It’s been a while since my last post, and with good reason. Winter reigned down on Cape Town recently, last weekend there was a large storm which also brought snow to many areas, especially the higher mountainous areas. The rain continued for a good few days, which brought with it both pros and cons. While…
This month the Somerset West Bird Club would be going to – well that depends. Originally the Batis was saying that we would be going to Hillcrest Farm, which I assume was the Hillcrest Farm in Durbanville. However, to my surprise, on the day we were told that we would actually be visiting some farms…
Rather spontaniously, on Sunday morning Cathryn and I decided that we would take the trip through to Paarl Bird Sanctuary. I knew that she still need both White Faced and Fulvous Ducks and what better place to find them, earlier in the week the Fulvous had been reported, so things were looking good to get…
If you read my previous blog entry, you would have seen that while attempting to twitch the Marabou Stork near Bredasdorp, the car I was driving managed to suffer a case of the flat-tyre. In turn, we had to call off our plans to head to Bredasdorp and make a straight line back home. It…
This is the final part of my four part blog series documenting my vacation to Grootvadersbosch. Saturday, we woke up and lay in bed a bit – until I read some e-mails on my phone and saw that there was a Marabou Stork located near Bredarsdorp, and while it was an extra 80 or so…
This post is a continuation from part 1 and part 2 of birding at Grootvadersbosch. We awoke on Friday morning, the last full day at Honeywood – to a wet and miserable day. Well more wet than miserable. It had rained through the night and there were showers on and off in the morning, during…
This is a continuation from my previous blog post. We woke up on the 2nd day of our holiday at around 6:30, in an attempt to head out into the Grootvadersbosch forest by 8:00, which was achieved. Some common birds hung around near the cottage as we were getting ready to leave, including some Cape…
Recently Cathryn and I made the decision to postpone our desired trip up country to the KNP in order to focus on more Western Cape species, and with 1 May being a public holiday, I decided to put in for the Thursday and the Friday off work and to go away somewhere. I picked up…
Cathryn and I were lucky enough to be spending the day headed out to sea for some pelagic birding with Zest for Birds. We were both extremely excited to be introduced to a world that we had not yet experienced, a world of Petrels, Skuas, Albatrosses and more. It was up and at ’em at…
The day started off as any 29’C day should, with an early morning rising. Well it was a partially early morning rising, we got out of bed at around 7:30 and got ready to head out to Intaka Island. With money tight, as it often is – we couldn’t venture too far and I hadn’t…
Last weekend, weather conditions prevented any birding – with gale force winds and intermittent rain from Friday through until Tuesday. Because of this, Cathryn and myself were both keen, should the weather co-operate – to head out and try get some birding done. Come Saturday late morning, we found ourselves looking at the options. The…
Somerset West Bird Club Outing – Rooi Els and Betty’s Bay (16 March 2013) The day started as any good day of birding does, by waking up far too early. The alarms were set for 5:00, allowing us 45 minutes to wake up, get ready and to grab some snacks/breakfast and put in petrol. Cathryn,…
After my busy day out on Saturday the 9th of March I decided I may as well make the most of the fading summer weather and go out for the morning on Sunday, prior to the cricket which was starting at 10:00. We’re now losing more than 2 minutes of daylight a day with Autumn…
The final installment of my rather busy Saturday that happened on the 9th March. After spending my pre-sunrise hours at Sir Lowry’s Pass and my morning and mid-afternoon hours at Helderberg Nature Reserve, I went home for a couple of hours rest. It wasn’t long before the next item on the schedule arrived though. Each…
Continuing on from my previous installment from Sir Lowry’s Pass. The time was now 7:30 and the Helderberg Nature Reserve gates had just opened, so I decided to head through to catch what I hoped would be some early morning bird activity. I arrived at the reserve at around 7:50 and the sun was now…
I will start this post by bringing your attention to the ‘part 1’ you see above. The reason this is a single part of a multi-part ‘series’, is because I spent almost an entire day out this Saturday and going through 3 batteries and having to empty the CF card in between – I ended…
Steppe Buzzards are the most common of raptors for parts of South Africa during the summer months, specifically the Western Cape. Yet somehow my encounters with these creatures had been limited, in actual fact, I had seen more individual Cape Mystery Buzzards than I had Steppe Buzzards. I wanted to encounter the Steppe Buzzard as…
The original plans this weekend were to head off with Cathryn to Kirstenbosch Gardens on Saturday morning and attempt to find some of our feathered friends, though due to rain which persisted through most of the day, we found that we were unable to really head out at all. Sunday morning however, the sun was…
I have been an awful birder of late, just horrible… I never twitched the Black Tern at Strandfontein, nor the Baillon’s Crake at Intaka Island. To be frank, I just haven’t had the energy for the most part. I should explain that my personality caters itself to obsession, followed by periods of complete inactivity, then…
Again I find myself with the compulsion to apologize for a lengthy absence from the site, in fact it’s been near 2 months since my previous entry. Once again my opening sentiments will remain in line with my previous post in that despite several birding attempts over the past 2 months, things have been far…