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Birding trip report western South Africa 1-17
December 2015 John van der Woude - www.jvanderw.nl |
| Map, site photos & species list
are below. Photos of
birds, plants and more scenery in a separate section.
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| For this December trip Nollie and I chose western South Africa as it would be one of the few regions in the tropics and southern hemisphere with little influence of the
prevalent severe El Niņo. Also, we like the Karoo region very much, and the Western and Northern Cape in general. Needless to say, any trip to South Africa is a sheer pleasure, even though we would see only very few lifer bird species. I had guessed that we
might see five lifers, and was content with the four we got. This was our fourth trip to South Africa, although the last one was quite some time ago, in 2006. At Cape Town airport, we rented a car at Sixt, the company we prefer these days as it is crystal-clear what you are going to pay when you make the reservation at home. No hidden or unclear costs. We used the booking.com app to find accommodation while travelling. For the first two nights I had pre-booked a B&B in Paarl, and for the subsequent nights in Karoo NP I had also booked a park bungalow in advance. After that the itinerary was to be decided upon depending on the weather etc. Actually, the days after Karoo NP would become so hot that we decided to go to the
cooler south coast instead of driving deeper into the Karoo region. After the pleasant stay at
Garden Route NP on the south coast, we crossed the Karoo nevertheless, and ended up at the west coast. So we covered
four very different habitats (fynbos, Karoo, south coast, west coast), and in between crossed
fantastic mountain passes as a bonus. December may be a bit late to find some song bird species, but the activity of many birds with young partly compensates this. For larks however, this was clearly rather late indeed, and we 'only' saw seven species. On this trip, new areas for us were mainly the Karoo national park, the Karoo road R353 and the surroundings of Nieuwoudtville. All three were very interesting birdwise, in a great scenery. |
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| Sites: 1. Paarl mountain 2. Karoo NP 3. Garden Route NP - Wilderness section 4. Garden Route NP - Storm's river mouth 5. Garden Route NP - Nature's Valley 6. Swartberg pass 7. road R353 (all Karoo) 8. Calvinia - Akerendam 9. Nieuwoudtville surroundings 10. Lambert's Bay 11. Kransvleipoort 12. West Coast NP 13. Tulbagh |
 Paarl mountain. |
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 Klipspringer in Karoo national park. Next four photos also Karoo NP. |
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 Wilderness section of Garden Route NP. Start of the Half-collared Kingfisher trail along the river. |
 Along the river in Wilderness. At this spot we had Half-collared Kingfisher. |
 Same river further upstream. |
 View from the hide at Rondevlei lake in Wilderness section. |
 Big Tree area in Wilderness section. |
 Above Storm's River camp of Garden Route NP. |
 The dense vegetation of Nature's Valley section of Garden Route NP. Rhebok? |
 Swartberg Pass. |
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 Folded rock layers on the way down from Swartberg Pass north. |
 Along the R353 in the middle of the Karoo. Many Lark-like Bunting at spots like this, and once also sparrowlarks. |
 The country motel at Fraserburg. The only place to stay in a radius of 100 km or so, so we had called them before, in order to be in the late and early hours in this part of the immense Karoo. |
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 The deep gorge north of Nieuwoudtville. |
 The grassy plains around Nieuwoudtville. |
 The Knersvlakte alluvial plain below Nieuwoudtville. |
 Lambert's Bay gannet colony. The seals at the back seem to gradually push the gannets out. A warden regularly chases the seals back towards the sea. |
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 Kransvleipoort SW of Clanwilliam. |
 West Coast national park. |
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 At our lodge in Tulbagh. |
 Last evening. Dinner at Rijk's wine farm near our lodge. |
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Photos
of birds, plants and more scenery in a separate section.
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| Species list The list is practically complete for the sites PM, KN and Ni. For other sites the more common species are often not mentioned. Sites: |
PM KN Wi SR NV SP KR Ak Ni LB KV WC Tu
Common Ostrich KN
Helmeted Guineafowl O KN Wi Ni
Cape Francolin O PM Ni WC
White-backed Duck O Wi
Maccoa Duck Ak
Egyptian Goose O PM KN Wi Ak
South African Shelduck Ak
Spur-winged Goose Ni
Southern Pochard Wi Ak
Cape Shoveler Wi
