| 24 August 2008 | ||
| Veldrif region | ||
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After a rather late night last night socialising with the other birders at the Veldrif weekend, we had a rather late morning and then continued with the laziness having a really large and long breakfast which was absolutely delicious. After packing up and leaving our accommodation, we then headed off to the West Coast Fossil Park where we were going to attend a lecture on the origins of birds whereafter we would take a guided tour through the actual fossil diggings. It was quite interesting to hear about the discovery of various fossilised remains and how these had been likened to birds, but by the time we eventually finished up there, it was too late to really do anything decent birdingwise. So, we took a slow drive home via Hopefield and Malmesbury stopping at a couple of places along the way to see if we could find anything to photograph, but we were home early enough to see the start of the Grand Prix for a change, much to Margaret's delight. |
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| male Cape Weaver | male Fiscal Flycatcher | male Common Fiscal |
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| Capped Wheatear | Pied Crow | male Southern Masked Weaver |
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| male Southern Red Bishop | Cape White-eye | female Cape Sparrow |
| Full list of species recorded on the day | ||
| Common Name | Scientific Name | Additional notes |
| Birds - 70 species | ||
| Common Ostrich | Struthio camelus | |
| Cape Spurfowl | Pternistis capensis | |
| Helmeted Guineafowl | Numida meleagris | |
| Egyptian Goose | Alopochen aegyptiaca | |
| Spur-winged Goose | Plectropterus gambensis | |
| Yellow-billed Duck | Anas undulata | |
| Cape Shoveler | Anas smithii | |
| Red-billed Teal | Anas erythrorhyncha | |
| Acacia Pied Barbet | Tricholaema leucomelas | |
| African Hoopoe | Upupa africana | |
| White-backed Mousebird | Colius colius | |
| Red-faced Mousebird | Urocolius indicus | |
| African Black Swift | Apus barbatus | |
| Little Swift | Apus affinis | |
| Rock Dove | Columba livia | |
| Speckled Pigeon | Columba guinea | |
| Laughing Dove | Streptopelia senegalensis | |
| Cape Turtle Dove | Streptopelia capicola | |
| Red-eyed Dove | Streptopelia semitorquata | |
| Blue Crane | Anthropoides paradiseus | |
| Common Moorhen | Gallinula chloropus | |
| Red-knobbed Coot | Fulica cristata | |
| Blacksmith Lapwing | Vanellus armatus | |
| Kelp Gull | Larus dominicanus | |
| Hartlaub's Gull | Larus hartlaubii | |
| Black-shouldered Kite | Elanus caeruleus | |
| African Fish Eagle | Haliaeetus vocifer | |
| Rock Kestrel | Falco rupicolis | |
| African Darter | Anhinga rufa | |
| Reed Cormorant | Phalacrocorax africanus | |
| Grey Heron | Ardea cinerea | |
| Black-headed Heron | Ardea melanocephala | |
| Cattle Egret | Bubulcus ibis | |
| Greater Flamingo | Phoenicopterus ruber | |
| Lesser Flamingo | Phoenicopterus minor | |
| Hadeda Ibis | Bostrychia hagedash | |
| African Sacred Ibis | Threskiornis aethiopicus | |
| Bokmakierie | Telophorus zeylonus | |
| Pied Crow | Corvus albus | |
| Common Fiscal | Lanius collaris | |
| Brown-throated Martin | Riparia paludicola | |
| Banded Martin | Riparia cincta | Early returning migrant |
| White-throated Swallow | Hirundo albigularis | Early returning migrant |
| Greater Striped Swallow | Hirundo cucullata | Early returning migrant |
| Rock Martin | Hirundo fuligula | |
| Little Rush Warbler | Bradypterus baboecala | |
| Lesser Swamp Warbler | Acrocephalus gracilirostris | |
| Cape White-eye | Zosterops capensis | |
| Grey-backed Cisticola | Cisticola subruficapilla | |
| Le Vaillant's Cisticola | Cisticola tinniens | |
| Karoo Prinia | Prinia maculosa | |
| Large-billed Lark | Galerida magnirostris | |
| Karoo Thrush | Turdus smithi | |
| Fiscal Flycatcher | Sigelus silens | |
| Cape Robin-Chat | Cossypha caffra | |
| Karoo Scrub Robin | Cercotrichas coryphoeus | |
| Capped Wheatear | Oenanthe pileata | |
| Pied Starling | Spreo bicolor | |
| Common Starling | Sturnus vulgaris | |
| Southern Double-collared Sunbird | Cinnyris chalybeus | |
| Cape Weaver | Ploceus capensis | |
| Southern Masked Weaver | Ploceus velatus | |
| Southern Red Bishop | Euplectes orix | |
| Yellow Bishop | Euplectes capensis | |
| House Sparrow | Passer domesticus | |
| Cape Sparrow | Passer melanurus | |
| Cape Wagtail | Motacilla capensis | |
| Cape Canary | Serinus canicollis | |
| Yellow Canary | Serinus flaviventris | |
| Cape Bunting | Emberiza capensis | |
| Mammals - 2 species | ||
| Small Grey Mongoose | Galerella pulverulenta | |
| Steenbok | Raphicerus campestris | |
| Frogs - 1 species | ||
| Clicking Stream Frog | Strongylopus grayii | |