Boston Wildlife Sightings – October 2015

Christeen Grant of “Sitamani”

This month’s Sitamani Sightings are dedicated to remembering my friend Prof. David Clulow. He shared my love of nature and was always supportive of these sightings, usually the first to comment on the Midlands Conservancy Forum blog each month and often emailed to share his delight. Some of my best memories of Dave were botanizing on hillsides in bright sunshine, examining the colourful array of flowers on display. May you rest in peace Dave, your enthusiasm for life in all its forms will long be remembered.

Green desert

A green desert best describes this October. Usually the rains have started, spring greens ripen into a lush growing vibrancy. This year, however, is dry and drought conditions are even harder in other parts of KwaZulu-Natal. Showers brought promising rainbows only to be dried in hot winds that followed.

In the evening of 29 October I spotted a very unusual bee-type insect on a window sill. Craig Peter, Assistant Prof. at Rhodes University identified it for me, saying that the insect itself wasn’t special, but the fact that it had two bright yellow pollinaria attached to it’s head was. The Large Leaf-cutting Bee, Megachile cinta, is a known pollinator of Eulophia streptopetala. A fruitless search for the orchid ensued, however, these bees are capable of flying great distances, so perhaps in Boston there is a Eulophia streptopetala in flower! (pg. 246 in ‘A Field Guide to Wild Flowers KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Region’ Elsa Pooley, pub. Natal Flora Publications Trust) At the CREW Summer Rainfall Workshop in November 2014 at Highover, a very interesting talk “The Sex Life of Plants” by Steve Johnson, described the process and we saw a Eulophia streptopetala flowering there!

Large Leaf-cutting Bee Megachile cinta with pollinaria

Insect life is buzzing, the annual migration of Brown-veined White, Belenois aurota aurota, butterflies started on the 11 October, but in very small numbers and so far I’ve only seen about 150 individuals.

Brown-veined White Butterfly – Belenois aurota aurota

Gaudy Commadores, Precis octavia sesamus, are now in their orange and black summer form. Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui, obligingly posed for me sipping nectar from Vernonia hirsuta. Grasshoppers flik-flack in the grass as you walk through.

Gaudy Commadore – Precis octavia sesamus

Painted Lady – Vanessa cardui on Vernonia hirsuta

Grasshopper – Canantops humeralis

Nymph of a Foam grasshopper

A most interesting and very small Hemerobiidae, Brown Lacewing perched on the sink.

Hemerobiidae – Brown lacewing

Then if anyone knows which insect could have made this beautiful felted home on a narrow leaf I would be grateful!

Insect home – any help on an ID would be great

Attached to a flower was this Bagworm, a moth larvae, Family Psychidae.

Bagworm Family – Psychidae

Several moths were seen, Cherry Spot, Diaphone eumela, Common or Cabbage Tree Emperor, Bunaea alcinoe, an Emperor sp. and Tri-coloured Tiger, Rhodogastria amasis, caterpillar known as a Wooly Bear.

Cherry Spot – Diaphone eumela

Tri-coloured Tiger caterpillar

The Red-Chested Cuckoo, Piet-my-Vrou, was first heard on the 19 October. The Lesser Striped Swallows were much later in arriving this year, first seen on the 29 October instead of the beginning of the month. The Olive Thrush is a perennial around the house, though very camera shy.

Olive Thrush

A delight is the colony of weavers that have decided to nest in the Pin Oak near the garage. I’m not sure if they are Village or Southern Masked Weavers. It is the first time they are building in such numbers. Much stripping of new leaves, then very showy construction of the nests. The strong winds keep ripping the nests off the branches, and persistently the males start all over again…

Village Weaver

Although the size and numbers of flowers is way down, the variety sparkles: Argyrolobium sp., Asclepias albens & humilis, Clutia cordata, Cyphia elata, Delosperma hirtum, Dierama cooperi, latifolium & pictum, Eriosema kraussianum, Graderia scabra, Hebenstretia comosa & dura, Hirpicium armeroides, Hypoxis iridifolia, Indigofera hilaris, Kniphofia bracystachya, Ledebouria cooperi, Lotononis corymbosa, Monopsis decipiens, Pentanisia prunelloides, Raphionacme hirsuta, Stachys aethiopica, Trachyandra asperata, Vernonia hirsuta, natalensis & a Vernonia sp., and Xysmalobium parviflorum.

Argyrolobium sp

Xysmalobium parviflorum

Vernonia natalensis

Trachyandra asperata

Stachys aethiopica

Monopsis decipiens

Lotononis corymbosa

Ledebouria cooperi

Indigofera hilaris

Hebenstretia dura

Dierama pictum

Cyphia elata

Clutia cordata

Asclepias humilis

Asclepias albens

Grasses are seeding very quickly, though the leaves aren’t growing to cover the soil yet. As I left early one morning a duiker played hide-and-seek along the driveway of Pin Oaks.

Grass

Crystelle Wilson of “Gramarye”

ON several mornings this month we saw a duiker at the dam on The Drift.

Common (Grey) Duiker

A new visitor to my garden was a Cardinal Woodpecker, tapping away in the buddleia outside the bathroom window.

