A Visit to the Citrine

I often wonder to myself what goes through a non-birders head when they ask you simple questions yet the answers they get are somewhat unexpected, for example: Ralf; "Morning John! How was your weekend? Well spent?" to which a reply along the lines of "yes indeed it was, I went for a lovely afternoon trip around the sewage works" doesn't exactly get the excited reaction a birder would have expressed had you told him this exact same response. Thus when I told my family I was flying down to Cape Town for a day to try find Southern Africa's 4th ever Citrine Wagtail hanging around the local sewage works, the dumbfounded looks of complete shock and bewilderment were enough to make me smile...!

The Origins of South African Law; a subject I actually enjoy to a certain extent but somehow sitting at my desk with the windows open, peace and quite filling the houses every empty space, I still sat day dreaming about all the world's exotic localities and what natural treasures lie undisturbed and hidden away from the danger that is the human race. Of equal importance on the day-dreaming playlist is my countries very own natural wonders and in particular our avian treasures which wildlife enthusiasts from various corners of the world travel to see. And then the thought of which exotic species will be discovered next? Or even better, which exotic bird species will find its way to our shores next? Almost as if it was timed by Birding Africa Guide Ethan Kistler, my phone went off with a notification which simply read "MEGA ALERT: Citrine Wagtail at Strandfontein Sewage Works, Cape Town".  

The email which sent South African birders into panic mode

Of course this sent the entire country into absolute chaos because with this notification came the knowledge that this was infact only the 4th ever record of this species in the Southern African sub-region with only one previous record ever being "twitchable" (birding term for being able to twitch a bird, i.e. spend copious amounts of money in the hope of finding a particular species in order to add it to ones list). Would this be one of those records where the bird is seen but "flocks off" before anybody can dig into their pensions in order to pursue it? Or is this the one which will make our wallets cry but our hearts race? 

Well the Cape Town based birders most definitely did not waste any time and the first batch of birders were on scene within the hour but had no success in relocating the bird however the afternoon shift did which confirmed it, all of us who were not based in Cape Town needed to make a plan, and make one fast! The first of us Gauteng based birders had arrived the following morning, Sunday blues not evident at all and instead of waking up to an alarm, a nice cup of tea and Michael Bublé (don't ask about it....) I was awoken by more "pings" and "dongs"

from my phone which confirmed the fact that I shouldn't get out of bed but merely turn over and crawl into the foetul position so as to avoid any further pictures and reports on this bird. The previous day saw me having priced plane tickets but immediatly stop pricing them after I turned up the first few results which portrayed the news I least wanted to hear and that was that a twitch to Cape Town would just not be feasable at present. Bye-bye Wagtail....

However, much like the higher powers that be granted me my subconscious wish of having a massive birding rarity find its way to our sub-region, the same power clearly spoke to the Local airlines because as Sunday evening approached my now relaxed, calm demeanor, which was acceptant of the fact that this was just another one that got away, was itching to re-check the prices of airline tickets, and thankfully I did! In the space of a mere day the airlines had dropped their ticket prices by almost half immediatly making this twitch feasable, my now calm and collected thought process turning into utter mayhem as the adrenaline started to flow through my veins, shaking while fumbling for my cell phone to call my close friend Werner, to share with him the good news. We ended up booking our tickets onto the first flight out of Johannesburg for the following morning and from then onward all we could do was cross our fingers, pray continuously for +-12 hours and hope that Mr Citrine didn't flock off during the night. 

Nervous smiles all round

The drive to the airport the following morning was absolute torcher and that sense of anxiety stayed with Werner and myself right through until the very moment we got to Strandfontein. Adrenaline had been pumping through our systems from the minute our alarm's went off with a deeper underlying concern mixed in among it. Was the bird still there? We arrived on site at just after 8:30 immediatly drawn to a group of birders all facing one direction, cameras and binoculars at the ready, surely this was a good sign? Breaking out into a full sprint we arrived and slowed into a casual jog so as to look calm and collected, you never quite know where the next Baywatch talent scout will be, best to run majestically! 

Birding traffic jam, Strandfontein

The birders on scene then broke the news to us, the bird was last seen at around 8:00am that morning and had subsequently disappeared into the reeds. We had missed the little bugger by 30min! After roughly an hour of painstakingly waiting we then decided to go and walk the edge of the pans and see if the bird perhaps hadn't slipped away among the comossion. Following suite was John Graham and Sean Overmeyer a mere few meters behind us when all of a sudden their talking ceased and their eyes fixated onto a small clump of reeds to the left of the road, John had picked up on something. 

