An afternoon at Rooisand Nature Reserve

The two Johans (Olivier and van der Westhuizen), Gary Baumgarten and I spent a few hours enjoyable birding at Rooisand yesterday afternoon. The main mission was for Gary to get his Pectoral Sandpiper – mission not accomplished. The weather was however perfect for birding as we found vast numbers of the four common terns to be found at this time of year, together with many Common Ringed Plovers and Curlew Sandpipers. We initially walked to the eastern point from the parking area and enjoyed sightings of species such as Kittlitz’s Plover, Pied Avocet, Common Greenshank, Glossy Ibis, Little Stint and two Great White Pelicans. These besides the other common resident species to be expected at a site like this.

Pied Kingfishers were hunting successfully creating great photographic opportunities. Many Barn Swallows were foraging all around us with the common swifts also on view. A single Banded Martin was recorded and try as we might we were unable to find any Sand Martins, with these having been reported from the site recently. The birding was however dominated by the spectacular views of the huge flocks of terns resting on the sandbanks and then lifting off, noisily circling around before settling down on the sandbanks again. This continual spectacle needs to be experienced.

We then walked to the hide and spent some time trying to sort out a large wader in the distance against the glaring setting sun and eventually gave up on this – hopefully some photographs will help us to sort this one out. The sighting of the day was undoubtedly a Great Egret, probably the same one reported by Jenny earlier in the week. The egret was foraging close to a Grey Heron enabling us to compare the size of these two large herons. We recorded a single Marsh Sandpiper and were entertained by huge numbers of Brown-throated Martins hunting at breakneck speed just above the water’s surface. Many African Spoonbills, Yellow-billed Ducks, Cape Shovelers, Black-winged Stilts and one Ruff were on view at the hide, together with large numbers of other water birds.

Our slow, casual birding eventually produced more than fifty species. This is however not as important as the magnificent beauty of the area, not to even mention the wild horse on view. The Rooisand Nature Reserve is a really exciting birding destination at this time of year and needs to be visited before the migrant waders take their leave.