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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]

Here’s a video about the American Bird Conservancy’s initiative to promote conservation through tourism in Latin America. I guess it’s like the BLSA birding route concept, but on a different scale.

Watching the 8 African Openbills at Strandfontein on Saturday evening (entrance road on eastern side of Zeekoevlei) I did wonder what they were eating. Each bird was actively probing the sand, but it wasn’t possible to see what they were feeding on.

Jonathan Ball had an interesting experience with an African Openbill in his garden on 28 February, which provides a bit of insight into what they eat . Here’s an excerpt from his email sent to Callan Cohen on 28 February 2010:

“Eating lunch in our lounge at 13h00, saw the African Openbill in the stream again. It clearly had a whole crab in its mouth. I went and got my wife’s little Canon digital camera. The bird would not let me get too close. I took a few images (not brilliant) but diagnostic. The single bird by this stage had just the crab meat in the gap of its beak. It then flew off (north-westwards). I found the remnants of the freshwater crab carapace (images included).”

I had a quick look at Roberts Birds of Southern Africa VII Edition, PAR Hockey et al this morning, which says they eat snails, occasionally bivalves and frogs. It also says:

“May leave bivalve molluscs in sun to open before eating them, sometimes collecting and placing 50-60 mussels on shore until they open spontaneously. These sites sometimes reused and shells accumulate.”

Very interesting. No mention of crabs, so perhaps Jonathan’s record is a first? Has anyone else noticed what the African Openbills in your area are feeding on?

David Winter

A quick visit to Strandfontein sewage works on Saturday evening resulted in these photos of a Purple Heron trying to swallow a rather large Vlei Rat [I stand corrected here, but this is what I think it is - can anyone confirm?].

Swallowing a rodent this size is clearly not easy so the heron spent about 15 minutes dipping the rat into the “water” (actually a cocktail of sludge and other unmentionables) to aid swallowing.

After several dunkings and a few swallow attempts it was finally ingested.

A quick search revealed similar images, but with a Grey Heron and a rabbit. The link mentions that the prey is dunked in the water to drown it. Drowning may be a result, with mammals anyway, but I feel the real reason is to aid the swallowing process. Any comments or thoughts on this?