All of a sudden, like a bat out of hell, Mr Citrine burst out from the reeds in a flurry and flew, flew some more, and didn't stop flying until he landed inside the actual works themselves. The views we managed to get: not tick'able in our books...had we missed our opportunity due to just having been in the wrong spot when the bird was flushed? 

The following moments reminded me very much of a scene in the movie "The Big Year" starring Jack Black, Owen Wilson and Steve Martin whereby a whole bunch of birders were on the island of Atu, a report having been received of a Rustic Bunting and in true birding fashion the birders swamped to the location it was reported from just to be greeted by the birders who were already on scene running back up the hill screaming "the buntings gone back up the hill, the buntings gone back up the hill!". This was repeated a few times before the Bunting actually stopped flying about and settled at one point allowing all birders present to get decent views of it. Well the next few moments I felt an odd sense of déjàvu as I found myself running back and forth to where the Citrine was moving to and from, who needs cardio when you can chase a rare bird up and down a hill? 

Citrine Wagtail in the bag!

Finally (thank heavens!) the Wagtail decided to land at exactly the same spot it was present earlier that morning. Through my binoculars I saw fixated eyes, cameras and binoculars on one spot, he must be there! Breaking out into a full sprint and covering a distance of about 200m faster than the Flash could ever dream of I arrived, alive (surprisingly!) and in those few moments where I struggled to pin point it's exact location, my heart sat in my chest beating at an abnormally fast rate when all of a sudden a flash of yellow interspersed with grey fillied my field of views as I managed to get my eyes onto Southern Africa's 4th ever Citrine Wagtail, and damn was it a beauty! 

One can never really describe to a non-birder the excitement, the adrenaline rush and the pure energy surge one feels when there is some obscure rarity which pops up somewhere in our region and when you attempt to enlighten them saying something along the likes of "The minute those reports come through your body starts to shake as the excitement is just far too much!" the looks received are but a mixture of confusion and concern, almost as if they are busy calculating your level of sanity and thus I find it best to merely embrace it, embrace the absolute craziness which drives a birder to twitch! And as we sat on our flight home that evening I couldn't help but caste my mind off in wonder of which part of the region I would be racing off too next...!

A Bird in Hand is Worth More Than Two in the Bush

"A bird in hand is worth two in the bush"- A very well known quote among birders world wide and one which I never really quite understood until I tackled the highveld grasslands with Mark and Alisha Kirk with our main purpose being to target, capture and ring some owls.  When speaking to birders, in particular birders who keep lists, they will continuously make reference to the fact that once the listing bug bites it bites hard, now this I learnt the hard way (not that I'm complaining) however I didn't think that there was another type of bug which I had to keep my eye open for and that's the 'ringing bug'.

Belonging to various birding groups on Facebook and having friends who are involved in the art of bird ringing (I say art because it is exactly that, an art which one cannot simply learn at the drop of a hat but instead a practice which needs to be perfected through hours spent in the filed being mentored by experienced ringers, learning the 'tricks of the trade' per say) themselves it was inevitable that my news feed would be filled with posts of birders sitting in weird and wonderful localities from across the world holding some or other exotic species of bird in the famous "ringers clasp" and posing ever so nicely, bird in hand, with a smile of pure joy and excitement along with the words "I'm doing all of this whilst you sit behind your office desk in the city"...Ok so maybe this text wasn't present at all but we all know the mind tricks which jealousy plays on us!

The South African Bird Ringing Unit (SAFRING)

With the picture of a friend of mine holding a Snowy Owl in hand and another picture of a gentlemen in India having just rung an Indian Pitta I fought back the nausea and asked around for further information on how exactly I could go about obtaining my ringers license and learning more about this intricate art. It was through these endeavors which allowed me to get into contact with Mark and Alisha Kirk (two of only six people who have ever managed to record 800 species of southern African birds in a calendar year) being seasoned ringers having done extensive wader ringing on the coast of Namibia, along with various other localities, where in one night they ringed over two houndred Black Terns! Mark and Alisha agreed to take me under their figurative wing and help mentor me in my ringing quest.

