SA Rare Bird News Report - 05 May 2025
Trevor Hardaker
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
S O U T H E R N A F R I C A N R A R E B I R D N E W S R E P O R T |
|||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||
|
This is the Southern African Rare Bird News Report issued at 18h00 on Monday, 05 May 2025.
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.
None of the records included in this report have undergone any adjudication process with any of the subregion’s Rarities Committees, so inclusion in this report does not constitute any official confirmation of the particular record. Observers are still encouraged to make the necessary submissions accordingly.
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 https://groups.google.com/g/sa-rarebirdnews |
|
SARBN is proud to be associated with the following brands: |
|||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
PLEASE CONSIDER FOLLOWING ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA BY CLICKING ON THE LINKED ICONS BELOW: |
|||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Starting in the Western Cape, the biggest local excitement came in the form of an AFRICAN CRAKE found along the road next to Bass Lake in Betty’s Bay at -34.355, 18.908 on Thursday afternoon which was still performing well there today. An even bigger surprize came this afternoon when it was confirmed that there were actually 2 individuals present there. Elsewhere in the province, a GOLIATH HERON was seen again at Kenilworth Racecourse Conservation Area this afternoon and a single GREATER SAND PLOVER was still at De Mond Nature Reserve near Arniston on Saturday. |
|||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
African Crake in Betty’s Bay © Hernus Langeveldt |
African Crake in Betty’s Bay © Louis van Wyk |
||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
African Crake in Betty’s Bay © Gareth Bain |
African Crake in Betty’s Bay © Jenny Wentzel |
||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
African Crake in Betty’s Bay © Robert Cooper |
African Crake in Betty’s Bay © Sarel Snyman |
||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
African Crake in Betty’s Bay © Keith Hamilton |
African Crake in Betty’s Bay © Dirk van Zijl |
||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
African Crake in Betty’s Bay © Johan van der Westhuizen |
African Crake in Betty’s Bay © Regard van Dyk |
||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
In Kwazulu Natal, the locally popular LESSER JACANA was still at the Wattled Crane hide in the Karkloof Conservancy on Saturday while other records of interest included at least 5 BLUE-CHEEKED BEE-EATERS on a farm in Underberg on Saturday and a MOUNTAIN CHAT (previously MOUNTAIN WHEATEAR) seen on private property in the Tinley Manor area on Friday. |
|||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Lesser Jacana at the Karkloof Conservancy © Simon Joubert |
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater in Underberg © Brenda Horner |
||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Across in Eswatini, a YELLOW-BILLED OXPECKER was seen on a Rhino just outside the main camp in Hlane Game Reserve on Thursday.
Into Mpumalanga where the SQUARE-TAILED DRONGO was still at Satara in the Kruger National Park at -24.394, 31.776 this afternoon while a single SWALLOW-TAILED BEE-EATER was reported along a gravel road east of the R51 at -26.826, 28.587 on Saturday. |
|||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Yellow-billed Oxpecker in Hlane Game Reserve © Steve Richmond |
Square-tailed Drongo at Satara © Simon Vegter |
||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Across in Gauteng, a small group of SWALLOW-YAILED BEE-EATERS was found this morning west of Evaton at -26.508, 27.761.
Limpopo chimed in with a COLLARED PALM THRUSH found just outside Shingwedzi on the Shingwedzi-Mopani road in the Kruger National Park at -23.097, 31.414 yesterday afternoon.
And finally, in Namibia, a male BUFF-SPOTTED FLUFFTAIL was found at Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp on Friday. |
|||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Collared Palm Thrush near Shingwedzi © Rene Rossouw |
Buff-spotted Flufftail at Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp © Ruben Portas |
||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
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 |
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
