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Bokmakierie 255 August 2019 Bokmakierie Newsletter of the Witwatersrand Bird Club August 2019 No 255 Wits Bird Club Calendar 2020 Don’t forget to submit your entries for the 2020 Calendar. Below are a couple of excellent photos from last year’s competition that were not featured but are still worth showcasing to our members. Cape Weaver - Photo by Rose Fowler Pied Kingfisher - Photo by Lia Steen Green-winged Pytilia - Photo by Lance Robinson Bokmakierie Newsletter of the Witwatersrand Bird Club August 2019 No 255 Witwatersrand Bird Club Inside this issue: P O Box 641 Cresta 2118 2 Letter from the Chair Tel: 011 782 7267 Fax: 086 512 7696 3 Skomer Island by Anthony Cavanagh Email: [email protected] Web: www.witsbirdclub.org.za 6 Catastrophic breaking news: 537 vul- tures found poisoned in dark day for 2019 Committee: Botswana conservation press release Africa Geographic HON. PRESIDENT: Lance Robinson 8 Waterfall Ringing 2015-2018 by Jim CHAIRMAN: Andy Featherstone McLuskie VICE-CHAIRMAN: Paige Simons 14 Tankwa by Jeanne Thomas TREASURER: Sandy Goodall 16 New Zealand: Land of the Long COURSES: Fiona van Zyl White Cloud by Anthony Cavanagh CONSERVATION: Lance Robinson 24 Tracking our 2019 Bird of the Year by EVENING MEETINGS: Dael Stojakovic Dr Melissa Whitecross WEBSITE Paige Simons 27 The SABAP2 Website, A Treasure Of PROGRAMME: Karin Mitton Information! by Ernst Retief EAST RAND CHAIR: Awie Coetzee 30 Birding in Central Asia 1: Kazakhstan HENLEY-ON-KLIP CHAIR: Ben Botha by Lesley Cornish WEST RAND CHAIR: Koos van Dÿk 34 Trip Reports CLUB SECRETARY: Lauraine Leigh 37 Birding Bonanza, Wakkerstroom NOTICE TO CONTRIBUTORS Bokmakierie is published three times annually. Contribu- 38 Rarities and unusual sightings report: tions may be in Afrikaans or English. English names of birds 30 June 2019 by André Marx should be those used in Roberts VII. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the Editor, Club, the Committee, Members or those of BirdLife South Africa. The Editors reserve the right to edit articles as necessary. This issue of Bokmakierie has been produced and edited by Andy Featherstone and Lance Robinson. COVER PHOTO: Black-winged Kite by Andy Feather- stone MAGAZINE LAYOUT: Andy Featherstone Bokmakierie August 2019 No 255 | 1 4 mm Body top Letter from the Chair with indigenous trees re- vious years, two independent placing the exotics that are judges will select 14 photos gradually being removed. to be showcased on our cal- Planting a tree is a nice way endar. to have a living memorial for Look out for this year’s prize a loved one who has passed, draw; we are raffling a long or to mark a special event weekend at Marrick Safari in one’s life. The weekend in Kimberley during Febru- thereafter will be the Afri- ary 2020. Marrick Safari is Dear Members, can Bird Fair at the Walter renowned for its nocturnal The period from May through Sisulu Botanical Garden, a wildlife such as Aardvark to July is always a quieter magnificent setting in which and Aardwolf. Details will be period for the birding world to display the local world of included in the Weekly Re- and this year has been no ex- birding. Wits Bird Club will be minder and entries can be ception. There has, however, present at the Fair and if you purchased from Lauraine at been a few exceptions. The can assist on one of the two the office or at any of our up- club outing to the Aloe Farm days, just for an hour or two, coming meetings and events. in June was one such event it would be greatly appreci- For those of you who would with the flowers in full bloom ated. It’s an excellent way to like to enhance your bird- in turn attracting quite a num- meet people from the birding ing skills, Lance and Les- ber of frenetic White-bellied community and to see what’s ley will be giving their bird and Amethyst Sunbirds that new in the birding scene. We sounds course at Sediba gave the photographers have scheduled a trip to the Game Lodge near Brits. This great opportunities to snap Soutpansberg over the Sep- is a very popular weekend a few closeups. White-front- tember public holiday long so book early to avoid disap- ed Bee-eaters and Ground- weekend. If you still need a pointment! scraper Thrushes posed on few of those elusive Afrom- the power lines and it was ontane forest specials; you Birding Big Day will be on an enjoyable morning’s walk. should consider joining us Saturday 30th November The Christmas in July after- for this trip. Samson Mulaudzi and we are investigating a noon was great fun, mem- will be our guide and he is an suitable venue for those who bers enjoyed a glass or two expert