Tropical Birding - Trip Report South Africa: Fairest Cape to Kruger, September 2019 A Tropical Birding SET DEPARTURE tour South Africa: Fairest Cape to Kruger 5-22 September 2019 Eastern endemics and Drakensberg Extension 22-28 September 2019 TOUR LEADER: Crammy Wanyama Report and photos by Crammy Wanyama Malachite Sunbird see at a few locations Despite the continued drought that has hit South Africa and the fires that are both controlled and wild, we managed to have a fantastic trip. The conditions made finding birds a little harder, but we did very well with most of our targets. The results for the main tour were incredibly impressive from the Cape to the www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] p.1 Tropical Birding - Trip Report South Africa: Fairest Cape to Kruger, September 2019 mountainous forests of Wilderness, to the much drier but clear-skied Karoo and the Guetang and Mpumalanga provinces that we visited. Wakkerstroom’s grasslands and Kruger’s wooded habitats in Mpumalanga, although dry, presented a whole lot of birds that delighted our greedy eyes. The extension to the more greener and forested Kwazulu-Natal treated us to its range restricted forest species that we so desired to see. We enjoyed an excellent mammal experience and magnificent scenery that this vast country offers. Photography for the casual photographers among the group was great, and we had a clean sweep on highly desired families like rockjumpers, turacos, and others, before returning home with over 480 species of birds for the entire trip. Day 1 - September 6, 2019: Birding Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens By September 6, we had every participant of the tour in Cape Town. It was nice outside, with pleasant birding weather. We decided to start in the afternoon with the botanical gardens to collect a few endemics and see one of the most significant botany collections in the world. Sightings of the magnificent Southern Double- collared Sunbird and a roosting pair of Spotted Eagle-Owl at the beginning qualified our start as “fancy”. Spotted Eagle-Owl were among the first birds we saw on our first day. www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] p.2 Tropical Birding - Trip Report South Africa: Fairest Cape to Kruger, September 2019 We covered the facility’s well-attended microhabitats in search for species that would favor particular spots. The Cape Robin-Chat, Sombre Greenbul, Cape White-eye, Cape Bulbul, and Olive Thrush showed up at several spots, the Southern Boubou skittishly fed in the thick cover. We also had great looks at very well sun- lit Common Waxbills. The African waxbill species have brilliant colours; all that is needed at a sighting is perfect lighting. We saw the Cape Batis and a pair of Lemon Doves feeding in the thicker forest grounds; this is typical of this dove species. We explored the proteas and the surroundings and got more endemics among which the extremely long-tailed Cape Sugarbird, Malachite and Orange-breasted Sunbirds, Forest Canary, Cape Francolin and Cape Canary showed up very well. The sky gave us quick looks at Cape Town’s widely spread Red-winged Starlings, Rameron Pigeons, Red-eyed Dove and a pair of Cape Crows. Quite a lengthy list of birds for a simple afternoon walk. We returned to our accommodation, and after a few minutes, we visited a nearby restaurant and enjoyed very fresh seafood that was swimming earlier in the day. The team tried enjoyed wines in the world’s wine capital. Brilliant views of female and male Cape Sugarbirds Day 2 – September 7, 2019: Pelagic Trip and Birding the Southern Part of the Peninsular The weather forecasts reported excellent conditions for this day; sunny with tolerable temperatures. The Pelagic trip went, and the results on return were awe-inspiring. With the remaining team, we visited Boulder’s Beach and got a pleasant experience with the all-year resident African Penguins. We proceeded to the Table Mountains National Park, where we visited the Cape Point, and the Cape of Good Hope which happens to be the furthest South-western point on the African Continent. We scanned the nearby and far away rocks and over the Ocean and saw African Black Oystercatcher, four species of Cormorants; Cape, Crowned, Great and a few Bank. A few Cape Gannet also showed up, Swift Tern and Common Ostrich walking through the fynbos. www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] p.3 Tropical Birding - Trip Report South Africa: Fairest Cape to Kruger, September 2019 Male Cape Sugarbird We connected with our Pelagic team and headed for the False Bay Nature Reserve. The sewage ponds complex here is a perfect birding habitat that attracts a couple of grassland and shower birds. A birding drive here sees a surprisingly good percentage of South African Duck species and 50% of the