On Saturday 29 October, 21 club members and friends met up in Napier to start a morning’s birding trip around the gravel roads in the region. Birders traveling from the Hermanus area had already clocked up an impressive list of 44 species on their journey to the village. Their list included species such as the Burchell’s Coucal, Red-chested Cuckoo, Rock Martin, Pearlbreasted Swallow and Cape Sugarbird. These birders met up with others at the village garage, and a convoy of seven vehicles were led out of Napier by Steve towards the Klipdale Silos.
A slow drive was in order to get the most from this type of birding trip (and the use of two-way radios to talk to the other vehicles was invaluable). The first impressive sighting was Greywinged Francolins on the verge, and Pied and Wattled Starlings mingling with the cattle. As we made our way along the first of the gravel roads, we picked up Yellow Canaries, both types of Bishops and Crowned Lapwings with babies.
Then, we came across the first of the day’s big finds – a juvenile Jackal Buzzard that literally dropped into the verge in front of the lead car and proceeded to devour a large vlei rat. He was so intent on his food, he happily let us all get a great view and even the clicking of a score of cameras didn’t spook him. Next, a lovely sighting of African Spoonbills on their nest, followed by a Spotted Eagle Owl unexpectedly flushed from the ground and flying to rest nearby. Further along the road, we picked up Cape Grassbird, Grey-backed and Levaillant Cisticola, Yellow and White-throated Canary, a distant glimpse of a Denham’s Bustard and Klaas’s and Diedrick Cuckoo.
We decided to have a coffee break at some derelict farm buildings and were immediately treated to a low fly-by of a Yellow-billed Kite. Capped Wheatear (both adult and junior) were spotted hopping around, African Stonechat on the fenceposts and White-rumped Swifts mingling with the Great-striped Swallows above us. Moving on, we soon had our second big sighting – a beautiful male Southern Black Korhaan was seen right next to the road. Cue, the clicking cameras again!
A lot of the birders were hoping to get a glimpse of the area’s star bird, the Agulhas Long-billed Lark, and after much searching up he popped. That made a lot of people happy. Large-billed & Red-capped Larks put in many appearances with sightings of Bokmakierie and Black-winged Kites quite common. Next, we headed to a small pan, which only has water in for about three months of the year. We were rewarded with the sight of more than 30 Greater Flamingos. 17 African Shelduck and numerous other water-loving birds were also seen – Reed Cormorant, Little Grebe, Cape Shoveler, Cape Teal and Blacksmith Lapwing, with Common Quail chirping away in the grasses nearby.
Our third big sighting out of nowhere was a pair of Cape Vultures that came and circled above us. Yet again, cue the clicking cameras. Onwards and back to Napier we added Cape Longclaw, Cape Scrub Robin, Black-headed Heron, Fiscal Shrike and Flycatcher along with Namaqua Doves, Kittlitz’s Plover and, of course, the famous Blue Crane to our list.
In total, we recorded 85 different species during the outing – not bad at all for a quick trip around the gravel!