So before I knew it we were off, making our way down to the southern extremities of Gauteng province to the highveld grasslands around the small town of Devon a well know location for a variety of owl species which include the likes of Marsh, Western Barn, Spotted Eagle and even African Grass Owl. We arrived in Devon and were welcomed by a crisp three degree Celsius breeze which resulted in jackets and the car's heater being put on faster than Bolt running the 100's.

Driving at a casual 25km/ph we scanned every single fence pole, telephone poll and road sign in the hope of the cars spotlights illuminating a feathered figure sitting, waiting and watching. After roughly 35 minutes and a few Owl's having been flushed from the road side verges, we finally got onto a single Spotted Eagle Owl sitting atop a fence poll. Immediately the excitement levels in the car rose to an all time high as the prospect of catching one of these magnificent raptors started to dawn on us. We cautiously ambled up to the pole with each inch gained our nerves reaching an all time high, concern that the bird would be frightened off and take flight. But caution and tactical driving on mark's part proved successful and we got into a reasonable spot whereby we would place the moudry trap; we did so making sure that the owl would be able to see the trap and slowly reversed making sure that there was enough space between the trap and our vehicle which would allow the owl to feel comfortable enough to fly down to the trap. We stopped the car, turned off the engine and dimmed the headlights awaiting the characteristic spring of the trap shutting (I would just like to stray slightly and highlight the fact that the particular trap used is in fact one of the most ethical methods of capturing raptors out there and is practiced by acclaimed professionals internationally causing the bird no harm).

My first raptor in the hand, a gorgeous young
 female Spotted Eagle Owl

The suspense kept on building as the temperature kept on dropping and after a few minutes passed, which truly did feel like hours, the grey'ish figure of the owl came gliding in landing mere centimeters away from the trap whereby it began the 'assessment' process whereby it examined the trap, all of it's features and the fact that there was movement in the cages trap. Generally speaking one is to wait until the bird takes the plunge but in this case we picked up the headlights of a car speeding along the dirt road just behind the horizon and thus we had no option but to switch the car on and drive toward the trap in order to rescue it, and force the bird to move off, saving both from an unfriendly encounter with the front of one of the local farmers cars. Just as we pulled up to the trap the owl decided it wasn't about to let his supper go so easily and hopped into the trap, springing it. We had him! It was into action as quick as possible Mark, and his son Sean, hoping out of the car to grab the trap in order to bring it to safety, I ran into the road backed by our vehicles headlights in an attempt to flag and slow down the approaching vehicle, thankfully it did just that and after a quick conversation with him expressing the purpose for our presence on their roads we got underway with 'the process'. Whilst Alisha started to set up the ringing station and get all of the equipment out and ready Mark managed to safely take the owl out of the trap whereby he gave me a brief lesson on how to handle raptors and then passing me the bird, ever so gently.

It was in that moment whereby I fully understood the quote "A bird in hand is worth two in the bush" in fact I wanted to make my own slight edit and recommend it be changed to "A bird in hand is worth five houndred in the bush" because holding that Spotted Eagle Owl in my hand, looking into those deep yellow eyes, you could practically feel the gears turning as it took in every single possible detail that it could, it's head constantly fixated on the person holding it and it's gorgeous feathers like silk against your skin. Having this beauty in hand allowed me to take in details which I had never done before whilst viewing this species in the field such as the shear size of its talons, "the meat and patatoes" according to Mark and undoubtedly a part of this bird which I most certainly didn't want to get on the wrong side of, a sense of empathy creeping in for the small mammals which these birds prey on. One was able to see that we were dealing with a young bird with juvenile plumage mixed in among new emerging adult plumage a cleaner, more defined and refined feather in comparison to the dull, worn, brown older feathers.

Immediately assuming the role of student listening to teacher the absorption of pure knowledge that was spoken among the Kirk family was imperative and crucial toward my learning, knowledge which isn't gained from reading books but instead from hours and hours spent working in the field and of course thousands of bird ringed. This was undoubtedly one of the highlights of my birding career thus far and I cannot help but allow the excitement for my next ringing session to start building up as it will provide an opportunity to appreciate the birds we often take for granted.

Spotted Eagle Owl (Bubo africanus)

                                               The ringing bug has most definitely bitten...

