After an unsuccessful chase of the Long-Crested Eagle that was seen near Klapmuts, Milli and I woke up to morning load shedding, a good time to go out and do some birding! Although I’ve been to Strandfontein dozens of times, Milli had only been a few – and she still had some fairly easy species to target in the province.
Targets: Willow Warbler & Goliath Heron
Both Goliath Heron and Willow Warbler were reported an hour before we left, so we figured we’d target those and then do some general birding around the works.
Arriving, we made our way to the Willow Warbler pin which Mike Buckham had posted to the Telegram group a short while earlier. Unfortunately, the bird seemed to have moved on from the area. We spent some time there, but ultimately just came across a lot of Southern Double Collared Sunbirds – and a pretty Butterfly that I still need to ID.
The next target was the Goliath Heron, hoping for some good views – and although we got eyes on the bird, it was on the other side of Zeekooivlei and just barely visible even though our binoculars. Having seen a couple of Goliath Herons, we didn’t stick around that long and then decided to make our way into the sewage works.
On route to the gate, we had an awesome encounter with a Jackal Buzzard that flew over the road in front of us and into the grass just 10 to 15 meters from the car.
Into The Strandfontein Sewage Works
Recently, I’ve been spending time fine-tuning my olfactory senses for the pleasure of perfumery, particularly niche perfumes. It was the moment I wound down my window when entering SSW that I regretted my attention to smell. One grows used to it with enough birding, but having been cooped up around luxury fragrances for a while, it took some getting used to again.
Here, we primarily targeted the recently seen African Jacana and Red-Necked Phalarope. We spent some time around P3, P4, and P5 by foot, trying to scan the edges of the reeds for signs of the Jacana, a bird that Milli still needs for her life list – but alas, no luck.
Instead, we had a lot of Cape Teal, Moorhens, Yellow-Billed Ducks and the other usual suspects.
Driving around the area for a while, we encountered a couple of Small Grey Mongooses, a whole lot of Gulls, and a few terns as well.
We moved back to P3, this time to focus on looking for the Phalarope, but no luck. To be fair, it had only been reported several days before, so the chances weren’t great. With so much space to cover in Strandfontein Sewage Works, it’s not uncommon for birds to not be seen for a few days and then pop back up as they move to easier-to-access areas.
Scaring The Sand Martin
While looking south to the lower pans, we had to pass through a group of Barn Swallows on the road. Having seen one of them was clearly a Martin, I remarked to Milli “One of these is not like the others”, as we got closer – and had the birds fly off the road. As soon as it took flight, it was clear the odd bird out was a Sand Martin, a somewhat uncommon local bird that took me far too long to see in my birding career, having seen my first a solid 7 years after having started.
I then looked up to see the faces of three other birders standing on the other side of the gully that separates the road from the pans, all staring towards the birds that had just taken off thanks to my driving. I felt bad, as they had clearly identified the bird and were watching it. But at the same time, they didn’t leave me much choice.
We headed back to P3, this time turning our attention to photographic opportunities. It’s here we got some amazing views of the common Barn Swallow, as well as some close-ups of Gulls and Terns. The one Grey-Headed Gull really had me flustered for a bit, until I managed to see the lighter eye color. Sometimes the plumage looks all too familiar to that of rarer, more significant finds.
Milli got her first Zitting Cisticola, a species that had somehow eluded her until now. We also got some distant views of raptors, including a beautiful Dark Morph Booted Eagle and a Marsh Harrier, which crows were mobbing. *Shakes fist angrily at Pied Crows*
All in all, it wasn’t the most fast-paced outing we’ve been on, not in the last 2 days. But it offered us a way to get out, enjoy some photography and ultimately give Milli a new species.
