We’d been trying to make plans to stay with our friends Keir and Alouise in Napier for over a month now, however with winter conditions having been prevalent on most of the weekends we had tried planning, we’d just not been able to make it happen. Finally we were given an opportunity, as forecasts showed […]
Category: Birding
Category for birding related posts.

Eurasian Blackcap in Durbanville – A Tough Twitch
After an early morning visit to Ceres, I got home and logged onto my computer, downloading my snow images and getting ready to work on them. Just a few minutes into my work however, a whatsapp message came through of a Eurasian Blackcap photographed in a Durbanville garden just a few minutes earlier. Having just […]

Garden Route Twitch – White-Browed Scrub Robin & Violet Backed Starling
Some rare bird news filtered in during the week of a juvenile Violet-Backed Starling photographed in at a garden feeder in Groot Brak River, along with the presence of a Great Spotted Cuckoo and White-Browed Scrub Robin at Reflections Eco-Reserve at Rondevlei (Wilderness). The premise of the ‘Scrubber’ and the provincial mega Violet-Backed Starling had […]

A Twitch Bus Adventure – A Parting Gift (Part 3)
While our trip had seen us awake at completely unreasonable hours, it was decided that we wouldn’t be rushing out on Saturday, and instead we’d take it easy. We still wanted to hit the road in the morning though, as we’d be starting our venture back to Cape Town. While everyone else enjoyed their breakfast, […]

A Twitch Bus Adventure – The Striped Crake Heartache (Part 2)
After our success twitch of the Malagasy Pond Heron the day before, we were feeling confident in our next target; that of the Striped Crake at Thiyeni hide in Hluhluwe Game Reserve. Hidden somewhere between our thoughts of optimism, we all knew that given the small area which the hide overlooks, in combination with the […]