Karkloof Wildlife Sightings – April, May and June 2015

Karkloof Conservation Centre – Patrick Cahill:

When Twané gave me her personal list of sightings, she said that she had seen 14 Wattled Cranes on April the first. I thought this was her idea of an April Fool’s, but she was being serious!

Wattled Cranes at the Loskop Pan by Twané Clarke

Pairs of Grey Crowned Cranes have been hanging around the Loskop Hide, but their nest building appears to have come to an end.

A pair of Grey Crowned Cranes by Patrick Cahill

I recently saw a Natal Spurfowl (aka Natal Francolin before the taxonomists started messing with our glossaries) and several visitors have reported them during the month.

Natal Spurfowl by Patrick Cahill

A big thanks to the Karkloof residents who assisted with the NguniTV team to produce the excellent documentary for 50/50 on our Cranes. Congratulations to Charlie and Twané for their performance on the box. They are prepared (for a small fee) to autograph your TV sets. It will be a great loss to the Karkloof if they are tempted to forsake us for a career on the screen! Watch it here: https://youtu.be/9Cb_Tddm0ng

Many visitors have reported regular sightings of Black-winged Lapwings and Malachite Kingfishers, whilst a pair of African Jacana appear to have taken up squatters rights on the Loskop Pan. A Pied Kingfisher was spotted recently saying grace before taking the plunge to get lunch.

Let us prey. Pied Kingfisher by Patrick Cahill

Other sightings included:

Southern Red Bishop, Dark-capped Bulbul, Forest Buzzard, Jackal Buzzard, Yellow-fronted Canary, Familiar Chat, Levaillant’s Cisticola, Zitting Cisticola, Red-knobbed Coot, Reed Cormorant, White-breasted Cormorant, Black Crake, Blue Crane, Cape Crow, Pied Crow, African Darter, Cape Turtle-Dove, Red-eyed Dove, Fork-tailed Drongo, White-faced Duck, Yellow-billed Duck, African Fish-Eagle, Long-crested Eagle, Great Egret, Yellow-billed Egret, Common Fiscal, Southern Black Flycatcher, Egyptian Goose, Spur-winged Goose, Little Grebe, Helmeted Guineafowl, Hamerkop, African Marsh-Harrier, Black-headed Heron, Grey Heron, Purple Heron, African Sacred Ibis, Hededa Ibis, Southern Bald Ibis, Giant Kingfisher, Black-shouldered Kite, African Wattled Lapwing, Blacksmith Lapwing, Brown-throated Martin, Common Moorhen, Barn Owl, African Olive Pigeon, Speckled Pigeon, Three-banded Plover, Drakensberg Prinia, Red-billed Quelea, African Rail, Cape Robin-Chat, Secretarybird, South African Shelduck, Cape Shoveler, African Snipe, Southern Grey-headed Sparrow, African Spoonbill, African Stonechat, White Stork, Amethyst Sunbird, Barn Swallow, White-throated Swallow, Hottentot Teal, Red-billed Teal, Cape Wagtail, Common Waxbill, Village Weaver, Pin-tailed Whydah, Fan-tailed Widowbird, and Cardinal Woodpecker.

Bird Ringing @ Mbona – Karin Nelson:

I was recently privileged to do some bird ringing in Mbona Private Nature Reserve upon invitation by Richard Booth. Forest edge birding is always very special, as you never know what you may catch. This day being no exception!

Bush Blackcap by Karin Nelson

We caught, ringed and released 27 birds, representing 19 different species which included:
Bush Blackcap, Orange Ground-Thrush, Barratt’s Warbler, Lemon Dove, Cape Batis, Forest Canary, White-starred Robin, Swee Waxbill, Sombre Greenbul and Dark-backed Weaver.

Orange Ground-Thrush by Richard Booth

A great ringing morning for me with 2 species that I’d never ringed before. It was also good to meet some of the Mbona residents who came to see what bird ringing is about. We plan to have further ringing sessions, possibly once a season at Mbona.

Barratt’s Warbler by Karin Nelson

Thanks to Richard for the invite and a great morning.

Cape Batis by Richard Booth

Mbona Private Nature Reserve – Richard Booth:

The Greater Double-collared Sunbirds are in our garden where they spend much of the day feeding in the Pink Plumes (Syncolostemon densiflorus) which are in bloom, a real favourite of theirs.

Male Greater Double-collared Sunbird by Richard Booth

Female Greater Double-collared Sunbird by Richard Booth

Some happy news from Mbona is that we have a pair of Cape Parrots nesting high up in a dead eucalyptus tree on our Reserve. We first discovered them in April and were then seen regularly at the site during May.

Nesting Cape Parrots by Richard Booth

Nesting Cape Parrots by Richard Booth

Mt. Gilboa Nature Reserve – Richard Booth:

During the walk at the Mount Gilboa Nature Reserve in April, which was organised by the Karkloof Conservancy and lead by Kevin McCann of the Wildlands Conservation Trust, as well as Donna Lay who is the manager of this reserve.

