Reaching 700 in a year, 31/12/2008

 

Last year I had quite a big birding year. I had started the year on a life list of 600, and then set myself a target (which I then thought impossible) of reaching the same total during the year of 2008. I achieved this by early August, and then toyed with the idea of 650 being possible. By early December I realised I could possibly get to 700 species seen in one year. I did a quick solo trip to Kruger before Christmas, then with 17 birds to go I went on a mammoth trip to get them. The report is as follows:

 

Christmas eve through to boxing day were spent quietly (on the birding front) mostly with family and friends. On the 27th I embarked on my epic journey to find the 17 birds, with possible targets of 9 in Kimberley, 9 in Beaufort and 2 in Wilderness National Park.

 

I travelled via Spitskop dam, a wader haven - I saw and photographed Caspian, White winged and Whiskered Terns in one frame. The size difference between the Terns was quite apparent, Caspian obviously huge, and something I had not observed before, the White winged noticeably smaller than their Whiskered cousins. I was looking for Black tailed Godwits, and had advice from Mark Anderson and Andrew Stainthorpe on where to find them. Well, I managed to get well and truly stuck in deep black mud! With a trench shovel I dug myself out once, and got stuck a metre further. I set off on a 4km hike to the fishing area in search of someone with a bakkie to tow me out. A few hundred metres and I met a local man with his cattle - I had to speak Afrikaans to him, which I am not too good at, but we managed to communicate enough to understand my predicament! We headed up to some houses where there was a guy with a bakkie - as we crested the hill, the bakkie was disappearing in a cloud of dust! There were a group of people at one of the houses, with a freshly slaughtered goat hanging in a tree. An old man under the tree told us his daughter had just got married and they were having a feast the next day. We explained my little problem, and the voice of years of experience, the old man said no problem, grawe (the word for spades I think?) and klippe would sort it out. 8 of them and I set of to my car, and shortly we had extracted it from the mud, and all had a celebratory beer! I proceeded on up the bank of the dam, but when I came to a loose shale flood water river bed, decided against carrying on and getting stuck again, the Godwits (also a lifer) will just have to wait for another time.

 

I arrived in Kimberley in the afternoon and checked in at Dronfield - an amazing place to stay, tranquil, only 6 chalets there, and you can also get out and walk about if you want or need to. On the way down I picked up Lesser Kestrels, reducing the total required to 16. I was allowed to drive at night, getting Rufous cheeked Nightjar, total needed now 15.

 

In the morning, I picked up Henry, the guide who stays at Dronfield. I had given him a list of target birds: Caspian Plover and Pygmy Falcon (too far, Volstruispan and Rooipoort to the West of Kimberley), Bradfield's Swift (easy, got at Benfontein and again at Dronfield), Orange River White eye (not found, way too windy in the areas we tried), Burchell's Courser (several Double Banded, one suspected BC seen landing 50 metres away, it was not ticked), Pink billed Lark (difficult I was told, but we had two sightings and I got a reasonable photo of them at Benfontein), Kimberley Pipit (lifer!), seen at Benfontein on 3 occasions, as were African Pipits, giving a good comparison. We hunted for Pririt Batis at Dronfield near the Chalets, and got a reasonable but brief look at one. I left Henry and set off on the long trek to Knysna, where I planned to stay with friends of friends. On the way down I though this through and was going to camp at George, closer to Wilderness, a phone call and getting told in season R260 for a camp site!!? I then thought a bit, and called Wilderness NP, they had 3 camping sites left, at R175, much better, earlier start, and cheaper. I eventually arrived there at 20h30, having gone through some awesome scenery between Beaufort West and Oudtshoorn, as well as a nasty hailstorm. As I found in Kruger, people are extremely friendly when you're on your own, the neighbours came and offered me hot water if I needed a cup of coffee instead of my beer - I thanked them and politely declined, preferring a few frosties before getting some sleep - another early morning coming up! 11 to go...

 

05h00 - the drill was to do Half collared Kingfisher trail - roughly 4km to the waterfall and return, targets Knysna Warbler and Knysna Woodpecker. I expected the Warbler to be difficult and the Woodpecker easy - it turned out the other way around, I heard the Warbler and he popped out of the bush for brilliant views. I saw two more on the way and even got a mediocre snap of one peering out the bush at me. The Woodpecker eluded me until I was on the way back, I heard a shrill whistle and located it high in the tree, again a mediocre snap of one, but mission accomplished and 2 lifers to boot. 9 to go. Japie Claasen in Beaufort West said he could probably get me 7 - panic starts setting in. Phone call to a friend, Mike Buckham - Curlew and Bar tailed Godwit, easy, Gamtoos River mouth - a detour to Beaufort West!

