Capped Wheatear ~ De Hoop NR ~ Overberg, South Africa - Dec '17

A three hour drive to De Hoop nature reserve, Overberg from Kirstenbosch at the base of Table mountain, Cape Town, Jono drove and I was look out ..

The drive once off the main road was through continuous rolling plains we were on high alert for Bustards but the harder we tried the worst it became with everything seemingly looking like our target of bustard, bush bird, rock bird even geese became bustards ..

After many stops for fake birds we eventually arrived late afternoon and checked in, the car was then abandoned at reception and off I went for the many Capped Wheatear which were on the short grazed grass amougst the Bontebok and Zebra at this point I had a mini-meltdown the strong wind and sun were the same direction meaning the birds are looking away from the sun so instantly gave up and Left Jono with them, I went towards the trees and had some success with Shrikes and Bokmakierie ..
Later that evening we exchanged what we had achieved, Jono had persevered with the Wheatear and done well ..
The alarm was set for 05:00am but  for me there was only one target bird. I tried quite a few different individuals trying to find a confiding one ..

Capped Wheatear

 

I hardly ever carry binoculars and camera at the same time for me they are one less thing to hold but today I did have both and found a much better use for them than looking through them, if you stand them up with the big front lenses in the dirt you can balance the camera on top as a great support for low level shooting !!

I watched this juvenile for about an hour at first it would sit and wait either in the tunnel chamber entrance or a small scrap just outside patiently out of sight.
The adult must of called although I never heard it and the juvenile would rush out to be fed each time staying out a little longer to the point that it fledged as it never returned to the chamber preferring to move around with its other siblings ..

The feeding of the juvenile by the adult was fascinating so set about photographing it, the adult was quickly in and gone again off catching more insects for the other siblings and not knowing what direction the juvenile would rush out the chamber from made it most challenging but the satifaction of getting the image was wonderful ...

My Image of the Trip

   

Cape Sugarbird ~ South Africa - Dec '17

Cape Sugarbird

High on my targeted want list for South Africa were Sugarbirds and Sunbirds with Malachite probably being my favourite but unfortunately although I did see them they gave no photographic opportunities the same went for Orange-breasted, Southern Double-collared were the most abundant but the males were in moult.

So on to day one December 2nd and in Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, Cape Town feeding on Proteas was a Cape Sugarbird the light wasn't great but the bird performed well ..

  

This male was a real poser ..

Cape Sugarbirds are also endemic.

At Harold Porter Botanical Gardens, Betty's Bay on the 4th there were many more birds feeding on the Proteas in better light, one problem with the gardens is that they don't open until 08:00am and with the sun rising at 05:30am the best of the light had been and gone so it was already beginning to be harsh, and also straying from the tracks to more vegetated areas  for that better angle or another bird had its drawbacks as to the possibility of highly venomous snakes like Puff Adders might of been a little over cautious but more research on this for next time will be useful ..

Would of liked to of seen some tail in this one ..

A bit more of a head turn otherwise pleased with this one ..

My favourite image of the Cape Sugarbird ..

Maybe next time I will try August ..

South Africa ~ Cape Town - Dec '17

A trip to Cape Town, South Africa with Jono Lethbridge mainly a bird photography based trip ...

Took off for a night flight out of Heathrow on December 1st landing at 07:00am on the 2nd with the return night flight leaving Cape Town on the 6th December landing the following morning with British Airways ...

Arrangements were made through Birding Africa to be guided for 3 days, accommodation and car rental which was all perfectly done, the two guides Otto and Campbell were fantastic ..

December 2nd

We were met at the airport by Otto our guide for today, picked up our hire car and headed for Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens a few species were seen on route but the first to be in front on the lens was an Owl ..

Spotted Eagle Owl

Cape Bulbul

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

Hadada Ibis

Southern Double-collared Sunbird

Red-winged Starling

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

Cape White-eye

Southern Double-collared Sunbird

Cape Canary

Swee Waxbill

The birding was fantastic set against a stunning back drop of  Tabletop Mountain and views down over Cape Town, a nice lunch at the restaurant looking out over the gardens then it was on to Strandfontein ...

Black-headed Heron

Blacksmith Lapwing

Hartlaub's Gull

Strandfontein Waterworks

Black-winged Kite

Water Thick-knee

The accomodation was Klein Bosheuwel which was for 3 nights and was only walking distance from the gardens ..

December 3rd

Due to weather conditions with a band of rain moving in a swap around of locations was Campbell's idea to give us the best chance of avoiding the rain and He was spot on ...

Campbell is our guide for 2 days ..

So the morning session was Darling Hills and moving on to West Coast NP for the afternoon ...

Karoo Scrub Robin

Southern Grey Tit

Karoo Lark

Karoo Prinia

Cape Penduline Tit

Three-banded Plover

White-throated Swallow

Kittlitz's Plover

Black Harrier

White-fronted Plover

Grey-backed Cisticola

Blue Crane

December 4th

The morning location was Harold Porter Botanical Gardens then on to Stony Point at the penguin colony and the afternoon session was at Rooi Els Cliffs for Rockjumper ...

Balcony view from Klein Bosheuwel

Cape Sugarbird

Karoo Prinia

Olive Thrush

African Dusky Flycatcher

Orange-breasted Sunbird

Harold Porter Botanical Gardens

Cape Batis

Diederik Cuckoo

African Penguin Colony at Stony Point

Kelp Gull

Cape Cormorant

African Oystercatcher

Crowned Cormorant

Familiar Chat

Stony Point

Cape Rock Thrush

Sentinel Rock Thrush

Sentinel Rock Thrush

Sentinel Rock Thrush

Speckled Dove

Speckled Dove

Cape Bunting

Cape Bunting

Decemer 5th

The long drive leaving at 04:30am out to De Hoop Reserve going through miles of prime Bustard plains on route ..

