Crowned Cormorants on Melkbosstrand, South Africa
I’m in the Western Cape, South Africa, for a few days. On my early morning stroll along the beach at Melkbosstrand, I pass a cluster of rocks called Slabbert Se Klippe. This is where the Crowned Cormorants hang out!
It’s interesting to compare these South African cormorants with the cormorants that I’ve spotted around Sydney.
Oystercatchers and White-fronted Plover at Melkbosstrand, South Africa
I’m in South Africa for a few days (so, not in Australia!). This morning I went for a walk along the beach at Melkbosstrand, which is on the west coast of Africa, about half an hour’s drive north of Cape Town.
Four African Oystercatchers roamed the beach. One of the birds was alone, patrolling the rocks for mussels and other shellfish:
African Oystercatchers, also called African Black Oystercatchers, are considered a threatened species. There are about 6,000 adult birds in the wild. Here’s a photo of the same bird:
Zooming out a bit to see more of the bird’s environment:
Further along the beach was a trio of Oystercatchers:
When I zoomed in on the birds, I noticed that they seemed rather solicitous about a specific patch of seaweed on the beach. I zoomed the camera in to the seaweed and spotted what I thought must be an Oystercatcher chick using the seaweed for shelter:
Update on 8 November 2022: Thank you to my friend Hamish Robertson who identified the little bird as an adult White-fronted Plover!
Here are two of the Oystercatchers with the Plover:
What’s the view like from the beach at Melkbosstrand? Looking one way, you have a view of Table Mountain:
Turning round, you have a view of Koeberg nuclear power station in the distance:
Here’s a zoomed in view of Koeberg:
I hope you’re enjoying my brief foray into South African birds. I’ll be back when I spot another bird!
Birds in Lonehill, South Africa
I’m in South Africa for a few days, enjoying the birds as well as other aspects of this interesting country. I photographed most of the birds in this post while on a short stroll through Lonehill Park. Lonehill is an outer suburb of Johannesburg, neighbouring on Witkoppen, and many of the bird species make their homes in both places. This post shows only the birds that I didn’t include in my earlier post about birds in Witkoppen Spruit Park.
First up, absorb the atmosphere of the park by watching this short video:
The centrepiece of the park is a large pond surrounded by reed beds and trees. In the background is the lone hill that gives the suburb of Lonehill its name:
The tree on the right is home to several herons and egrets. They’re quite busy and noisy, as it’s breeding season. From the very top of the tree, a Black-headed Heron surveys its domain:
Lower down, another Black-headed Heron combines preening with sitting on a nest:
Two Cattle Egrets groom and strut their stuff:
After a few more preliminaries, they get good and cosy:
Down below, a Bronze Mannikin perches on a reed stem. I love the colouring of this little finch, especially its two-tone beak:
Several Bronze Mannikins were walking on the plants that covered part of the lake. Using my camera’s zoom, I managed to get this shot that shows the water droplets glistening on the plants around the bird:
The next little fellow is a Thick-billed Weaver. Like the Red Bishops and Masked Weavers shown in my earlier post, Thick-billed Weavers build intricate woven nests from reeds and grass:
A Common Moorhen shows its red garters:
Striking in its coat of electric blue is a sharp-eyed Greater Blue-eared Starling:
A Laughing Dove and a Rose-ringed Parakeet brighten up some bare branches:
Next up is a Mousebird. I saw this particular bird not in the park, but in the garden of a friend in Lonehill:
Mousebirds get their name from the way they scurry around gathering food, which reminds people of mice. Here’s another shot of the same bird:
Also in a Lonehill garden, we saw a pretty pair of Rosy-faced Lovebirds, which are native to south-western Africa. There are feral colonies in various parts of South Africa. These two are frequent visitors to our friends’ bird feeder:
Another frequenter of the bird feeder is this Wood Hoopoe, also called a Scimitarbill. Like most of the birds in this post, Wood Hoopoes are native to this part of South Africa. They’re striking birds, almost entirely black with orange bills and feet, and white flares in their wings and tails:
That’s it That’s it for my collection of birds from the suburbs around Sandton. I’ll be back when I spot another bird!
