SA Rare Bird News Report - 14 June 2018

[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 20h00 on Thursday, 14 June 2018.   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 http://groups.google.co.za/group/sa-rarebirdnews			SARBN is proud to be associated with the following brands:
Starting in the Western Cape, there was major local excitement again yesterday when the wide-ranging HOODED VULTURE was found again along Baden Powell Drive after not having been seen for around a month. It then moved across into Strandfontein Sewage Works and spent a little bit of time there before taking off and disappearing into the distance. About an hour later, it was then found up on the mountainside along Old Boyes Drive where it spent a short while before heading down on to the shores of Zandvlei where it held steady for around an hour giving a number of twitchers who had been on a bit of a wild vulture chase for much of the afternoon chance to catch up with it. It eventually took flight again as the sun was dropping behind the mountain and headed north not to be seen again...   Elsewhere, a FRANKLIN'S GULL was found this morning at the northern end of Pan P2 at Strandfontein Sewage Works, seemingly a different individual to the one that was there a few weeks ago judging by the state of the plumage while an AFRICAN JACANA found on a farm dam about 45km east of Clanwilliam yesterday was also an interesting find. A possible BLACK TERN was also seen amongst other Tern species yesterday in the Cape Columbine Nature Reserve on the west coast.
Franklin’s Gull at Strandfontein Sewage Works © Simon Fogarty	Possible Black Tern (on left) at Cape Columbine Nature Reserve © Lindsay Mandy
Hooded Vulture along Baden Powell Drive © Andrew Jenkins
Hooded Vulture at Strandfontein Sewage Works © Michael McSweeney	Hooded Vulture on Old Boyes Drive © Stuart Hodgson
Hooded Vulture at Zandvlei © Andrew de Blocq	Hooded Vulture at Zandvlei © John Graham
Hooded Vulture at Zandvlei © Margaret Hardaker
In the Eastern Cape, the male NORTHERN PINTAIL was still in the same area along the Keiskamma River in Hamburg yesterday.
Northern Pintail at Hamburg © Albert McLean
Moving up the coast into Kwazulu Natal, the LESSER FRIGATEBIRD was still at St Lucia on Tuesday while the EURASIAN CURLEW was also still on the sandbanks in Richard's Bay on Tuesday. Another long-time lingerer was the LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL that was seen again yesterday in Durban Bay on the Centre Bank opposite Wilson's Wharf, the same place it was seen a month ago. Observers aboard the SA Agulhas ll were also rather surprized to find a LEACH'S STORM PETREL about 8 nautical miles offshore of St Lucia on Monday morning, a rather rare bird in the province.
Lesser Black-backed Gull in Durban Bay © David Allan	Lesser Black-backed Gull in Durban Bay © Rex Aspeling
Across in Mpumalanga, the immature EGYPTIAN VULTURE was still hanging around Transport Dam in the Kruger National Park today and a number of fortunate twitchers have been able to connect with it over the last few days in this area.   And finally, in Mozambique, the observers aboard the SA Agulhas ll travelling between Maputo and the Zambezi River estuary all within subregion waters on Tuesday had a rather good day which produced a SOUTH POLAR SKUA, WEDGE-TAILED SHEARWATER, RED-FOOTED BOOBY, GREATER FRIGATEBIRD and reasonable numbers of SOOTY TERNS.
Egyptian Vulture at Transport Dam © Norman Lok	Egyptian Vulture at Transport Dam © Lorinda Steenkamp
Egyptian Vulture at Transport Dam © Trygve Hvidsten
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