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02 - 03 april 2011 - beaufort west / garden route |
With news of both Yellow-crowned Bishop and Temminck's Courser being present in the Beaufort West area for the last few days and since we still needed both of these species for our Western Cape lists, we decided late on Friday night to have a go for them. Leaving at 4am on Saturday morning, we hit the N1 heading north and drove the 465km through to Beaufort West. Our friends, John Graham and Graham Searll, had also decided to try for these birds and arrived in town just 10 minutes after us. Going straight to the site for the Yellow-crowned Bishop, we were pleasantly surprised to find a small group of them comprising at least 3 males and several females. There were a number of other species present in the area with things like Black-throated Canary and Red-headed Finch, also both very good birds for the province, showing well. We didn't want to waste too much time there, so headed out on the road to Rietbron to go and start looking for the Temminck's Coursers. We spent a lot of time scanning the open Karoo plains before John eventually picked up what he thought was one in the distance. We walked over in that direction and were extremely excited when we came across 3 of these birds, an extremely tough bird to connect with in the province. Unfortunately, these birds were extremely skittish and would not let us get anywhere near them. Lots of jubilation and congratulations followed as it started to sink in that we had been so successful with our quest. |
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male Yellow-crowned Bishop |
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Temminck's Courser |
As we were still standing there, Trevor's telephone rang with news of a Southern Carmine Bee-eater at Nature's Valley, only the second record ever for the province! A quick look at the GPS showed that it was about 187km away over some windy mountain passes, so we made the decision immediately to go for it. Back in the cars, it seemed like an eternity before we eventually arrived in the small village of Nature's Valley. A quick phone call to one of the locals had us going straight to where the bird had been hanging out and we were still busy getting out of the cars when we located it! Another hugely successful provincial twitch! We spent the next couple of hours with the bird enjoying it before leaving and making our way to Wildernis where we booked into Ebb 'n Flow, the Garden Route National Park's restcamp. |
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Southern Carmine Bee-eater |
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Fork-tailed Drongo |
Up at a relatively leisurely time on Sunday morning, we spent a bit of time birding in the Wildernis area enjoying many of the regular species one would expect there as well as finding at least 2 calling Marsh Warblers, another rare species for the province. Unfortunately, despite intensive trying, we could not get them to show themselves decently for a photo, so walked away without any photographic evidence of the record. After grabbing a brunch at a local restaurant, we eventually started the long drive back home. |
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male Greater Double-collared Sunbird |
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African Harrier-Hawk |
Full list of species recorded on the trip | |
Links to pages with additional photos highlighted in red | |
Common Name | Scientific Name |
Birds - 138 species | |
Common Ostrich | Struthio camelus |
Cape Spurfowl | Pternistis capensis |
Red-necked Spurfowl | Pternistis afer |
Helmeted Guineafowl | Numida meleagris |
Egyptian Goose | Alopochen aegyptiaca |
South African Shelduck | Tadorna cana |
Spur-winged Goose | Plectropterus gambensis |
Cape Teal | Anas capensis |
African Black Duck | Anas sparsa |
Yellow-billed Duck | Anas undulata |
Cape Shoveler | Anas smithii |
Red-billed Teal | Anas erythrorhyncha |
Knysna Woodpecker | Campethera notata |
Olive Woodpecker | Dendropicos griseocephalus |
Acacia Pied Barbet | Tricholaema leucomelas |
Green Wood-Hoopoe | Phoeniculus purpureus |
Malachite Kingfisher | Alcedo cristata |
Pied Kingfisher | Ceryle rudis |
Southern Carmine Bee-eater | Merops nubicoides |
White-backed Mousebird | Colius colius |
Speckled Mousebird | Colius striatus |
Red-faced Mousebird | Urocolius indicus |
Klaas's Cuckoo | Chrysococcyx klaas |
Alpine Swift | Tachymarptis melba |
Little Swift | Apus affinis |
White-rumped Swift | Apus caffer |
Knysna Turaco | Tauraco corythaix |
Rock Dove | Columba livia |