Birds in Witkoppen, South Africa
I’m currently in South Africa, a little outside the usual geographical range of this blog! While here, I’m taking in a bit of the bird life. I photographed the birds in this post in a little patch of green called Witkoppen Spruit Park. Witkoppen is an outer suburb of Johannesburg, near Sandton. For such a small piece of land surrounded by residential suburbs, there’s an amazing variety of birds in the park. Well worth a visit, if you’re in the area.
To get in the mood, watch this short video and listen to the sounds of the birds all round:
The flashes of red that you see in the video are Southern Red Bishops, a little bird in the weaver family. Here’s one of them caught in a rare moment of stillness:
Like other weavers, Southern Red Bishops build nests of intricately woven reeds hanging from tree branches or tall reed stems:
Here’s one of the birds in a quarrelsome mood:
Nearby, a Southern Masked Weaver peers out from behind the leaves of a tree:
The bright colours belong to the males of the species. Here’s a female weaver perched above a nest. I don’t know if it’s a Red Bishop or a Masked Weaver:
Perched high in a tree, a Grey Lourie shows that you can look smart even in a low-key colour:
Grey Louries are also called the grey go-away bird. Here’s another one:
A Pin-tailed Whydah sports its long tail. This tiny bird’s body is about 12 cm long, while the tail adds another 20 cm to the bird’s overall length:
Some Lesser Striped Swallows gather around a small puddle in the middle of the path:
In the nearby pond, a Red-knobbed Coot feeds in the algae-rich water:
An Egyptian Goose shepherds its chicks through the flotsam and jetsam of the surrounding suburbs:
Sunlight adds a gloss to the plumage of a Hadada Ibis:
An African Sacred Ibis stalks through the undergrowth:
Another bird stalks the undergrowth, sometimes standing so still that it was almost impossible to spot. My camera’s super zoom brings it close enough to see that it’s an African Wattled Lapwing:
Fiscal Shrikes, also known as Butcher Birds, zoom from cover to cover. Here’s one that stayed still long enough to be caught in a photograph:
High in the trees, Rose-ringed Parakeets chat and screech. These little parrots aren’t native to South Africa. They established themselves in the suburbs after escaping from captivity in numbers large enough to start breeding:
In my next post I’ll show you some birds in Lonehill, a neighbouring suburb to Witkoppen.
Satin Bowerbird at Mount Annan
This morning I paid my first visit to the Australian Botanic Garden at Mount Annan. The gardens lie to the south west of Sydney, on the east coast of Australia. They’re well worth a visit, with beautifully laid out pathways and flower beds, and a number of different bird species.
A female Satin Bowerbird pottered around a bed of plants:
Female Satin Bowerbirds are gorgeous, with violet eyes and soft shades of green, yellow, and brown plumage. This is only the second time I’ve photographed a bowerbird. Both times they were female.
It was interesting to see this bird tucking into the carefully laid out plants. I didn’t know that birds can be this keen on eating their greens!
Common name: Satin Bowerbird
Scientific name: Ptilonorhynchus violaceus
Approximate length: 28-34 cm
Date spotted: 16 October 2022 (spring)
Location: Mount Annan, New South Wales, Australia: 34°04’16.3″S 150°45’58.1″E
Channel-billed Cuckoo at Mount Annan
Today I went for a stroll at the Australian Botanic Garden in Mount Annan, to the south west of Sydney. It’s a good place for a walk, with well-maintained pathways and beautifully laid-out gardens.
This Channel-billed Cuckoo sat high on a bare tree branch, basking in the morning sun:
Channel-billed Cuckoos are large, imposing birds. I often think they look a bit creepy, with their red eyes and huge curved beaks. They’re migratory, coming down to the south east coast of Australia during the summer months. I heard the first arrivals of the season just a couple of weeks ago.
You can find out more about these birds in my other posts about cuckoos.
Common name: Channel-billed Cuckoo
Scientific name: Scythrops novaehollandiae
Approximate length: 58-65 cm
Date spotted: 16 October 2022 (spring)
Location: Mount Annan, New South Wales, Australia: 34°04’29.9″S 150°45’48.5″E
Kookaburra snagged a goldfish from someone’s pond!
