Country Life

Two months on, and the rural lifestyle has really settled into my heart.  So many reasons to move from the dingy (and cheap) granny flat I called home for the first year of living in South Africa.  Compensating for no longer being walking distance to varsity, there is now the attraction of a home out in the savannah.

The house and 10 Hectares of land provide enough fields for the horses, and a thoughtfully developed wildlife garden with indigenous trees, cycads, and plenty of aloes.  The aloes have been flowering vivid colours over the weeks of mid-winter and providing rich resources for the sunbirds.  Two beastly Rottweiler’s keep me company in the garden - ensuring a cat-free environment!

The dawn chorus of cape turtle and red eyed doves gives the sunrise a very African feel as it casts a fiery glow on the acacias’ flat crown.  Feeding the garden birds has attracted a rich diversity from the surrounding area.  Millet and crushed maize is favoured by village weavers, doves, sparrows, whydahs and mannikins.  Bulbuls, white-eyes, and mousebirds relish the fruit, and I have habituated cape robins, boubous, olive thrush, and blue-headed agama’s to take mealworms from the veranda. A recently finished project is the installation of a number of bamboo segments to attract cavity nesting birds - woodpeckers, barbets, scimitarbills, and honeyguides might all be attracted to these sites - and spring is just around the corner.

The property is connected to the Lower Mpushini Conservancy, comprised of many small holdings along the Mpushini river and surrounding savanna valley. Abound with duiker, impala, nyala and zebra – I’m looking forward to the day I brave getting in the saddle again and riding through the valley, apparently the nyala and zebra are very habituated to mounted horses. As dusk shifts into night the howling jackal chorus sometimes drifts up the valley, and fiery-necked nightjars give the night a distinctive ambiance.  Tonight, while writing this blog, the calls of a Barn Owl become the 100th species to be added to the garden bird list.

My bird list is expected to keep growing at a rapid pace now that the spring and summer migrants are arriving.  Snakes too may become plentiful -  judging from what Gael has had to remove from the house in previous summers (we don’t release black mamba’s, but all other species are happily returned to the wild).  The very plentiful termite mounds across the valley will no doubt provide some spectacles when the November rains soak the underground termitaria and the emergence of alates are harvested by all the wildlife around.

The raptor sightings have been fairly poor in comparison – with just the resident long-crested eagles in regular attendance of the horse fields.  Recently the yellow-billed kites have also become regular residents and will be part of the furniture until the autumn migration.  A goshawk or black sparrowhawk is rarely seen flashing through the bush, but often attested to by the chaos and panic around the bird feeders most mornings.



