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Long-Billed Larks in the Eastern Cape

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Long-Billed Larks in the Eastern Cape Mahela Paradys in die Laeveld miombo mania Club outings Dap Naude Dam Mockford Farm The The Birdlife Polokwane Magazine 36, July/August 2021 Limpokwena Birding hotspot Handicapped Olive Woodpecker • Cape Vulture resightings • Bird names in Northern Sotho • Long-billed larks in the Eastern Cape • Short-clawed Lark longevity • Marabou Stork breeding in the Limpopo Province • A plea for a list of the birds feeding at your bird feeders • African Grey Hornbill predation by a Honey Badger Affiliated to Birdlife South Africa The Lark is the newsletter of Birdlife Featured Polokwane and is published bimonth- 5 ly. It publishes reports of club activities, Mahela 5 The Lark 36 July/August 2021 trip reports, photographic contributions CONTENT Richter Van Tonder deel hulle and any natural history notes of birds or ervarings tydens 'n onlangse Editorial 4 klub uitstappie na dié prag plaas events involving birds. Contributions are naby Letsitele. accepted in English or Afrikaans and are Regulars 5 accepted at the discretion of the editors. Non-members are also welcome to con- Birds in Art 49 Miombo Mania tribute, especially if it is of relevance to 11 Crowned Eagle Don't believe everything you birds or birding in the Limpopo Prov- read or hear about Zimbabwe. ince. When submitting images, please Daniel Engelbrecht recently vis- submit high resolution images without Reflections 55 ited our northern neighbour and Maloutswa Hide – Celebrated says it is still a gold star birding any borders, frames or signatures. Schizophrenia destination. 11 The editors reserve the right to edit ar- Bird Briefs 65 Birding at Dap Naude Dam ticles as necessary. All images are copy- Handicapped Olive Wood- 27 right protected and the property of the pecker • Cape Vulture resight- New member Alan Harrison author/s of the article unless otherwise ings • The standardisation of thought Dap Naude Dam was bird names in Northern So- only good for fishing, until he stated. Please send all your contributions tho • Long-billed larks in the racked up a number of lifers dur- to the editors at [email protected]. Eastern Cape • Missing, pre- ing a recent club outing to the sumed dead: Mokgalaje the Northern Woodbush forests. Short-clawed Lark • Marabou 27 The opinions expressed by contributors Stork breeding in the Limpopo in this newsletter are not necessarily Province • A plea for a list of the birds feeding at your those of the editors, the Birdlife Polok- Limpokwena 2021 bird feeders • African Grey 33 wane committee or Birdlife South Africa. Hornbill predation by a Honey Derek Engelbrecht reports on a Badger field excursion with botany and DEADLINE FOR THE NEXT ISSUE: zoology students to this birding Interesting Sightings 101 paradise on the Limpopo River. 15 August 2021 33 Upcoming events 105 29 This newsletter is best read Mockford Vulture Restaurant 43 in a ‘two page view’ format. The annual mid-winter club outing to the Mockford Farms Vulture Restaurant delivered a number of uncommon species on the Polokwane Plateau. Rich- Cover Cape Starling © Joe Grosel ter Van Tonder reports back. 4323 1 The Lark 36 The Lark 36 2 For a lark ... Editors' chirps The winter solstice brings with it an air of excitement, of new beginnings, and, of course, warmer weather. There is something to be said for birding in winter. The birds seem to behave differently. There is always the chance of an unexpected surprise showing up in our region. In this regard, the talk of the town (or shall we say the SADC region) was the southern hemisphere's first record of a Lesser Whitethroat, which showed up in Marloth Park in Mpumalanga. This is probably a classic example of reverse migration because that bird should have been somewhere in the Palaearctic. It seems pretty iron- ic that Daniel twitched this Palaearctic giga rarity on the 21st of June, the winter solstice! Remember last year this time, we also had a local rarity in Namaqua Sandgrouse just outside Polokwane. That just goes to show that winter birding can be as exciting as in summer, so dress warmly and get out there. We are heading for an exciting time now as the first migrants, mainly in- © Hugh Chittenden tra-African ones at first, will start returning to our neck of the woods. August is a particularly good month for passage migrants, particularly for waders. So, keep a lookout for them and report it to our Birdlife Birdy Bouncers © Dawie De Swardt. Polokwane 100K WhatsApp group as soon as possible as P.O. Box 699 they don't tend to stay long. Fauna Park0787 A special word of thanks to Tel: 015 263 6473 www.birdlifepolokwane.co.za all our contributors to this www.facebook.com/birdlifepolokwane issue. If you haven't