Birding Highlights for 2012

Brown-headed parrot eating the corral tree seeds in Pretoriuskop Rest Camp

The year started off slowly, birding wise, and the goal was to get my Kruger National Park bird list over the 350 bird species seen mark. This was huge a task when I started and I thought it impossible to reach. I started off by studying the birds of Kruger and the probabilities and possibly locations of birds I needed. This was a great challenge and being a freelance guide for the year helped. Travelling the length of the park regularly allowed me to get to bird the north and the south, two very different birding areas and habitat. I also refined my list to ensure confident identifications and sure sightings of birds as prior to this challenge I birded the park ad-hoc and if it ended up on my list it was because I was birding at the right time in the right place. So with a refined list and eager to get the number up I started the year on 333.

European Bee-eaters, summer visitors
to Kruger National Park

Over the year I increase my list and reached the 350 mark close to mid-way… I thought it was supposed to be a challenge. In getting to the 350 mark, I had one special day that stood out. I was due for a trail in the north and had to drive from the south to get to the trail. I had a list of possibilities as preceding the January Kruger floods birding was good with the large amounts of water lying around. First to get my Kruger number up was a streaky headed seed-eater feeding off a rhino dung ball on the tar road between Malelane and Skukuza, then skukuza itself produce a Yellow-rumped tinker barbet, which I was to find later on in the year at Crocodile Bridge. On from Skukuza, a stop at leeupan was in order and surprisingly I picked up two more new for Kruger and lifers, The Lesser moorhen and Allen’s gallinule were showing well at leeupan along with whiskered terns. Further up north I stopped by at a spot known for White-browed sparrow-weavers south of Tshokwane, and ticked it. With my list increasing by 5 new ones for the day I was on a high. Expecting to get the Rufous winged cisticola in the Olifants River bed I was disappointed when looking at the damage the flooding had done, not only to the reed beds but the entire course seemed altered. Arriving in Letaba for the day and settling for 5 new ones I was happy, a call then came from Brenden Pienaar who had followed me up north birding from our cars he went through to Phalaborwe and sighted Red-knobbed koots on Rhindonda pan. I raced off to find them, despite being a common bird elsewhere it is a rarity in Kruger. Sitting watching them at Rhindonda got my list up another bird, and then it all happened, I new what it was when I saw it but had to look in the book to confirm it and so it was, two Cape shovelers were feeding around the edge of the pan and looking rather settled. I immediately phone Brenden back about the news and although sounding despondent he confirmed it later that day making a rushed trip back to the pan late afternoon to add a Cape shoveler to his list.

White-starred robin, found hopping
 around in the Skukuza Nursery

Passing the 350 mark I then decided to get another 25, this figure being half the rest of the distance to the colossal 400 mark for Kruger. With winter approaching I thought it a even greater challenge, but altitudinal migrant do show up… and did they show up? Well, Cape Batis, Blue-mantled crested-flycatcher, Pallid/Pale flycatcher, Ducky flycatcher and Fiscal flycatcher were all added to my list. Real rarities took me even further with a Kalahari Scrub-robin up at Nyalaland along the Luvhuvhu River, Chestnut-vented tit-babbler along the Phugwane River and a great sighting of a White-starred robin in the Skukuza Nursery. So with the year winding down and the trails season drawing to a close my last new bird for Kruger was a Yellow-fronted tinker-barbet in Pretoriuskop ending my list on 376 for Kruger 1 more bird than my altered goal.

Arrow-marked Babbler nest found on trail

A few more highlights which didn't include a new sighting and were spectacular sightings non-the-less was watching over 100 Spur-winged geese take to flight when we approached the hot-springs on one Mphongolo Back-pack trail. The other was finding a small (literally) group of Grey penduline-tits building their nest, as shown in Punda Mania at Punda Maria, Kruger National Park. Lastly was a nesting site for Arrow-marked Babblers found while doing a Lonely-bull Back-pack Trail, the nest was neatly camouflaged until you looked into the nest and the blue eggs stood out. 

Apart from Kruger birding, which is always great birding, a couple other highlights stood out. One particular was a trip to Mariepskop, where a somewhat expected tick of two lifers in the form of an Orange ground-thrush and Yellow-streaked greenbul.

Summing up the year 2012, I greet all my readers a blessed 2013 ahead and hope for some more great birding.