 

Off I set, not thinking about the nightmare traffic getting through Knysna, resulting in an hours delay. Again some great countryside, I arrived at Gamtoos shortly after 15h00. An easy 2-300m stroll up the river to the mud flats I was told - ah, I realized this was before all the rain, mudflats have moved 500m upstream and are inaccessible, I was looking straight into the sun through a scope which was getting blown about in the strong wind (I was near the windy city after all!). Having managed to fall and get the scope and camera nicely muddy, I decided to call it a day and head to Japie’s place. ETA per Garmin, 21h30. With 2 petrol stops and traveling around 10km/h over the speed limit, I got this down to 21h00. Japie’s wife fed me some pasta and Japie and I discussed strategy: It was to be Karoo NP first, and then on to hunt for Cinnamon Breasted Warblers.

 

Morning of the 30th, 05h30 we set off to the park, arriving just before 6 - gates only open at 6, booms at 7, we had some time to kill. We slowly drove through the park, picking up Layard’s Tit Babbler and Karoo Long billed Lark - these hadn't been on my wishlist to Japie, so were welcome and much needed extra year birds! We looked for Karoo Eremomela in a known stake out, nothing! Cape Penduline Tit next, went to his nest site, and there he was, lifer! Namaqua Warbler was seen next, in reeds near the river bed. Around the corner, Southern Tchagra - I had though it would be similar to Brown-crowned, but the large bill and very rufous wing panel are diagnostic. Another two lifers! 5 down in 3 hours. Now the long slog was to start - we headed 80km along a dirt road, looking for the Warbler, African Rock Pipit, Eremomelas and Grey Tit. It was hot and very dry, and no sign or sound of any of the target birds. A bit of water in one of the river beds was very productive. We returned through Beaufort West with no additions to the list, and headed up the road North East of the town. We managed to locate a Rock Pipit, I had to make sure Japie saw it too, to confirm my ID - it was hopping in and out of bushes, on and behind rocks, eventually Japie got onto it and confirmed it was indeed the Pipit we had been looking for. (Lifer!) No Warbler once again. I had 6, needed 3, and really didn’t want to head back towards Kimberley needing 3. We headed to Steenbokkies, where Japie stays, and were looking for Sclaters Lark. Japie said he'd show me the nest, so it would be a compromise in case we didn’t see the Larks. He told me on the way that he'd only ever seen Karoo Eremomela and Grey Tit on the farm once, so I wrote those off. We saw a small flock of Sclater’s Larks, a long way off, but identifiable - another lifer. We got to the windmill, where there is a small water trough. We parked the car and had a few sundowners - very soon after arriving a group of Sclater’s arrived, I got some nice shots of them. Next thing, two small birds flew into a shrub a few metres away. Grey Tits! Lifer! I took some photos, but they were a little far away. I set the camera on the side of the car with a bean bag, waiting for the Larks to settle at the water again. Japie and I chatted and had a beer or 2, next thing one of the Tits landed on my wing mirror! Too close to photograph, and it and I getting a fright. Japie had exceeded his 7, I had got 8 birds with him and was sitting on 699. We headed back to the house, me off for a quick swim and shower, and then to dinner with Japie and his family. His daughter made us a lovely stew, which went down well with a couple of beers.

 

My target for 700 was now Pygmy Falcon. I intended to head to Prieska, and if I hadn't found it by then, drive West until I found it! Loads of Lesser Kestrels, some Buzzards, and then an awesome sight - a shadow passed across my car - an adult Black Harrier was now keeping pace with me, flying 5 metres to the right of the car - what a sight! Unfortunately, even on that deserted main road, it was not possible to drive at 40km/h, keep pace with the bird, and take a photo, all I got was a wing tip. I carried, on, 50 km to go, 20km to go, hang on, here start the Sociable Weavers nests... At 10 km to go to Prieska, there sat a tiny male Pygmy Falcon, mission accomplished, 700 birds! A quick call to Debbie - OK she said, you can come home now, well done! While there, I decided to go down to the river at Prieska and try my luck at Orange River White eye - I got to the river, saw a lovely photogenic female Giant Kingfisher. I played the call of the White eye briefly, and soon had one hop out to see who I was, and very quickly hop back into the bushes. A couple of Willow Warblers also came to see who was disturbing the peace. 701 - now even if they lump the Camaropteras, I still had 700! Time to go home.

 

I got home a touch before 5, some ice cold beers, a swimming pool and a welcoming wife and couple of dogs. 3525km traveled in 5 days, 5 provinces visited, 9 lifers, and 18 year birds. What an experience, and what fun doing it!

