Beyond 200

Martial eagle perched on a dead Leadwood Tree between Phalaborwe and Letaba

The key to any big year is too... Bird. So although I have been doing this ad-hoc with a goal in mind it has taken a while to get to the 200 mark. Before I went down to the lowveld I was sitting on 194 hoping to have reached the 200 mark before my trip. I quickly made it up on the trip down by adding Long crested eagle and Abdim's storks to the list around the Dullstroom to Origstad stretch before entering the KNP.

Having already been in the KNP, new birds did not come too easy, although this time i spent more time focusing on birding to try get the numbers up. first to add to the list was a Burnt-necked eremomela calling while Colin Patrick started off our tracking course, it then timidly hopped to the top of a small acacia in clear view for only birders to see. my list still climbed filling the gaps from the last lowveld trip, easy things like Red-headed weavers, Marabou storks, Brown-headed parrot. Some northern specials were also acquired, to the likes of African mourning dove and Bennett's woodpecker.

Not a bird, by no means, leaving the
KNP behind, means leaving these
majestic creates behind, so
recognition to them is needed

One morning, a couple of guides (Brenden Pienaar and Julie Bryden) and I talk a walk to a pan a couple of 100m away from the Letaba River. With a slight drizzle we did a bit of atlasing. Despite the on and off drizzle, the pan we got to was teeming with life, with the majority of our species count for the Pentab coming from the pan. The Lesser masked-weavers were plentiful and if one looked carefully a couple of Village weavers were following the flock, one could see the difference is size very clearly and the mask that stops at the bill in the Village weaver. We were also fortunate to have a great sighting of a Eurasian oriole juvenile which was hanging around the pan and perch nicely for us to see. The pan gave to a Wood sandpiper feeding in the shallows, a Green woodhoopoe family nesting in an old Leadwood, along with Egyptian geese and Hadida ibis perch in the larger trees. we spend a good 30 min at the pan before we had to be drawn back to the camp. that little atlasing spree assisted in adding another 10 birds onto my African Big Year total.

Red-capped lark seen near
Letaba Shooting range.

One unusual bird, unexpectedly seen, was a Red-capped lark on the field near the shooting range at Letaba. a pleasant surprise and good sighting for the park.

With the week ending and a trip back to JHB in mind. my Big Year list slowed down to a halt. However with my flight booked and bags close to being packed, West Africa is near with the goal to get close to 300 new ones for the Big Year. reaching the 200 mark and surpassing it has to sit comfortably on 215, my mind is no focusing on what to come...