Speckled Pigeon | Columba guinea |
Laughing Dove | Streptopelia senegalensis |
Cape Turtle Dove | Streptopelia capicola |
Red-eyed Dove | Streptopelia semitorquata |
Namaqua Dove | Oena capensis |
Karoo Korhaan | Eupodotis vigorsii |
Blue Crane | Anthropoides paradiseus |
Black Crake | Amaurornis flavirostris |
Common Moorhen | Gallinula chloropus |
Red-knobbed Coot | Fulica cristata |
Namaqua Sandgrouse | Pterocles namaqua |
Black-winged Stilt | Himantopus himantopus |
Blacksmith Lapwing | Vanellus armatus |
Double-banded Courser | Rhinoptilus africanus |
Temminck's Courser | Cursorius temminckii |
Kelp Gull | Larus dominicanus |
Caspian Tern | Sterna caspia |
Black-shouldered Kite | Elanus caeruleus |
African Harrier-Hawk | Polyboroides typus |
Pale Chanting Goshawk | Melierax canorus |
Jackal Buzzard | Buteo rufofuscus |
Verreaux's Eagle | Aquila verreauxii |
Rock Kestrel | Falco rupicolis |
Lanner Falcon | Falco biarmicus |
Peregrine Falcon | Falco peregrinus |
Little Grebe | Tachybaptus ruficollis |
Great Crested Grebe | Podiceps cristatus |
African Darter | Anhinga rufa |
Reed Cormorant | Phalacrocorax africanus |
White-breasted Cormorant | Phalacrocorax lucidus |
Little Egret | Egretta garzetta |
Yellow-billed Egret | Egretta intermedia |
Grey Heron | Ardea cinerea |
Black-headed Heron | Ardea melanocephala |
Cattle Egret | Bubulcus ibis |
Hamerkop | Scopus umbretta |
Hadeda Ibis | Bostrychia hagedash |
African Sacred Ibis | Threskiornis aethiopicus |
African Spoonbill | Platalea alba |
Black-headed Oriole | Oriolus larvatus |
Fork-tailed Drongo | Dicrurus adsimilis |
Blue-mantled Crested Flycatcher | Trochocercus cyanomelas |
African Paradise Flycatcher | Terpsiphone viridis |
Black-backed Puffback | Dryoscopus cubla |
Southern Boubou | Laniarius ferrugineus |
Olive Bush-Shrike | Telophorus olivaceus |
Cape Batis | Batis capensis |
Cape Crow | Corvus capensis |
Pied Crow | Corvus albus |
White-necked Raven | Corvus albicollis |
Common Fiscal | Lanius collaris |
Brown-throated Martin | Riparia paludicola |
Barn Swallow | Hirundo rustica |
White-throated Swallow | Hirundo albigularis |
Greater Striped Swallow | Hirundo cucullata |
Rock Martin | Hirundo fuligula |
Common House Martin | Delichon urbicum |
Black Saw-wing | Psalidoprocne holomelaena |
African Red-eyed Bulbul | Pycnonotus nigricans |
Cape Bulbul | Pycnonotus capensis |
Sombre Greenbul | Andropadus importunus |
Terrestrial Brownbul | Phyllastrephus terrestris |
Little Rush Warbler | Bradypterus baboecala |
Knysna Warbler | Bradypterus sylvaticus |
Marsh Warbler | Acrocephalus palustris |
Lesser Swamp Warbler | Acrocephalus gracilirostris |
Yellow-throated Woodland-Warbler | Phylloscopus ruficapilla |
Cape White-eye | Zosterops capensis |
Grey-backed Cisticola | Cisticola subruficapilla |
Levaillant's Cisticola | Cisticola tinniens |
Karoo Prinia | Prinia maculosa |
Rufous-eared Warbler | Malcorus pectoralis |
Bar-throated Apalis | Apalis thoracica |
Karoo Lark | Calendulauda albescens |
Spike-heeled Lark | Chersomanes albofasciata |
Olive Thrush | Turdus olivaceus |
Karoo Thrush | Turdus smithi |
Fiscal Flycatcher | Sigelus silens |
African Dusky Flycatcher | Muscicapa adusta |
Cape Robin-Chat | Cossypha caffra |
Karoo Scrub-Robin | Cercotrichas coryphoeus |
African Stonechat | Saxicola torquatus |
Mountain Wheatear | Oenanthe monticola |
Capped Wheatear | Oenanthe pileata |
Karoo Chat | Cercomela schlegelii |
Anteating Chat | Myrmecocichla formicivora |
Red-winged Starling | Onychognathus morio |
Pied Starling | Spreo bicolor |
Common Starling | Sturnus vulgaris |
Amethyst Sunbird | Chalcomitra amethystina |
Malachite Sunbird | Nectarinia famosa |
Southern Double-collared Sunbird | Cinnyris chalybeus |
Greater Double-collared Sunbird | Cinnyris afer |
Dusky Sunbird | Cinnyris fuscus |
Southern Masked Weaver | Ploceus velatus |
Yellow-crowned Bishop | Euplectes afer |
Southern Red Bishop | Euplectes orix |
Yellow Bishop | Euplectes capensis |
Common Waxbill | Estrilda astrild |
House Sparrow | Passer domesticus |
Cape Sparrow | Passer melanurus |
Southern Grey-headed Sparrow | Passer diffusus |
Cape Wagtail | Motacilla capensis |
Cape Canary | Serinus canicollis |
Forest Canary | Serinus scotops |
Black-throated Canary | Serinus atrogularis |
Yellow Canary | Serinus flaviventris |
White-throated Canary | Serinus albogularis |
Streaky-headed Seedeater | Serinus gularis |
Cape Bunting | Emberiza capensis |
Mammals - 2 species | |
Chacma Baboon | Papio ursinus |
Vervet Monkey | Cercopithecus aethiops |
Reptiles - 2 species | |
Leopard Tortoise | Stigmochelys pardalis |
Common Night Adder | Causus rhombeatus |