I had tried for the Cinnamon breasted Warbler on three occasions now. Once half-heartedly at Skitteryskloof, wrong time of day and a little late into the season, with time running against us. Twice now at Molteno pass, having heard it once, frustratingly close, but not to be. Karoo Eremomela, similarly was at the wrong time of day at Eierkop, twice I had tried that. In December 2008 it was on my hit list to reach 700 in the calendar year, and in spite of stopping at several known locations, not a squeak.

I fully intended to "get" the little buggers before the end of 2009, so a few postings on the Bird net of successful sightings, in Victoria West and at Molteno Pass accelerated the plan. Allan Ridley needed a whole host of Karoo specials, so a call to him got the ball rolling. One night in Kimberley, two in Beaufort West, and a whole lot of driving were on the cards.

We set off at 4 in the morning, down the N12 through the dreadful succession of traffic lights in Potch and Klerksdorp. A quick stop at the Yellow Shrike's home was probably a little early, and it wasn't around. We didn't want to lose too much time, so carried on.

The N12 is still a mess, with roadworks being carried on all the way from Bloemhof to where the N12 joins the N1, delays at each single lane stretch ranging from 10 to 20 minutes. At Bloemhof we just missed going through one, so we would have had 20 minutes wait. A damn fine excuse to find a dirt track the other side of the river. Allan's first lifer of the trip was found near a bridge back over the Vaal River. A pair of Orange River (huh!?) White Eyes. Interesting birds such as Spike-heeled and Eastern Clapper Larks, Alpine Swifts, Red-breasted Swallows and European Bee-eaters were found along the back road as well.

Refueling car and body in Christiana, we headed back away from the N12, through Jan Kemp Dorp to Spitskop Dam. Waterbirds were excellent, with most of the waders having returned, as well as White-winged and Whiskered Terns, plus a large number of Caspian Terns. Marsh, Common and Curlew Sandpipers, Ruffs, Little Stints, Common ringed Plovers and the resident Kittlitz Plovers were plentiful. Although we were looking specifically for Caspian Plovers in the dry fields in the area and Black tailed Godwits at the dam, we were either a little early, or not quite in the right places. The fields yielded Double-banded Coursers and a family of Orange River Francolins with chicks.

We then drove down towards Dronfield near Kimberley, en route stopping at the saltworks to look for Chestnut-banded Plovers, which we found, together with chicks. We drove or slid our way through some torrential downpours, which fortunately had all but stopped by the time we reached Kimberley. Kamfers Dam was as usual an awesome spectacle of Lesser Flamingos, but the evidence of uncontrolled sewage spilling into the dam were unfortunately all too apparent, from the stench, as well as the water levels that are now so high that the path under the railway is now completely under water.

We got to Dronfield and chatted to Elaine, who OK'ed us doing a night drive to find some Nightjars. After a braai and a few beers, enjoying the calls of Gabar Goshawk and the display flight of a Red-crested Korhaan. Rufous-cheeked Nightjars and Spotted Thick-knees had started calling, so we set off in search of them. Kalahari Kangaroos (Spring Hares) were seen along way. After a relatively short loop we had seen over a dozen Nightjars along the road, allowing pretty good photographic opportunities.

The following morning we went to Benfontein in search of Kimberley Pipits. Eastern Clapper Larks and Cloud Cisticolas were displaying all around. Pipits were very scarce, and following much the same route as I had the previous December with Henry yielded a few African Pipits, and frustratingly out of lens range for a good photo, a single Kimberley Pipit. A single Burchell's Courser flew over the road, then promptly disappeared in the scrub. Swifts were plentiful, with Little, Bradfield's and Alpine Swifts motoring metres above us, the Alpine Swifts' wingbeats were unbelievably loud. Pink-billed Larks and Red-headed Finches were some of the more interesting species seen at a waterhole.