Nerine pancratioides (White Nerine) by Richard Booth

What stood out most in this grassland and wetland habitat, was a gorgeous display of these special White Nerine, Nerine pancratioides. One picture is enlarged to show a fly with a long proboscis coming in to feed and pollinate. Spoiler alert: This is the flower chosen for April in the Midlands Conservancies Forum calendar which will be on sale from September!

Nerine pancratioides (White Nerine) by Richard Booth

Loskop Dairy Farm – AJ Liebenberg (bestuurder):

On the 16 April, AJ was fortunate enough to see a Serval catching mice or rats in the maize lands near the Polo grounds in the early hours – 00h30! He watched it jump around as it tried to pounce on the little rodents.

Common Duiker by AJ Liebenberg

He has also been seeing a variety of buck around Loskop, which includes Common (Grey) Duiker, Common Reedbuck and a female Bushbuck that came into the garden.

Reedbuck ram by AJ Liebenberg

Bushbuck doe by AJ Liebenberg

Something he has been noticing more often are about 4 Warthogs in the cut maize lands near the club.

Warthog by AJ Liebenberg

Warthog by AJ Liebenberg

Another interesting offering were photographs of the Black-winged Lapwings which he noticed around the farmlands, especially under the irrigation systems. There are easily over a hundred of them that gather in an area. Shortly after his sighting, Graham and Trish McGill, from Umtentweni KZN, popped into the Conservation Centre and was desperately looking to photograph some of these birds for his website.

Black-winged Lapwing by AJ Liebenberg

Black-winged Lapwing by AJ Liebenberg

AJ was quite happy for us to point out their location and allow him to get a little closer. Much to our amusement, he set up a portable bird hide under the Centre Pivot and waited patiently for them to get closer. This got all the locals driving by quite excited, as they all thought that someone was illegally hunting and immediately got on the phone to warn AJ. A good exercise to check if your neighbours are vigilant! Graham popped back to the Centre to excitedly show us his superb photographs. You can see his photos here:
SA Birding Photography

This is a great website to use when confirming the identification of a bird species.

Taking a Closer Look – Vicki Street:

Vikki, a regular visitor to our Conservation Centre, took these magnificent photographs in April of Damselflies, Ladybugs, Spiders, Flies and Butterflies. These creatures are often the food source for many of the birds that you see from our hides. At a recent talk at the KZN Midlands Bird Club meeting, David Johnson spoke about “50 ways to eat an insect”, which was not only humorous, but a wonderful insight into the many adaptations of insectivorous birds. Next time you’re birding, keep your eyes open for the little wonders.

Photograph by Vicki Street

Photograph by Vicki Street

Photograph by Vicki Street

Photograph by Vicki Street

Photograph by Vicki Street

Photograph by Vicki Street

Wattled Crane – Andrew Cairncross:

Spent a very pleasant morning at Karkloof and was lucky enough to capture a Wattled Crane. It really is a superb place to visit.

Wattled Crane by Andrew Cairncross

Boston Wildlife Sightings – May 2015

Crystelle Wilson – Gramarye

AT the beginning of the month it was great to host Dieter Oschadleus, the director of SAFRING, the South African Bird Ringing Unit. He put up mist nets in the wetland on Gramarye with the hope of catching weavers and widowbirds which are his special field of research.

Dieter with an African Stonechat

In summer the place is alive with Fan-tailed and Red-collared Widows and Southern Red Bishops at their nests, but by now they were flocking and spending their time together feeding and flying to roosting sites at dawn and dusk. Frustratingly the majority of birds managed to evade the nets, but Dieter was still satisfied with his haul of 14 birds. These were: 1 African Stonechat, 1 Lesser Swamp Warbler, 1 African Reed Warbler, 2 Levaillant’s Cisticola, 3 Village Weaver, 4 Red-billed Quelea, 1 Southern Red Bishop and 1 Fan-tailed Widow.

Fan-tailed Widowbird

Red-billed Quelea

Levaillant’s Cisticola

When a bird has flown into the net, he removes it and place it in a cloth bag until it can be processed. Detailed measurements are taken and the bird is weighed on a tiny scale the size of a cellphone before being released.

The birds weighed between 7 and 36 grams. A surprising discovery was finding a tick on the African Reed Warbler. Dieter removed it and placed it in surgical spirits to hand over to someone else who is doing research on ticks.

African Reed Warbler

There were two unusual records this month. One was finding a Black Harrier working the grassland adjoining the Dargle road near Fairview, flying low, backwards and forwards in typical harrier fashion and clearly showing the diagnostic white rump.

Black Harrier

Then I was surprised to hear Spectacled Weavers calling in my garden. I saw them for the first time in the district earlier this year building a nest at the Pickle Pot, and now they’ve paid me a visit as well.

