SA Rare Bird News Report - 12 September 2016

[Trevor Hardaker]

 

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This is the Southern African Rare Bird News Report issued at 20h00 on Monday, 12 September 2016. 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
The last few days have produced some rather interesting records again...   Starting in the Western Cape, the RUFOUS-TAILED SCRUB ROBIN at Zeekoevlei remains in the spotlight where it performed for appreciative twitchers throughout the weekend (although it only showed for the first time rather late on Saturday). As things currently stand, I now have the names of 1194 birders who have been to look for the bird since it was first found. The bulk of them are still from the Western Cape with 820 twitchers while Gauteng heads up the "outsiders" at 221 twitchers. Birders from other regions include 22 from Kwazulu Natal, 19 from the Eastern Cape, 14 from Mpumalanga, 10 from the Free State, 9 from Limpopo, 8 from the North-west, 5 from Botswana, 3 from Namibia and 2 from Zimbabwe while visiting birders from other parts of the world that have now also detoured to see the bird include 25 from the UK, 25 from the USA, 3 from Malta and The Netherlands and one each from Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and France.   Elsewhere in the province, there was huge surprise yesterday afternoon when a juvenile WHITE-BACKED VULTURE was located about 3km north of Rocher Pan on the west coast. The first twitchers were there just over an hour later but, unfortunately, the bird had already moved off by then, so it could be literally anywhere by now. It would be useful for people visiting the area over the next few days to keep their eyes peeled in case the bird is hanging around there. Two other points related to this sighting have also come to the fore today. The first is that another record of what appears to be this same individual has surfaced (this bird was also photographed) and it was seen along the same road about 15km south of Eland's Bay on 18 August 2016, so it would appear that this bird has been in the general area for at least the last 26 days! The second is that I mistakenly thought this was the first record for the province, but there is apparently a record from the late 1980's when an exhausted individual was found in Noordeinde in Beaufort West. The bird was eventually ringed and then transferred back to Kimberly where it was released again.   Also of interest, a single GOLIATH HERON was still present yesterday at Verlorenvlei in Eland's Bay and a MARABOU STORK was reported earlier today near Voorsorg in the Tanqua Karoo National Park while the reports of BRONZE MANNIKINS around the southern suburbs of Cape Town continues with a flock of in excess of 40 individuals counted on Friday visiting a garden just below Rondebosch Park. These birds are all assumed to originate from escapees, rather than being genuine vagrants to the area.
Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin at Zeekoeivlei © Michael Mandy		Bronze Mannikins in Rondebosch © Jessie Blackshaw
White-backed Vulture near Rocher Pan © Gielie Bester
In the Eastern Cape, the action was, once again, centred around Cape Recife in Port Elizabeth where the SOOTY TERN was on view there on Saturday and the BRIDLED TERN gave a nice showing yesterday again. Elsewhere, the 2 AFRICAN PYGMY GEESE remained on at Ottersvlei until at least Saturday, a number of YELLOW-BILLED STORKS were still present at Diaz Dam on Friday and the pair of WAHLBERG'S EAGLES continued on at Table farm near Grahamstown on the weekend as well. Also catching local attention, a male AFRICAN CUCKOO HAWK was seen yesterday at the Nahoon Estuary Nature Reserve in East London, a very good record for the area.
Sooty Tern at Cape Recife © Jacques Fourie		African Pygmy Geese at Ottersvlei © Rob Boyd
Moving up the coast into Kwazulu Natal, Darvill Bird Sanctuary in Pietermaritzburg continued to entertain throughout the weekend holding on to both the GREEN SANDPIPER and the LESSER JACANA there while I have also received an unconfirmed report of an AFRICAN SKIMMER seen along the N2 just north of the Salt Rock turn-off on Saturday (it would be great if birders could keep their eyes open in this area as it would be a wonderful record if it could be confirmed). The KNYSNA WARBLER at Doreen Clark Nature Reserve in the Midlands was also still present there yesterday as well.
Green Sandpiper at Darvill Bird Sanctuary © Luke Johnson		Green Sandpiper at Darvill Bird Sanctuary © Nick Evans
Over in Gauteng, the SOUTHERN WHITE-FACED OWL at the Field and Study Centre on Sandton was also still attracting local attention on the weekend and remained on there today while an AFRICAN GOSHAWK was reported flying over Ferndale on Friday morning.
Southern White-faced Owl in Sandton © Neil Ebedes		Southern White-faced Owl in Sandton © Mark Tittley
Heading up into Limpopo Province, both AFRICAN SKIMMERS were still present at Albasini Dam yesterday whilst the RUPPELL'S VULTURE at Blouberg Nature Reserve near Vivo also showed well at the nest site throughout the weekend and drew a number of birders to see it.   Over in Namibia, locals had a bit of a surprise yesterday while birding at Gammams Waste Water Treatment Works in Windhoek when they came across a BAT HAWK there, well out of range for this species, although there have been previous claims for the Windhoek area.   And finally, in Mozambique, a single GREATER FRIGATEBIRD was reported in Inhambane on Friday over the beach at Hotel Tofo Mar.
African Skimmer at Albasini Dam © Samson Mulaudzi		Bat Hawk at Gammams Waste Water Treatment Works © Michael Houlden
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 -------------------------------------------------------------