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From: Self <MUSEUM/WVADER>
To:
Subject: African impressions: Natal2
Cc: @aol.com
Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1999 07:57:57 -0200
"VERY QUIET HERE TODAY"; A CRASH COURSE IN NATAL BIRDING. PT 2
Day 2 started in a hospitable B & B farm (Cedarberg near Cedarville),
where my first bird in the early morning was a Bokmakierie calling
outside my window. I noted down the birds from the large garden, an
oasis in a drought-stricken farmland: Cape Turtle, Redeyed and
Laughing Doves, Cape Rook, Hadeda Ibis, Red-throated Wryneck (a new
acquaintance to me, and much more colourful than our European
wryneck), Bokmakierie, Cape Robin, Olive Thrush, Cape Wagtail, Cape
Whiteeye, Bar-throated Apalis, Dusky Flycatcher, Common Waxbill, Cape
Weaver, and Greyheaded Sparrow. Exotic enough for somebody from 70*N!
Today the crash course would be pipits and larks on Mt Matatiete;
unfortunately this was made still more difficult by a "Capetonian"
strong wind, which kept the birds wisely hiding in nooks and crannies,
and "blowing away" when we finally had found some. ("Very quiet here
today!"). Rudd's Lark never showed up, but the pipit lessons duly
happened, with Grassveld, Long-billed, Buffy, and the rare and
beautiful Yellowbreasted Pipit (followed later by Plain-backed), as
well as the Orange-throated Longclaw. Also Quail Finches were here,
but one needed to be quick to see more than a rapidly disappearing
dot.
In the rocky ravines many birds did not show up at all, but
perseverance paid off (also when our car got stuck in an overlooked
erosion hole), and I finally got to grips with Drakensberg Prinia,
Cape Rock Thrush, Buff-streaked Chat, and Gurney's Sugarbird, of which
especially the last one was a dream come true.
Back in the plains a Secretarybird walked around as if in a TV
documentary, and a long drive brought us to the marshes near Franklin,
still in a wind and temperature that made me feel right at home, but
made Adam shiver. There were lots of birds to warm yourself on,
though, in this complex of flat reed-fringed pools and marshes:
various herons, a spoonbill, Hamerkops, all three species of S African
cranes, albeit at a distance, sundry ducks, rails and coots,
Brownthroated Martins and Whitethroated Swallows overhead, and Cape
Reed Warblers and Levaillant's Cisticolas in the reeds. Another
memorable day!!
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