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We hope you enjoyed this Free newsletter from WildBirds.com. 
 

November 2005 Newsletter

WildBirds.com is devoted to birding around the country
and around the world.

Birding in South Africa

My wife Roz and I just returned from three weeks in South Africa where we spotted over 430 species of birds (including 179 lifers) and 30 different mammals. Our guides were two of the best birders in Africa: Terry Stevenson and Rod Cassidy of Field Guides. The newly revised Birds of Southern Africa Field Guide made it quite easy to identify the birds.

We traveled over 8,500 kilometers to reach a wide variety of habitats, including the "finbos" found only near the southern tip of Africa. This tiny region of scrubby plants contains over 7,000 plant species as well as some extremely unusual birds such as the Cape Rockjumper, Cape Sugarbird and a colony of Jackass Penguins.

Jackass Penguins (also known as African Penguins)

We also visited the Karoo, a dry region south of the Kalahari Desert of Namibia. Here larks were the target birds, including Red Lark, Sclater's Lark and Stark's Lark. The Karoo Eremomela was a favorite of mine -- I just like the name!

A pelagic trip off the Cape of Good Hope was much calmer than expected -- but we stumbled across some long-line fishing boats and had amazingly close looks at Shy Albatross, Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross and Cape Petrels. 

 
Cape Gannet colony

We then headed east to visit the Oribi Gorge area and the Drakensberg escarpment. As we ascended the Sani Pass in our 4-wheel drive jeeps, we spotten Drakensberg Siskins, Gurney Sugarbirds and Bald Ibis. At the top of the escarpment (elevation 9,500 feet) we entered the country of Lesotho which is completely surrounded by the country of South Africa. I managed to add fifteen species to my Lesotho list -- including my very first Lammergeier!

 
Drakensberg escarpment - the border between Lesotho and South Africa

Birding along the Indian Ocean coast and inland at the Mkuzi Game Reserve was fantastic for birds as well as mammals. We saw Hippos, Rhinos, Nyalas, Impalas, Giraffes and Chacma Baboons -- including the Baboon that got into our tent and ate a whole bottle of Advil. Pink-throated Twinspot and Melba Finch were my favorite birds.

Little Bee-eater

We ended in the high grasslands near Wakkenstroom where we spotted the critically endangered Rudd's Lark and South Africa's national bird -- the Blue Crane.

This was a fairly easy trip with great roads, wonderful food and very nice accomodations. If you have visited Kenya and think you have seen all the birds of Africa -- think again. One of our fellow participants had seen over 6,000 species and had visited seven African countries -- and she still added over 100 new species to her life list!