SA Rare Bird News Report - 09 June 2025
Trevor Hardaker
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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 | |||||||||
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This is the Southern African Rare Bird News Report issued at 18h00 on Monday, 09 June 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 |
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Starting in the Western Cape, the biggest news was probably a report of a SOOTY ALBATROSS seen during a seawatch from Scarborough on Saturday afternoon. Elsewhere, an AFRICAN CRAKE was seen in the gardens of Montego Bay complex in West Beach on Thursday (but not subsequent to that) and the lone WHITE-FRONTED BEE-EATER was still in Eland’s Bay yesterday while, over on the Garden Route, several ROSEATE TERNS remained at The Point in Mossel Bay earlier today and a SQUACCO HERON was seen at the linking channel between Rondevlei and Langvlei, near Sedgefield, at -33.991, 22.695 on Saturday. | |||||||||
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African Crake at Montego Bay complex © Unknown | White-fronted Bee-eater in Eland’s Bay © Kai | ||||||||
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Roseate Tern at The Point © Edwin Polden | Roseate Tern at The Point © Stander van Jaarsveld | ||||||||
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Roseate Terns at The Point © Ian Alsworth-Elvey | Squacco Heron at the Rondevlei – Langvlei linking channel © Riaan Meyer | ||||||||
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Into Kwazulu Natal where several local records of interest came through including 3 BLACK HERONS at the Illovo River mouth yesterday, 2 KAROO THRUSHES in Winterton at -28.814, 29.544 yesterday, an exhausted young AFRICAN PENGUIN found on the beach 500m south of Southport main beach on Saturday and a GREATER KESTREL reported north-east of Newcastle at -27.597, 30.045 on Friday.
In the Free State, a single RED-BILLED OXPECKER was seen on a farm on the outskirts of Harrismith on Friday. | |||||||||
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Black Herons at the Illovo River mouth © Gavin Walter | Karoo Thrush in Winterton © John van de Ruit | ||||||||
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Red-billed Oxpecker near Harrismith © Ohna Venter | |||||||||
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Mpumalanga held on to the SQUARE-TAILED DRONGO which was still at Satara in the Kruger National Park at -24.394, 31.775 until at least Friday.
Up in Limpopo, the locally popular RUFOUS-BELLIED HERON was still at Vogelfontein on Saturday while the Kruger National Park produced a LESSER FLAMINGO at Crooks Corner near Pafuri on Saturday, 4 GREATER FLAMINGOS (1 adult and 3 juveniles) at Klopperfontein Dam on Friday and a single juvenile GREATER FLAMINGO at Grootvlei Dam on Friday as well. | |||||||||
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Rufous-bellied Heron at Vogelfontein © Werner Fourie | Greater Flamingo at Grootvlei Dam © Lize Stassen | ||||||||
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And finally, in Namibia, the GREY WAGTAIL was still at the train bridge over the Swakop River outside Swakopmund at -22.679, 14.579 yesterday morning and the LITTLE (STRIATED) HERON was also still there late yesterday afternoon while an AFRICAN CRAKE was reported at Swakopmund Retirement Village on Friday. | |||||||||
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Grey Wagtail outside Swakopmund © Timo Britze | Grey Wagtail outside Swakopmund © Anton Jooste | ||||||||
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Grey Wagtail outside Swakopmund © Roger Hogg | |||||||||
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Grey Wagtail outside Swakopmund © Christien Boshoff | Little (Striated) Heron outside Swakopmund © Roger Hogg | ||||||||
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Grey Wagtail twitchers outside Swakopmund © Roger Hogg | |||||||||
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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 | |||||||||
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TREVOR HARDAKER Cape Town, South Africa |
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