   

Optics Review: Vortex Viper HD 10X42

http://www.vortexbirding.com/

Binoculars: undoubtedly a birders most treasured and valued possession. A birder without binoculars is much like a swordsman without a sword, a jockey without his horse, a marksman without his rifle, a sailor without his ship or a pilot without his plane. A birders binoculars could very well be more important to them than any one of their limbs and to some they assume a role of importance higher than that of their wedding ring or motor vehicle. Binoculars are not only an important and crucial birders tool but an object which enhances the world of birding taking it to the 'next level', enabling us to view the worlds variety of avian wonders up close and personal, absorbing each and every detail presented to us creating a memory based photographic imprint which will store itself in the recesses of our brain until tapped into for our own pleasure as one reminisces about that moment in time when stuck in the office or the much feared bustling city traffic and thus it is imperative that a birder makes sure  he/she has the best pair of optics which they can afford so as to help them fully maximize their birding experiences and that's where Vortex comes in. 

Martin Benadie and myself

I was privileged enough to be powered by this incredible optics brand, in a joint partnership with Whylo Dostributors here in South Africa, for my 2014 Southern African Birding Big Year and what a privilege and honor it was having been sponsored a pair of Viper HD 10X42's which were presented to me by none other than Martin Benadie, close friend, optics ambassador and staff for Whylo, as we discussed my plans for 2014 over a cup of coffee at a local restaurant.                                                                                                     From the moment I opened the box right through until the moment I connected with my 800th species for the calendar year these incredible binoculars did not disappointment me once. Having started the year off with one extreme, more precisely, Namibia's scorching temperatures, dessert and ocean to tackling the extremely humid Mozambican forests this pair of binoculars came with me everywhere I went  whether there was a torrential downpour or whether I was out at sea on a pelagic trip, they did not leave my side.

Now reading the brochure and the variety of product information you may find on the internet whilst conducting research is all fine and well, and don't get me wrong is imperative when researching a new pair of binoculars, but one can only read so much and there is always this slight air of uncertainty as to how exactly your new binoculars will fair whilst out and about tackling the extremes or simply sitting and enjoying the birds in your garden, and thus the reason for this blog is a simple one, to recount my experiences with the Vortex Viper HD 10X42's so as to provide those looking at purchasing a new pair of binoculars with a personal opinion on the brand that is on everybody's lips at the moment, Vortex. 

Being a birder, and obviously one wishing to attempt a Big Year, it was crucial that I had a pair of binoculars which would be able to withstand the elements, a few bashes here and there (maybe more than a few with all the falling I did last year!), continuous use and still be able to maintain the same level of optical brilliance as it originally had upon taking it out of it's box. Now having read the brochure, box and having conducted research of my own I already knew that the Viper HD's were waterproof and fogproof but how reliable was this information on the brochure? The answer is simple, very reliable! Throughout my travels last year I found myself in situations whereby I got carried away with chasing a bird and the heavens decided to open thus resulting in a very wet, cold me, but not at one point did I have to worry about protecting my binoculars from the rain in fear of having them damaged, instead I was able to worry about which flu I was going to contract and how wet exactly the bar one chocolate in my pocket was and was it indeed still edible?....The answer to the latter was in fact yes, it was still edible, much to my surprise! 

The joys of having a pair of waterproof and fogproof binoculars are truly fantastic: Mess a bit of juice on your bins? Perhaps you got them a bit dusty whilst caught in a small dust twister? Drop them in the sand? Well it's simple, put them under some gently flowing tap water and give them a good rinse, that will do the trick and it is an incredibly nifty feature to have, especially when one is stuck out in the middle of the bush with no other cleaning alternative. You have nothing to fear, no fogging and no water infiltration, well at least not whilst the reliable O-ring seals are in place!                                                                                                       The quality of the lenses themselves is something to marvel at: HD extra low dispersion glass helps deliver impressive clarity not only in broad daylight but in overcast and low light conditions as well whereby performance is at an all time high. This feature was of particular assistance to me whilst I was down in Cape Town at Rooi Els. My year list was sitting on 699 species with 700 in reasonable reach, I was at Rooi Els with close friend of mine, Peter Sumner, with one target in mind, the South African endemic Cape Rockjumper. After over an hour of unsuccessful searching the sun had finally started to set having just disappeared behind the Hottentot Mountain's when all of a sudden I picked up on the distinctive call of a pair of Rockjumper's calling quite some way up the hill and with that I started my ascent constantly scanning to try and pick up on any movement. All of a sudden two dark figures appeared on top of a rock, their movement's matching the sound of Rockjumper's echoing off of the surrounding cliffs. I immediately started up the hill at a much more rapid pace and eventually had no option but to stop for if I had to continue I would run the risk of  losing the birds for good. I thus, sat down, rested my Viper's on my one knee and started scanning again, when all of a sudden I finally picked the two birds up yet again, this time the excellent low light performance of the Viper's allowed me to take in every detail of this absolutely incredible, sought after bird which just so happened to take the spot of number 700 on my Big Year list, and I wouldn't have been able to get a "tick'able" view if it weren't for my Viper's, fact! 