Bird List from 29 June to 18 August

Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca)
Yellow-billed Duck (Anas undulata)
Natal Francolin (Francolinus natalensis)
Hamerkop (Scopus umbretta)
Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)
Black-headed Heron (Ardea melanocephala)
Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea)
Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus)
Hadada Ibis (Bostrychia hagedash)
Black-winged Kite (Elanus caeruleus)
Long-crested Eagle (Lophaetus occipitalis)
African Marsh-Harrier (Circus ranivorus)
African Goshawk (Accipiter tachiro)
Black Goshawk (Accipiter melanoleucus)
Black Kite (Milvus migrans)
African Fish-Eagle (Haliaeetus vocifer)
Crowned Lapwing (Vanellus coronatus)
Feral Pigeon (Columba livia (Domestic type))
Red-eyed Dove (Streptopelia semitorquata)
Ring-necked Dove (Streptopelia capicola)
Laughing Dove (Streptopelia senegalensis)
Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove (Turtur chalcospilos)
Purple-crested Turaco (Tauraco porphyreolophus)
Klaas's Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx klaas)
Barn Owl (Tyto alba)
Fiery-necked Nightjar (Caprimulgus pectoralis)
White-rumped Swift (Apus caffer)
Speckled Mousebird (Colius striatus)
Brown-hooded Kingfisher (Halcyon albiventris)
Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops)
Green Woodhoopoe (Phoeniculus purpureus)
Common Scimitar-bill (Rhinopomastus cyanomelas)
Crowned Hornbill (Tockus alboterminatus)
Crested Barbet (Trachyphonus vaillantii)
Black-collared Barbet (Lybius torquatus)
Rufous-necked Wryneck (Jynx ruficollis)
Golden-tailed Woodpecker (Campethera abingoni)
Cardinal Woodpecker (Dendropicos fuscescens)
Cape Batis (Batis capensis)
Chinspot Batis (Batis molitor)
Brubru (Nilaus afer)
Black-crowned Tchagra (Tchagra senegalus)
Southern Boubou (Laniarius ferrugineus)
Sulphur-breasted Bushshrike (Telophorus sulfureopectus)
Grey-headed Bushshrike (Malaconotus blanchoti)
Southern Fiscal (Lanius collaris)
African Black-headed Oriole (Oriolus larvatus)
Fork-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis)
Pied Crow (Corvus albus)
White-necked Raven (Corvus albicollis)
Plain Martin (Riparia paludicola)
Lesser Striped-Swallow (Cecropis abyssinica)
Southern Black-Tit (Melaniparus niger)
Sombre Greenbul (Andropadus importunus)
Terrestrial Brownbul (Phyllastrephus terrestris)
Common Bulbul (Pycnonotus barbatus)
Cape Crombec (Sylvietta rufescens)
Bar-throated Apalis (Apalis thoracica)
Green-backed Camaroptera (Camaroptera brachyura)
Piping Cisticola (Cisticola fulvicapilla)
Tawny-flanked Prinia (Prinia subflava)
Cape White-eye (Zosterops pallidus)
Fiscal Flycatcher (Sigelus silens)
Dusky-brown Flycatcher (Muscicapa adusta)
Red-backed Scrub-Robin (Cercotrichas leucophrys)
Cape Robin-Chat (Cossypha caffra)
Kurrichane Thrush (Turdus libonyana)
Olive Thrush (Turdus olivaceus)
Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis)
Cape Glossy-Starling (Lamprotornis nitens)
Collared Sunbird (Hedydipna collaris)
Amethyst Sunbird (Chalcomitra amethystina)
White-breasted Sunbird (Cinnyris talatala)
Cape Wagtail (Motacilla capensis)
Golden-breasted Bunting (Emberiza flaviventris)
Yellow-fronted Canary (Serinus mozambicus)
Brimstone Canary (Serinus sulphuratus)
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Cape Sparrow (Passer melanurus)
Southern Grey-headed Sparrow (Passer diffusus)
Spectacled Weaver (Ploceus ocularis)
Village Weaver (Ploceus cucullatus)
Red-billed Quelea (Quelea quelea)
Grosbeak Weaver (Amblyospiza albifrons)
Common Waxbill (Estrilda astrild)
Blue-breasted Cordonbleu (Uraeginthus angolensis)
African Firefinch (Lagonosticta rubricata)
Bronze Mannikin (Spermestes cucullatus)
Pin-tailed Whydah (Vidua macroura)

ZSSA 2013

The Zoological Society of Southern Africa held its 2013 annual symposium at Tshipise, in the far north-east of South Africa… just shy of the Zimbabwean border and close to the top end of the magnificent Kruger National Park.  A UKZN contingent of 16 students set out at 4am to reach Tshipise after an 11 hour roadtrip.

what... no blue dotted line at the tropic of capricorn?  ... but its on every map

who filled out the registration form?

UKZN campsite

The Zoological Society symposium was hosted by the University of Venda and University of Limpopo, they revealed a wide range of topics and studies, with a particularly large proportion of student presentations this year.  On the third day I presented the results of the first year of Camera-trap nest data. Seemed to go well.

Certainly the highlights were to see some familiar faces including Prof. Ara Manadjem’s plenary talk on the fate of Africa’s Vultures (not good news by the way).  Prof Colleen Downs also presented a plenary talk, covering the ins and outs of physiology, and ecology of the Epaulatted fruit bat. Also of particular interest and relevance was the plenary talk by Dr. Franz Holker on the loss of the night.  How artificial light, especially urban light domes, have a dramatic effect on the biosphere.  This was relevant for two reasons; a) the Durban crowned eagles will likely be influenced by the urban light dome in some way, and b) way out at Tshipise, once the moon set in the early hours of the night, the milky way was so spectacularly smeared across the inky sky (funny how you realize just how fortunate being a kiwi is in a world of light pollution).

In between relevant talks, I would sneak out for an hour at a time and go hunting (with camera) on the Tshipise grounds.  The neighboring koppie was a magnet for soaring raptors, while the aloe gardens on the grounds attracted plenty of birds and butterflies. The resort grounds also home to two large businesses’ of banded mongoose, and these characters provided endless entertainment particularly when twice I watched drawn-out territorial disputes, where front lines were drawn within clouds of dust, behind which the trouble would lay their scent markings on the boarderlands.

