SA Rare Bird News Report - 14 January 2013

[Trevor Hardaker]

This is the Southern African Rare Bird News Report issued at 20h00 on Monday, 14 January 2013. Information has been gleaned from various websites, email groups as well as from individual observers who have passed on their sightings. This report cannot be taken as being totally comprehensive as it is based only on information made available at the time of writing. All bird sightings reported here are reported in good faith based on information as provided by the observers. Any inaccuracies are totally unintentional and the writer cannot be held liable for these. For those who may have only joined the group recently and are interested in finding out what has been seen in the past, previous reports can be viewed at http://groups.google.co.za/group/sa-rarebirdnews
A warm hello to all the SARBN subscribers and best wishes for a rarity-filled 2013! As you would have realized, I am now back in the country after an astonishing 3 weeks of incredible birding in Colombia coming back with a trip list of around 540 species seen with a further 25 odd species heard only. It really is an incredible country to visit and I can only highly recommend it to anyone considering a birding trip outside of SA.   The first and obvious order of business is to thank Andre Marx and Robert Wienand for handling the dissemination of rarity news via SARBN in my absence. I’m sure you’ll all agree that they both did an absolutely fantastic job and really do deserve all of our thanks for handling it all so efficiently. Guys, I really appreciate your assistance with this and, hopefully, the next time I decide to head off into the jungle, someone else will offer to take over the reigns for a while so that the two of you don’t need to do it again…J   Then, not strictly rarity-related, but also of particular significance to the SA birding, twitching and listing fraternities, it gives me great pleasure to announce that, while I was away, a little bit of SA birding history was made in that we now have a third person who has clocked the magical 900 milestone in Southern Africa. My good friend and longtime birding buddy, John Graham, finally eased over the landmark milestone a couple of weeks ago with the Angola Cave Chat in northern Namibia and then, just for good measure, snuck in a Souza’s Shrike in the Caprivi as insurance to now comfortably be sitting on 901 species seen in Southern Africa! That is a remarkable achievement John and huge congratulations are due to you – I know how hard you have worked to get there! I would love to be able to say that you have now joined the illustrious bunch in the 900 club, but I’m sure most people would have a large selection of far more choice words to describe the three of us than illustrious…J   Ok, so on to some news and I have waded through all my emails and hopefully picked up everything. If I have inadvertently missed your record, please forgive me.   Starting in the Western Cape, the 2 COMMON REDSHANKS were still present at Geelbek in the West Coast National Park on Friday whilst Rooi Els has also picked up some interesting birds recently including a couple of DUSKY SUNBIRDS visiting a garden in the town and a CAPE VULTURE seen soaring over the town. Also of interest in the province, a BLACK TERN was reported from Pan P5 at Strandfontein Sewage Works yesterday (it was apparently also there on 5 January) whilst a EUROPEAN ROLLER was reported just beyond the Phesantekraal settlements along the R312 yesterday as well.   In the Northern Cape, the only report I have received concerns a RED-BACKED SHRIKE that was seen about 40km north of Carnarvon on Friday.   Moving into Kwazulu Natal, Mpempe Pan is where all the action has been and birders over the weekend still managed to connect with the PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVER as well as between 8 and 10 CASPIAN PLOVERS and a couple of WESTERN YELLOW WAGTAILS there. The co-ordinates for the area where all the sightings have occurred have been given as 27 deg 43' 18.8" S 32 deg 28' 58.5" E. A VERREAUX’S EAGLE OWL was also still present at Thula Thula Private Game Reserve near Empangeni on the weekend.
