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From: Self <MUSEUM/WVADER>
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Subject: african impressions
Cc:
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 09:31:19 -0200
LAZY DAYS AT BONTEBOK NP
Two nights in what is strangely called a "charaban', a
comfortable
caravan-cabin combination, in Bontebok National Park near Swellendam,
W. Cape. Riet and I are here for holidays, and definitely not for
"power-birding", so what follows are mostly impressions from the Rest
Camp, lawns with spread Acacia and riverine vegetation next to the
Breede River. W
We did do a game run, of course, gazed at the
Bontebok, Rhebok and Mountain Zebra, admired a stately Black-bellied
Korhaan, saw the Black Harriers hunt over the veld, and marveled at
the song of the Clapper Larks: he flies up with a series of bursts of
loud wing clapping and finishes up the performance with a long
double-whistle, while parachuting back to his bush. But mostly we
lazed around the cabin.
In the Sweet Thorn next to our charaban a pair of Fiscal
Flycatchers has its nest; this provided excellent opportumities to
study this species, as they were very tame. But at the same time the
flycatchers attack every other bird that comes too near, and "too
near' is quite widely interpreted. A Cape Weaver male also has
adopted our cabin (and even tries to drink from my beer when my back
is turned), as has a Cape Robin (the dominant voice in the morning
chorus here, with the ever active doves), and a Rock Pigeon pair,
that lives on top of the caravan. Overhead fluy Greater Striped
Swallows and Alpine, Black and Little Swifts, and on the lawns
cruise small and some surprisingly large turtles. Small fawn-coloured
Striped Mice timidly assess the chances of getting something from the
garbage.
The sound decor is, as ever here in Africa, dominated by the
doves,
here mostly Cape Turtle and Redeyed. Quality-wise the duets of the
Southern Boubou win first prize, as "voice of Africa" the Fish Eagle
is unsurpassed, but for sheer raucous sound-power nothing beats the
Hadeda Ibises.
I still struggle a bit with the songs and calls of the
smaller birds: there are (at least) Bully, Streaky-headed and
White-throated Canaries around, as well as Bar-throated Apalis and
Tit-Babblers. A touch of the tropics is provided by the aggressive
Pin-tailed Whydah with its incongruous "little-boy voice", by the
glowing Red Bishops and Yellow-rumped Widows, by the jewel-like
Malachite Sunbird, and certainly also by the Acacia Pied Barbet:
barbets for some reason always evoke the tropics to me.
While I write this, a Cape Robin forages ar my feet, and the
shadow
of the Cape Weaver overhead falls on my table. A sudden commotiion
draws my attention, in time, to a largish Pofadder on the lawn not
two m away: the snake disappears in the thornbush, probably on the
hunt for Striped Mice.
At dusk, a Giant Kingfisher sits on the stake in the river
where we
swam earlier, the Spotted Dikkops call from way off, and overhead
the Fiery-necked Nightjar prays its "Good God, deliver us". Lazy
days at Bontebok, too quickly passed!
Wim Vader, South
African Museum
Cape Town, South Africa
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