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

Yesterday I took my mom to the Pietersburg Bird Sanctuary. I wanted to go, whether she came along or not, but she said she wanted to come with me, so I took her! I think it was good to get her a bit of exercise out in Nature, and, she does enjoy birdwatching as well!

I was also happy to be driving again. We took the pickup. I hadn’t driven any meaningful distance since the car got bumped last year, and I felt a bit ‘rusty’. But the drive went quite well! When we arrived, we found quite a large troop of Vervet Monkeys making their way over the road!

The ‘veld’ looks quite good these days, since we’ve had some nice rains this season. The grass was quite tall, and the trees fresh and green. The day was rather a hot one, with the sun shining brightly when we arrived – but there were a few clouds, too, mercifully. There were occasional periods of hot weather, but from time to time a cool breeze blew, and my mom didn’t suffer much discomfort. We proceeded at a very leisurely pace, making our way from the one hide to the next.

My mom had a bit of trouble adjusting her binoculars just right! She said she was seeing double … she boasted that as a result she had seen twice as many birds as I have!

Here are some of the birds we saw:

1. Sacred Ibis! There were lots of them the day! These are fairly large white birds, with naked black heads and necks, with long curved bills. We scared up one just when we came, and later found many of them roosting amidst the reeds or in the trees.

2. Hadeda Ibis – slightly smaller than the Sacred Ibis, and brownish with green and purple iridescence on the wings. These are quite common in town, actually … but I like seeing them in the ‘wild’!

3. A White Stork flying overhead! Why just one? They are usually in large flocks! But I’m happy to have seen it … the first white stork I’ve seen this year. It’s getting close to time for it to return back to Europe. We saw several other ‘visitors’ as well.

4. A HUGE flock of Yellowbilled Kites! These large brown raptors are perhaps now also starting the preparations for the trip back to Europe/Asia. We later saw some roosting in trees also.

5. Another kind of kite – the Blackshouldered Kite. Very common over here … I heard a rasping call from a tree and saw a kite perched there … it was soon joined by another! I wonder if the first one was, maybe, a youngster, and the rasping call was its way of begging for food? Possibly! But the second one that alighted in the tree, didn’t have anything for it. We got a very good view of them. Blackshouldered kites are somewhat smaller than the Yellowbilled … they are light grey, with black patches on their wings and large, bright red eyes. Unlike the migratory Yellowbilled Kites, they are residents, perhaps with some local movements.

6. A raptor seen flying in the distance – a Longcrested Eagle! There has been one that occasionally visits the reserve for many years now.

7. A Redchested Cuckoo. This is called a ‘Piet-My-Vrou’ in Afrikaans, for the three-part whistling call it sometimes repeats over and over for the whole day and night. This one was silent though, and wouldn’t allow us to approach it! Elsewhere in the reserve we found a bunch of grey feathers with barring that I believed was the remnants of a cuckoo killed by a cat or something.

8. Some White-fronted Bee Eaters. One of them sat still and allowed us to approach it very closely! This is the best my mom has ever seen this species. It’s ‘white’ front is actually more a dirty-white, creamish sort of colour. But its real beauty is in the bright red throat, the green back, and the deep blue feathers under its tail!

9. European Bee-Eaters flying above the ponds. These are also visitors from Europe.

10. Redbacked Shrikes. Another visitor from Eurasia. Pretty little shrikes, with red-brown backs, white bellies, and black masks over the eyes.

11. Spotted Flycatcher – Eurasian visitor.

12. Willow Warbler – Eurasian visitor. Several, gleaning insects in the trees.

13. Wood Sandpiper – Eurasian visitor. LOTS of them flying and feeding around the ponds.

14. Ruff – Eurasian visitor. Just a single one!

15. African Jacana – back to our ‘stay at home’ birds! The Jacana has absurdly long toes, helping it to walk over waterlilies and other aquatic plants. The one we saw, was pecking around in some short grass. Later we saw it flying over the pond, with its absurd legs trailing behind it! Actually quite a fine-looking bird, reddish brown and white with a light blue ‘shield’ at the top of its bill, over its forehead.

16. Moorhen … we just saw a single one! Usually there are a great many. The one we saw was a juvenile, brownish unlike the velvet black adults, that have yellow-tipped red bills, and yellow legs. There were more moorhens than just the one we saw, though … we heard them!