Spectacled Weavers

It was good seeing a Lanner Falcon doing its job as a pest control officer,

Lanner Falcon with prey

while juvenile raptor plumages once again demonstrated its potential to confuse: at first glance it looked like a Cape Vulture flying overhead, but any lingering doubt was removed when the distinctive call of African Fish-Eagle sounded clearly.

Juvenile African Fish-Eagle

Denham’s Bustard was seen on Four Gates during a very enjoyable walk to the cascades on the Elands River.

Denham’s Bustard

On the rocks we saw prolific otter scat as well as a pair of recently hatched agama lizards.

Otter scats

The SABAP2 atlas list for the Elandshoek pentad 2935_3000: Greater Honeyguide, Denham’s Bustard, Olive Thrush, Black-backed Puffback, Cape Batis, Yellow Bishop, Red-winged Starling, African Spoonbill, African Fish-Eagle, Red-throated Wryneck, Red-billed Quelea, Fan-tailed Widowbird, White-breasted Cormorant, Cape Grassbird, Spectacled Weaver, Southern Red Bishop, Spotted Eagle-Owl, African Hoopoe, Black Harrier, Drakensberg Prinia, White-throated Swallow, Brown-throated Martin, Common Moorhen, Pied Kingfisher, Reed Cormorant,

Agama Lizards

Yellow-billed Duck, Three-banded Plover, Jackal Buzzard, African Olive-pigeon, Sombre Greenbul, Speckled Mousebird, Cape Glossy Starling, Southern Boubou, Village Weaver, Cape Sparrow, Southern Grey-headed Sparrow, House Sparrow, Pin-tailed Whydah, Speckled Pigeon, Red-necked Spurfowl, African Pipit, Levaillant’s Cisticola, African Darter, Black-headed Heron, Little Grebe, Red-knobbed Coot, Blacksmith Lapwing, Red-capped Lark, Hamerkop, Cape Turtle-dove, Red-eyed Dove, Common Fiscal, Egyptian Goose, Fork-tailed Drongo, Spur-winged Goose, Grey Crowned Crane, Black Sparrowhawk, Cape Crow, African Stonechat, Dark-capped Bulbul, Helmeted Guineafowl, African Sacred Ibis, Bokmakierie, South African Shelduck, African Rail, Green Wood-hoopoe, Common Waxbill, Long-crested Eagle, Cape Wagtail, Cape Robin-chat, Hadeda Ibis, Cape Canary, Amethyst Sunbird, Black-headed Oriole, Greater Striped Swallow.

Cascades on the Eland’s River

The Grey Crowned Cranes raising their one surviving juvenile has been an education. At 16h55, as I set out for the walk, I heard them calling from the dam and went haring around the corner to the paddock. They were walking next to the dam, feeding. Junior found a stick amusing and picked it up, dropped it and picked it up again. Then the parents began dancing, and tried to include him too. He’s not quite as adept yet, but did his best. At 17h13 they all three took off and flew across the river and landed in the green field below the pivot on Netherby. At 17h23 they returned and the parents settled in the tree on the dam, but junior flew around the tree a few times and then disappeared. I couldn’t see where it went.

Barry Cromhout of “Highland Glen”

African Fish-Eagle near “Elandsvlei”; Black Ducks on dam at “Highland Glen” with four chicks; Grey Crowned Crane on dead tree on “The Willows”.

David and Barbara Clulow, visiting from 29 May to 31st

30 Grey Crowned Cranes on a pasture at Melrose; four Denham’s Bustards, walking in stubble maize lands on Netherby; Black-headed Herons on The Drift dam; Blacksmith Lapwing on The Drift; masses of Cape Crows; garden birds galore; Duiker on The Drift; Reedbuck on The Willows; Stonechats, Hadeda Ibis and Fiscals; Sacred Ibis; Egyptian and Spur-winged Geese; Red-knobbed Coot.

Forest Buzzard

Frances Nel on “Four Gates”

Four Southern Ground-Hornbills on two occasions.

Sitamani Sightings – Christeen Grant

May this year has been a long extension of autumn, an “Indian Summer”; clear, cool days with cloudless blue skies. We’ve had virtually no rain at all and as it’s been dry also not had the usual frost by mid-May. Underneath the yellow gold grass seed heads the leaves are still green.

I have been away most of May so haven’t explored far from the house to see which plants are flowering. Every winter I look forward to the showy snowy-white candyfloss flowers of the Buddleja auriculata.

Buddleja auriculata

Buddleja auriculata

The bright yellow Senecio polyanthemoides shine on the edge of the lawn

Senecio polyanthemoides

Senecio polyanthemoides

and star like Euryops laxa pop up between fallen leaves.

Euryops laxa

An insect buzz in the Halleria lucida trees signals the opening of the bright red flowers growing straight off woody branches without stalks.

