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VRYSTAAT !! A report and images from a 5 day Free State trip. 30 September 2006 The diversity and beauty of our wonderful country never ceases to amaze me. Living in Gauteng as we do, we often forget just how priveleged we are to have over 600 species available within 4 hours of us. One of the less explored regions is the Free-state, which has the reputation of being flat and boring. Nothing could be further from the truth, and last week, together with Pat Adams from the UK, I had the pleasure of sampling just a few of the delights of this less famous birding province.

Day 1 - 2 October '06 Harrismith to Witsieshoek We started out in the upland grassland areas near Harrismith, where thanks to some good gen from Dave Weaver had a few hours of excellent birding in the mid-afternoon. Birds seen included Spike-heeled Lark, an excellent flock of Southern Bald Ibis, low flying Alpine and African Black Swift and over-passing Botha's Lark, which unfortunately did not pause to allow views. We enjoyed a pair of Blue Korhaan foraging in the fields before proceeding further on to the western side of the highway where we found over 70 Blue Cranes congregated around a dam. Beyond Harrismith, on the road towards Sterkfontein Dam a pair of Grey Crowned Crane occupied a small dam close to the road. Spike-heeled Lark Spectacular mountains at Sentinel

Spectacular mountains at Sentinel

After passing through the urban areas of Phutidijaba we arrived at Witsieshoek, but not before seeing a pair of close-up Grey-winged Francolin. We had been warned to expect snow and the weather was not pleasant, but we ventured up the spectacular drive to the Sentinel, anyway where the mountains were veiled in mist and the haunting cries of Wailing Cisticola were heard on the cool slopes.

Day 2 - 3 October 2006 Mountain weather is unpredictable and thick mist blanketed the mountain until after 9:00 when we were afforded a few brief breaks in the gloom along the road to Sentinel. White-necked Ravens, Wailing Cisticola and Long-billed Pipit were in evidence on the mountain. We also saw Jackall Buzzard and Rock Kestrel, before coming across a pair of Drakensburg Rockjumper on the last bend before the Sentinel "check-point". The stunning Drakensburg Rockjumper

The superb Bearded Vulture in flight (Lammergeier) We paid a visit to the Fiko Patso dam area where Southern Boubou, Rock Kestrel, Jackall Buzzard and many swifts were in evidence. Large numbers of Malachite Kingfisher appeared to be feeding on the hillside and a nice male Buff-streaked Chat was also seen. In the early afternoon we headed up to Golden Gate National Park. En route we encountered several Cape Vultures and a soaring Bearded Vulture. A drive up the feeding station at Golden Gate produced two more soaring Bearded Vultures, Secretarybird, Ground Woodpeckers, Wailing and Le-vaillant's Cisticola and Jackall Buzzard. After doing a drive we returned to the area and saw no less than four Bearded Vultures (1 adult) in the distance, one of which afforded close up views. At the camp Cape Rock-thrush, Cape Canary and Bokmakierie were in evidence and after dark two Cape Eagle Owls could be heard hooting from the mountains above. Cape Weaver

The Splendours of Golden Gate National Park

Day 3 - 4 October 2006 A windy and cloudy start to the day limited good birding, but we had more views of Bearded Vulture, Secretarybird and Ground Woodpecker. After breakfast we headed westwards and took the very scenic eastern free-state drive via Fouriesberg. We then headed north-west towards Ventersburg, and a stop produced some nice birds including what seem to look and sound like Orange-river White-eye and a nice Fairy Flycatcher. We arrived in the Sandveld area and were immediately treated to the sight of typical thornveld species such as Magpie Shrike and Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill, while Orange-river White-eye cheerfully warbled near the chalets.. A drive in the reserve revealed that large areas of grassland had a recent burn - which held a lot of promise for the next morning.

