The view from the house.
Coastal fynbos in the dunes.
Home to many endemic species.
Cape Cormorants
Hartlaub's Gull
Rock Kestrel
African Black Oystercatcher
White-fronted Plover
Several pairs breed on this stretch of the coast.
We survived the night! It is a beautiful morning here on 1st January & Delana & I decided to do a walk down the coast for a couple of hours. We didn't see anything particularly noteworthy, but it was a nice little outing.
Looking towards the coast.
The road to Witkrans
Knysna Woodpecker
Brilliant to see this species!
On 2nd January I decided to bird Flower Valley, an area of indigenous forest, fynbos & high hills. It is a great place for birding/hiking. Despite their website saying it was open, I arrived at the gate to be greeted by a notice saying that they were closed! I had no choice but to bird the small patch of forest at Witkrans. Delana & I had birded this area before. it is a known site for Knysna Woodpecker, one of Delana's most wanted birds! Last time, we heard the Woodpecker but didn't see it. Today I was on my own, as Delana had gone snorkelling. It started out very quiet, infact, I couldn't find anything at all! Then out of the blue I saw a Woodpecker land on a nearby tree. It was a Knysna Woodpecker! It stayed there for ages, preening & just looking at me. It was only my second sighting of this species, so it was pretty special!
Male Black Cuckooshrike
Female
I also managed to photograph a pair of Black Cuckooshrike in the same spot. This is a scarce & hard to find species in the Cape region.
Platbos Forest
I then decided to bird the nearby Platbos Forest, which is a remnant patch of indigenous forest amid all the exotic vegetation found here. It is a nice place to bird, as one has the place to oneself as visitor numbers are low. However, it is a difficult place to bird, as all the special species are very tough to see.
Cinnamon Dove through the windscreen!
Birding started well, as on the drive in, I spotted a Cinnamon Dove on the ground in the forest. The dirt track is narrow & I couldn't maneuver the car to get aa photo, so I had to shoot through the dirty windscreen!
A tree sculpture of a forest man!
There are a couple of trails through the forest & on one of them I discovered this!
Olive Bushshrike
A rare & difficult species to see in the Cape.
Cape Batis
Swee Waxbill
Male
Difficult to photograph in the forest.
I spent a couple of hours in the forest seeing a grand total of 12 species! But it was a lovely outing & the old forest is superb.
Roseate Tern
On 3rd January I conducted a short morning sea watch. Sea was calm & it was low tide, only 1 Sooty Shearwater seen. Nothing else of note recorded. I conducted an hours sea watch at hide tide in the afternoon. The only bird of note were 2 Roseate Terns flying by, They were adults in non breeding plumage.
A flock of Arctic Skuas.
This is only a small part of the entire group,
as they are spread over a large area.
I have never seen Arctic Skuas roosting on the sea
in huge numbers anywhere else in the world.
Very special.
Juvenile Pomarine Skua
The evening sea watch produced 1 Cory's Shearwater; 293 Arctic Skua; 3 Pomarine Skua (2 adults with near complete tails & 1 juvenile); I juvenile Long-tailed Skua being chased by an Arctic Skua. Unfortunately this bird came in very late & it was too dark to obtain a photograph. The wind changed from the dominant SE to SW & straight away brought birds into the bay.
The track runs along the base of the
mountains, with the sea on one side.
It is a well maintained track & an easy walk.
Jon & Sheila with us.
Good friends.
Female Cape Rockjumper
Hangklip Rock
The 4th January saw us driving to Rooi Els, around 130 kms away from Pearly Beach. It is a very scenic area & we were meeting up with Jon & Sheila Mayo, old friends from my time in Abu Dhabi.
The historical Hangklip Hotel
Stony Point
Bank Cormorant
African Penguin
The fire closed the Pearly Beach Road.
Quite spectacular.
Luckily for us it was the far side of the main road.
It was a nice drive through coastal fynbos.
On the 5th January we went for a beach picnic to a new area of coast for me. We drove down a 4x4 track to the beach & the place was very pretty. It is called Ghost Town (Plaatjieskraal). The only birds of note were 120 Great crested & 55 Common Terns.