Halleria lucida

Aloe maculata buds are starting to open up.

Aloe maculata

Aloe maculata

Birds are relishing the two birdbaths. One is on our verandah and late one afternoon I spotted a Cape Batis flitting up into the branches overhead. A courting couple of Black-backed Puffbacks were in display mode. The Afrikaans name Sneeubal aptly describes the pompom white ball of feathers on the male’s back. Three Buff-streaked Chats sat sunning on hillside rocks, a bit far off for a good photo.

Buff-streaked Chat

The Speckled Pigeons are rearing yet another brood, two downy heads peep over the nest in the garage. The parents take well-deserved rests on the roof.

Speckled Pigeon

In the orchard bared branches reveal an arboreal Ants nest and Lichens.

Ants nest

Lichen

Many Bees and Hoverflies zoom into the few flowering plants. Not many moths about at the moment.

Hoverfly

A beautiful male Reedbuck is often seen grazing near the house in the early mornings and evenings. Two duiker, three Reedbuck and a Black-backed Jackal were on the driveway one evening when I returned home.

Karkloof Wildlife Sightings – March 2015

Karkloof Conservation Centre – Patrick Cahill

March saw some interesting sightings and the Karkloof Conservation Centre’s list is growing! The White-throated Swallows which have a nest under the eaves of the Loskop Hide were seen tutoring their offspring in the art of aviation. No doubt one of these days their GPS’s will kick in and they will head north to a warmer climate. Twané managed to shoot one (with her camera) peering inquisitively into the hide.

White-throated Swallow chick

A new addition to our list is the Knob-billed Duck (formerly the Comb Duck before taxonomists decided everyone’s names should change).

Knob-billed Duck (previously known as the Comb Duck)

Some absentees have started reappearing after a sojourn elsewhere, with Pied and Malachite Kingfishers taking up observation posts. Fortunately the water’s edge has expanded, so Loskop is no longer a spoonful of water in the distance.

Malachite Kingfisher by Patrick Cahill

I recently saw a pair of Grey Crowned Cranes very close to the Loskop hide. One was busy stockpiling twigs whilst the other was performing a high stepping ante nuptial quickstep. Hopefully his intentions are honourable and we may sometime hear the patter of tiny claws in the grass.

Pair of Grey Crowned Cranes by Patrick Cahill

An old faithful who we haven’t seen for some time is a Hamerkop who was spotted recently. Some years ago I was told by a Zulu, whose father had been a herbalist, that there was a belief amongst his people that if you killed an uThekwane, lightning would strike you DEAD! (VEERY!!) He didn’t believe it himself, but felt that it was probably propagated by the elders who wanted to preserve the birds which did the community a favour, by eating the frogs which polluted the wells from which they obtained their drinking water. Perhaps we should adapt this to protect other endangered species too.

Hamerkop by Patrick Cahill

There have also been sightings of Southern Bald Ibis, an African Marsh Harrier a Cardinal Woodpecker and Groundscraper Thrush.

Cardinal Woodpecker

Now that the maize has been cropped, African Wattled Lapwings and Black-winged Lapwings have been seen in the stubble. Although the pans attract most birds, don’t ignore the fields surrounding them.

Groundscraper Thrush

Other sightings included: Common Fiscal, Fork-tailed Drongo, Yellow-fronted Canary, Village Weaver, Amethyst Sunbird, Cape Crow, Cape Robin-Chat, Cape White-eye, African Reed-Warbler, Pin-tailed Whydah, Levaillant’s Cisticola, Cape Turtle-Dove, Southern Red Bishop, Red-billed Quelea, Barn Swallow, Red-eyed Dove, White Stork, Yellow-billed Kite, Fan-tailed Widowbird, White-throated Swallow, Little Rush Warbler, African Stonechat, Blacksmith Lapwing, Spur-winged Goose,

Spur-winged Geese

Egyptian Goose, Black-headed Heron, Steppe Buzzard, Common Waxbill, Yellow-billed Duck, Red-knobbed Coot, Zitting Cisticola, Little Grebe, Red-billed Teal, White-faced Duck, Diderick Cuckoo, South African Shelduck, Jackal Buzzard, Long-crested Eagle, Natal Spurfowl, Wattled Crane, Southern Grey-headed Sparrow, African Sacred Ibis, Hadeda Ibis, Dark-capped Bulbul, Cape Wagtail, Speckled Pigeon, Southern Black Flycatcher, Common Moorhen, African Spoonbill, Great Egret, Grey Heron, Pied Crow, Drakensberg Prinia and Black Crake.

Little Mbona Residents – Richard Booth

These cooler autumn mornings with dew are good for photographing the little things that need to warm up before becoming active and once it does warm up the bees get moving.

Kniphophia and bee

The dragonfly is a Common Thorntail.

