SA Rare Bird News Report - 17 April 2017

[Trevor Hardaker]

 

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This is the Southern African Rare Bird News Report issued at 20h00 on Monday, 17 April 2017. 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
As usual, we start with the scarcities…   EUROPEAN HONEY BUZZARD:   ·         One at Stilfontein (Gauteng) earlier today. ·         One at Lourensford Estate in Somerset West (Western Cape) yesterday. ·         One at Rietvlei Nature Reserve (Gauteng) on Saturday. ·         One at Secunda (Mpumalanga) on Saturday.
European Honey Buzzard at Lourensford Estate © Hanneke Fourie-Beneke		European Honey Buzzard at Rietvlei Nature Reserve © Fransie O’Brien
European Honey Buzzard in Secunda © Christo Herbst
On to the rest of the news and, starting in the Western Cape, the NORTHERN SHOVELER at Oudebaskraal Dam in the Tanqua Karoo National Park remained a major attraction drawing in twitchers from all over the subregion and was still present there earlier today. Closer to Cape Town, Strandfontein Sewage Works also continued to entertain throughout the long weekend with at least one SQUACCO HERON showing fairly regularly in the channel alongside Pan P7 most of the time and was still in place earlier today while a stunning WESTERN YELLOW WAGTAIL was located between Pans S5 and S6 earlier today as well. Also of interest, a single AFRICAN PALM SWIFT was reported from Rietvlei Nature Reserve on Thursday, 2 individuals were seen over Parklands on Saturday and 2 individuals were seen near the Diep River bridge over the N7 on Sunday. It is unfortunately not possible to know whether these records all refer to the same individuals (as the records are not all that far apart) or whether there has been a recent influx of this species into the area.   Up on the west coast, the wide ranging juvenile WHITE-BACKED VULTURE was seen again yesterday afternoon circling over Buffelsfontein Game Reserve just north of the Darling wind farm, but was found this morning near Langebaanweg some 40km to the north as the Vulture flies. Further east in the province, the BLUE-CHEEKED BEE-EATERS were still showing well at the usual area on the Agulhas Plains until at least Saturday afternoon while there was some excitement on Friday when a WHITE-BROWED SCRUB ROBIN was seen on the Robberg Peninsula in Plettenberg Bay, only the second ever sight record in the province with all the other records coming from mist-netted birds. Also in the same area, the AFRICAN PIED WAGTAIL was still on view yesterday at the Angler’s Club jetty on the Keurbooms River in Plettenberg Bay.
Northern Shoveler at Oudebaskraal Dam © Tony Archer
Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters on the Agulhas Plains © Vernon Slabbert		Blue-cheeked Bee-eater on the Agulhas Plains © Andrew Hodgson
Western Yellow Wagtail at Strandfontein Sewage Works © Michael Tracey		Western Yellow Wagtail at Strandfontein Sewage Works © Mike Buckham
Squacco Heron at Strandfontein Sewage Works © Mike Buckham		African Pied Wagtail in Plettenberg Bay © Mike Buckham
White-backed Vulture at Langebaanweg © John Graham		White-backed Vulture at Langebaanweg © Trevor Hardaker
Up in the Northern Cape, there have been 2 interesting records of GREY-HEADED KINGFISHER coming through from just over a week ago, the first of them from Auchterlonie in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and the second of them coming from Stofdam Bird Hide in Mokala National Park, both of these records being well out of range. Also of interest, a male LONG-TAILED PARADISE WHYDAH was reported along the road to Stofdam Bird Hide as well.
Grey-headed Kingfisher at Auchterlonie © Greg Hudson		Grey-headed Kingfisher in Mokala National Park © Nicky Smith
In the Eastern Cape, the MANGROVE KINGFISHER at the Sandbar Floating Restaurant at the mouth of the Bushmans River continued to entertain on the weekend and was still showing well today while other good provincial records included a CAPE VULTURE reported on the Ngulube Loop in Addo National Park on Friday while a BATELEUR was seen again yesterday between Fish River and Kleinemonde.
Mangrove Kingfisher at Bushmans River © Lester van Groeningen		Mangrove Kingfisher at Bushmans River © Chris Baker
Mangrove Kingfisher at Bushmans River © Rob Boyd		Mangrove Kingfisher at Bushmans River © Ryan Tyrer
Bateleur between Fish River and Kleinemonde © Jessica Macdonald
Moving up the coast into Kwazulu Natal, an immature AFRICAN PENGUIN was spotted about 1,5km offshore of Durban on Thursday. The bird apparently swam up to the boat and ate some of their sardine bait before heading off again.   In Gauteng, an AFRICAN GOSHAWK was reported, once again, flying and calling over Fairland this morning.   And finally, in Namibia, Southern Africa’s 5th (and Namibia’s 1st) CITRINE WAGTAIL was discovered at the Rossmund Golf Course Sewage Treatment Plant in Swakopmund on Friday. Unfortunately, despite a number of birders searching for it on subsequent days, the bird could not be relocated and is assumed to have moved on to somewhere else now. What is perhaps most interesting about the occurrence of this species in Southern Africa is that every record that we have is a case of reverse migration, in other words, birds heading south instead of going north to their breeding grounds. Not one of our records has been an overshoot when a bird is heading on its southward migration and just carries on further south than normal (as happens in many other species) as the birds would then be turning up in the early to mid summer. Reverse migrants tend to turn up in Southern Africa from very late March through to very early May depending on the particular species and when they normally start their northward migration. Just look at the dates of all of our Citrine Wagtail records:   1st: 28 April 1998 at the Gamtoos River mouth near Port Elizabeth (Eastern Cape) 2nd: 11 April 2009 at Kleinmond Sewage Works (Western Cape) 3rd: 02 May 2014 in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (Northern Cape) 4th: 24 April 2015 at Strandfontein Sewage Works (Western Cape) 5th: 14 April 2017 at Rossmund Golf Course (Namibia)
Citrine Wagtail at Rossmund Golf Course © Berenike Behrens
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 -------------------------------------------------------------