The rubber armor is more than sufficient protection and allows for a non-slip grip, especially handy for those wet situations and the eye relief provides both birders with and without glasses the ability to adjust the eye pieces to their own specific preferences. The locking diopter is an added benefit and will make sure that your own settings are not changed whilst making us of your binoculars. 

If there is one criticism I have regarding the Viper's it is the rubber covering the eye pieces. Obviously the continued usage throughout the year as well as the extremes I put these binoculars through it all proved to be a bit too much and toward the end of the year the glue worked loose and the rubber caps started to get loose and every now and then fall off. However, as mentioned, this was due to what I put these bin's through and I am sure that any normal usage of these optics will yield no problems at all and any abnormal usage of these bin's should also yield no problems and if it does, Vortex Optics offers a life time warranty on their products which covers everything with the exclusions of loss, theft, deliberate damage or cosmetic damage which does not hinder the optics performance, a warranty a birder will be hard pressed to find in any other medium priced optics brand. 

A proud Vortex user through and through and a brand I have no doubt will continually serve me well in the field and in my future birding endeavors for many years to come. Thank you to Vortex Optics and Whylo Distributors for the opportunity to represent the brand during my 2014 Big Year and I hope to continue spreading the word on this incredible optics brand, and in so doing, opening the eyes of fellow birders who will hopefully be able to experience, as I did, more than 800 species through some top notch glass!  

Powered by Vortex 

Rock Art, Nightjars and Some Very Temperamental Elephants

Mapungubwe National Park, one of our countries lesser known parks yet undoubtedly one of the most underestimated and most certainly one of the most under-birded! Situated in the top north/western corner of South Africa on the banks of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers, overlooking Botswana and Zimbabwe's equally rustic Bushveld, this magnificent park is home to over four-hundred species of bird, undoubtedly making it a superb location for a Sasol Birding Weekend, and the parks first ever.

3:30am- The loud repetitive 'beep' from my alarm awoke me with a startle, something I thought I would have gotten used to by now considering the past few months had become fairly habitual with the same routine being repeated on a weekly, if not daily, basis. It was out of bed I climbed (or should I say fell?) and made my way toward my cupboard, the following minutes saw me somehow get ready in my half-asleep daze and it was only untill I took the first sip of some warm five-roses tea did I truly wake up, sleep being replaced with excitement, dreams being replaced with reality and the calm, still morning serenity being intruded upon by the hum of Niall Perrins' Fortuner. 

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.

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!

Birding Zululand- A Bhejane Tale

The rain drops falling to earth, with each collision a noise which many a person relates to relaxation, calm and serenity, the sound of rain being a world wide symbol for peace and tranquility. But then there comes the grumble of thunder, rolling across the earths surface, almost as if one is experiencing a mild earth tremor interspersed with sudden streaks of bright white light, dancing across the sky as if it were an intricate technique passed down from generation to generation. The scene of an African thunderstorm is a scene like no other. Nowhere else in the world can you find and witness such a spectacle, a Burchalls Coucal agreeing as he sings for further rain.  

Ingwe, Bhejane, Udube, Mfezi....all of these Zulu words embedded with a fond memory from my recent stay down at Ethlatini Bush Camp, the home of Bhejane Nature Training. A place of learning, relaxation, fun and most importantly a second home to the students which attend any one of Bhejane's courses. It is a place of like minded people, people who are young and eager to learn about nature and all it's glory, people who will do anything in their power to preserve and conserve what they love. It was here where I found myself for just over a month, cumulatively, last year after receiving a message from Bhejane owners, Dylan and Christa Panos inviting me down for a stay in order to help me out with my Birding Big Year and my quest to see 800 species of Southern African bird in a calender year. Thus it was with great eagerness that I accepted and in a matter of weeks I found myself tackling the six hour journey down to Ethlatini Bush Camp, a mere 18km's from Hluhluwe town, Kwazulu Natal.