Common Thorntail dragonfly

Common Thorntail dragonfly

Many thanks to John Roff who has helped us identify this beautiful spider as a Silver Vlei Spider.

Silver Vlei Spider

Denleigh Farm – Britt Stubbs

Britt sent us a very exciting report in the late afternoon, on the 24 March, about a spectacular sighting of 37 Grey Crowned Cranes. She was standing a mere 30m from them. Perhaps Crownies also have AGM’s, as we always see them congregate here during the year end period?

Part of a large group of Grey Crowned Cranes

Remember to keep your eyes peeled for nesting Wattled Cranes and report it to the blonde craniac, Tanya Smith of the Endangered Wildlife Trust. They should start breeding very soon!

Bird Ringing @ Gartmore Hide – Karin Nelson

In March, 80 birds were caught in the mist-nets for ringing and data collection. Of these there were 13 different species and 4 re-captures.

Adult Malachite Kingfisher

All of the birds are special, but the adult and juvenile Malachite Kingfishers were just so cute. Note the juvenile is much darker and still has some black on the bill.

Juvenile Malachite Kingfisher

The Diderick Cuckoo is always a nice catch!

Diderick Cuckoo

Other birds ringed in order of numbers were:

• 24 x Red-billed Quelea
• 13 x Levaillant’s Cisticola
• 11 x Village Weaver
• 11 x Southern Red Bishop
• 10 x African Reed-Warbler
• 2 x Cape White-eye
• 2 x Fan-tailed Widowbird
• 1 x Yellow-fronted Canary
• 1 x Common Waxbill
• 1 x Cape Weaver
• 1 x Drakensberg Prinia

Top “fisherman” in Karkloof – Karon McCann

Let’s face it, the Pied Kingfisher is an ace at fishing. These photographs captured by Karon on her recent visit show the skills required to provide some scrumptious sushi for the family.

Pied Kingfisher

Pied Kingfisher

Gartmore Farm Walk – Pat Street

Pat Street, a regular visitor to our bird hides, joined Robyn on her monthly Gartmore Farm walk which supports the Karkloof Conservancy through donation fees.

Pat took some amazing photographs showcasing the life and biodiversity in a conservation savvy farmland.

The pleasures of bird watching – Mo McCann

Mo McCann spent a lovely morning in the bird hides. She photographed this Pied Kingfisher selecting breakfast from the all-you-can-eat buffet.

Pied Kingfisher

She also enjoyed listening to this little Waggie (Cape Wagtail) who was singing his little heart out! ♪♫ ♪♫ ♪♫ ♪♫ ♪♫ ♪♫

Cape Wagtail

Karkloof Wildlife Sightings – February 2015

Besides being a short month, February was also a busy one in the Karkloof – the maize which stood “as high as an elephant’s eye” was harvested, so Gartmore hide is now surrounded by bare fields (filled with lots of Spur-winged Geese, Egyptian Geese, Blacksmith Lapwings, Speckled Pigeons, Red-eyed Doves, Cape Turtle-Doves, Grey Crowned Cranes and Wattled Cranes), Karin Nelson had a bird ringing morning, and the Three Cranes Challenge saw a host of volunteers assembling to cater for the ‘maniacal‘ marathon runners.

Karkloof Conservation Centre – Patrick Cahill

We had a new visitor to the Gartmore pan who is now included on our bird list – a Hottentot Teal.

Hottentot Teal

It was much easier photographing their relatives, the Red-billed Teals, as their bills don’t get camouflaged against the reflection of the blue sky in the water!

Red-billed Teal

The local rodent, frog and reptile populations must have experience a rapid decrease in February with all the raptors that were out and perched on the centre-pivots.

Amur Falcon

These included the Amur Falcon, Jackal Buzzard, Yellow-billed Kites, Steppe Buzzard, Long-crested Eagle, Black-shouldered Kite, African Marsh-Harrier and the African Fish-Eagles.

Steppe Buzzard

Please remember to avoid using poisons to control your rat populations and seek “raptor-friendly” options!

Other sightings included: White Stork, Cape Crow, Hadeda Ibis, African Sacred Ibis, Southern Bald Ibis, Southern Red Bishop, Barn Swallow, Pin-tailed Whydah, Red-collared Widowbird, Long-tailed Widowbird, Yellow-billed Duck, Red-billed Teal, Cape Weaver, Woolly-necked Stork, Diderick Cuckoo, Black-headed Heron, Hamerkop, Wattled Lapwing, African Stonechat, African Black Swift, Fan-tailed Widowbird, Fork-tailed Drongo, Black Saw-wing, Dark-capped Bulbul, Village Weaver, Zitting Cisticola, Dark-capped Yellow Warbler, Common Fiscal, South African Shelduck, White-throated Swallow, Whiskered Tern, Common Moorhen,

Whiskered Tern

White-breasted Cormorant, Reed Cormorant, Bronze Mannikin, Cape Wagtail, African Jacana, Common House-Martin, Common Waxbill, Red-billed Quelea, Black Crake, Blue Crane, Yellow-fronted Canary, Cape Shoveler, Little Grebe, Lesser Striped Swallow, Southern Grey-headed Sparrow, Levaillant’s Cisticola, White-faced Duck, Amethyst Sunbird, African Paradise-Flycatcher, Black-winged Lapwing, Little Rush-Warbler and Burchell’s Coucal.

