Christmas At The Breede River – Day 3

The final day at The Breede started early, just before sunrise I got up and exited the tent and decided to make the most of what time was left there. After walking down to the river, the sun started to appear over the horizon, and with it the bird life started to ignite. There were dozens of calls from Tambourine Doves from the trees around the river, but without any clear visuals on them. The first bird of the morning to give me a clear view, was a Willow Warbler which was moving around the brush.

breede-sunrise

sunrise-breede-river

willow-warbler
Willow Warbler

A few meters on I got some sights of a Diederik Cuckoo which flew up into a nearby tree. A new lifer for me. Not sure how it took 285 Western Cape birds before I saw a Diederik. None the less, as I progressed along the path I started seeing a lot of activity from Paradise Flycatchers, often moving from within the bushes on my right into the open fields on my left. They would move onto the poles along the field, and then attempt to catch the insects, and move back into the bushes if successful.

yellow-billed kite
Yellow Billed Kite

yellow billed kite

YBK

yellow-billed-kite-immature
Young Yellow Billed Kite
paradise-flycatcher
Paradise Flycatcher

paradise_flycatcher

While photographing the Flycatchers, I caught a glimpse of a Yellow Billed Kite out the corner of my eye, followed by another. There was an adult and juvenile bird moving around a series of gum trees that were along the river bed. They both seemed very interested in my presence, and passed overhead several times. Sometimes too close for me to get into the frame of my camera. The lighting from the early morning sun worked well and allowed for the lighting of the under wings.

brownhooded-kingfisher
Brown-Hooded Kingfisher

brown-hooded kingfisher

Later in the day while back at the camp site, the visitor from the previous day was back and this time more obliging. The Brown-Hooded Kingfisher was moving between perching points between where our tent was set up, and allowed a fitting end to our visit.

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