Throughout the journey my excitement grew and grew with every kilometer driven, the scenery slowly changing from the sky scrapers and office blocks of Johannesburg to the informal settlements of Phongola and then to the vast, open, acacia dominated reserves which all help contribute to the 'power' behind the world Zululand, a power which causes many a wildlife lovers heart to quicken in pace. White-backed Vultures shared the skies with Yellow-billed Kites and Bateleur's, thermals taking them to heights we as humans can only dream of reaching.

The signboards for Hluhluwe started to appear with each kilometer gained and before I knew it I was navigating my way through the bustling town, joining up onto the road to Sodwana Bay. I couldn't help but continue to admire the amazing scenery, bringing back memories of my previous visit to Zululand almost five years ago, however as amazing of a distraction the scenery proved to be, the pineapple fields surrounding the Ethlatini property proved to be even more fascinating, with Woolly-necked Storks walking a stern line behind any tractor that so happened to be working the fields.

The next three weeks at Bhejane went by far too quickly, but it is now where I shall take the time to refer to the age old saying "time flies when one is having fun" and it was only on my road back home when I realized the full effect of those words. Time did truly fly and it was because I was having fun, in fact the time spent at

Myself and Ruvan Grobler at Muzi Pan
(Copyright J.Crickmay)

Bhejane was undoubtedly one of my fondest memories from my Birding Big Year and those memories made will last me a lifetime! Those three weeks were filled with back to back trips and time spent in camp with the camps students and staff, sharing my love and passion for all things wild and learning a lesson or two in humility, because the knowledge these folks possess is second to none and outshone any previous knowledge I had managed to parrot study from a book. This knowledge was different, it was knowledge learnt from experience and taken from role models in the guiding industry, personal experiences and observations, all driven by a deeper understanding and appreciation for the bush, something you cannot learn from any book.

Sometimes a break from birding to catch
a few waves was very much enjoyed
(Copyright J.Crickmay)

A trip to Kosi Bay with the FGASA (Field Guides Association of Southern Africa) Level 1 Marine students was first up with the main target for the trip being Palm-nut Vulture. I can gladly report back that on our final day at Kosi Bay we managed to stumble across a sub-adult, casually sitting atop a waterberry tree. Kosi Bay was truly fantastic birding wise with species along the likes of Swamp Nightjar, Woodwards Batis, Narina Trogon, Black-throated Wattle Eye and Livingstones Turaco all being seen.

Birding a road on the border of False Bay with Caylin
and Dalene
(Copyright J.Crickmay)

Kosi Bay was then followed by time spent back at Bhejane headquarters and birding took place in and around False Bay Park where species along the likes of Neergards Sunbird, Rudds Apalis, Pink-throated Twinspot, Broad-billed Roller, African Broadbill, Gorgeous Bushshrike, Green Malkoha, Blue-mantled Crested Flycatcher, Yellow-rumped and Red-fronted Tinkerbirds and many, many more gorgeous forest species! My list slowly but surely started to climb with each day spent in camp, and the momentum just didn't seem to stop.....I most certainly wasn't complaining!

A shock to my system came not in the form of new additions to my list, but instead the enthusiasm that the students showed toward birds and birding in general. Almost as if it were apart of their uniform, 99% of all the students would carry their binoculars with them on any walk or guided activity with a bird book in close proximity. Along with this initial shock, the 'aftershock' if you may came one day when I took the entire camp out, with close friend and Bhejane student Josh Crickmay, to try our luck at connecting with African Broadbill on the perimeter of False Bay Park. We divided the group into two, each of us taking a half, and took an educated guess as to where the Broadbill's would be after hearing them display on a recce trip the day prior. We headed off into a patch of sand forest and the two groups ended up bumping into one another. After 'joining forces', a quick signal to the group to stop and sit down was quickly echoed and after a few moments of silence, I played the Broadbill's 'call' twice, and then stopped, and we sat and waited. Anxious moments passed when all of a sudden the distinctive display call of an African Broadbill burst forth a mere 50m away from us. It is not the Broadbill's display I will forever remember or cherish but the look of almost fifty students's face's as each and everyone lit up with pure joy and excitement. It was in that moment where the Broadbill's call became but a background noise in my ears as I sat there, welcoming a new wave of appreciation and understanding of what birding was all about as it washed over me like a cool breeze. Truly an incredible experience!  