African Jacana

It’s all about the little things – Hugh Watson

Hugh Watson, a regular visitor to the Karkloof Conservation Centre bird hides took these breathtaking photographs during his recent visit. Can you spot Wally, the yellow spider?

Spitzkop Farm – Tim Hancock

My sighting is very vague – it looked like an Eurasian Hobby – from the falcon like head and very curved back wings and thin tail (just like a big swallow) repeatedly dive bombing what appeared to be a Steppe Buzzard – too far to actually be definite.

Cricket vs.Twitching – Johnny Bouwer

On Saturday morning the 28 February, I was faced with the choice of lying in bed and watching the Kiwi’s thrash the Auzzies in the WC or head out to the rainy & wet Midlands to the Karkloof Conservation Centre.

I was rewarded with a some awesome sightings, so I believe I made the right call. At first I thought the birds were probably all snuggled up in bed watching the cricket.

White-throated Swallow

Pied Kingfisher

These photographs are of a White-throated Swallow, Pied Kingfisher, Yellow-billed Ducks and a pair of intimate Brown-throated Martins.

Yellow-billed Ducks

Brown-throated Martins

The 3 Cranes Challenge – John and Linnet Crow

Friday was a day in Fairyland, after a beautiful sunrise and being situated in the forest at Karkloof Canopy Tours.

The sunlight reflecting off the wings of the butterflies and dragonflies could have been glimpses of fairies.

The Samango monkeys and Loeries (now known as a Turaco) watched the show as the competitors enjoyed the canopy tour. The floor moved as the bright yellow crabs and finches carried on with their activities.

The troll that I heard turned out not to be a troll, but Kai from the canopy tours coming to check how everything was going.

Saturday was a day of watching runners appear from and disappear back into the mist

and looking for some of the little things.

A juvenile fiscal shrike kept us company for a while.

Sunday did not show us the same spectacular sunrise as last year, but the surface of the dam displayed an incredible reflection.

The signs were there that the caracal had departed not long before we arrived.

The dam at Bushwillow Park was a welcome sight at the end of the 3 days.

Bird Ringing @ Gartmore Hide – Karin Nelson

On the 11 February, Karin Nelson hosted a bird ringing day at our Conservation Centre. The day was well attended and we were pleased to see all the homeschoolers that made use of the activity as part of their studies.

Village Weaver waiting to be collected. The netting gently captures the bird. Qualified bird-ringers know all the tricks so that they may safely remove the bird without any injury. Photograph by Richard Booth.

There were also some visitors who were curious about how ringing impacts the birds, but were very pleased to see how gentle and competent Karin is and that the birds were so calm during the process. Karin caught a total of 75 birds with 5 of these being re-traps.

Red-billed Quelea being measured by qualified bird-ringer, Karin Nelson. Photograph by Richard Booth.

These included: 47 x Red-billed Quelea; 7 x African Reed-Warbler; 6 x Village Weavers; 4 x Southern Red Bishop; 2 x Drakensberg Prinia; 2 x Yellow-fronted Canaries; 2 x Levaillant’s Cisticola; 2 x Fan-tailed Widowbirds; 1 x Pin-tailed Whydah; 1 x Dark-capped Bulbul; and 1 x African Stonechat.

Pluviophiles in the Karkloof – Twané Clarke

“Pluviophile: (n) A lover of rain; someone who finds joy and peace of mind during rainy days.”

One afternoon when I noticed a build up of dark clouds, I decided to hightail it to the Gartmore hide and see what’s out and about during the rain.

Firstly, I noticed a Yellow-billed Duck wandered the pan alone,

Yellow-billed Duck

then I saw a flock of Barn Swallows flying in the distance with two breaking away to rest on a branch,

Barn Swallows

and the last bird I saw was a lonely little White-throated Swallow.

White-throated Swallow

These birds all weathered the storm and remained there the entire time. I arrived back at the office a drowned rat, but a happy one indeed!

Karkloof Wildlife Sightings – January 2015

I apologise for the delay in issuing this edition, I had a short break down the South Coast.  We have a real pot pourri (or should I say an Irish Stew!) this month, with flowers, birds and a toad. 

Karkloof Conservation Centre – Patrick Cahill

For several years after the Karkloof Conservation Centre opened I had the mutters because I had only once seen a Giant Kingfisher and when I did it was so camera shy I couldn’t get a good picture.  Last month a much braver bird put in an appearance and gave me the chance to take too many shots – that’s the problem with digital photography!

