Several weeks ago, a European Nightjar was reported at the Helderberg Nature Reserve in Somerset West, no more than 5 minutes from where I stay. I went to the reserve the day after the sighting and attempted to see the bird myself – but there was no sign of it.
Fast forward to last week where a message came through on the Rare Bird Telegram group, reporting that the bird had once again been located. Lucky for me, this message came through shortly before lunch time and I was able to rush into the car and take a fast trip to the reserve, eagerly hoping that others were on site with visuals on the bird.
Upon arriving, Milli and I quickly made our way towards the path – where we ran into another birder. I feel terrible for not remembering who it was, but she remembered me from almost a decade ago, as a regular to the reserve, back when I used to go for daily during my lunch time. That’s the era where my persistence managed to pay off with several regional rarities including Long-Crested Eagle, Tawny Eagle, Striated Heron and Brown Snake Eagle.
She was extremely kind, offering to show us up to the bird.
Already a fast-walker, I rushed forward with Milli and her in tow, as I motored on up the hill. There were a few other birders scattered around the area, many of them already showing a smile – an indication that the bird may still be in position.
She showed us the bird’s perch, at the bottom of what appeared to be a small Blue Gum tree. It was very relaxed, as Nightjars tend to be during the daytime – but we still wanted to make sure to respect its space. We walked a little closer off to the side to get better views, and from the one angle it was a perfect clear visual on the European Nightjar.
I couldn’t tell if it was tired or just slightly stoned, but I assumed the former.
With a successful connection, it marked my 395th Western Cape species, and what a cool bird to see at that. Approaching my 400th provincial bird species, I’ve told Milli that I should get a tattoo of the 400th species, knowing in my heart that I had already promised this to my followers on Facebook around 8 years ago when I got my 300th species with the Emily Moon Sooty Falcon twitch.
Given this was a lunch time twitch, there wasn’t any other birding done and we had to head back to work. But I did want to share some photos of this beautiful bird and document the twitch for my own memories.