at finding local rarities. are keen to participate with of glühwein to keep out the On our previous trip, within other members of the club. chill whilst braaing, followed the first half-hour he pointed This year, in addition to a by a few raucous games of out Half-collared Kingfisher, countrywide challenge, there Bird Bingo. African Finfoot and White- will be a provincial challenge to make it fairer for all who With spring looming, we backed Night Heron, all those who are competitive have several events planned along just one short stretch by nature but are not want- to kick-start the new sea- of a river. ing to travel to distant birding son. Saturday 7th will be our The 2020 Bird Photograph hotspots. annual Arbor Day followed competition for next year’s by a talk by Craig Nattrass calendar has opened so we Whatever you decide to take on Bird Ringing. The trees invite you to go through your part in, make sure you enjoy planted on Arbor Day con- photographs, select the best the experience, we try our tribute to the regeneration and send them through to best to please! of a mini forest at Delta Park Lauraine or myself. As in pre- Andy Featherstone 2 | Bokmakierie August 2019 No 255 Skomer Island Text and Photos by Anthony Cavanagh Skomer Island lies about a kilo- metre off the south west coast of Pembrokeshire in Wales and is one of the most important and accessible seabird breed- ing sites in Europe. Skomer supports over half of the world’s breeding population of Manx Shearwaters as well some 25,000 breeding Puffins and many other seabirds. Sue and I had booked a time- share in Wales where we Embarking at Martin’s Haven planned to spend five days be- fore meeting up with family to celebrate a milestone birthday, and while in Wales, visiting Skomer Island was a must for us. Sailings to Skomer are limited to the period 1st April to 30th September and as advance bookings cannot be made; those wishing to sail to Skomer have to join the queue to be among the 250 visitors allowed daily on the island. Clear weather was forecast for the following day but inclement weather was expected for the rest of the week and so early the next morning we set off on what was to be a three-hour drive to Martin’s Haven, and we hoped, to be two of the 250 people allowed daily on the island. Martin’s Haven is not on the GPS and after stopping to confirm that we were on the right road we continued along the extremely narrow lanes for another few kms and arrived at the ticket office at Locksley Lodge. To our great relief we purchased tickets and found that we were on the third boat, which sailed at 11a.m. Martin’s Haven can be described as no more than a small cove in the coastline and a few steps lead- ing to the tiny jetty indicated where one boarded the boat. At the designated hour, we duly embarked on the 50-seater boat and during the 12-minute crossing of the choppy waters, we observed Gannets, cormo- rants and grey seals. After dis- Atlantic Puffin Bokmakierie August 2019 No 255 | 3 4 mm Body top Common Guillemots quick look round and then dart back un- derground. Some of the Puffins obligingly appeared from their burrows very close to the path and posed sportingly for the camera. On the Wick cliffs hundreds of embarking members of the Wildlife Trust seabirds could be seen on the narrowest of South and West Wales welcomed us of ledges with Guillemots gathered on and gave a brief overview of the island. A the lower levels, Kittiwakes midway up few Razorbills sat just above the landing the cliff face and Fulmars sitting slightly dock and afforded a first close up photo higher up. opportunity. Manx Shearwaters were conspicuous by There are some 6.5km of trails along their absence, as when not incubating the high cliffs and across the centre of in their underground burrows, they re- Skomer and one is instructed not to devi- turn to the island only under the cover of ate from the path, as there are thousands darkness. Flocks of Great Black-backed of rabbit and seabird burrows all over the Gulls seen all over the island prey on the island. We headed off on the trail leading to “The Wick” from where we had excel- lent sightings of Guillemot and Razorbills on the rock outcrops. Puffins would sud- denly appear from their burrows, have a Northern Fulmars Razorbills 4 | Bokmakierie August 2019 No 255 Black-legged Kittiwakes Meadow Pipit shearwaters and evidence of this pre- that Skomer Island could offer, Sue and dation could be seen in the remains of I agreed that the 300km round trip from mutilated shearwaters scattered around our timeshare near the Snowdonia Na- in many places.
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