Giant Kingfisher

Twané had some great sightings in January. She managed to get a photograph of a Common Sandpiper that was a regular visitor to the distant muddy shore of the Gartmore pan.

Common Sandpiper

Twané was lucky to get this shot of a male Diderick Cuckoo feeding a female – the way to a woman’s heart is through her stomach. The male fed her 3 juicy caterpillars and offered them to her with a gentle bobbing motion. They flew off into the sunset after the third one.

Diderick Cuckoo

The butterfly that is photographed looks like it could be a male Window Acrea (Acrea oncaea). We would appreciate the correct ID from any Lepidopterists that might have a better idea of what it is.

Window Acrea

On a recent frogging expedition by the EKZNW Kids Club, the kids found plenty of these little Painted Reed Frogs in the wetlands and mealies.

Painted Reed Frog

We have often had queries from visitors about the effect of the centre pivots used by local farmers for irrigating crops on the wildlife in the area and particularly on the cranes. The pictures of the Wattled Cranes and the Grey Crowned Cranes taken this month show that they do not impact the local fauna negatively.  They act as excellent perches for  raptors while they keep the rodent population under control. Centre pivots are also an extremely water efficient method of irrigation.

Grey Crowned Crane

Wattled Crane

Denleigh – Ren and Britt Stubbs

We received some exciting news from Britt about a pair of African Grass-Owls that are nesting in their  grassland. They have seen a pair hang around before, but have finally confirmed that they have decided to breed on their farm. They have reported this sighting to Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife who keep an active record of nest sites of various species.

According to the Endangered Wildlife Trust, the African Grass-Owl (Tyto capensis) is a habitat specialist and is mainly restricted to the open, grassy  habitats of marshes, wetlands and floodplains. It is estimated that there are less than 5000 of these birds left in southern Africa.

 The need for farmer co-operation centred on grazing densities and burning regimes, as well as alien plant control and no longer ploughing up native grassland areas no matter how small is extremely important. 

Well done Ren and Britt on a fantastic sighting and for taking on the role as custodians of your land.

Gartmore Farm – Charlie and Robyn MacGillivray

Charlie and Robyn were very excited about this pair of Lesser Striped Swallows that decided to build a nest outside their kitchen window.

Lesser Striped Swallow

Lesser Striped Swallow Nest

During Robyn’s monthly walk, we found a few of these beautiful Asclepias albens (Cartwheel) flowers which seemed to be a favourite amongst the group.

Asclepias albens

Karkloof Roadside – Sears from Hillcrest

Geoff and Iris Sear from Hillcrest recently drove through the Karkloof Valley and sent us the following interesting sightings.

We passed by on our way to Rietvlei a few weeks ago when we were in search of the Forest Buzzard, which we saw just past the New Hanover turn off. We couldn’t get a good photo sadly. We also saw 9 pairs of Grey Crowned Cranes in the farmlands before we passed by your centre. There were also plenty of White Storks.

Mbona Private Nature Reserve – Richard Booth

Richard Booth from Mbona is a regular contributor and avid photographer. He sent us a picture of a Red-winged Francolin which had read about Chicken Licken’s phobia about the sky falling on her head and was keeping a weather eye on the stratosphere just in case.

Red-winged Francolin

Having gone through medical school, Richard doesn’t believe the ridiculous myth about frogs giving you warts, and he bravely photographed this Guttural Toad!

Guttural Toad

The Brunsvigia undulata, a rare threatened species, was found on Mbona and is a cousin to the more widely spread Brunsvigia radulosa or Candelabra flower.

Brunsvigia undulata

Brunsvigia undulata

Ringing at Gartmore Hide – Karin Nelson

Error correction: In the December 2014 Karkloof Sightings newsletter, we had incorrectly labelled this gorgeous Red-headed Quelea (photographed) as a “Red-headed Weaver”. Many thanks to Pam Nicol for pointing this out for us. We, Karin, Pat and Twané, will all need to go for an eye test!

Red-headed Quelea

Karin Nelson’s January ringing session produced 33 birds, with 8 re-trapped birds all ringed within the past 2 years, mostly African Reed-Warblers (7).  Karin read up on the Reed-Warblers and found that they spend their non-breeding time in drier vegetation, away from water. Some birds further north than KZN do move south.

At first glance, we had assumed one of the birds to be a Bronze Mannikin, however, it was too big and Karin had noticed a prominent gape. It turned out to be a ‘baby’ Pin-tailed Whydah. It was very interesting to see how similar it looked to the Mannikin.

