The town of Louis Trichardt and it's surrounds was a dismal sight, from a birders point of view that is. A thick blanket of Nimbo Stratus clouds was spread across the sky, mist was out in full force accompanied by its close friend the rain, put this all together and you most certainly do not get an equation which equates to any form of "decent" birding and thus we were forced to push up and onward with a new objective in mind, see what we could find up in Mapungubwe and in doing so hopefully turn up something 'interesting' in preparation for the Birding Weekend guests arriving later that day.
A crisp 36 Degrees Celsius and we found ourselves enjoying fantastic birding in the park (with the aircone on full blast of course!). There was an influx of Monotonous Larks in the area their calls a constant form of background music as we navigated the dirt roads around the perimeter of the park stumbling upon the fairly small, unassuming Lapwing like Temmincks Courser and a beautiful Juvenile Verreaux's Eagle soaring along a cliff face sending the local Rock Hyrax into panic stations. As we made our way onto one of the park's roads which wind it's way along the great Limpopo river, not only did the birding start to pick up in pace but our excitement as well because clearly the the majority of the parks bird population had taken refuge under the cover of the riverine forest and it was in no time that we started to add species along the likes of Meyers Parrot, Bearded Woodpecker, Grey-backed Camoroptera, Meves' Starling, Broad-billed Roller and Purple Indigobird and it was on this high note which we decided to push on and head to Leokwe Camp, the base for the weekends activities, to meet the guests for the weekend and have something refreshing to drink , helping us cool off! That evening a welcome braai was held where an introduction to the weekend and the events which would follow was had, groups formed and guides allocated, all around the fire among the most perfect of starlit settings.
As per the unwritten laws of birding all the groups were up at the crack of Dawn the following morning, wide eyed and bushy tailed, in order to kick start our day with none other than the dawn chorus which was surprisingly led by a couple of Freckled Nightjar's which clearly didn't get the memo regarding their nocturnal habits. Taking over from the Nightjar's dog like call were some of the areas Monotonous Larks and a very vocal Mocking Cliff Chat. Once the group had reached the bottom of their coffee mugs and having not only their lips wet but their appetites as well, they clambered onto the game viewers and we were off on our first days 'hardcore' birding with the intended plan being to head toward the western part of the park but do extensive birding on the way.
First to greet us was a beautiful pair of Burchell's Sandgrouse, Mapungubwe being one of the most eastern localities of this species distribution range, which in fact proved to be one of my groups personal highlights for the weekend. The Burchell's Sandgrouse favors both arid and semi-arid savanna and is a fairly common sight in the much more water deprived Kalahari than it is in Mapungubwe National Park.
We pushed through to some of the local wetlands and managed to connect with Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, Allen's Gallinule, Lesser Moorhen and Lesser Swamp Warbler and Black Crake to name but a few of the highlights. These small pans proved fruitful throughout the duration of the weekends birding and produced Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Baillon's Crake, Marsh Sandpiper and Black-winged Stilt as well as a single, yet, brief view of a suspected Striped Crake from one of the groups.
As we neared the western part of the park we went through an area with incredibly high grass when all of a sudden up flushed a Crake which flew off toward the left of the game viewer. Fighting to get views of the bird as it flew away I was able to get sight of a very light brown colouration, heavy black streaking on the back and chestnut wing panels which immediately brought about the conclusion that the bird I was looking at was in fact a Corn Crake. I shouted out to the rest of the game viewer to look left but sadly the bird dipped down and back into the grass, never to be seen again. It later surfaced, when deciding on a name for our group, that the guests at the back of the game viewer thought they heard me scream "Corn Flakes!" and instead of trying to get visuals on the flying 'maize bird' they were in fact baffled as to why I was screaming out the name of a cereal dish...?
As we pushed on further we were greeted with a fantastic setting, a wide open plain with a fairly large herd of Elephants feeding in the background and in the foreground was none other than a few Amur Falcons which were going about their insect hunting antics, a fantastic opportunity to shed some light on this 142 g raptors mammoth 15 000 km migration to the eastern parts of Asia, yet another one of natures incredible phenomenons! Other highlights at this spot included Lesser Spotted Eagle, Steppe Buzzard and a pair of Red-breasted Swallows.
Moving on forward our designated honorary ranger driver, Jonathan, had something in store for us and proceeded to take us on a slight detour to a rock art sight not accessible to the general public, a most unexpected yet wonderful detour from the weekends birding orientated activities and the first time seeing rock art for many of the guests, including myself, and to top it off on our way to the sight we picked up a gorgeous pair of Grey Penduline Tit's, the only group to do so over the weekend!
