Boston Wildlife Sightings December 2013

Crystelle Wilson – Gramarye

Cape Longclaw

On early morning walks at The Drift farm I came across a water mongoose

and a black-backed jackal

 while in the wetland on Gramarye which was burnt late winter it was gratifying to meet a crab

and seeing the vegetation flourishing, including a beautiful gladiolus flower.

Bird sighting of the month was Black Harrier, the first time I’ve ever seen one of these in the district. The bird is endemic to Southern Africa and has the most restricted range of the 13 harrier species worldwide. It hunts over dry and damp grasslands, fynbos and karoo and its breeding stronghold is in the south western parts of the country.  Another new listing for the Elandshoek pentad was Southern Pochard, only the second time I’ve seen the duck in the area, as was the pair of European Rollers which I saw for the second time after several years in the same spot near the Good Hope dams.

Black-crowned Tchagra and Golden-breasted Bunting were also new additions to that pentad. The list for the Elandshoek pentad 2935_3000: Diederik Cuckoo, Pin-tailed Whydah, Cape Sparrow, Southern Greyheaded Sparrow, Dark-capped Bulbul, Cape White-eye, Amethyst Sunbird, African Paradise-Flycatcher, Greater Striped-Swallow, Cape Turtle Dove, Red-eyed Dove, African Firefinch, Hadeda Ibis, Southern Boubou, Cape Robin-Chat, African Harrier-Hawk, Black Saw-wing, African Hoopoe, Yellow-billed Kite, Spur-winged Goose,

Cape Canary, Le Vaillant’s Cisticola, Fan-tailed Widowbird, African Stonechat, Little Rush-Warbler, Fork-tailed Drongo, Drakensberg Prinia, Egyptian Goose, Yellow-billed Duck, Cattle Egret, Helmeted Guineafowl, Common Waxbill, African Reed-Warbler, Red-collared Widowbird,

Cape Wagtail, Brown-throated Martin, Common Fiscal, Cape Crow, Red-necked Spurfowl, Cape Grassbird, Dusky Indigobird, Zitting Cisticola, Speckled Pigeon, Southern Red Bishop,

Cape Weaver, Village Weaver, African Rail, Cape Longclaw, Bokmakierie, Red-billed Quelea, African Darter, Red-knobbed Coot, Little Grebe, White-breasted Cormorant, African Pipit, Malachite Kingfisher, Giant Kingfisher, Grey Crowned Crane, White-faced Duck, Black-headed Heron, Blue Crane, White-throated Swallow, Barn Swallow, Pied Starling, Black Sparrowhawk, House Sparrow, Amur Falcon, Steppe Buzzard, Wing-snapping Cisticola, Jackal Buzzard, Sombre Greenbul, Blacksmith Lapwing, Banded Martin, Wailing Cisticola, Hamerkop, Red-chested Cuckoo, Yellow Bishop, Long-tailed Widowbird, Bar-throated Apalis, Black-backed Puffback, Southern Double-collared Sunbird, African Emerald Cuckoo, Forest Canary, Alpine Swift, Burchell’s Coucal, Olive Thrush, Black-headed Oriole, Long-crested Eagle, Red-throated Wryneck, Common Moorhen, Red-chested Flufftail.

Trevor and Cheryl Scheepers of Lapa Lapa: Four Buff-spotted Flufftail chicks in the garden

Bruce and Bev Astrup of Highland Glen: Watched Crested Barbet shinning up tree in garden; Burchell’s Coucal; Red-shouldered Widowbird; Red-chested Cuckoo (Piet-my-Vrou), calling. Saw the pair of Spotted Eagle-Owls in the evening in Basket Willows alongside the Elands river, and further sightings of  the Crested Barbet – appear to be nesting in the Weeping Willow along with Fork-tailed Drongos, Darkcapped Bulbuls, Village Weavers, Long-crested Eagle; Elands river over its banks last night, 22^nd Dec, and a couple of Village Weavers nests are upmarket with running water.

Christeen Grant – Sitamamani

December has continued to be wet, many afternoon thunderstorms, fortunately only small hail a few times. Many fungi have sprung up including Earth Stars

and Amanita pantherina.

They quickly shrivel and fade when the sun comes out again.

For the first time I found a large patch of Clubmoss, Lycopodium clavatum on a moist slope.

A few interesting invertabrates have been around, a Harvestmen, Order Opilones was sitting near the kitchen door.

A Lunate Blister Beetle, Decapotoma lunata was seen on a Hypoxis 

and an unusual moth of the Goat Moths, family Cossidae settled for the day on the backstep.

In amongst the grasses, very cleverly camouflaged was a Green lynx spider a Oxyopidae Peucetia sp.

There are a multitude of jewel like flowers scattered over the hillside: Agapanthus caulescens,

Anthericum cooperi,

Aspidonepsis diploglossa,

Convoluvus natalensis,

Cyanotis speciosa (particularly prolific this year),

Dipcadi viride (and amongst the brown coloured ones a green one which echoes it’s given name),

a first for me Drimia spaerocephala,

Eriosema distinctum,

Eucomis autumnalis,

Gladiolus ecklonii,

Hibiscus aethiopicus,

Hypericum lalandii,

Moraea brevistyla,

Nemesia caerulea,

Ornithogalum graminifolium,

Pachycarpus dealbatus,

Papaver aculeatum,

Rubus ludwigii

and Zantedeschia albomaculata were some of them flowering during the month.

On a walk over Mondi’s Mt Shannon, in and near a rather murky pool of water, we saw a Common Platanna Xenopus laevis, a Common River Frog  Afrana angloensis

and a Swamp Bluet Africallagma glaucum.

CREW fieldtrip on Edgeware on 13 December, searching for Schizoglossum bidens and ‘new’ Moraea, last seen on 28 December 2012. The very late rains had arrived too late to bring out the hoped-for plants, so the few CREW and helpers, who were available to make the climb up the hillside were disappointed and when eventually the rains did show that they meant business, it was helter-skelter to a waiting car driven by a kindly rescuer,  Celia Speirs, who came to assist Suvarna Parbhoo, Christina Potgieter, Barbara Clulow and others, who were somewhat wet through. A few flowers were recorded, which compared to the usual masses at this time of the year, was a slight compensation.   The lists up until then were of 155 species on Edgeware and this outing added another 7 new species – photos by Barbara Clulow  – including Asclepias cucullata

Cycnium racemosum for first time on Edgeware

Tephrosia macropoda

Pelargonium alchemilloides

Not the first time, but a lovely Asclepias albens

The hard cover book of the 100 most highly threatened South African plant species, “Plants in Peril”, has been published.  Boston CREW is represented therein with Barbara Clulow, Christeen Grant and David Clulow at Impendle Nature Reserve, where the rare plant, Asclepias concinna, was found earlier. This impressive book is available from Suvarna Parbhoo at 082 354 5649. An extract:  Asclepias concinna

Gomphocarpus photographed by Crystelle Wilson of Gramarye on the edge of the Norwood forests. The one seen before in the area is a physocarpus and is described in Elsa Pooley’s “Wildflowers of KZN” as being white flowers, which is the case; so this is an interesting variation – Darwin would have been intrigued.