Other birds ringed included:

• 14 x African Reed-Warbler
• 6 x Southern Red Bishop
• 3 x Pin-tailed Whydah
• 3 x Cape Weaver
• 2 x Fan-tailed Widowbirds
• 2 x Amethyst Sunbird.
• 1 x Barn Swallow
• 1 x Levaillant’s Cisticola
• 1 x Southern Grey-headed Sparrow

Karkloof Wildlife Sightings for August

There has been a pair of South African Shelduck visiting the Loskop pan fairly regularly. The Grey Heron pictured here seemed to co-exist quite happily with them, but there has been a pair of Egyptian Geese who have an aversion to Shelduck and chase them off cursing and swearing at them!

The White-throated Swallows are back and have been making some home renovations in preparation for the upcoming breeding season. I had the first sighting of them on the 18 July 2014 after they returned from a short vacation.

Twané had a rare sighting of a single Pied Avocet on the Loskop Pan last month, a lifer for her, and also for the Karkloof Valley on the Southern African Bird Atlas Project 2. Roberts Field Guide shows that it should not be seen in this area, but like many other birds I am sure it isn’t familiar with Roberts!

The pans are exceedingly low at the moment, so there are increased sightings of African Snipe, Black Crakes and African Rails.

Snake Saga by Pat Cahill

A couple of weeks ago I was in the office talking to Twané when she let out a gentle scream – more of surprise than alarm. When I asked “What’s wrong?” she said “Look behind you”. I was standing in front of a shelf on which the box files containing all the records of the Centre are stored. There, crawling through the hole in the spine of the file was a little Natal Green Snake.

Like the Elephants child in Just So Stories, it had a ‘satiable curiosity’ and it then dropped one shelf down to assimilate the contents of an old copy of ‘Roberts’. All this erudition gave it a severe case of brain strain and it went down onto the coffee table for some refreshment.

Twané decided that coffee is not suitable for reptiles, so she picked up the eleven foot barge pole (this is used for things that you ‘wouldn’t touch with a ten foot barge pole’) and ushered it out of the door whence it dashed off to make use of its newly acquired avian knowledge. It is to be hoped that the next edition of ‘Roberts’ will be in a format which will be easier for snakes to handle and also incorporate information on which birds are edible.

I said to Twané that I was sure there was a species called a “file” snake. She Googled it, and sure enough there is – the Cape File Snake. Ours is obviously a subspecies, as it still has all its front teeth!

Mist-netting at Gartmore Hide – Karen Nelson

Karin Nelson had a ringing session on the 13th of August, catching 32 birds in her mist-nets which is again good for winter! The following species were caught, ringed and measured that morning:-

• 1 x Red Bishop
• 2 x Levaillant’s Cisticola
• 1 x Fork-tailed Drongo
• 1 x Pied Kingfisher (photographed)
• 16 x Red-billed Quelea
• 1 x African Stonechat
• 8 x Village Weaver
• 2 x Fan-tailed Widowbirds

Seen along the River by Charlie MacGillivray

Charlie goes for many walks on the farm and delights in the many different species that he sees each day. On one occasion, he was fortunate to photograph this Water (Marsh) Mongoose along the riverbank before it noticed his presence.

These mongooses are predominantly nocturnal but also crepuscular (active in low light). They feed on crabs, amphibians and small vertebrates and live near permanent water-bodies such as rivers, streams and dams.

Loskop Farm – AJ Liebenberg (Farm Manager)

AJ managed to get this great photograph of part of the large flock of Grey Crowned Cranes congregating near the cattle. Cranes have adapted well to feeding in agricultural fields and are beneficial to farmers, as they eat insects and weed seeds found near crops. Both the Grey Crowned Cranes and the Blue Cranes have been seen dancing in the fields and pairing up for the summer.

Remember to keep a lookout for nesting cranes and report these sightings to us so that we may pass the information on to the Endangered Wildlife Trust.

Gilboa – Michael Keefer

While up at the top of Mt. Gilboa, Michael lifted a rock to look at what was hiding underneath. He came across this lovely scorpion which he mentioned he sees often in the Shawswood forest when leading a school group on an interpretive trail.

The scorpion has been identified as Opisthacanthus sp. by the Virtual Museum experts. The Virtual Museum is a great platform for members of the public to become citizen scientists. Let us know if you’re interested in contributing sightings to this and we will show you how to get involved!

Local Crane News

On the 13 August 2014, Karin Nelson and Twané saw a colour-ringed Blue Crane on Loskop Farm seen from the Wattled Crane Hide.

The bird was very far away which made it very difficult to identify the colours of the rings and which leg they were on, but we eventually managed to get the right combination.

• Right leg: Big Blue
• Left leg: Red over White over Yellow

We immediately sent the photograph and ring combination on to Tanya Smith of the Endangered Wildlife Trust and she confirmed that this was the Blue Crane which was ringed on Ren and Britt Stubbs’ farm in the Karkloof on the 3 February 2011. She also saw this bird in a flock of 54 Blue Cranes on a farm in Hlatikulu on the 24th April 2012.

It was very exciting to see that our locally produced Blue Crane is still doing well – let’s hope for more sightings!