Pearly Beach

The view from the house. Nice to see the sea again.

We arrived home in Pearly Beach late afternoon on 7th December. It is still a long (but scenic) drive from the Karoo National Park to Pearly. Then it was the usual unpacking & settling in. We were both tired after the drive, so had an early night. 

The African Christmas Tree!

A beautiful sunset from the house.

Cape Spurfowl

Jackal Buzzard

Young Southern Crag Martins

on the side of the house.

Greater Striped Swallow

Cape Sugarbird

Male Malachite Sunbird

Young Malachite Sunbird

Amethyst Sunbird

Cape Sparrow

The next day I had a walk around & saw an adult Black Harrier flying over, plus a pair of Black Saw-wings nesting in a banking.

Steppe Buzzard

Denham Bustard

Blue Crane

Whiskered Tern

They breed on isolated ponds 

amid the farmland.

Red-knobbed Coot

Common Moorhen

Cape Crow

African Pipit

Large-billed Lark

Red-capped Lark

Capped Wheatear

Young Capped Wheatear

Cape Canary

Brimstone Canary

Young Brimstone Canary

On the 9th December I had a drive around on top of the escarpment, which is all farmland around here, but still surprisingly good for birding.

Arctic Skua

Part of the flock that roosts on the sea.

Orange-breasted Sunbird

On 10th Delana & I briefly visited the Agulhas National Park, however it was blowing a gale up there & we only saw Orange-breasted Sunbird. In the evening I conducted a sea-watch from the house recording 87 Arctic Skuas coming in to roost.

Rock Kestrel

Mainly Great-crested Terns & Hartlaub's Gulls

Ruddy Turnstone

On the 11th December I drove the Birkenhead 4x4 Trail along the coast. Nothing too exciting was seen but the weather & scenery were great.

A Leopard as captured on a trail camera 

just 2kms from the house.

Great to see that they are still surviving in this area.

We had a tremendous storm on the night of 12th & so I was up at dawn on the 13th December conducting a sea watch from the house. It proved to be a brilliant morning: 

1 White-chinned Petrel; 1 Southern Giant Petrel; 4 Cory's Shearwater; 1,016 Sooty Shearwater; 41 Cape Gannet (a good total for here) & 4 Arctic Skua.

Delana where the small freshwater stream

 enters the sea.

Egyptian Goose often found next to the sea.

Crowned Cormorant

Cape Cormorant

This species engages in co-operative feeding

 in huge flocks

Sacred Ibis

Little Egret

Cape (Kelp) Gull

Hartlaub's Gull

Three species of Tern on the beach.

Common & two Sandwich Terns

Water Dikkop

African Oystercatcher

White-fronted Plover

African Marsh Harrier

An uncommon & localised species.

Pearl-breasted Swallow

Bar-throated Apalis

Later in the morning Delana & I had a walk eastwards along the beach. The weather was good & we had a nice time. Best birds were: 26 White-fronted Plover; 4 Water Thick-knee; 22 Eurasian Whimbrel; 12 Common Tern; 16 Sandwich Tern; 9 Great-crested Tern; African Marsh Harrier & 3 Pearl-breasted Swallow.

Fulvous Whistling Duck

A rarity in this area.

Black headed Heron

Jackal Buzzard

White-throated Swallow

African Pipit

Long-billed Pipit

This was an unexpected find in this area.

Grey-backed Cisticola

This is the red-capped form found in this area.

Cloud Cisticola

The 14th December was a big birding day. I took the back roads to Struisbaai, stopping at a variety of birding spots along the way. Even though the landscape was very dry, a good variety of birds were seen.

Immature Pomarine Skua

The next day I saw an African Penguin on the sea. This is my first record for a long time. In the evening I conducted my usual evening sea watch recording 80 Arctic Skua & 3 immature Pomarine coming into roost. 4 Southern Giant Petrel & a Sooty Shearwater were also noted.

Olive Woodpecker

African Dusky Flycatcher

Cape Batis

Common Waxbill

On 16th December we made an early morning visit to Witkrans. This is a small patch of indigenous forest, which holds some good birds. We found it to be hard going, but we enjoyed the morning. We heard Knysna Woodpecker several times but it failed to reveal itself to us! Olive Woodpecker was much more obliging, with three birds showing well.

Gale force winds overnight meant that dawn on 17th December was to be a sea-watching day! And it proved to be a fantastic morning:

Southern Giant Petrel

Northern Giant Petrel

6 Arctic Skua; 2 Pomarine Skua (including an adult); 8 Southern Giant Petrel; 1 Northern Giant Petrel; 1 White-chinned Petrel; a wonderful 187 Cory's Shearwater & 2,718 Sooty Shearwater. What a great morning!

The evening sea watch produced: 

A terrible photo of an adult Long-tailed Skua

Adult Long-tailed Skua; 20 Arctic Skua; 1 Pomarine Skua; 1 Southern Giant Petrel & 9 Cory's Shearwater.

Blue Crane

Denham Bustard

Cape Vulture

The heat haze made photography difficult.

Grey-winged Francolin

Plain-backed Pipit

African Pipit

On 18th December I headed out on the dirt roads towards Malgas. I was full of optimism of seeing a host of little brown jobs, but the hot conditions made birding difficult & i saw very little.

Early morning on 19th saw me sea-watching & it produced 6 African Penguin & an immature Pomarine Skua.

In the afternoon Delana & I visited the Uilenkraal Estuary & it was a productive time in good weather. The stand out sighting was of an adult Black Stork, our first record for the Cape Region. 

Black Stork

Mainly Great-crested Terns

Caspian Tern with Great-crested Terns

Little Stints and Common Ringed Plovers.

Little Stint

Best birds:

46 Grey Plover; 68 Common Ringed Plover; 95 Whimbrel; 2 Bar-tailed Godwit; 2 Curlew Sandpiper; 126 Little Stint; 1 Caspian Tern; 21 Sandwich Tern & a colossal 450 Great crested Terns.

On 20th December Jaques & I visited Klein Paradise. This is an interesting site, as it has a dam with lots of vegetation, pasture land, exotic woodland & the slopes of the mountain. We recorded 35 species in a couple of hours.

Best birds: 

African Swamphen; African Snipe; Cape Grassbird; Levaillant's Cisticola; 2 Black Saw-wing; 10 Orange-breasted Sunbird & Cape Bunting.