17. Black Crake. The commonest member of the rail family, around the bird sanctuary. Usually running around amidst the reeds, making quite a racket – growling, chattering and screaming! They occasionally come out in the open and can then be seen well. I saw several … don’t know if my mom saw them that well though!

18. Blackwinged Stilt. This relative of the plovers, has perhaps the longest legs, in proportion to its body, of any bird species. We saw a few. They are quite pretty, white, with black wings and red legs. They use the long legs to wade into relatively deep water, catching their prey with their needle-fine bills.

19. Blacksmith Plover. This species likes water more than the other common species we have here, the Crowned Plover. It gets its name because its call sounds like a hammer repeatedly hitting an anvil!

20. Egyptian Goose. The only anatid we saw! Was a family with two adults and several youngsters, *almost* grown up! This goose is quite common in South Africa … and I would guess throughout most of this continent as well.

21. A young heron – I think it might be a young blackheaded heron. The adults are mostly found away from water, in grassland, but they breed near water.

22. A blackcrowned Night Heron! Smaller than the blackheaded heron, this one is more compact, and a bit secretive. We scared one out from the vegetation fringing one of the ponds … it roosted in a tree a bit further away and we got good views of it.

23. Red Bishop. A small, stocky, short-tailed seed eater. They breed in the reeds, weaving their compact nests from reed strips. The males are lovely, bright red and black. They puff out their feathers and parade at the tips of the tallest reeds, or occasionally fly over the reedbeds, singing a ‘swizzling’ song.

24. Black-Faced Waxbill. Lovely tiny little long-tailed seed eaters, deep grey and black, with reddish on the bellies!

25. Ashy Tit. A robust tit species, grey and white and black. I heard its rather raspy voice first, then saw it methodically making its way through a thorn tree. My mom unfortunately didn’t get a good look at it!

26. Southern Grey-headed Sparrow. This species is much rarer than the House Sparrow and the Cape Sparrow. You mainly see them in wild places, not in town, so I was happy to see this one.

27. Tawnyflanked Prinia. Tiny long-tailed loud-voiced warbler species.

28. A few warblers. African Sedge Warbler – heard, but not seen! I always hear this thing at the Sanctuary, but never see it! There was a brief glimpse of probably an African Reed Warbler, and what might have been a Great Reed Warbler. Both species were heard singing.

29. Crested Barbet – a relative of the woodpeckers, but with a shorter, stouter bill. Yellow with black spots, and a bit of reddish in the face and the base of the tail. We heard two more barbet species, the Blackcollared and the Pied Barbet, but didn’t see them.

30. Brownhooded Kingfisher – just a quick view of one flying away from a hide we were approaching. Later I heard it (or another one) calling.

31. Speckled Mousebird. An ubiquitous species.

32. Laughing Dove. Also ubiquitous.

We also enjoyed the lush vegetation, and other creatures like butterflies and dragonflies.

Some observations …

There’s a heck of a lot of alien plant species (brought into South Africa from Australia, Asia, and the Americas) invading the reserve: Nicotiana glauca plants, Castor Oil bushes, Persian Lilac trees, ‘Jakopregop’ flowers, Prickly Pears (Opuntia cacti) and more. These are a threat to our native plant species.

There were hardly any waterfowl – and this is worrying! There seems to be less and less ducks every year. This time we only saw the Egyptian Geese! In the past, there were other species, like Southern Pochards, Yellowbilled Ducks, Redbilled Teals and more. There were also NO Redknobbed Coots, White-breasted Cormorants, Reed Cormorants, African Darters, or Dabchicks! These species are usually abundant at the sanctuary! I wonder if it could be the quality of the water in the ponds? We’ve noticed a pungent odour all over the place. These ponds receive their water from the municipal sewage treatment centre. There usually is a bit of a smell at the first pond, but it’s more or less gone by the time one reaches the last ponds. This time, the smell was quite noticeable everywhere! Maybe the birds don’t like it?

But apart from the birds I’m worried about the quality of the water that’s being recycled back into Nature. The water leaving the ponds enter a river and is supposed to be free from sewage then. There’s been reports in the papers of the sewage treatment in most towns not being adequate.