Yellow-billed Duck Wi Ak
Cape Teal Ni
Little Grebe Wi Ak Ni WC
Great Crested Grebe Wi
Black-necked Grebe Ak Ni
Greater Flamingo Ak WC
Speckled Pigeon KN Wi Ni KV
African Olive-pigeon Wi
Ring-necked (Cape Turtle) Dove O
Laughing Dove O
Namaqua Dove O KN KR Ni
Namaqua Sandgrouse KR Ni
Alpine Swift O PM Ni
Little Swift O PM KN Wi Ni
African (Black) Swift PM KN
African Emerald Cuckoo Wi
Diederik Cuckoo O KN Wi
Red-chested Cuckoo Wi
Black Crake Wi
Common Moorhen O KN
Red-knobbed Coot O KN Wi Ak Ni WC
Blue Crane O Ni
Ludwig's Bustard Ni
Karoo Bustard KN KR
Southern Black Bustard WC
Knysna Turaco Wi NV
African Spoonbill Ni
African Sacred Ibis O Ni WC
Southern Bald Ibis O PM KN Wi
Common Little Bittern KN Wi
Cattle Egret O Wi
Black-headed Heron O Tu
Purple Heron Wi
Little Egret WC
pelican spec. WC
Cape Gannet SR LB
Long-tailed/Reed Cormorant O Wi
Great/White-breasted Cormorant O
Cape Cormorant SR LB
African Oystercatcher O NV WC
Black-winged Stilt O KR Ni WC
Grey Plover WC
Common Ringed Plover WC
Kittlitz’s Plover WC
African Three-banded Plover KN KR Ni
White-fronted Plover LB WC
Blacksmith Lapwing KR Ni
Whimbrel WC
Bar-tailed Godwit WC
Curlew Sandpiper WC
Sanderling WC
Little Stint KR WC
Common Sandpiper KR
Common Greenshank KR WC
Marsh Sandpiper WC
Hartlaub's Gull LB WC
Kelp Gull Wi SR LB WC
Little Tern WC
Caspian Tern WC
Common Tern LB WC
Sandwich Tern SR LB WC
Greater Crested/Swift Tern SR LB
eagle-owl spec. WC in Langebaan town
Black-winged Kite O WC
African Harrier-hawk PM
Martial Eagle KR
Verreaux's Eagle KN Ni KV
Booted Eagle SP KR Ni KV
Pale Chanting-goshawk O KN KR
African Marsh-harrier WC
Black Harrier WC
Black Kite O
Jackal Buzzard O PM KR
Forest Buzzard * Wi
Lesser Kestrel Wi
Rock Kestrel PM KN KR
Peregrine Falcon KN
Speckled Mousebird Tu
White-backed Mousebird O PM KN Ni
Narina Trogon Wi
Common Hoopoe Oudtshoorn B&B
Green Woodhoopoe Wi
European Bee-eater KN Ni Tu
Malachite Kingfisher Wi
Half-collared Kingfisher Wi
Giant Kingfisher Wi SR
Pied Kingfisher Wi
Brown-hooded Kingfisher Wi
Acacia Pied Barbet KN
Scaly-throated Honeyguide Wi
Ground Woodpecker KN SP
Cardinal Woodpecker Ni
Olive Woodpecker Wi
Karoo Lark KN
Spike-heeled Lark KR
Karoo Long-billed Lark KN KR
Black-eared Sparrow-lark KR
Grey-backed Sparrow-lark Ni
Red-capped Lark Ni
Large-billed Lark KN Ni
Black Saw-wing PM Wi SR
Barn Swallow O KN Wi
White-throated Swallow Wi KR Ni WC
Rock Martin O PM KN Wi KR Ni WC
Greater Striped Swallow O PM KN Wi Ni WC
South African (Cliff) Swallow KR
African/Grassveld Pipit KN Ni WC
African Rock/Yellow-tufted Pipit * KN
Cape Longclaw Tinie Versfeld reserve
Cape Wagtail O KN Wi
Grey Cuckoo-shrike Wi
Cape Bulbul O PM KN Wi Ni
Sombre Greenbul Wi NV
Terrestrial Brownbul Wi NV
Olive Thrush Wi Stellenbosch
Karoo Thrush KN
Cape Rock-thrush KV
Short-toed Rock-thrush KN
Southern Anteater-chat KN KR Ni
White-starred Robin NV
Cape Robin-chat O PM KN Wi NV
Chorister Robin-chat Wi NV
Karoo Scrub-robin KN KR Ni WC
Common Stonechat SP Ni WC
Sickle-winged Chat KN
Karoo Chat KN
Familiar Chat O KN Ni
Mountain Wheatear O KN SP KR
Capped Wheatear Ni
Brown Chat-flycatcher KN
Fiscal Flycatcher O KN Wi KR Tu
Spotted Flycatcher Wi
African Dusky Flycatcher Wi
Fairy Flycatcher KN
Cape Batis PM Wi SR SP
Pririt Batis KN
African Paradise-flycatcher Wi NV
Karoo Prinia KN KR KV
Grey-backed Cisticola KN KR Ni
Levaillant's Cisticola Wi WC
Neddicky PM SP PM: Bains Kloof
Rufous-eared Warbler KN
Bar-throated Apalis PM Wi SR Wi: white form
Namaqua Warbler Ni
Little Rush-warbler Wi
Cape Grass-warbler/Grassbird KR
Green-backed Camaroptera Wi
African Reed-warbler KN KR Ni WC Tu
Yellow-throated Woodland-warbler Wi
Yellow-bellied Eremomela KR
Chestnut-vented (Tit-)Warbler KN Ni WC Tu
Layard's (Tit-)Warbler Ni
Cape Rockjumper SP
Grey Tit KN KR
Cape Penduline-tit WC
Collared Sunbird NV
Orange-breasted Sunbird PM SP
Amethyst Sunbird SR
Malachite Sunbird WC Tu
Southern Double-collared Sunbird O PM WC
Greater Double-collared Sunbird Wi
Dusky Sunbird KN
Cape White-eye O PM Wi Ni
Cape Sugarbird PM SP KV KV: lodge highway
Common Fiscal O PM KN Wi KR Ni WC
Southern Tchagra KN
Black-backed Puffback Wi Wi: Big Tree
Southern Boubou Wi SP Wi: Big Tree
Bokmakierie KN Ni
Fork-tailed Drongo O Wi NV
Cape Crow O Wi Ni
Pied Crow O KN
White-necked Raven O
Common Starling O Ni
Pale-winged Starling KN
Red-winged Starling O KN Wi SP
African Pied Starling KN KR Ni
House Sparrow O Ni
Cape Sparrow O PM KR Ni
Southern Red Bishop O KN Tu
Yellow Bishop KN SP Ni
Cape Weaver O Ni
Southern Masked Weaver O PM KN Ni
Pin-tailed Whydah O KN
Common Waxbill KR Ni Tu
Cape Canary O
Yellow Canary KR KV WC
White-throated Canary KR
Streaky-headed Seedeater * KV
Cape Siskin SP
Black-headed Canary * KN
Lark-like Bunting KN KR Ni KR: abundant
Cape Bunting KN KR Ni KV
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| Photos of birds, plants and more scenery in a separate section. |