It was with a heavy heart that I left Bhejane after my three week stay but in the back of my mind I was praying that some weird and wonderful bird decides to pop up somewhere near the camps headquarters, so that I would be able to make my way back down to the place so many called 'home', and clearly somebody listened to my prayers because after a two week spin around Mozambique and Zimbabwe a group of Caspian Plovers decided to arrive at Mpempe Pan, a few kilometers up the road from Ethlatini....It was back for round two and some more "X-treme birding"!

The entire Bhejane Camp out on the border of False Bay doing what should be done...Birding!
(Copyright J.Crickmay)

Twitching the Tinker

It was up before dawn for the team made up of four individuals: Maans Booysen, Tim Desilets, Paul Netscher and myself. The warm, humid Mozambican air sticking to our skin like an unwanted layer of clothing with the only other creatures awake being the resident mosquito's which, to this day, I despise and have yet found an answer to the question all of humanity wants to know: what purpose do they in fact serve other than to drive us close to the borders of insanity? A question which can be equaled to "did the Americans indeed land on the moon?", as much as we try our luck at finding out we will never know the true answer.

As the suns rays started to kiss the horizon we climbed into the air-conditioned Prado and made our way onto the EN1, heading north in our quest for a species of bird which was previously thought to be extinct in the Southern African sub-region, that is until Greg Davies and Hugh Chittenden made a momentous discovery back in January 2013. The bird I refer to, you may ask; non other than the Green Tinkerbird (Pogoniulus simplex) a species of Tinkerbird most commonly found in east Africa.

The Green Tinkerbird is a fairly unassuming bird being relatively small in size (roughly 11.5cm), weighing in at a massive 9g, greenish/olive above and a paler grey/olive below and sporting some serious golden/yellow jewelry on his wings just to add the cherry on the top. It prefers lowland evergreen forest and riparian thickets which make the area around the small town of Unguane ideal habitat for this frugivorous species.

Perfect Green Tinkerbird habitat

After roughly an hour and a half of nerve wrecking driving, stressing about the possibility of "dipping", we finally arrived at Unguane and the searching began- Gorgeous Bushshrike, Red-throated Twinspot, Sombre Greenbul, Livingstones Flycatcher, Rudds Apalis, Eastern Nicator, Dark-backed Weaver and Woodwards Batis all put in an appearance but much to our disappointment there was still no sign of ANY Tinkerbirds, let alone the more common Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird which is generally found with relative ease in the area. It was decided that we were to try a spot near a local homestead, passing through what looked to be a makeshift chicken pen, smiling and waving and getting equal, somewhat toothless gestures back. We carried on birding the area, keeping our ears peeled for the distinct, rapid paced pop, pop, pop, pop, pop call or any other sign leading us to the presence of our desired bird.

All of a sudden a call similar to that of a Green Tinkerbird burst into chorus somewhere in the surrounding thickets and immediately our hearts started to pound in our throats, a wave of nausea hitting me like a sledgehammer in the gut, my mind wondering not about the bird but how I was going to be transported to a nearby hospital. If my heart carried on pounding at this speed it would seem necessary. However much to our dismay (but thankful my heart had now calmed down somewhat and a hospital looking as if it was no longer needed) it was merely a contact call from a Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, taunting us but at the same time reassuring us that there were indeed Tinkerbirds in the area and that they were not just a local myth.

We decided it was time to drive further along the well worn dirt track (not exactly what some would consider a road) to a spot where another fellow birder had previously had sightings of the "GT". We pulled off, got out the car and immediately were immersed in a bird party moving through the area, with Livingstones Flycatchers and Woodwards Batis's putting on a show for all in the group. I decided to wonder off a bit and see what else I could find when I heard a distinct, fast paced pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. Immediately my heart dropped to the pits of my stomach as I managed to spew out something along the lines of "Guys, get here now!" assuming they picked up on the tone of my voice and the nerves which controlled it, as in a matter of seconds they were standing next to me and we then proceeded to play the call of the Green Tinkerbird, hoping that it would initiate some sort of response and bring the bird out into the open. But nothing. We waited and waited but no response and the call I previously heard had now stopped, vanished into the now deafening silence that enveloped us.