Day 4 - 5 October 2006 A full day was spent exploring Sandveld Nature Reserve. The burned grasslands were alive with activity from Ant-eating Chat, and there was a good chorus from displaying Eastern Clapper Lark, high altitude Red-capped Lark and many Northern Black Korhaan. A pair of Greater Kestrel hunted over the grasslands and quite a few small mammals, including Yellow Mongoose, Suricate Meerkat and several crouched Steenbok were seen. Large mammals were in abundance in this reserve which has a very healthy looking population of Sable, many White Rhinocerous and Tsessebe and Giraffe as well. Pearl-spotted Owlet 1..2..3..Launch!! - Northern Black Korhaans display flight. Woodland areas produced birds such as Pririt Batis, Ashy Tit, Common Scimitarbill, Marico Flycatcher, Cape Penduline-Tit, Black-chested Prinia, Golden-breasted Bunting, Crimson-breasted Shrike, Pearl-spotted owlet and Brubru. We also spent some time watching the feeding activity at one of the many awesome Sociable Weaver nests found in the area. The amazing communal nest of the Sociable Weaver The water levels were very high resulting in a disappointing showing as regards shorebirds, but we found a small pond separated from the main lake which was packed with hundreds of birds, mainly Ruff and White-winged Tern, but also large numbers of assorted species including Greenshank, Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, Common Ringed Plover and others. In an area of more open woodlands we had good views of Yellow-bellied Eremomela, Barred Wren Warbler, European Bee-eater and several of the local race of the African Pipit, that seemed to have a great preference for sitting on trees. We also went in search of the Tinkling Cisticola, and found one in open acacia thornveld with a grassy understory on the far side of the reserve (on the furthest loop from the camp area). A brief visit over the border in the Bloemhof Dam NR produced some great extra birds in the form of Double-banded Courser, Pink-billed Lark and Orange River Francolin.

Woodland areas produced birds such as Pririt Batis, Ashy Tit, Common Scimitarbill, Marico Flycatcher, Cape Penduline-Tit, Black-chested Prinia, Golden-breasted Bunting, Crimson-breasted Shrike, Pearl-spotted owlet and Brubru. We also spent some time watching the feeding activity at one of the many awesome Sociable Weaver nests found in the area.

The amazing communal nest of the Sociable Weaver

The water levels were very high resulting in a disappointing showing as regards shorebirds, but we found a small pond separated from the main lake which was packed with hundreds of birds, mainly Ruff and White-winged Tern, but also large numbers of assorted species including Greenshank, Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, Common Ringed Plover and others. In an area of more open woodlands we had good views of Yellow-bellied Eremomela, Barred Wren Warbler, European Bee-eater and several of the local race of the African Pipit, that seemed to have a great preference for sitting on trees. We also went in search of the Tinkling Cisticola, and found one in open acacia thornveld with a grassy understory on the far side of the reserve (on the furthest loop from the camp area). A brief visit over the border in the Bloemhof Dam NR produced some great extra birds in the form of Double-banded Courser, Pink-billed Lark and Orange River Francolin.

Day 5 - 6 October '06 Sandveld to Barberspan Day 5 We travelled north-west- to Barberspan, which can easily be combined with Sandveld/Bloemhof. En-route we had a few good birding stops, including one for a very busy birding patch just outside Schweizer-Reneke, where White-fronted Bee-eaters hawked next to the road. Near Migdol a road-side pan produced a host of waterbirds including Greater Flamingo, Fulvous Duck and Comb Duck. White-fronted Bee-eater

Whiskered Tern Barberspan itself was very windy when we got there and the dam is very full making for reduced mudflats/lakeshore verge birding. Waders seen included all the common species such as Greenshank, Curlew Sandpiper, Common Ringed Plover and others. A pair of South African Shelduck shepherded a large flotilla of youngsters across the rough waters and out in the open waters numbers of Great-crested Grebe were seen. Other species seen at Barberspan included Goliath Heron, Whiskered Tern, African Fish-eagle, Common Squacco, Brubru, African Red-eyed Bulbul, Cloud Cisticola, Quail finch and Rufous-eared Warbler. A female Northern Black Korhaan was seen sheperding a small bundle of fluff away into scrubby cover. Then it was time to go, and we headed back to Johannesburg, less than 4 hours drive away! Overall 208 species recorded in five days of birding with 63 endemics and near endemic birds !