submit- ted something to The Lark as PRESIDENT Joe Grosel • CHAIRPERSON Jody De Bruyn • DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON Mark Friskin • SECRETARY Marcia Van Tonder • TREASURERS Nick Baglow and Julia yet, why not take a moment Friskin • WEBSITE AND IT COORDINATOR Jody De Bruyn • PRO AND VENUE CO- and share that interesting ORDINATOR Lisa Grosel • EVENTS CO-ORDINATOR Richter Van Tonder • RESEARCH observation with our readers. AND MONITORING Derek Engelbrecht • NEWSLETTER EDITORS Raelene Engelbrecht and Daniel Engelbrecht • ADDITIONAL MEMBERS Minkie Prinsloo, Conrad Van Raelene and Daniel Tonder, Willem Van der Merwe, Les Reynolds, Johan Janse van Vuuren Lesser Whitethroat © Daniel Engelbrecht 3 The Lark 36 The Lark 36 4 en winderige oggend by Mahela opgedaag. ‘n Skerp bekheuningvoël (Brown-backed Honeybird) het ons naby die hek van die plaas ge- groet. Ons het besluit om tot in die digter bos te ry waar daar bietjie minder wind was en eers 'n koppie koffie te geniet. Hier het ons Geel- vlekmossies (Yellow-throated Bush Sparrow) gekry. Dit was maar stil in dié gedeelte en nadat ons koffie gehad het, het ons aan beweeg na Links Mahela is 'n pragtige stukkie bos in die Laeveld. Onder 'n Akkedisvalk op sy pos by Mahela. Mahela TEKS Richter Van Tonder FOTOS Marcia and Richter Van Tonder at ‘n besonderse stuk ‘n groot verskil in die aantal voël grond! Van wat ons spesies wat in dié stukkie Laeveld kan sien word die gesien kan word. veld byW Mahela so entjie oos van Let- Ons klein groepie van 11 sitele baie goed bestu ur . Dit maak het so 7 uur se kant op 'n koel 5 The Lark 36 The Lark 36 6 'n oper stuk veld. Hier was die area Bo Geelborskleinjantjie (Yellow-breasted Apalis). Visvangers (Striped Kingfisher) soos ‘n stuk park gebied met baie gesien het en ook twee Bosveld- groot, breëblaar bome wat redelik koesters (Bushveld Pipit). Die plaas gespassieerd was en met kort gras het heelwat wild soos koedoes, tussen in. (Arnot's Chat)! Dié outjies het baie njalas, rooibokke, kameelperde, Dadelik kon mens optel dat mooi vir ons vertoon en was heel baie vlakvarke en seekoeie. Daar daar meer aktiwiteit was. Hier het bedrywig tussen die droeë bome. was ‘n geslote kamp met wilde- ons uitstekende laeveld spesie ge- Dit is meer bekend dat die Bont- honde ook! sien en gehoor, o.a. Grootblouoor- piek in die noorde van die Kruger glansspreeus (Greater Blue-eared Wildtuin gesien word. Hier was Starling), Geelborskleinjantjie hulle sommer naby ons en ons kon (Yellow-throated Apalis), Grys- hulle buite ‘n voertuig besigtig. Bo Die Bontpiek (Arnot's Chat) was kapokvoël (Grey Penduline Tit), Hierna het ons stadig aanbe- die hoogtepunt van die dag. Breëkoparend (Martial Eagle) en weeg, nogsteeds in dieselfde stuk Regs Mahela het 'n teelprogram vir die hoogtepunt - vier Bontpieke veld, waar ons heelwat Gestreepte die bedreigde Wildehond. 7 The Lark 36 The Lark 36 8 Daar is ‘n paar groot damme weeg en langs een van die damme op die plaas wat baie watervoëls te stop oppad uit. ‘n Groot seekoei lok. Ons het toe beweeg na die lapa het ons vermaak en hier het ons op die plaas en oppad soontoe het ook Visarende kon opteken. Ons ons Swarthelm- (Retz’s Helmet- totaal vir die dag was 105 spesies. shrike) en Withelmlaksmanne Baie dankie aan Edward Vor- (White-crested Helmetshrike) ster wat ons die geleentheid geb- gekry. Hier kon ons onder groot ied het om op sy wildsplaas te kon skadubome middagete geniet. Blou- voëls kyk. Ook dankie aan almal grysvlieëvanger (Ashy Flycatcher) wat dit bygewoon het. Ons het dit en Papegaaiduiwe (African Green almal baie geniet. Pigeon) het hier mooi vertoon in Outeur se e-pos: [email protected] een van die groot vyebome by die lapa. Daar was besonder baie voël aktiwiteit rondom die lapa asook heelwat skoenlappers en akkedisse. Onder Almal teenwoordig was in hulle noppies met die Ons het toe besluit om terug te be- dag se voëllysie. Seekoei 9 The Lark 36 The Lark 36 10 Reënboogakkedis - wyfie Below A male Buff-streaked Chat at La Fleur was one of the highlights of the week © Derek Engelbrecht. long-time family friend and a leg- end in Zimbabwean birding) and I developed a rough trip plan con- sisting of three core areas. Firstly, we would focus our attention on the Miombo wood- lands and wetlands surrounding the capital city of Zimbabwe – Ha- rare. We would then move north- east and spend a few nights along the banks of the Mazoe River in search of some woodland specials before heading back to Harare for one night. The final stretch would then consist of three nights birding the infamous Eastern Highlands. This area promised to deliver many a lifer. For ease of reading - and to assist anyone planning a trip to Zimbabwe - I provide a daily breakdown of the sites visited and the species encountered in each of the areas.
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