This report was provided by Steve and Lee Peck.
Earlier this year Lee and I spent a week in the park just chilling out and, of course, doing some bird spotting!
We stayed in the cottage at Abrahamskraal, which was fun – no electricity, so no power plugs, no fans or aircon, and a shower that might or might not get hot with daytime temperatures over 40c most days and evenings not dropping below 26c!
Nevertheless, the birding at the freshwater dam outside the cottage was great. I spent every evening between 5.30 pm and 7 pm in the hide and recorded over 20 different species.
Spoonbills, sometimes as many as 50 birds were always there. Yellow-billed Ducks, Cape Teal, Cape Shoveler and Little Grebes kept them company, and Little Rush Warblers flitted amongst the reeds calling loudly.
If you sat still and waited you were rewarded with great close sightings of African Swamphen, Black Crake and the elusive African Rail.
But the most surprising guest was when I opened the locked hide one evening, sitting inside on the bench was a Barn Owl! I’ve no idea how he got in there as all the ‘windows’ and the door were shut.
A visit to the Geelbek hide was a little disappointing as it was high tide every time I visited but I did get Greater Flamingos wading past and a long distance shot of a juvenile African Fish Eagle.
The small pools of water alongside the wooden boardwalk were a lot better source of birds with sightings of Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Kittlitz and Common Ringed Plover, Black- winged Stilt and Sacred Ibis.
Always around our cottage were Black Harrier, Southern Black Korhaan, Cape Spurfowl, White-backed Mousebirds and Southern double-collared Sunbirds. We also had a resident pair of Rock Kestrels living with us on the cottage roof, which were very amusing to watch.
Spotted in the verges around the park were White-throated Canary, White-backed Mousebird, Levaillant’s Cisticola, Karoo-scrub Robin, Long -billed Crombec, Cape Bunting, and a lovely capture of a Chestnut-vented Warbler.
Last stop was a visit to the Seeberg Hide with sightings of Bar-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, White-fronted Plover, Water Thick knee, Eurasian Whimbrel, Caspian Tern, Pied Avocet and a large flock of Common terns.
But without a doubt the highlight of our stay was the sighting of two Honey Badgers walking along the gravel road by our cottage at about 5am one morning!
In all we recorded 94 different species.
Great photos Steve