But apart from that, we both enjoyed the trip, there was much to see, and it was really good to get back outside again!

I'm speechless! What a huge list

Back later.

Websailor

Such a richness of wildlife.

I hope they do something about the sewage treatment. It sounds like you have a treasure there.

We have a few early birds arriving in the neighbourhood. Elektra saw a robin - apparently annoyed at lingering snow. Andy. the crows, who never left, are being noisy.

I hope we'll get some more beautiful pictures from you.

Hi Willem and Ma,

I recognised some of the names of the birds. We had a marvellous bird in Harare called a white browed robin I think it was.

It is really a disgrace that the sewerage is not properly treated. No wonder there were no water birds, they had too much sense than to go there. !!

Get a new District county council elected !!!!!

Glad you enjoyed the trip and congrats on driving. Even if you were rusty, you got there. Well done, my friend. !!

With much affection

Christiane.
Ar80

18/II/2010
14.50 GMT

I hope you have plenty of photos to show us!

Speaking of diversity, the critters aren´t the only recipients of it. Did you see this story from AP?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100217/ap_on_sc/us_sci_african_dna

Hi folks! Lil, I can't really photograph birds with the camera I have, unless they are way too close for their own wellbeing! But I have a few photos of the place itself, which I will put on Webshots when I have time.

Dmitri, yes, that was in the papers over here as well! I've always known that Africa has more genetic diversity among *humans* than any other continent. In fact we lived here for most of our evolutionary history ... some of us only left the continent a short while, geologically speaking, ago to go look what other places were like. The people who 'left', a comparatively small group, contained in their genes only a small sample of the full genetic diversity of this continent ... the majority of people, who never left, kept here the majority of the genetic diversity, too.

I've known about the Bushmen too. They are a group from which *other* groups 'split off' probably a very, very long time ago. I won't even use the word 'race' because that term doesn't really have any determinable meaning, when it comes to human diversity! But anyways, the farther back in time one group diverged from another, the greater the differences in genetics will be today. Bushmen have traditionally kept themselves fairly separate from other African groups; their culture, their language, are quite unique, and they are probably still extremely close to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle that has been THE WAY OF LIFE for humanity for more than 99% of the time that anatomically modern humans have been on this planet. More 'modern' ways are merely a very small offshoot from this branch, that happened in the very recent past. So, once again ... those who 'left' were a small sample, genetically less diverse than those who 'stayed'. So it is that today, the genes of two Bushmen tribes, who live within walking distance from each other but speak different languages, can be more different from each other (and other people) than an average African is from an average European or Asian!

Desmond Tutu is one of the people over here that I have most respect for! Nelson Mandela too ... and I'm sure if tested, Mandela will also prove to have some genes from the Bushmen! There was, here in South Africa, in the very recent past, and I believe, due to the contacts and conflicts between different groups ... Bushmen and Khoi peoples, tropical Africans, and also Europeans and Asians ... a lot of mixing of different groups of people!

Willem, how are you and your mother doing? With your dad and her being such a team, it must be incredibly difficult for her to get better from the loss. Both D and I are praying for you both.

We are looking forward to seeing more of your work in . Have a good day.

Back to read some more later Willem. I echo elekragheorgheni's comments. I will email soon. Been a bit busy.

Take care,

Websailor

Hello again there Elektra! Sorry, I see now I got confused between you and Dmitri when I wrote that previous posting!

To answer ... I think I'm doing quite well but can't say the same of my mom! She's down, and currently suffering from some health problems (I've posted a new journal entry with a bit more about that). She hasn't really had the chance to start properly missing my Dad and mourning his loss yet!

Thanks a lot for your concern. I definitely intend to share a lot more writing and art with readers!

about you giving more of your lovely pieces. Don´t worry about mistaking me for D. I feel honored by it and he probably is resigned to it by now.

What, Elektra, do other people do it too?!

They certainly do. We´ve been together since 1970 and some sort of odd lamarkism has crept up on us and other people mistake us for the other. He is the smart creative one, I think I just mimic the colouration so to speak.

Lamarckianism eh! You've given me an idea for another Guide Entry! Heh heh I've seen some people here as well, starting to resemble each other from having been in each other's company for long ...