Trip List - number = Roberts (6) number. For full list by locality, DOWNLOAD EXCEL FILE HERE (97KB) 1 Common Ostrich 190 Grey-winged Francolin 193 Orange River Francolin 199 Swainson's Spurfowl 203 Helmeted Guineafowl 100 Fulvous Duck 99 White-faced Duck 102 Egyptian Goose 103 South African Shelduck 116 Spur-winged Goose 115 Comb Duck 106 Cape Teal 105 African Black Duck 104 Yellow-billed Duck 112 Cape Shoveler 108 Red-billed Teal 113 Southern Pochard 480 Ground Woodpecker 486 Cardinal Woodpecker 465 Acacia Pied Barbet 473 Crested Barbet 459 Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill 451 African Hoopoe 452 Green Wood-Hoopoe 454 Common Scimitarbill 428 Pied Kingfisher 443 White-fronted Bee-eater 438 European Bee-eater 425 White-backed Mousebird 426 Red-faced Mousebird 386 Diderick Cuckoo 391 Burchell's Coucal 421 African Palm-Swift 418 Alpine Swift 412 African Black Swift 417 Little Swift 415 White-rumped Swift 373 Grey Go-away-bird 400 Cape Eagle-Owl 398 Pearl-spotted Owlet 349 Speckled Pigeon 355 Laughing Dove 354 Cape Turtle-Dove 352 Red-eyed Dove 356 Namaqua Dove 237 Red-crested Korhaan 0 Northern Black Korhaan 234 Blue Korhaan 209 Grey Crowned Crane 208 Blue Crane 223 African Purple Swamphen 226 Common Moorhen 228 Red-knobbed Coot 286 African Snipe 269 Marsh Sandpiper 270 Common Greenshank 266 Wood Sandpiper 264 Common Sandpiper 274 Little Stint 272 Curlew Sandpiper 284 Ruff 240 African Jacana 295 Black-winged Stilt 245 Common Ringed Plover 248 Kittlitz's Plover 249 Three-banded Plover 258 Blacksmith Lapwing 255 Crowned Lapwing 301 Double-banded Courser 315 Grey-headed Gull 322 Caspian Tern 338 Whiskered Tern 339 White-winged Tern 170 Osprey 127 Black-shouldered Kite 148 African Fish-Eagle 119 Bearded Vulture 122 Cape Vulture 152 Jackal Buzzard 118 Secretarybird 181 Rock Kestrel 182 Greater Kestrel 172 Lanner Falcon 8 Little Grebe 6 Great Crested Grebe 60 African Darter 58 Reed Cormorant 55 White-breasted Cormorant 67 Little Egret 68 Yellow-billed Egret 62 Grey Heron 63 Black-headed Heron 64 Goliath Heron 65 Purple Heron 71 Cattle Egret 72 Squacco Heron 96 Greater Flamingo 93 Glossy Ibis 94 Hadeda Ibis 92 Southern Bald Ibis 91 African Sacred Ibis 95 African Spoonbill 84 Black Stork 541 Fork-tailed Drongo 741 Brubru 743 Brown-crowned Tchagra 736 Southern Boubou 739 Crimson-breasted Shrike 746 Bokmakierie 703 Pririt Batis 547 Cape Crow 548 Pied Crow 550 White-necked Raven 732 Common Fiscal 735 Magpie Shrike 612 Drakensberg Rock-jumper 557 Cape Penduline-Tit 552 Ashy Tit 533 Brown-throated Martin 534 Banded Martin 520 White-throated Swallow 523 Pearl-breasted Swallow 526 Greater Striped Swallow 524 Red-breasted Swallow 528 South African Cliff-Swallow 529 Rock Martin 567 African Red-eyed Bulbul 706 Fairy Flycatcher 661 Cape Grassbird 651 Long-billed Crombec 653 Yellow-bellied Eremomela 635 Lesser Swamp-Warbler 643 Willow Warbler 621 Chestnut-vented Tit-Babbler 796 Cape White-eye 0 Orange River White-eye 672 Rattling Cisticola 671 Tinkling Cisticola 670 Wailing Cisticola 677 Levaillant's Cisticola 681 Neddicky 664 Zitting Cisticola 665 Desert Cisticola 666 Cloud Cisticola 667 Wing-snapping Cisticola 685 Black-chested Prinia 0 Drakensberg Prinia 688 Rufous-eared Warbler 645 Bar-throated Apalis 658 Barred Wren-Warbler 494 Rufous-naped Lark 495 Eastern Clapper Lark 498 Sabota Lark 497 Fawn-coloured Lark 506 Spike-heeled Lark 500 Eastern Long-billed Lark 515 Chestnut-backed Sparrowlark 507 Red-capped Lark 508 Pink-billed Lark 509 Botha's Lark 581 Cape Rock-Thrush 580 Groundscraper Thrush 0 Karoo Thrush 695 Marico Flycatcher 698 Fiscal Flycatcher 601 Cape Robin-Chat 615 Kalahari Scrub-Robin 596 African Stonechat 588 Buff-streaked Chat 586 Mountain Wheatear 587 Capped Wheatear 591 Sickle-winged Chat 589 Familiar Chat 595 Anteating Chat 769 Red-winged Starling 764 Cape Glossy Starling 759 Pied Starling 760 Wattled Starling 758 Common Myna 775 Malachite Sunbird 787 White-bellied Sunbird 806 Scaly-feathered Finch 799 White-browed Sparrow-Weaver 800 Sociable Weaver 813 Cape Weaver 814 Southern Masked-Weaver 821 Red-billed Quelea 824 Southern Red Bishop 827 Yellow Bishop 832 Long-tailed Widowbird 852 African Quailfinch 856 Red-headed Finch 846 Common Waxbill 844 Blue Waxbill 801 House Sparrow 803 Cape Sparrow 804 Southern Grey-headed Sparrow 805 Yellow-throated Petronia 713 Cape Wagtail 727 Cape Longclaw 716 African Pipit 717 Long-billed Pipit 872 Cape Canary 870 Black-throated Canary 878 Yellow Canary 881 Streaky-headed Seedeater 885 Cape Bunting 884 Golden-breasted Bunting