Marico Sunbird

Common Orange Tip

Golden Piper

Bearded Scrub-Robin

A business of Banded Mongoose

Fynbos Research Program

       For the next 5 years, the NVT, in collaboration with SANPARKs, will be doing fynbos research in and around the Tsitsikamma section of the Garden Route National Park and Nature's Valley. The project will examine the intricate pollination systems in the fynbos, and how these may change over time.
       We launched the project [on the morning of the 17th April] with a bird ringing session. We were joined by SANPARKs staff, ORCA, BirdLife Plettenberg Bay, WWISA, Nature's Valley Open Spaces Committee and a crew from NetNews, who filmed the event for a program. Helping Mark run the ringing station were Minke Witteveen and Shane McPherson, who made sure the birds got top priority. We netted and ringed 66 birds this morning, including a whopping 39 Southern Double-collared Sunbirds, 14 Cape Sugarbirds, and 2 Orange-breasted Sunbirds. Thanks to all who participated!

By Dr. Mark Brown, Program Director, Natures Valley Trust


We were blessed with great weather, a calm and cloudy dawn that persisted right through 'til midday - despite a forecast of approaching rain. There was plenty of trail to set mistnets and so eight tall and seven low nets were erected.  The flow of birds being caught and ringed was steady right through the morning and the 66 birds was about twice as much as was expected or hoped for.  Very special species included the fynbos endemic Orange-breasted Sunbird, and the beautiful White-starred Robin which was also a birding lifer for me.

The selection of photos here are mine, more can be seen on the NVT blog

fire in the sky over Tsitsikamma mountains

setting up the first run of nets

when the film crew from NetNews arrived, mark ditched us to take the heat

what a fantastic setting for the nets

although fynbos shrubs have a knack of snagging the nets

one of the first birds to be captured - Orange-breasted Sunbird   Anthobaphes violacea

male OBS from the back

female OBS

a great turnout of collaborators and visitors for the inaugural ringing day at Site A

the ringing table set amongst the vibrancy of the fynbos in bloom

all Cape Sugarbirds   Promerops cafer   are color-ringed, this site will be monitored fortnightly for 5 years

a fairly short sugarbird tail

its more tricky to measure tail length of the male sugarbirds

a male Southern Double-collared Sunbird   Cinnyris chalybeus

papparazzi and a Bar-throated Apalis   Apalis thoracica

female Olive Woodpecker   Campethera cailliautii   - males have a fiery red crown

White-browed Scrub-robin   Cercotrichas leucophrys

such a rich and vibrant yellow, White-starred Robin   Pogonocichla stellata

eBirding December 2012

A huge growth in the number and variety of wildlife citizen science projects has developed in recent years.  Access to internet recording has increased the volume and ease at which one can provide data to these projects.

Southern Africa's portal is the Virtual Museum, serving as a platform to the mammalMAP, frogMAP, reptileMAP, echinoMAP, odonataMAP, and others. The bird atlasing project SABAP2 is the regions bird distribution database.  

For birding data I am an eBirder - which is largely responsible for my becoming somewhat obsessive about birding and checklists.  

eBird is well on the way to being the global repository of avian data.  I discovered this project, developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, back in 2007 when it was just branching out of its USA origins.  Collaborating with OSNZ, a New Zealand portal was launched in May 2008 to modernize NZ atlasing, my accumulation of 1929 checklists since then has me amongst the most active of NZ ebirders.  These successful pilot expansions lead to the global launch in 2010.

The popularity of the project appears to be snowballing and in July 2012, eBird reached a pleasant round number of 100 million complete checklists. and over 2 million checklists received each month alone.  Over years and decades, these data can inform of abundance, population trends, migration timing, and shifts in distribution.  The variety of protocols makes it a flexible repository, and I particularly focus on Raptor Road Counts (Travelling counts) when driving long distances. Because eBird provides such varied feedback it can get a little addictive, and the Top100 rankings motivate the competitor in me.  

Here I've decided to highlight eBird on this blog, and post a 'big month'.  December is a busy field-based month for the eagle research, and while spending time in a variety of Durbans' nature reserves I anticipate a respectable list by new year.