Kookaburras are members of the kingfisher family, after all, and it looks as if this kookaburra has raided someone’s garden pond!
I feel sorry for the fish. It looks very sad. I think it’s a goldfish, because of its size, but it could be a koi or something else. There might be some pond owners near by, wondering where their fish are disappearing to!
Common name: Laughing Kookaburra
Scientific name: Dacelo novaeguineae
Approximate length: 47 cm
Date spotted: 1 September 2022 (spring)
Location: Allambie Heights near Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Black-winged Stilt in pretty Australian pool
Update on 23 July 2024: When entering this bird into eBird, I discovered that the bird has been renamed from Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) to Pied Stilt (Himantopus leucocephalus).
This Black-winged Stilt marked another first for me on the guided bird walk that I did last weekend. It was in the area around Newington Armory – formerly the Royal Australian Navy Armaments Depot – at Sydney Olympic Park.
Stilts are waders, with long thin legs and a beak made for poking into muddy pool bottoms. I saw a stilt flying overhead too, with its legs trailing out behind it.
The next photo shows a rather comical view of the bird and its reflection. It’s hard to tell where the real beak and legs end and the reflection begins:
The guided bird walk is offered by the BirdLife Discovery Centre on the last Sunday of every month. It’s fun and a good way to get out, meet some people, and see some birds.
Here’s a zoomed-out view of the stilt and the surrounding water. We’ve had a lot of rain recently, which means that the water covers more ground than usual. It’s a pretty site, with the typical Australian vegetation and the reflections:
Common name: Black-winged Stilt — now Pied Stilt (Himantopus leucocephalus)
Scientific name: Himantopus himantopus
Approximate length: 33-37 cm
Date spotted: 28 August 2022 (winter)
Location: Sydney Olympic Park, Newington, New South Wales, Australia: 33°49’29.5″S 151°03’57.0″E
Majestic White-bellied Sea-Eagle
White-bellied Sea-Eagles are not uncommon in some areas around Sydney, but I’ve yet to get a good look at one. Today is the closest I’ve ever got to a decent picture, though my camera was at its maximum zoom (70x):
I was in Sydney Olympic Park, in the area around Newington Armory, doing the guided bird walk offered by the BirdLife Discovery Centre. The bird was on the far side of the Parramatta River.
White-bellied Sea-Eagles are very large and imposing birds. From head to tail, they measure approximately 85cm. They have a wing span of around 2 metres.
Here’s another picture of the bird:
The Birdlife Discovery Centre offers a webcam view of the sea-eages’ nest: Eagle Cam. The eagles currently have two chicks. You can watch them sleep, stretch, and be fed by their doting parents!
Common name: White-bellied Sea-Eagle
Scientific name: Haliaeetus leucogaster
Approximate length: 85 cm. Wing span: 2.2 m
Date spotted: 28 August 2022 (winter)
Location: Sydney Olympic Park, Newington, New South Wales, Australia: 33°49’16.7″S 151°04’06.3″E
Red-rumped Parrots in Sydney Olympic Park
Today I saw my first Red-rumped Parrots! These are very pretty little parrots that spend their time foraging on the ground among the flowers or sitting high in the trees. The male is a spectacular turquoise in colour, while the female is a more demure brown and fawn.
This video shows a male and a female walking through the grass and flowers, occasionally popping up their heads to check what’s going on around them:
At times in the video you get a glimpse of the browny-red patch at the base of the male’s back, which gives them the name “red-rumped”.
I saw the parrots in the area around Newington Armory – formerly the Royal Australian Navy Armaments Depot – at Sydney Olympic Park. I was doing the guided bird walk, offered by the BirdLife Discovery Centre. The walk happens on the last Sunday of every month. It’s fun and a good way to get out, meet some people, and see some birds.
Here’s the male Red-rumped parrot:
And this is the female:
The next picture shows the male high in a tree, showing his colourful front:
Common name: Red-rumped Parrot
Scientific name: Psephotus haematonotus
Approximate length: 26-28 cm
Date spotted: 28 August 2022 (winter)
Location: Sydney Olympic Park, Newington, New South Wales, Australia: 33°49’40.4″S 151°03’56.8″E
Sydney Birder 