VRYSTAAT !! A report and images from a 5 day Free State trip.

Day 1 - 2 October '06 Harrismith to Witsieshoek We started out in the upland grassland areas near Harrismith, where thanks to some good gen from Dave Weaver had a few hours of excellent birding in the mid-afternoon. Birds seen included Spike-heeled Lark, an excellent flock of Southern Bald Ibis, low flying Alpine and African Black Swift and over-passing Botha's Lark, which unfortunately did not pause to allow views. We enjoyed a pair of Blue Korhaan foraging in the fields before proceeding further on to the western side of the highway where we found over 70 Blue Cranes congregated around a dam. Beyond Harrismith, on the road towards Sterkfontein Dam a pair of Grey Crowned Crane occupied a small dam close to the road.	Spike-heeled Lark
Spectacular mountains at Sentinel

The Splendours of Golden Gate National Park

Day 4 - 5 October 2006 A full day was spent exploring Sandveld Nature Reserve. The burned grasslands were alive with activity from Ant-eating Chat, and there was a good chorus from displaying Eastern Clapper Lark, high altitude Red-capped Lark and many Northern Black Korhaan. A pair of Greater Kestrel hunted over the grasslands and quite a few small mammals, including Yellow Mongoose, Suricate Meerkat and several crouched Steenbok were seen. Large mammals were in abundance in this reserve which has a very healthy looking population of Sable, many White Rhinocerous and Tsessebe and Giraffe as well. Pearl-spotted Owlet	1..2..3..Launch!! - Northern Black Korhaans display flight.
Woodland areas produced birds such as Pririt Batis, Ashy Tit, Common Scimitarbill, Marico Flycatcher, Cape Penduline-Tit, Black-chested Prinia, Golden-breasted Bunting, Crimson-breasted Shrike, Pearl-spotted owlet and Brubru. We also spent some time watching the feeding activity at one of the many awesome Sociable Weaver nests found in the area.
The amazing communal nest of the Sociable Weaver
The water levels were very high resulting in a disappointing showing as regards shorebirds, but we found a small pond separated from the main lake which was packed with hundreds of birds, mainly Ruff and White-winged Tern, but also large numbers of assorted species including Greenshank, Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, Common Ringed Plover and others. In an area of more open woodlands we had good views of Yellow-bellied Eremomela, Barred Wren Warbler, European Bee-eater and several of the local race of the African Pipit, that seemed to have a great preference for sitting on trees. We also went in search of the Tinkling Cisticola, and found one in open acacia thornveld with a grassy understory on the far side of the reserve (on the furthest loop from the camp area). A brief visit over the border in the Bloemhof Dam NR produced some great extra birds in the form of Double-banded Courser, Pink-billed Lark and Orange River Francolin.