Green Tinkerbird putting on a show

The rest of the group went back up the road to try for photographs of the Woodwards Batis's which were still prancing around like they were on a fashion show runway in Paris and I decided to stay on and see what else popped up, having my mind set on getting visuals of a calling Gorgeous Bushshrike when all of a sudden the same rapid, machine gun like pop, pop, pop, pop, pop.            Trying my best not to get my hopes up,
I brought out my phone and played "the music" and within seconds my eyes were fixed on a previously regionally extinct species as an adult Green Tinkebird hopped up into full view and started to voice his position (I'm assuming not on politics).

yet another shot of this most unassuming bird

Not thinking the slightest about being quiet (being caught up in the moment and all) I called for the rest of the group who ended up jogging to my side and within moments had their eyes fixed upon the bird. Immediately we started snapping away, taking record shot after record shot and after announcing itself to all around and putting on a very fine show, Mr/Mrs Tinker decided it was time to call it quits and flew off, leaving behind it a group of four, dumbfounded, incredibly ecstatic birders who had just seen one of those "dream birds", a species which we had previously given up on seeing in the sub-region due to its status of regionally extinct but a species which we had now just had cracking views of and one which earned a most welcome spot on our life lists and claimed a spot in our biding highlights bank of memories.

....And still the Mosquito's kept on launching their full blown assault on any exposed/covered body part- you
gotta love Mozambique!

A VERY happy me, moments after connecting with the Tinkerbird

A Birding "Small" Year- The Aftermath of One Man's Year Long Pursuit for Birds

January 1st, 2015 (16h50) - Dirk Human: "So John Kinghorn, what are you doing today??". The answer was quite simple, nothing, but I couldn't help but find myself driving around my suburb looking for House Sparrow, Rock Martin, Crested Barbet, Grey Go Away Bird, Black Collared Barbet, Speckled Mousebird and any other unsuspecting garden bird which I could add to my newly born 2015 year list.

The year 2014 was a big year for me, not because it was the Soccer World Cup or the Sochi Winter Olympics, or even because it was my first year out of school but instead because it was literally that, a Big Year! The year prior saw me make a very rash, bold and quite frankly stupid (in some regards), decision to tackle a Southern African Birding Big Year and attempt to break the record for the youngest person to do so. Now what is a Southern African Birding Big Year you may ask, well I shall elaborate: Come January 1st of any calendar year a birder, whether it be a he or she, will set out to record as many avian species as they possibly can within the southern African sub-region in the space of a calendar year, but the real challenge comes in when birders aim for the magical 800 mark, a number seen only by extreme, dedicated, tough, experienced birders who have pretty much been birding from the womb. Now to record 800 species within a calender year was previously unheard of until the Southern African Big Year took off a good few years back and to date six individuals have managed to record the magical 800 milestone within the space of a calendar year (Ian Sinclair, Mark Kirk, Alisha Kirk, Trevor Hardaker, Niall Perrins and most recently, myself).

Bohms Bee-eater, Villa de Sena, Mozambique

My year was spent traversing the corners of the sub-region targeting species I only ever dream't of adding to my life list and here I was actually doing it!- Basra Reed Warbler, Bohms Bee-eater, Pacific and American Golden Plovers, Spotted Creeper, Red-faced Crimsonwing, Buff-spotted Flufftail, Green Headed Oriole, Racket-tailed Roller and the list goes on and on, but all of which are species which were ticked, and this time not in my dreams. I spent roughly 300 out of the 365 days of the year enveloped in intense day-to-day birding and a state of determination and what some would call, pure madness, but to me it became the norm, especially when it involved trashing months of planning in order to chase one rarity on the opposite side of the country. Completely normal.

Fiery Necked Nightjar, Gorongosa, Mozambique

My year ended on December 31st 2014 at 11:59 just before the clock struck twelve and champagne started to flow. 803 species later, thousands upon thousands of kilometers and my year was over in a blink of an eye and a burst of fire works. So what would 2015 hold? To be honest I hadn't the slightest clue having been caught up in birding non-stop for a calendar year I hadn't had time to focus on any other birding plans other than those at hand, but first things first I would be able to sleep in on new years day and not find myself chasing birds in north-western Gauteng. However sitting back and seeing fellow birders log their totals for the start of their year lists ignited the flame inside (yet again) and there I was hanging outside my bedroom window at a few minutes past eight ticking off Cape Sparrow and Laughing Dove...Completely normal.