Agulhas Plains

Capped Wheatear

Crowned Lapwing

Southern Black Korhaan

Fiscal Flycatcher

Bokmarkierie

Speckled Mousebird

Southern Fiscal

The accommodation tonight is an Opstal Cottage ..

December 6th

From first light I spent a good couple of hours with Capped Wheatear at De Hoop before a lovely breakfast at The Fig Tree restaurant ...

Cape Spurfowl

Cape Wagtail

Then it was a drive out to Potberg catching up with Cape Vultures over head before the long drive back through the Agulhas Plains searching for bustards without success ..

The last hour was again at Strandfontein ..

Red-billed Teal

White-breasted Cormorant

Here we packed the cases and had a change of clothes before the 40 minute drive to the airport ..

I finished the trip with 174 species seen ...

Common Ostrich, Spur-winged Goose,

Egyptain Goose, 

South African Shelduck,

Cape Teal, Yellow-billed Duck,

Cape Shoveler, Red-billed Teal,

Hottentot Teal, Southern Pochard,

Maccoa Duck, Helmeted Guineafowl,

Cape Spurfowl, African Penguin,

Northern Giant Petrel,

Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe,

Black-necked Grebe, 

Greater Flamingo,

Lesser Flamingo, White Stork,

African Sacred Ibis, Hadada Ibis,

Glossy Ibis, African Spoonbill,

Black-crowned Night Heron,

Western Cattle Egret, Grey Heron,

Black-headed Heron, Purple Heron,

Little Egret, Great White Pelican,

Cape Gannet Reed Cormorant,

Crowned Cormorant, 

Bank Cormorant,

White-breasted Cormorant, 

Cape Cormorant, African Darter, 

Black-winged Kite, Cape Vulture,

Booted Eagle, African Marsh Harrier,

Black Harrier, Yellow-billed Kite,

African Fish Eagle, Steppe Buzzard,

Jackel Buzzard, 

Southern Black Korhaan, African Rail, Black Crake, African Swamphen, Common Moorhen, Red-knobbed Coot,

Blue Crane, Water Thick-knee,

Spotted Thick-knee, 

African Oystercatcher, 

Black-winged Stilt,

Pied Avocet, Blacksmith Lapwing,

Crowned Lapwing, Grey Plover,

Common Ringed Plover, 

Kittlitz's Plover, Three-banded Plover,

White-fronted Plover, 

Bar-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel,

Marsh Sandpiper, Greenshank,

Wood Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone,

Sanderling, Little Stint, 

Curlew Sandpiper, Ruff, 

Grey-headed Gull, Hartlaub's Gull,

Kelp Gull, Caspian Tern, 

Greater Crested Tern, Sandwich Tern,

Common Tern, Whiskered Tern,

Rock Dove, Speckled Dove,

Red-eyed Dove, Cape Turtle Dove,

Laughing Dove, Namaqua Dove,

Diederik Cuckoo, Spotted Eagle-Owl,

Alpine Swift, African Black Swift,

White-rumped Swift, 

Speckled Mousebird, 

White-backed Mousebird, 

Half-collared Kingfisher,

European Bee-eater, African Hoopoe,

Lesser Honeyguide, 

Knysna Woodpecker, Rock Kestrel,

Cape Batis, Bokmakierie, 

Southern Tchagra, Southern Boubou,

Southern Fiscal, Fork-tailed Drongo,

Blue-mantled Crested Flycatcher,

African Paradise Flycatcher,

House Crow, Cape Crow, Pied Crow,

White-necked Raven, 

Cape Rockjumper, Southern Grey Tit

Cape Penduline Tit,

Agulhas Long-billed Lark, 

Karoo Lark, Large-billed Lark, 

Red-capped Lark, Cape Bulbul,

Sombre Greenbul, Black Saw-wing,

Brown-throated Martin, 

Barn Swallow, White-throated Martin

Pearl-breasted Swallow, Rock Martin

Greater Striped Swallow, 

Cape Grassbird, Grey-backed Cisticola

Levaillant's Cisticola, Neddicky,

Karoo Prinia, Bar-throated Apalis,

Chestnut-vented Warbler,

Cape White-eye, Cape Sugarbird,

Common Starling, Pied Starling,

Red-winged Starling, Olive Thrush,

Karoo Scrub Robin, Fiscal Flycatcher,

African Dusky Flycatcher, 

Cape Robin-Chat, Cape Rock Thrush,

Sentinel Rock Thrush, 

African Stonechat, Capped Wheatear,

Familiar Chat, 

Orange-breasted Sunbird, 

Southern Double-collared Sunbird,

House Sparrow, Cape Sparrow,

Cape Weaver, 

Southern Masked Weaver, 

Southern Red Bishop,

Swee Waxbill, Common Waxbill,

Pin-tailed Whydah, Cape Wagtail,

African Pipit, Long-billed Pipit,

Cape Siskin, Yellow Canary,

Brimstone Canary, 

White-throated Canary, Cape Canary,

Cape Bunting, Bronze Mannakin ...

Not a bad total considering it was a photography based trip ..

Thanks to Jono for your organising and great company ..

Thanks to Birding Africa ..

Thanks to Otto Schmidt and Campbell Fleming our guides which were fantastic ...

A short trip which gave a taster of African Birding which left me wanting more until the next visit !!