2017 Rare and Unusual Bird Sightings In South African National Parks (apart from Kruger) The records listed in this document are courtesy of Trevor Hardaker’s SA Rare Bird Network (SARBN) at [email protected], submissions via the SANParks website, or direct contact between birders and SANParks staff. They reflect birds that are considered rare, vagrant or accidental in the parks, or that reflect highly unusual behaviour or special sightings. To learn of these sightings more currently follow Chris_SANParks on Twitter (www.twitter.com) April 2017 Addo Elephant National Park A CAPE VULTURE was reported on the Ngulube Loop in Addo National Park on Good Friday the 14th of April, which is very unusual for this part of the Eastern Cape… Agulhas National Park BLUE-CHEEKED BEE-EATER – UPDATEs: – still reported as present in the Park on 14th and 15th of April… © Andrew Hodgson Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters on the Agulhas Plains © Vernon Slabbert BLUE-CHEEKED BEE-EATER - several birds (present since January) still in place today in the usual spot on the Agulhas Plains on Saturday 8th of April… Birds that spend their non-breeding season in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and northern KZN (they breed in North Africa, the Middle East and India and usually migrate to tropical Africa, so are usually only found in the northeasterly parts of South Africa in our summer) usually depart late March to April, so it will be interesting to record when the Agulhas birds disappear… Blue-cheeked Bee-eater on the Agulhas Plains © Sandy Sutherland Garden Route National Park Wilderness Section The BLACK HERONS were still in place on the 5th of April in the channel between Rondevlei and Langvlei in Wilderness. Nature’s Valley Section There was local consternation when a male BLACK-EARED SPARROW-LARK was located along the road down into Nature’s Valley on the 3rd of April, a very unusual record for the area, mainly because it is not the typical Karoo habitat this nomadic species is associated with. Black-eared Sparrow -lark near Nature’s Valley © Phil Penlington Mokala National Park A GREY-HEADED KINGFISHER was reported from Stofdam Bird Hide in Mokala National Park on the 8th of April, well out of range. Grey-headed Kingfisher in Mokala National Park © Nicky Smith Also of interest, a male LONG-TAILED PARADISE WHYDAH was reported along the road to Stofdam Bird Hide as well. A DUSKY LARK was still present in Mokala National Park on the 10th of April, while other good records for the park on the 10th included a TINKLING CISTICOLA and a LONG-TAILED PARADISE WHYDAH, both rather unusual for the area and usually associated with further north in Limpopo or North-West. Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park A GREY-HEADED KINGFISHER was reported from Auchterlonie in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park on 9th of April, well out of range for this species. Grey-headed Kingfisher at Auchterlonie © Greg Hudson Tankwa Karoo National Park NORTHERN SHOVELER – UPDATES: Still present at Oudebaaskraal Dam over the Easter weekend on the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th of April… Northern Shoveler at Oudebaskraal Dam © Tony Archer The male NORTHERN SHOVELER was relocated again late on the afternoon of the 12th at Oudebaaskraal Dam in the Tankwa Karoo National Park after having done a bit of a disappearing act for a little while. It certainly bodes well for Easter weekend twitchers who are planning to head through there, so let’s hope that it continues to play ball. Northern Shoveler at Oudebaskraal Dam © Richard Craw shaw Just a few extra facts about this species… it winters in quite a large area of sub-Saharan Africa with perhaps the largest numbers reaching East Africa, particularly in Kenya, where thousands arrive during the non-breeding season. Literature that I have consulted suggests that these birds begin their northward journey again mostly from the end of February through to the middle of March with a few stragglers staying into the first week of April. The distance between some of the Rift Valley lakes in Kenya (where large numbers congregate) and the Tankwa Karoo National Park is probably in the order of around 5 000 km. Assuming this bird is averaging 80km/h in flight and flying an average of 8 hours a day (based on facts cited in literature, not my own thumb- sucks…), it is probably covering a distance of just over 600km every day. It’s obviously all circumstantial, but a bird that leaves Kenya around the middle of March and mistakenly heads south instead of north, a phenomenon known as “reverse