Capebirding

Last Tuesday at my bird count with Jane. It’s been a miserable anxious week with my boy cat Crumb missing without trace since last Monday. We did see a bittern after the count though, which is still an absolute treat.

Today marked two years of our weekly bird count at the Liesbeek Confluence. Terna has had me up for it at 6:30 this year - excruciating for me except that it’s close to the dawn and the light is beautiful. Also Ana had hot rooibos tea and it was a treat sitting on the grass with them and looking out at this familiar scene.

Our Liesbeek bird counting group had an away day this morning at Strandfontein Sewerage works. Jane and Terna looking out at the thousands of birds in every direction. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen the place so dense with avian life. As we drove down the tracks, Barn Swallows swirled around the car stuffing themselves with unseen bugs - to fatten up for their long journey back to the summer of Europe. We saw so many different ducks - Cape, Red-Billed, and Blue-billed Teals. Cape Shovelers. Spur-Winged Geese, Egyptian Geese, Southern Pochards, Fulvous Whistling Ducks, and Yellow-Billed Ducks. ...

Our little dawn bird-counting team. Jane and Terna plus me. A lovely misty morning by the Black River. Commuters rushing to work on the M5 behind us. It’s very much an urban wild space.

No otters down by the river. But great flights of ibis - including two flocks of Glossy Ibis; about a dozen each. Might be getting new lenses for the little XE1 today. Excited about that.

I didn’t see an otter today. I saw two.

I’ve joined a tiny bird group to monitor the presence of birds where the Liesbeek River meets the Black River. Once a week we go out to this spot on the Black River in the morning and spend 5 minutes noting every species we can see and their numbers. Yesterday was a two kingfisher day with a trio of Pied Kingfishers fussing just on the right edge of the Liesbeek mouth and a Malachite Kingfisher I didn’t see (I was taking notes and, when I thought I saw it later, was asked if I wasn’t looking at a Morning Glory flower - I was 😂). Despite being an urban river system, it’s bursting with wildlife. ...

These ones are greater flamingoes - although their pink beaks are underwater. Almost a retro-80s, vapour-wave kinda thing going on with the colour scheme and the ripple patterns.

#balconybirds No.4 The Cape Bulbul. Distinguishable from other Bulbuls (or Greenbuls, I should say. I think they’re all called Greenbulls now) by it’s white eye-ring. These are fun little birds. Busy as heck foraging about in small groups. In fact, about 30 minutes after taking this two sat up on the line and were being incredibly sweet - the one grooming the other’s neck in the golden light. Of course my battery would die then. And of course I’d find the other was uncharged…