Cape Robin-Chat in the garden.
Southern Double collared Sunbird
Male
In the afternoon, the wind died down & by evening it was virtually a flat calm. These are ideal conditions for spotting Bryde's Whale (which is resident here in small numbers), Storm Petrels & African Penguins. So I conducted a long sea watch from 17.00 - 20.15 hours.
Sooty Shearwater
Best birds:
I Giant Petrel sp.; 3 Sooty Shearwater; 4 African Penguin; 379 Arctic Skua & late on a juvenile Long-tailed Skua came in. Presumably the same bird as two evenings ago? It came in too late to get any photos.
Delana & I were up at dawn on the 6th. We were supposed to go birding to Witkrans for Delana to see Knysna Woodpecker. However, I was feeling very weak from a bad night & we stayed home. The fire that started three days ago was burning rapidly towards Pearly Beach. Unfortunately the wind rose to near gale force, which meant the fire was spreading rapidly.
It has that pissed off look about it!
Getting closer!
While driving around doing a fire inspection we came across this injured Spotted Eagle Owl. It had injured its wing. We caught it & took it into care.
I did a marathon evening sea-watch, as the strong (almost gale force) wind from the West veered to the North-West. It proved to be a good move, as the Skuas were closer inshore but they never roosted on the sea, all flying west.
Part of the Giant Petrel sp.; group on the sea.
Northern Giant Petrel
It is unusual to get any kind of photo
from land of this species.
Southern Giant Petrel
These are all different birds.
Notice they are moulting.
Arctic Skua & sub-adult Pomarine Skua.
Juvenile Pomarine Skua with Arctic Skuas.
Juvenile Pomarine with Arctic Skua
One can see the difference in build quite clearly.
Best birds:
1 Sooty Shearwater; 2 Northern Giant Petrel; 6 Southern Giant Petrel; 10 Giant Petrel sp.; 669 Arctic Skua; 19 Pomarine Skua (14 adult/sub-adults & 5 juveniles), presumably the same juvenile Long-tailed Skua.
It was a brilliant evenings sea-watch; certainly the best for this particular trip.
Fire still raging throughout the night.
After a restless night, I was up at dawn for a sea-watch from the veranda. The wind really picked up during the night & unfortunately fanned the flames & it looks like things are getting serious. Nevertheless, I was hoping for a few seabirds & i got them!
Best birds:
1 Southern Giant Petrel; 4 Giant Petrel sp.; 1 White-chinned Petrel; 1 Cory's Shearwater & 16 Sooty Shearwater.
The sea was very rough & it was very difficult spotting birds. I could have missed a few. As a side-bar there were a record breaking 45 Cape Sugarbirds on our feeders!
I did another evening sea-watch producing:
112 Arctic Skua; 2 Pomarine Skua; 2 Giant Petrel sp.; 2 Cory's Shearwater & 1 Sooty Shearwater.
One can see how close the fire is to the village.
Ricus surveying the fire from the roof of our house.
Two homes have so far been lost
to the fire
The 8th January was all about the fire, with no birding done in the daytime. The fire had expanded during the night & there are now two separate fires attacking the village. It is now a Code Red situation.
An evening sea watch was very productive. The wind turned south, gale force. The Skuas didn't roost on the sea, they just flew west.
208 Arctic Skua; 12 Pomarine Skua; 1 Southern Giant Petrel; 11 Giant Petrel sp.; 1 White-chinned Petrel; 13 Cory's Shearwater; 354 Sooty Shearwater
Cory's on the left, Sooty Shearwater on the right.
They were far out in the gloom!
My first photo of Cory's Shearwater from land.
I was up at dawn sea-watching on 9th January. The wind had died down, but it still proved to be a good morning:
1 Arctic Skua; 1 White-capped Albatross (very rare here in summer); 3 Giant Petrel sp.; 13 Cory's Shearwater; 47 Sooty Shearwater & 7 Cape Gannet. There was also a feeding flock of 8,100 Cape Cormorant in the bay.