 

Some trips which contributed to this total are as follows:

 

February 2008: 10 day trip to Zimbabwe: Harare, Marondera, then Aberfoyle and bVumba in the Eastern Highlands. Over 50 lifers were added on this trip! This was along with Allan Ridley, Kevin Ravno and Dewald Swanepoel

 

April/May 2008: Debbie and I travelled to Creighton via Lesotho, picking up most of the specials there in the rain and mist. In Creighton, with Malcom Gemmel and joined by Sue Welman, one of the targets was Black-rumped Buttonquail, which we tried and tried, with no success. Heading on from there, to Ongoye forest, we picked up lifers being Green Barbet, and Mangrove Kingfisher at Mtunzini, Spotted Ground Thrush at Dlinza

 

July/August 2008: 3 week trip to Mozambique, visiting Hyliota Camp for Olive headed Weavers, going as far up as Caia, mounting Gorongosa and returning through Zimbabwe, stopping over at bVumba for 2 nights. This trip was along with Ben and Corrie du Toit, Pieter & Anita & their son Pieter (jnr) Le Grange, Dalena Mostert and Cecilia Labuschange.

 

September 2008: A quick weekend trip to Blouberg Nature Reserve, in search of a Ruppell’s Vulture. In addition to the guide having a family problem which caused him to miss our appointment, the awesome spectacle of thousands of Cape Vultures on a far off cliff, made the task extremely difficult, we failed, but enjoyed the birding nonetheless. Southern White-faced Scops Owl posing for photos was a highlight. This trip was made possible due to an invite from Ian and Claire Grant, always great company!

 

October 2008: My first ever pelagic trip with Cape Town Pelagics. Every pelagic bird seen apart from the White-chinned Petrel was a lifer. Debbie, my dad and I drove to Cape Town for this one, stopping at Tankwa National Park on the return trip, picking up White-throated and Black headed Canary as lifers and amongst others Black-eared and Grey-backed Sparrowlarks for the year.

 

Several shorter and day trips (lifers in brackets) included destinations such as:

 

-          Zaagkuildrift and Kgomo Kgomo (River Warbler, Olive Tree Warbler)

-          Marievale (Sedge Warbler, African Reed Warbler)

-          Nylsvlei, the Limpopo CWAC at Mapungubwe/Den Staat and Pafuri (Dwarf Bittern and second ever Lesser Moorhen),

-          A twitch to Richard’s Bay and Muzi Pan (Crab Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Lesser Crested and Little Tern, Osprey, Pacific Golden Plover, Rufous winged Cisticola, Rudd’s Apalis, my first South African Pel’s Fishing Owl)

-          Two atlassing trips to Madikwe Game Reserve, along with Kevin Ravno and Hanno Langenhoven. Thanks go to North West Parks board for their kind permission for us to survey the park.

-          Some visits to Pilanesberg with Debbie and the Makanyane Volunteers

-          A misty, raining Kaapsehoop (Striped Flufftail and Bush Blackcap) with Kevin Ravno and joined by Liz and Neil Baker from Tanzania on the Sunday.

-          Ntsikeni unsuccessfully hunting for the Eurasian Bittern

-          Two “twitching“ dashes out to Centurion (Franklin’s Gull – thanks Kevin), and Leeuwpan near Leandra (Lesser black-backed Gull-thanks to the birding fishermen!)

-          Some trips out to Ian’s plot in Muldersdrift, searching for the elusive Red winged Francolins, eventually added in November 2008

-          A solo weekend atlassing trip to Botsalano Game Reserve in North West Province. Short-clawed Larks abounded (23 sightings), Eastern Clapper Larks displaying in the early morning, Double banded Courser, Common Swifts and Sociable Weavers added to the year list.

-          Bronkhorstspruit area for Melodious Lark along with Kevin Ravno and Ian Grant.

-          A mid December atlassing trip to cover one of the priority areas identified by the SABAP2 team, on the Matlabas River in Limpopo province, a marvellous yet largely unbirded area. A non birding friend went along, he is a tree lover, and the area produced plenty of weird and wonderful plants along with the birds. Most of the birds had been seen previously during the year, the exception being a juvenile Steppe Eagle.

 

Milestones achieved during the year:

 

100th year bird: Common Waxbill (1/2008)

200th year bird: Long-tailed Widowbird (What!?) (1/2008)

300th year bird: Long-billed Crombec (2/2008)

400th year bird: Cabanis’s Bunting (2/2008) (Lifer)

500th year bird: Great Crested Grebe (3/2008)

600th year bird: Orange Ground Thrush (8/2008) – this was a first in 20 years, almost a lifer!

700th year bird: Pygmy Falcon (31/12/2008)

 

I ended the year with a Southern African life list of 738, a mammoth 138 lifers in the year.

 

I had a trip booked to Namibia in January 2009, which was to deliver another batch of lifers and Namibian endemics, as well as a vagrant in the form of American Golden Plover. I was sure 2009 would not deliver as much as 2008 had, but had two ambitions:

 

1.) Crack 800 on my lifelist

2.) Much more unlikely but possible, reach 800 species in 24 months……