Making our way back to camp to avoid the mid-day heat and freshen up a bit we stumbled across the same heard of Elephant which we came across earlier, however this time they seemed to not enjoy our presence as much and a few of the young males in musth proceeded to show their displeasure toward us with a casual flaring of their ears and the characteristic, unhappy, rocking back and forth on one of their front feet. One male in particular decided enough was enough and without any warning he folded up his trunk, dropped his head and initiated a full charge. Thankfully we had a fair amount of distance between us and the bull and were able to retreat quick enough, just as he started to close the distance. With adrenaline pumping, both us and the bull parted and went our separate ways, the bull now more interested in taking out his hormone fueled anger on some Mopane trees than he was chasing us for round two.
Day two took a similar formation and was enjoyed equally as much as the first with everybody battling a state of tiredness as their bodies tried to digest the incredibly scrumptious meal we had cooked for us the previous evening thanks to the honorary rangers (Masterchef step aside!). Further highlights included the swimming pool, Broad-billed Roller, Retz Helmetshrike and a single River Warbler, doing it's not so often heard contact call, on the river view road to poachers corner as we made our way toward the magnificent, tranquil sun downers spot.
In conclusion, a magnificent weekend spent birding one of our countries most underestimated national parks and one which I will most definitely return to in the near future so as to enjoy the incredible bird and mammal life the park has to offer and hopefully turn up something breath taking....*cough, cough*...Boulder Chat!
 |
| Burchell's Sandgrouse (Pterocles burchelli) |
First to greet us was a beautiful pair of Burchell's Sandgrouse, Mapungubwe being one of the most eastern localities of this species distribution range, which in fact proved to be one of my groups personal highlights for the weekend. The Burchell's Sandgrouse favors both arid and semi-arid savanna and is a fairly common sight in the much more water deprived Kalahari than it is in Mapungubwe National Park.
We pushed through to some of the local wetlands and managed to connect with Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, Allen's Gallinule, Lesser Moorhen and Lesser Swamp Warbler and Black Crake to name but a few of the highlights. These small pans proved fruitful throughout the duration of the weekends birding and produced Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Baillon's Crake, Marsh Sandpiper and Black-winged Stilt as well as a single, yet, brief view of a suspected Striped Crake from one of the groups.
As we neared the western part of the park we went through an area with incredibly high grass when all of a sudden up flushed a Crake which flew off toward the left of the game viewer. Fighting to get views of the bird as it flew away I was able to get sight of a very light brown colouration, heavy black streaking on the back and chestnut wing panels which immediately brought about the conclusion that the bird I was looking at was in fact a Corn Crake. I shouted out to the rest of the game viewer to look left but sadly the bird dipped down and back into the grass, never to be seen again. It later surfaced, when deciding on a name for our group, that the guests at the back of the game viewer thought they heard me scream "Corn Flakes!" and instead of trying to get visuals on the flying 'maize bird' they were in fact baffled as to why I was screaming out the name of a cereal dish...?
As we pushed on further we were greeted with a fantastic setting, a wide open plain with a fairly large herd of Elephants feeding in the background and in the foreground was none other than a few Amur Falcons which were going about their insect hunting antics, a fantastic opportunity to shed some light on this 142 g raptors mammoth 15 000 km migration to the eastern parts of Asia, yet another one of natures incredible phenomenons! Other highlights at this spot included Lesser Spotted Eagle, Steppe Buzzard and a pair of Red-breasted Swallows.
 |
| Me admiring some of the rock art |
Moving on forward our designated honorary ranger driver, Jonathan, had something in store for us and proceeded to take us on a slight detour to a rock art sight not accessible to the general public, a most unexpected yet wonderful detour from the weekends birding orientated activities and the first time seeing rock art for many of the guests, including myself, and to top it off on our way to the sight we picked up a gorgeous pair of Grey Penduline Tit's, the only group to do so over the weekend!
Making our way back to camp to avoid the mid-day heat and freshen up a bit we stumbled across the same heard of Elephant which we came across earlier, however this time they seemed to not enjoy our presence as much and a few of the young males in musth proceeded to show their displeasure toward us with a casual flaring of their ears and the characteristic, unhappy, rocking back and forth on one of their front feet. One male in particular decided enough was enough and without any warning he folded up his trunk, dropped his head and initiated a full charge. Thankfully we had a fair amount of distance between us and the bull and were able to retreat quick enough, just as he started to close the distance. With adrenaline pumping, both us and the bull parted and went our separate ways, the bull now more interested in taking out his hormone fueled anger on some Mopane trees than he was chasing us for round two.
Day two took a similar formation and was enjoyed equally as much as the first with everybody battling a state of tiredness as their bodies tried to digest the incredibly scrumptious meal we had cooked for us the previous evening thanks to the honorary rangers (Masterchef step aside!). Further highlights included the swimming pool, Broad-billed Roller, Retz Helmetshrike and a single River Warbler, doing it's not so often heard contact call, on the river view road to poachers corner as we made our way toward the magnificent, tranquil sun downers spot.
In conclusion, a magnificent weekend spent birding one of our countries most underestimated national parks and one which I will most definitely return to in the near future so as to enjoy the incredible bird and mammal life the park has to offer and hopefully turn up something breath taking....*cough, cough*...Boulder Chat!
