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Below is the photo that Patrick Cardwell took of the Yellow Wagtail yesterday evening.

There are many subspecies of Yellow Wagtail - Patrick thinks this bird is Motacilla flava beema. I unfortunately don’t have any books at hand, but Wiki has this to say:

M. f. beema (Sykes, 1832) – Sykes’ Wagtail.
Like flava but head lighter gray, ears washed white; sexes often similar.Breeding: North of lutea, E to Ladakh area. Winter: Indian subcontinent, also E Africa and adjacent Arabia.

David Winter

Patrick Cardwell posted a report on Cape Birdnet this morning about seeing a male Yellow Wagtail at Strandfontein yesterday afternoon. Here’s a snippet from his message:

Male in breeding plumage on ash track between P1 & P2 at Strandfontein yesterday afternoon. Bird quite tame and most accommodating from a photographic point of view.

I popped down quickly at lunch time today and the bird was still present, although quite skittish. Below are a few record shots that I managed to take.

As Patrick mentioned, the bird is on the road between P1 and P2 - take a look here if you don’t know where these pans are. Below is a more detailed map of where I saw the bird.

I don’t have a book at hand - any thoughts on what race this bird is?

David Winter

Just a quick note about some birding at Kirstenbosch. To assist with a pentade card (3355_1825 - southern suburbs of Cape Town) for SABAP2 I spent an hour on Sunday evening pottering around the gardens [a full birdlist is at the end of this post].

There are heaps of Orange-breasted Sunbirds in the garden at the moment - the protea section was particularly alive with them. Malachite Sunbird has been on the Kirstenbosch list for years, but only recently (last 5 years?) has this species taken up residence in the protea section. I thought the above photo was quite fun - it’s perhaps a close call in the “looks department” between an OBS and Malachite male, but on this occasion I think this OBS male had the upper hand…

Just a thought, but when last did anyone record Grassbird from the more developed areas of the garden? Are they still present in the wetland below the top car park? I thought I heard one distantly in the protea section, but could not be sure.

Kirstenbosch birdlist (7 March 2010): Cape White-eye, Helmeted Guineafowl, Olive Thrush, Sombre Greenbul, African Black Swift, Little Rush Warbler, Orange-breasted Sunbird, Barn Swallow (at least 10 birds), Cape Robin-chat, Cape Bulbul, Southern Double Collared Sunbird, Red-eyed Dove, Hadeda Ibis, African Dusky Flycatcher, Red-winged Starling, African Olive Pigeon, Cape Canary, Cape Batis, Black Sawwing Swallow, Karoo Prinia, Forest Canary, Cape Sugarbird, Southern Boubou, Malachite Sunbird

David Winter

Pauline and Malcolm Pearce are lucky enough to have African Openbills feeding in their garden on a regular basis (they live very close to Die Oog in Bergvliet). They sent me these two photos of the African Openbills (the first image is from Die Oog, the second their garden) as well as the photo below of some snail shells after an Openbill has fed on them.

Here is an excerpt from Malcolm’s email:

Yes, I’m sure the AOBs seen in our garden is one of Die Oog ‘flock’. I will forward a photo after this, taken early one morning last week : not a good one , as light was poor and I was shooting thro’ glass with oblique sun on it, but there he was, breakfasting on snails ! There is also a shot of the neat little pile of empty, undamaged snail shells he left behind. HOW ??? I found another similar pile elsewhere in the garden. Whilst one can generally set one’s watch by the arrival of the AOBs at 1930, one returned early last night ( 1800 )and posed very nicely for me in full sunlight

The fact that the shells are not broken during feeding is surprising. You would think that with such a large cumbersome beak there would be some breakage!

Thanks Pauline and Malcolm for submitting your photos and notes.

David Winter

It warms the cockles of my heart when my non-birding friends take an interest in birds. A close friend - Craig Banks  - was very excited when he watched a Black-headed Heron catch a Cape Molerat in Hermanus this past weekend. He even had the composure to take some photos and video. He made me promise that I’d post it on GetBirding, so here it is.

For those with slow internet connections I suggest you press play and then pause it immediately. Wait for it to load completely (red line to the end) before pressing play again.