migration”, would probably reach Oudebaaskraal Dam around 9 or 10 days later… at the end of March or beginning of April… enough said… NORTHERN SHOVELER – the news does not seem particularly good at this point in time at midday on the 12th, but let’s hope that it changes for the better. There were birders at Oudebaaskraal Dam in the Tankwa Karoo National Park yesterday looking for the bird and there have also been several birders working the dam for the first half of today as well but, as yet, no- one has reported the bird and the last time that it was definitely seen was on Monday morning on the 10th before lunch time. Further updates as and when I receive them. NORTHERN SHOVELER – reported on Saturday the 8th and Monday the 10th at the eastern end of the dam… Northern Shoveler tw itchers at Oudebaskraal Dam © Pieter la Grange NORTHERN SHOVELER – still present on the 6th and 7th boding well for twitchers who want to travel to the Park over the weekend… NORTHERN SHOVELER – due to the lack of cellphone reception in the area, it takes a while to get the updates through but the good news is that the male bird is still present on the 5th of April at Oudebaaskraal Dam in the Tankwa Karoo National Park – reported by Kevin Drummond–Hay. NORTHERN SHOVELER – the male bird is still present on the 4th of April at Oudebaaskraal Dam in the Tankwa Karoo National Park and was present again on the eastern end of the dam about 200m right of the fence that runs across the dam – reported by Robin Gray and John Glendenning. NORTHERN SHOVELER - the male bird is still present today at Oudebaaskraal Dam in the Tankwa Karoo National Park on Monday 3rd April - reported by John and Greta Graham and Trevor Hardaker. Northern Shoveler at Oudebaaskraal Dam © Trevor Hardaker Please see the following information about this sighting courtesy of Trevor Hardaker – Chairman of the Birdlife South Africa Rarities Committee Vagrant ducks are always going to be contentious in terms of whether they are genuine vagrants or escapees, but one has to assess each individual record independently. I am not going to tell you that it is definitely a genuine vagrant as I don’t have the ability to do that, but I will tell you that this record has a lot of very good credentials going for it, so I will leave the decision totally up to you to decide whether to twitch it or not. However, I have personally already been to do so and I would strongly encourage the rest of you to think about doing it as well… This species is a long distance migrant which winters every year in sub-Saharan Africa (compare with some other species like, for example, Common Shelduck, for which there is virtually no precedent for birds occurring south of the Sahara). There are a number of previous records of this species in the sub-region, so there is precedent for vagrancy to Southern Africa, be it overshoots early in the austral summer or reverse migrants in autumn. It is at a locality that is very remote and far from any urban areas. It is also an oasis in the middle of the Tankwa Karoo desert and has an astonishing amount of bird diversity and numbers on the dam. The timing of this record is spot on for a reverse migrant of this species turning up here. The bird is extremely skittish and we could not approach it to within any reasonable distance at all before it would fly. It is a very strong flier and there appears to be no damage or wear at all to any of its feathers like one might expect in a captive bird. Although we could only view it at a distance through a scope, we could not see any obvious signs of the bird being ringed. Some further info on the locality… depending on where you leave from in Cape Town, it is about a 3,5 – 4 hour drive to get to the dam. The dam is rather large and a scope will be a huge advantage in helping to look for the bird, if not even a necessity if the bird is on the far side of the dam. It is best to try and get there as early as possible as the heat haze builds up rather quickly which can then make viewing distant subjects more difficult. The dam is best covered from the northern shoreline and, today, the bird was over on the eastern end of the dam near where the inlet channel enters the dam. We viewed it from -32.396, 19.931. Please also remember that, once you leave Ceres heading northwards, you have very little to no chance of finding supplies, whether it be fuel, food or drinks, along the way, so make sure that you are well prepared for this. There is also no cell phone reception from about 50km north of Ceres, so you will be out of contact for the last 1,5 hours of your trip before you reach the dam.