Here is the first week of Decembers birding (sensitive locations have been blanked out): add-ons will be updated on this post throughout the month.

8 December

*correction - 161 Variable Indigobird   Vidua funerea  

That's the trouble with regional checklists - sometimes they dont match up with the global checklist that eBird uses.  So my Variable Indigobird is named Dusky Indigobird in Sasol fourth ed. to Birds of Southern Africa. It was also a complication experienced with the launch of the New Zealand checklist years back also.  Why do Kiwis persist in calling it a Spur-winged Plover, when infact there it is a lapwing from the Vanellus genus, the Spur-winged Lapwing is a African species, while the species that occurs in New Zealand is a Australian colonist, the Masked Lapwing. This rant is one I have subjected many friends to...

Therein is the explanation for the error above.  The beauty of eBird is I can quickly go back to the list, remove my mistake and add the correction.  Of course, if I hadn't there are also a number of moderators who email you if there is a out-of-range record. or other suspected error  ... I regularly get these kinds of emails to verify my sightings.

7 Jan 2013

I have just added the last update page to the eBirding big-month post.  It really tailed off there once we started ringing eagle chicks and trying to get gps transmitters on adults. But nonetheless 178 species for one month in Durban is still rubbing past my entire New Zealand life list of 170.  And in total this year, the South Africa list reached a grand total of 281 species (ranked 6th for the year and country), and 110 complete checklists (ranked 4th).

PAOC13

The University of KwaZulu-Natal delegates

From 14-21 October the 13th Pan-African Ornithological Congress was held in Arusha, Tanzania.

As a technician, my task was to load all the presentations so that each would flow smoothly onto the next.  There were two plenary speakers each day, and then an array of shorter, 10 minute talks spread between the two halls. Besides multiple power cuts and tripped fuses, it all seemed to flow pretty smoothly.

Tuesday afternoon was a particularly rough time, as I was one of the first to come down with an intense 24 hour bout of gastro.  Initially I thought this was because, first thing arriving at our hostel on Sunday, I downed two glasses of tap water, and then for good measure found myself some nyama choma for morning tea.  What better way to start the day than to fill up on unidentifiable bits of braised meat and offal.  The dead flies on our table were maybe an ominous caution. 

Me and Rasta-Bobbie debating which will be the best bits

But this can’t be the whole story - in the following days about one third of the conference attendees got struck down as well. 

Thankfully, by Wednesday morning my stomach was settled enough to enjoy our excursion.  Our UKZN team got together and headed off to Tarangaire National Park.  Luckily we were all together as Lindy, Rin, and Amy were feeling delicate with the lurg as well.  The landscape was very dry and begging for the short rains to come, the shallow river running through the valley condensed the game.  Among the wildebeest, waterbuck, zebra and elephants, flocks of sandpipers zipping back and forth attracted the attention of a Grey Kestrel.  A few East African endemic birds were added to the list including Ashy Starling and the vivid Red and Yellow Barbet.

Back to the conference and Friday was the day for raptors. The day opened with Rob Davies introducing the African Raptor Databank, a continent-wide mapping and monitoring database. The following morning sessions highlighted the plight of vultures across Africa.  Robin Whytock presented an investigation into the bushmeat trade in Cameroon.  Going beyond the quantification of market meat on sale, the team looking at the remains left at hunting camps. Essentially, that the hunters carry in carbohydrates and to supplement with protein they eat a large portion of birds at their hunting camps.  Most of the mammal meat is then taken to the market for sale.  Large birds, particularly hornbills, Palm-nut vultures and Crowned Eagles must be severely impacted by these activities.

Later in the day, I moved into the parallel hall.  The session was primarily on owls.  Midway through the session Munir Virani presented work on Pemba Scops Owls, and bless him, added a slide of me sleeping on the concrete floor of the Manta Reef lodge.  Laid out on the job again – a reminder of the two week long bout of gastro that made the Pemba Island Scops Owl trip such a memorable experience!  The last slot of the day in the owl session had not been filled by a scheduled speaker, and so I had an opportunity to introduce the urban Crowned Eagle research.  With it being such early days still in the research there was little by way of results – but describing the number of pairs already known, and a few interesting nest camera slides was a nice touch.  Hopefully this project will have some enlightening results to present at the next conference.

PAOC14, Senegal, 2016

Mount Meru

The peak of Mt Kilimanjaro at sunrise. 22 October.