This turned out not to be my best birding weekend ever. I had started getting sick late in the week and by Friday evening, I was not feeling up to much at all. I was meant to be on a pelagic trip on Saturday, but when I woke up at just after 5am, I felt like I had been hit by a steam-roller and subsequently phoned my friend, John Graham, to let him know that I was not going to make the trip. What a HUGE mistake that was!! As it turned out, the pelagic trip recorded a new bird for Africa - Grey-backed Storm Petrel! So, when the phone call came through from John to let me know, I suddenly felt even worse! I am now beginning to wonder if I will ever reach that magical 900 mark which seems to be continuously evading me at the moment. It's not through lack of trying either - two unsuccessful twitches for Irania and Egyptian Vulture also add to the agony and what's worse is that whenever I bump into another birder in the field who I haven't seen for a while, the first thing they tend to ask me is, "Are you still on 899?"

Anyway, I dragged myself out of my depressed state and Margaret and I joined Sion and Tiana Stanton for a morning's visit to Paarl Bird Sanctuary on Sunday. There was nothing hugely spectacular, but I did manage to photograph my first Intermediate Egret and Small Grey Mongoose for my photographic yearlists.