G'day all
A couple of months ago I was camping in Karajini N.P. (In the Pilbara
Region of northern Western Australia) and I met a couple of birders
(surname McCartney? from Melbourne). They told me how they had been
standing at one of the interpretive signs when Tim Bowden turned up. Tim
is a well known ABC TV presenter. He was on holidays and was amused at the
sign which listed about 30 items one should carry when exploring the gorges
(hat, water, sunscreen, camera .... and bird squeaker). "I haven't got any
of these things" said Tim. "What on earth is a bird squeaker and how many
people would have one on them?" The McCartneys promptly whipped theirs
out! I wished I'd been there because mine would have been in my pocket
also. Hopefully Tim is now better equipped.
Cheers
Steve
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Steve Clark
45 Carmichael Street, Hamilton, Victoria, Australia 3300
ph 0355 719 048
www.ansonic.com.au/clarks/sw_birds.htm
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d out even colder at
Karkloof, before warming up at the inevitable climax ofall birding
trips, a sewage farm (this time in Pietermaritzberg). No wonder then
that the refrain I heard from Adam every day was the same: "very
quiet here today"!!
You could have fooled me! I saw more than 200
bird species during these days (and still missed a few by being not
nimble enough with the field-glasses), and Adam, the perfect host,
threw in a consider
ble number of mammals, as well as various frogs
and lizards. I have a complete birdlist for the people who are
specially interested, but here I want to content myself with a number
of snapshots from these crammed wonderful days
. We started out in Vernon Crookes nature reserve close to the coast
S of Durban, a beautiful area protecting both coastal forest and
coastal grassland. In the morning we walked through the forest ("Very
quiet here today") and heard and saw Knysna Louries, Narina Trogons,
and Trumpeter and Crowned Hornbills. Terrestrial Bulbuls muttered to
themselves in the undergrowth, and Natal and White-browed Robins,
Black Flycatchers, and White-bellied, Grey and Olive Sunbirds
revealed themselves to the quick drawer. The presence of Forest and
Spectacled Weavers and Black-bellied Starlings showed that we still
were in the coastal forests. I was thrilled to be shown a Lesser
Honeyguide calling all day from the same branch, exceptionally almost
in the open; but I never succeeded in getting my eyes on the Grey
Cuckooshrike and the Grey Waxbill, that Adams allseeing eyes had
discovered in the middle of that green jumble of a jungle
. In the open grassy areas I got a crash-course in Cisticolas
(Wailing, Croaking, Lazy, Levaillant's, Neddicky), where I'll still
need several follow-ups. But soon Adam found more noble game, and we
plunged in a little valley where he had heard the song of the
Broad-tailed Warbler. It took some chasing, but then this bird
allowed us to watch him from quite close by, both in song and in
display, one of the highlights of this first day. For comparison a
Grassbird sang close by.
In the shorter grasslands, full of strange and wonderful flowers, I
was delighted to watch Yellow-throated Longclaws, a bird that I have
used for many years in my evolution lectures as an example of chance
similarity (with the American unrelated Meadowlarks), but which I
never had seen close-up. And another crash course was necessary, when
we came across mixed flocks of Widows, still mostly in their sparrowy
plumages: Red-shouldered, Red-collared, White-winged; one could get
dizzy of less.
Easier then to lift my eyes and watch the majestic
raptors overhead: first a Crowned Eagle, later also a Martial Eagle!
And then a large dark Accipiter, that lands in a tree on the
hillside---my very first Black Sparrowhawk!!
After this promising start the weather steadily deteriorated. We did
try, but my main memories from the rest of the day is of a series of
"rain forests", with Adam's running comments on all the birds that
might have been seen here. We did find Yellow-throated Warblers high
up, but it felt like birding under a shower.
Wim Vader,South African Museum
Cape Town,
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