Despite my “tongue-in-cheek” tone directed at my non-birding friends, I would like to encourage others to send in any photos or videos of interesting birds or birding experiences.

Thanks Craig.

David Winter

Maans Booysen photographed a European Blackcap at Bishop Bird Park in Centurion back in 2008. Here’s a portion of his original email from SA Birdnet and one of the photos he took:

On the 27th December 2008 I had seen and photographed a pair of European Blackcaps at Bishop Bird Park in Rooihuiskraal Centurion. I was looking to photograph Common Whitethroat & Garden Warbler, which I managed to do . In this process I managed to take 8 pics. of the European Blackcaps the quality not the best . A week ago I sorted some photographs when I came across them again, and realizing that I was ignorant about what I had seen and photographed and did not pay attention in what I was doing then. These birds where very relaxed and they were in a bird party feeding on berries and insects. I did not expect to see them there, and mistaken for Whitethroat or Garden Warbler.

This is a very rare species in Southern Africa, but in my opinion it’s most certainly overlooked.

Thanks Maans for submitting this photo.

David Winter

Arguably the best birding spot in Cape Town, Strandfontein Sewage Works is a must-visit site. The focused birder could notch up 100 species in a day, but the relatively small area also lends itself to a quick “whip-around” for the more time-strapped. Located on the north-western edge of False Bay it can be a little tricky to find if you’re not familiar with the area. The map below gives you a basic idea of how to get there.

The network of roads around the sewage works can be a litte confusing so I’ve highlighted the route that I like to drive. Beware of some of the sand roads that hug Baden Powell Drive in the south. It’s easy to get stuck here and there’s also a Kelp Gull nesting colony that must be avoided.

I spent an hour birding at Strandfontein on Saturday evening last week and notched up 40 species without too much effort. The birding is sometimes dependent on the water levels - bird numbers can be significantly higher when the levels are low with exposed mud and roosting islands. I didn’t explore every pan, but there didn’t appear to be too much exposed mud around. Pan S3, which is completely overgrown with hyacinth, does have a small exposed area (see bottom right photo) at the moment where there was a collection of waterfowl and Great White Pelicans. My favourite shot for the evening was this African Marsh Harrier - it’s not the best of images, but the sea in the background with the pan and reedbed is so distinctly Strandfontein.

The highlight of the visit was certainly the 8 African Openbills that were feeding along the Zeekoevlei entrance road [read here for details], but a close second was watching a Purple Heron swallow a large Vlei rat [read here for details].

Non-birders find it hard to believe me that there are flamingoes in Cape Town, but Strandfontein is a very reliable spot for Greater Flamingo and although rare, Lessers have been recorded as well.

My list for the evening included: Pied Crow, Red-winged Starling, African Openbill, Fan-tailed Cisticola, White-breasted Cormorant, Black-headed Heron, Barn Swallow, White-throated Swallow, Speckled Pigeon, Cape Teal, Red-billed Teal, Cape Shovellor, Little Grebe, Blacksmith Plover, Great White Pelican, Purple Heron, Kelp Gull, Hartlaub’s Gull, African Darter, Swift Tern, Great Flamingo, African Marsh Harrier, Spur-winged Goose, Cattle Egret, Common Moorhen, Red-knobbed Coot, Glossy Ibis, Black-winged Stilt, Grey Heron, Cape Wagtail, Cape Robin Chat, Common Starling, Yellow-billed Duck, Purple Swamphen, Levaillant’s Cisticola, Little Rush Warbler, Lesser Swamp Warbler, Cape Francolin, Helmeted Guineafowl, Cape Bulbul, Reed Cormorant.

My plan is to slowly update this post with each visit to Strandfontein. Feel free to add notes about recent sightings in the comments section below.

David Winter

A bird tour in Gambia (a humorous account from a novice birding spouse)

“It’s more than 40C (104F) and I’m not in charge of anything. I’m ducking from one inadequate scrap of bushy shade to the next behind a straggle of sweating binoculared figures chasing Hassan, our local bird guide. Hassan runs marathons in the Gambian sun.” [Telegraph]

Sage Grouse under pressure (great Sage Grouse lekking video)

For those with slow internet connections I suggest playing the video then pausing it immediately. Wait for it to load completely (wait for the red line to reach the end) and then play it. [Oregonlive]