Cardinal Woodpecker

In the wetland a newcomer was a pair of Wattled Lapwings, which I haven’t seen there for some years.

Wattled Lapwing

The surviving Grey Crowned Crane juvenile that was ringed in March appears to have finally left its natal area and gone off to join the floater flock in the district. The parents is spending a lot of time at the nesting site on The Willows and might be getting ready to breed again. We call one of the pair “Danglefoot”, because of a leg always hanging oddly in flight, and which enable us to identify the pair as “ours”.

Grey Crowned cranes coming in to land at the nesting site where they successfully raised one of three chicks this year.

Grey Crowned Cranes

I’ve seen two pairs of Blue Cranes flying over Gramarye and often hear them calling in the early morning. The good news is that the pair of Blue Cranes on Endeavour seems to be breeding. I saw one of them feeding while the other was presumably on the nest.

Blue Crane

The willow tree in the dam on Elvesida where the cranes roosted overnight during winter had now been taken over by at least two pairs of African Spoonbills

African Spoonbill

African Spoonbill

The atlas list for the Elandshoek pentad 2935_3000:
Jackal Buzzard, Great Egret, African Reed-warbler, Cardinal Woodpecker, Diderick Cuckoo, Barn Owl, Pied Crow, Secretarybird, Neddicky, Yellow-billed Kite, Long-crested Eagle

Long-crested Eagle in flight

Southern Double-collared Sunbird, Black Cuckoo, Sombre Greenbul, Lesser Swamp-warbler, Red-billed Teal, Three-banded Plover, South African Shelduck, Blacksmith Lapwing, Grey Heron, White-throated Swallow, Speckled Pigeon, African Harrier-Hawk, House Sparrow, Southern Grey-headed Sparrow, White-rumped Swift, Amethyst Sunbird, Fork-tailed Drongo, Cape Canary, Village Weaver, Bokmakierie, Helmeted Guineafowl, Orange-breasted Waxbill, Red-knobbed Coot, Giant Kingfisher, Common Moorhen, Little Grebe, Spur-winged Goose, Egyptian Goose with chicks

Egyptian Goose with chicks

Cape Weaver in full breeding colour

Cape Weaver in breeding plumage

White-breasted Cormorant, Cape Sparrow, Reed Cormorant, Cattle Egret, Yellow-billed Duck,
African Darter, African Rail, Brown-throated Martin, Red-collared Widowbird, Red-billed Quelea,
African Pipit, Zitting Cisticola, Common Quail, Common Fiscal, African Dusky Flycatcher, African Paradise-flycatcher,

African Paradise-Flycatcher

Red-necked Spurfowl, Black-headed Oriole, Southern Boubou, Black-headed Heron, Pin-tailed Whydah (change into breeding colours nearly completed, tail needs some work)

Pin-tailed Whydah

Southern Red Bishop changing into its wedding outfit is a crazy mix of colours

Southern Red Bishop

Cape Longclaw, Cape Crow, African Hoopoe, Cape Grassbird, Cape Robin-Chat, Drakensberg Prinia, Dark-capped Yellow Warbler, Little Rush-warbler, Fan-tailed Widowbird, Levaillant’s Cisticola, African Stonechat, Cape Wagtail, Greater Striped Swallow, Black Saw-wing, Cape Turtle-dove, Red-eyed Dove, Dark-capped Bulbul, Speckled Mousebird (cooling off on a hot day)

Speckled Mousebirds cooling off on a hot summers day

Olive Thrush

Olive Thrush

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!

Spring Butterflies

Simon Joubert, local butterfly expert and photographer, writes:

We are now well and truly into Spring, and with the change in season, come the flowers and butterflies.

Every Spring for about eight weeks during late September, October and early November, the grasslands come alive with butterflies and other insects. Along with all the butterfly families seen on the wing are a number of our Lyceanid (blue) butterflies. Visit any area of unspoiled grassland and you may see little copper or blue butterflies flying around vigorously, sometimes settling for a quick snack on a flower and then tearing off again.

A number of these butterflies lay their eggs on the fresh seed heads of members of the Becium and Selago genera.  The larvae hatch and feed on the seeds heads after which they move off the plants and into neighbouring ant nests where they live for the rest of the year. They feed off ant larvae, before pupating in the ant nest only to emerge the following Spring.

As they require the correct plant as well as the correct ant to survive it is stands to reason that you will only find these butterflies where the two occur in the same area. For this reason, some of these ant-associated butterflies are rare and isolated to small patches of grassland. Further to this, the plants that they lay their eggs on are generally low growing and can be put under extreme stress in badly managed grasslands where fires may be excluded or where over-grazing is not controlled.

In the Cape a number of butterfly species have been put under great stress and, in a few tragic cases, become extinct due to the local extinction of their host ant as a result of the introduction of the alien Argentine ant.

Our Midlands are home to a number or rare ant-associated Lyceanins. A few worth mentioning are the Karkloof Blue (Orachrysops ariadne) which is known in three localities, the Mooi River Blue (Lepidochrysops pephredo) that flies in the upper and dryer grasslands from Howick to Estcourt, and the Drakensberg Copper (Chrysoritis oreas) which is only known in a locality on the top of the Bulwer Mountain.

Simon Joubert: http://www.afromacro.co.za