird, Nectarinia mariquensis.
61. Cape Sparrow, Passer melanurus.
62. House Sparrow, Passer domesticus. (From Europe, naturalized over here.)
63. White-browed Sparrow-Weaver, Plocepasser mahali.
64. Masked Weaver, Ploceus velatus.
65. Red-billed Quelea, Quelea quelea (Small finch, most abundant bird species in the world.)
66. Red Bishop, Euplectes orix.
67. Pintailed Wydah, Vidua macroura. (Small finch-like bird, nest-parasitizes waxbills.)
68. Bluebilled Firefinch, Lagonosticta rubricata. (Tiny waxbill, mostly red.)
69. Redbilled Firefinch, Lagonosticta senegala. (Tiny waxbill, mostly red.)
70. Redheaded Finch, Amadina erythrocephala.
71. Scalyfeathered Finch, Sporopipes squamifrons.
72. Blue Waxbill, Uraeginthus angolensis.
73. Orangebreasted Waxbill, Sporaeginthus (or Amandavus) subflavus.

Some of the other folks saw a few other birds as well, but the above is what I saw. Some people mapped the birds according to coordinates, this info going towards the second SA bird atlas project which is ongoing right now.

There was also a nice variety of indigenous plants, including some massive Monkey Thorn Trees, and also invertebrates, most noteworthy of which were the kite spiders (they have broad bodies with thorn-like projections along their sides) and golden orb spiders – of which there were THOUSANDS! They spun huge webs and each web had dozens of spiders.

All in all it was a lovely and enjoyable outing!

I'll try and get the photos I took uploaded, and will link them. There aren't many, my ancient camera can't zoom in very close!

Right, here are my photos:

1. Golden Orb-web Spider. The big female is a bit out of focus but you can see the small one at the front clearly ... it may be a young one, or maybe a male! The males are much smaller than the females.

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/GoldenOrb-webSpider_zps9d8615fc.jpg

2. Luxuriant riverine bush, where we saw lots of bush birds:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/RiverBush_zps94f2f935.jpg

3. A neat pond near a lodge on one of the farms we went to:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Pond1_zpsd47d7d85.jpg

4. Marabou Storks at the dung heap:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/MarabouStorks2_zpse0a84b54.jpg

5. More Marabous in the veldt:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/MarabouStorks1_zps5853e4be.jpg

6. Marabou storks as well as Cape Vultures in flight:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/MarabousandVultures_zps4bb45c76.jpg

(the storks have legs protruding beyond the tip of their tails; one vulture can be seen close to the centre of the photo)

7. A flower of a Lycium or Wolf Thorn, a spiny shrub belonging to the tomato family:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Lyciumflower_zps784edfbe.jpg

8. Cattle egrets on the cattle farm:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/CattleEgrets_zps2e5cbdac.jpg

OOPS - I forgot one! These bracket fungi grow on a dead tree in the riverine bush:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/BracketFungi_zps9be2ca44.jpg


I'll now go and see if I can find a few photos on the 'web of some of the more exciting things we saw.

Longcrested Eagle:

http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/long-crested-eagle-lophaetus-occipitalis/perched-profile

Marabou Stork - this can be considered a 'vulture stork':

http://www.northrup.org/photos/marabou-stork/

Cape Vulture - our largest and most endangered:

http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/accipitridae/gyps_coprotheres.htm

Cape Shoveller:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cape_Shoveler_RWD.jpg

My one lifer, Orange-breasted Waxbill - such exquisite little beauties!

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/191051209166432941/

My other lifer, the Red-capped Lark:

http://www.wildbirdgallery.com/images/birds/calandrella_cinerea/williamsi.htm

Will look at your photos when I have more time, but I just had to say I am so pleased you are getting out with like minded people. It makes such a difference to how you, and they, react.

I felt the same when I took up my charity work. Until then I had felt like a squire peg in a round hole everywhere, but finding people who had the same interests made such a difference.

I do hope this gives you a chance to make some more friends.



Websailor

Wow, that was really a bird safari! Photosafaris are grand. Those last two birds are real beauties! Hopefully they'll turn up in a Colours of Wildlife because they are so pretty. Also that you got to see so many Cape vultures and marabou storks ---that is a lot of bird there. I hope the people were pleasant for you to be around. Maybe some customers? Tell them about h2g2, we need more South Africans. Just out of curiosity was the group racially diverse?

Amazing! Thanks for the pics.

Gracias for sharing! lovely pictures.

The golden very curious the yellow silk she uses.

what a trip, I'm am so happy you saw so much and met some interesting people.

I enjoyed looking at the photos, it was the red headed lark stole my heart this time even though I am not entirely convinced about their choice of dust bath

Hi everyone, thanks for dropping by and for your comments! The group was unfortunately not racially diverse. Only white people, mostly rich and on the old side (over 50). More women than men, more Afrikaans people than English. But at the meeting there was a large group of people visiting from Iraq. But we need to work (I think) to get more people over here interested in birds.