Common Redshanks at Geelbek © Anton Kruger	Verreaux’s Eagle Owl at Thula Thula Private Game Reserve © Andre Bernon
Pacific Golden Plover at Mpempe Pan © Zoe Brocklehurst	Pacific Golden Plover at Mpempe Pan © Navarre de Villiers
Caspian Plover at Mpempe Pan © Justen Dralle	Caspian Plover at Mpempe Pan © Navarre de Villiers
In Gauteng, Marievale Bird Sanctuary was providing some action on the weekend with a BLACK-TAILED GODWIT reported on both days (although appearances of it were a little erratic) frequenting a large open patch of water about 500m down from the Shelduck hide whilst a WESTERN MARSH HARRIER was also reported from the sanctuary yesterday. There was also a fair bit of excitement at a BirdLife Northern Gauteng outing when a RIVER WARBLER was mist-netted and ringed on Saturday at Buffelsdrift.   Other good birds for the province over the weekend included a PALE-CROWNED CISTICOLA seen near Langzeekoegat whilst both HARLEQUIN QUAIL and LESSER SPOTTED EAGLE were reported from near Devon. The birds were present on the Klippan Link road south of Devon – the quail was right at the start of the road just off the R550 and the eagle at co-ordinates  S 26*  28.906 E 28*  42.536 towards the bottom end of the road.   Heading into the North-west Province, a single PECTORAL SANDPIPER was still present at Kgomo Kgomo on Friday whilst, yesterday, a single MACCOA DUCK was present at Madikwe Game Reserve.
	Western Marsh Harrier at Marievale Bird Sanctuary © Matthew Axelrod
Black-tailed Godwit at Marievale Bird Sanctuary © Niall Perrins	Black-tailed Godwit at Marievale Bird Sanctuary © Dylan Vasapolli
River Warbler at Buffelsdrift © Debbie van Zyl	River Warbler at Buffelsdrift © Andrew Pickles
Pale-crowned Cisticola near Langzeekoegat © Niall Perrins	Harlequin Quail near Devon © Dylan Vasapolli
Lesser Spotted Eagle near Devon © Dylan Vasapolli	Pectoral Sandpiper at Kgomo Kgomo © Niall Perrins
Botswana has had some excitement recently when the first record for the country of ANGOLA PITTA was discovered in a garden in Maun. How’s that for a super cool bird to add to your garden list…?! Added to that, another new record for the country came in the form of an EASTERN NICATOR also recorded in a garden last week, this time in Kasane.   And finally, in Namibia, it was all happening at Mile 4 Salt Works near Swakopmund on the weekend with at least 2 COMMON REDSHANKS, an AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER, a BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER (possibly the same individual that was there last season) and a FRANKLIN’S GULL all seen during a morning’s birding on Saturday! Also of interest over on the other end of the country was a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL reported from Lake Liambezi during the course of last week.
African Pitta in Maun © Mark Muller	Buff-breasted Sandpiper at Mile 4 Salt Works © Mark Boorman
Franklin’s Gull (on left) at Mile 4 Salt Works © Hartmut Kolb	Franklin’s Gull (on left) at Mile 4 Salt Works © Mark Boorman
Please remember to send through your details to be included on the various listing clubs that are hosted at www.zestforbirds.co.za. This website also has an extensive rarities gallery that has many additional photos of a number of rarities that are mentioned in these reports.
Thank you to all observers who have contributed their records. Please continue to send through any reports of odd birds as well as continued updates on the presence of rarities already previously reported, no matter how mundane you think they may be. Even if you think someone else has probably sent in a report, rather send the report yourself as well. The only way to improve this service and to make it as useful as possible to everyone is if it can be as comprehensive as possible.
Kind regards Trevor
------------------------------------------------------------------------   TREVOR HARDAKER Cape Town, South Africa     Follow our local exploits in the field at: http://hardakerwildlife.wordpress.com/   See our photos and trip reports at: www.hardaker.co.za     ZEST for BIRDS Pelagics, rarity photos, listing clubs and more: www.zestforbirds.co.za     SA RARE BIRD NEWS Get the latest rarity news by joining at: http://groups.google.co.za/group/sa-rarebirdnews     SOUTHERN AFRICAN RARITIES Online database of all SA rarities www.rarities.co.za -----------------------------------------------------------------------