We thank everyone who had participated in Saturday’s Birding Big Day event in the Overberg region. Members of BirdLife Overberg, the Hermanus and Stanford bird clubs and other friends and associates enjoyed a fun-filled day traversing many parts of the Overberg region. We reached the target set before the event by recording 252 species on the day. Even more exciting is that 43 endemic and 10 near-endemic species were recorded which illustrates the vast bird-watching potential of the region.
This count is even more remarkable when one considers that at least five senior birders who had participated in this event over the years were not available this time around due to a variety of reasons. Further to this (and as far as we know) reports were not received from several important birding destinations such as the van der Stell Pass, Villiersdorp, Greyton, the Marloth and De Hoop Nature Reserves, the Breede River area, and the Bontebok National Park.
Special sightings
A closer look at the species seen on the day reveals some really special birds for this region. These species do not feature in our monthly bird count lists regularly or are often reported on in SA Rare Bird News reports: European Honey Buzzard, Eurasian Curlew, Great Egret, Buff-spotted and Red-chested flufftails, Striated Heron, Sand Martin, Rufous-cheeked Nightjar, African Rail, Olive Bush-Shrike, African Palm Swift and White-winged Tern.
At the Grootvadersbosch Nature Reserve several spectacular species mostly associated with the forest habitats along the Garden Route were added to the impressive list logged on the day. These included the Black and Grey cuckooshrikes, Lemon Dove, Long-crested Eagle, White-starred Robin, Red-necked Spurfowl, Knysna Warbler and Yellow-throated Woodland-Warbler.
Amazing vagrant sighting
The most sensational sighting of the day was undoubtedly the African Red-eyed Bulbul photographed down at Agulhas. As far as we know this is the first record ever of this species in the Overberg region. One wonders what other special and vagrant species our region will come up with in future.
Some of the things we missed
On the down side there were some interesting dippers not recorded on the day. If one looks at the list of species that regularly feature in the monthly lists managed by members of BirdLife Overberg the following species not recorded seem somewhat odd: The Little Bittern, Booted and Martial eagles, Fairy Flycatcher, Southern Pale Chanting Goshawk, Brown-backed Honeybird, Osprey, Cape Penduline-Tit and Cape Vulture, to only mention a few. The wader count was also disappointing probably due to the relatively high water levels at most water masses. The season and weather were also not right for pelagic birding from the coastline.
The potential of the Overberg
Keep in mind that descriptions of several of the top birding destinations are described in detail, as well as currently being featured on the BirdLife Overberg Facebook page on a daily basis. We would like to express our sincere appreciation to all participants on the day. This effort once again illustrates the vast birding potential of the Overberg region. Very few people believed that 250 species would be attainable in this region on a single day. Even more so, 20% of the species recorded are endemic or near-endemic to southern Africa making the Overberg a hugely underrated area for local and international birding tourism.
Let’s improve on the planning of our efforts and collaboration for BirdLife South Africa’s Birding Big Day 2023: Shall we try to record 300 species?