Next stop was the koppie behind Victoria West, in search of the Cinnamon-breasted Warbler. Avoiding the road work plagued N12 as much as possible, we headed out of Kimberley on the Magersfontein road, which was pretty productive. Some Sociable Weavers were found on one of the back roads, but no Pygmy Falcons, although one of the chambers did look like it had been used by them at some stage. Scanning the fields rewarded us with an awesome male Ludwig's Bustard. On arriving on the hilltop outside of Victoria West, the wind was howling. We located the spot where the Warblers had been seen, but there was no sign of them. A quick play of their call attracted not theirs, but the attention of a Layard's Tit-babbler, which I managed some fairly decent photos of. With the wind working against any chance of the Warblers, we sadly headed off to Beaufort West. Meeting up with Japie and Ralie who were just returning from duty in Karoo National Park, we planned the following day, early start at 05h45, starting off searching for the Warbler, now rapidly gaining bastard bird status in Allan's book as well.

We picked up Japie and headed off into the hills. Arriving at the spot where Japie had recently seen the Warbler, we looked around and cursed the weather, overcast and a bit windy. Some Verreaux's Eagles flew over, Malachite Sunbirds, Pale and Red-winged Starlings and a Cape White-eye kept us entertained. Playing the Warbler's call seemed to have no response, when a short while later Allan spotted the bird as it popped into the open on a rock, a fair way up the hillside. Cinnamon-breasted Warbler. TICKED! In spite of a return later that day, any sort of decent photo proved impossible. Various other species were added as we carried on down onto the "plains". A Grey Tit was seen sitting on a fence, another one I had worked hard to find last December, so it was a nice tick for the day. Climbing out of the car to try for a photo, I heard the unmistakeable call of the Eremomelas. They were fairly close, and located in some bushes along the fence line. Try as I could, I couldn't get close enough to get very good photos. But there it was, Karoo Eremomela, two lifers in the space of two hours. For me, a successful trip already. For Allan, more to come. We were about to get back into the car when Japie spotted a Black-eared Sparrowlark flying over the road. this was the first of over a hundred of these birds, which being nomadic are never easy to find. Traveling along this road and back the same way, we continued to add to our trip list. A very obliging Namaqua Warbler was located in a reed bed, with African Reed Warbler squawking away over the road. Two Black Storks were seen at a farm dam, before we stopped at the Warbler spot again, en route to Karoo National Park.

Karoo National Park was not about to disappoint either. I had one of the worst pics imaginable (as bad as my Warblers) of an African Rock Pipit, and really wanted to see this, get a photo of it, as well as Southern Tchagra and Pririt Batis. I was extremely successful on the Pipit front, disappointing record shots of the Tchagra, and a fair shot of a male Pririt, so I couldn't really complain. We ended off the day in the park having a sundowner (without sun!), next to a Cape Penduline Tit nest/roost. This was a long time bogey bird of Allan's. Japie had said they arrive at 17h30. 17h27, three of the minute little birds arrived in a bush on my side of the road. They buggered around for another 15 minutes before one by one opening up the concealed entrance, hopping in, and closing up the entrance again. All in all very entertaining to watch.

The next morning we picked up Japie again, as he had arranged access onto one of the farms. Tractrac Chat and Sclaters Lark were the targets for the morning. All going well we hoped to be on the long road back to Jo'burg by 08h00. All did not go well, we headed out of town and hit some pretty heavy mist. A short wait at the roadside got us another small group of Penduline Tits. We went onto the farm and after a bit of driving around found some Chats. A stop at the water troughs didn't produce anything, so we walked through the barren landscape. These Larks like some really strange habitat! We were about to give up and were driving on our way out when Japie spotted a small group of Larks. Walking after them gave us some distant views, but it didn't look like we were going to get any closer. We decided to call it a day and head on home. Our route was pre-planned to go on the R403 via Prieska, then some back roads through "die Vrystaat", avoiding the road works, and probably not taking any longer than if we had gone the N12 in any case. We picked up Pygmy Falcon just South of Prieska, close to where I got him as my 700th for 2008 last December. There were plenty of Sociable Weaver nests, placing severe strain on the telephone poles on which they had been built. One nest had a Yellow Mongoose nosing around underneath - on closer inspection we found a chick had fallen out of its nest. Harsh as nature is, we left to let it take its course.

A successful trip, which yielded sightings of 208 species, 12 lifers for Allan and 2 for me. Mission accomplished!

Some pictures to species are hyperlinked above, some taken on the trip and some older. A full list of families can be found here