continent’s flamingo species. While entering the reserve, we saw Zitting and Levaillant’s Cisticolas, Cape Longclaw, Ring-necked Dove, Greater Flamingo, and three species of Ibis; Hadada, Sacred and Glossy. We saw Cape Shoveller, Cape and Hottentot Teals, Red-billed, Yellow-billed and Maccoa Ducks, Southern Pochard, South African Shellduck, Spur-winged Goose, Red-knobbed Coot, Eurasian Moorhen, African Swamphen, Pied Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, our first Common Greenshank, Little and Eared Grebe, Great White Pelican, White Stork, and African Marsh Harrier and so much more. Day 3 – September 8, 2019: Birding West Coast National Park and the Surroundings An early morning start saw us to the mountains that are northeast past West Cape National Park. In the windy weather, we managed to find most of our targets. The few stops we did, brought a couple of birds that are easier in this part of the country and challenging in other parts that the tour covers. We saw a few widespread birds this morning that included South Africa’s National bird; the Blue Crane, the very vocal Bokmakierie, Fiscal Flycatcher and Southern Fiscal. For the birds of prey, we got excellent views of Jackle Buzzard, Black Kite, Black-winged Kite, Rock Kestrel, Pale Chanting Goshawk and the Vulnerable Black Harrier. We did an excellent job finding a few small brown birds that some birders like to refer to as little brown jobs and they included; Grey-backed Sparrow-Lark, Capped Wheatear, Lark-like Bunting, Chestnut-vented Warbler, African Hoopoe, Large-billed, Red-capped, Cape Clapper and Cape Larks. In the mountains, we found Protea Canary, Cape Grassbird, Red-backed Cisticola, Orange-breasted Sunbird and very nicely observed Cape Rock Hyrax. www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] p.4 Tropical Birding - Trip Report South Africa: Fairest Cape to Kruger, September 2019 Southern Double-collared Sunbird After delicious fresh seafood lunch at Langebaan, we proceeded to the West Coast National Park. The park’s looked great, with a very well-vegetated habitat all around and our visits to the bird hides and on the drives, we were able to see Arctic, Common, Sandwich, Swift and Caspian Terns and Lesser Flamingo. A single Little Stint was feeding close to three Curlew Sandpipers and a few White-fronted Plovers. Through the bushes, we saw Bar-throated Apalis, Southern Penduline Tit a guide only Cloud Cisticola view and Black Bustard among others. Day 4 – September 9, 2019: Birding to Gordon’s Bay This morning saw us off towards the east, getting to Harold Porter Botanical Gardens and beautiful surrounding birding spots. Some of the targets today included endemics like the Cape Siskin which we saw very nicely on the ground in a less than 4 metres reach, Alpine and White-rumped Swifts, Verreaux’s Eagle and Familiar Chat. In the effort to find the Cape Rockjumper, we only managed to hear them calling but got views of the Ground Woodpecker and Victorin’s warbler that would require a better. www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] p.5 Tropical Birding - Trip Report South Africa: Fairest Cape to Kruger, September 2019 Cape Rock Hyrax Day 5 – September 10, 2019: Birding De Hoop National Park to Bontebok NP and Surroundings Grey-winged Francolin at De Hoop National Park www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] p.6 Tropical Birding - Trip Report South Africa: Fairest Cape to Kruger, September 2019 Daylight caught up with us in the Agulhas Plains where we scanned the fields for new birds among which some individuals we had seen earlier. After a proper breakfast at Bredasdorp, we scanned the bushes and the fields for ground-dwellers. The Southern Red Bishop breeding colonies and Klaas’s Cuckoo were among our first sightings. The Agulhas Long-billed Lark was easy to find as they fed and patched on ground and farm fence poles. We god great looks at hundreds of African and a few Long-billed Pipits, three deferent sightings of displaying Denham’s Bustards, Cloud Cisticola, a very nice Martial Eagle that was drinking at one of the farm and two skittish Grey-winged Francolins. When we arrived at De Hoop National Park, the Bontebok Antelope that had at one point been near extinction, was the first mammal we saw. Our drive around the park was suitable for four individuals of the Southern Tchagra. On heading to our accommodation we got two sightings of paired Karoo Bustards, these, we had struggled to find earlier. Denham’s Bustard at Agulhas Plains Day 6 – September 11, 2019: Birding to Wilderness after a Beautiful Morning Drive at Bontebok NP Our visit to Bontebok targeted a subspecies of Cape Lark, and yes, we did get great views of displaying individuals, which followed much hope right from the entrance into the park, three individuals were calling.