Indicator Birding - Home Page

	Kalahari Gemsbok Park 13-17 April by Neels Roos
Club Benefits	About Birding	Contacts	Events	News	Birding Spots	HOME	Erectile Dysfunction

This is not big 5 country so anybody purely interested in big game viewing will soon become bored. There are plenty Gemsbok, Red Hartebeest and Blue Wildebeest and if you are lucky you will see lion. We saw a solitary black mane in the road on the way out - he had walked for miles along the road (we could subsequently follow his spoor on the road) and even passed right along the unprotected picnic spot where the upper dune road joins the Nossob road - quite scary ! We also saw a single Steenbok and were very very fortunate, according to oldtimers who regularly visit there, to encounter a group of 4 wild dogs chasing something in Marie's Loop near Nossob camp

But if you are interested in birds, grasses butterflies and miscellaneous smaller creatures you will enjoy yourself very much. After the recent good rains the Kalahari looks fabulous due to the good grass cover - the 3 varieties of Bushman grass especially are very showy. The good cover has its drawbacks however in that the smaller terrestrial birds like the korhane cannot be seen but only heard. Picnic sites are few and far between so virtually all one's birdwatching must be done in the camp or from the car. We camped at Nossob and also drove up right to Union's End . The road follows the wide flat bed of the (now) dry but grassed-over Nossob river and most of what there is to be seen occurs in, or close to, the riverbed

The area is well known for its birds of prey and we especially enjoyed discovering the immatures of the Bataleur, Martial Eagle, Gabar Goshawk, Pale Chanting Goshawk and Greater Kestrel. True to type the Gabars were always found within the trees and the Pale Chantings on top. The mature chanters and Greater Kestrels were abundantly represented but we also saw a few specimens of Brown and Black-breasted Snake Eagles, Tawny Eagle, Lanner and Pygmy Falcon, Blackshouldered Kite and Gabar Goshawk. A single sighting of a Rednecked Falcon (along Marie's Loop) sitting facing us was magnificent. Although we saw several pairs of Bateleur flying north of Nossob we did not see the rare creambacked specimens reputed to occur up there. The fact that they occur there had escaped my mind and by the time we were reminded of this is was too late to go back and look for them

Whitebacked vultures were getting ready for the breeding season and could be seen singly or in pairs at their nests on top of the Grey Camel Thorn trees all over the place. A single Lappetfaced vulture was similarly occupied. Only in one spot did the accumulation of vultures provide evidence of a kill (at some distance from the road) and we had the opportunity of identifying both the above vultures and a single Whiteheaded vulture as seen from below

Of the larger terrestrial birds ostriches were abundant and Kori Bustards well represented (total seen about 30 - 40). A single Ludwig's Bustard, unfortunately at some distance from the road, made our day along Marie's Loop. A few Secretary Birds (5-6) complete the line-up. Here too we had the opportunity of seeing a Kori Bustard and a Secretary bird in flight

The smaller birds were abundantly represented by Fiscal Shrikes, Crowned Plovers, Scalyfeathered Finches,Redheaded Finches, Yellow Canaries, Cape and Namaqua Doves, Greybacked Finchlarks, Greyheaded Sparrows, Sociable Weavers, Capped Wheatears, Forktailed Drongos and lastly the very colourful Shafttailed Whydah. The males were still in breeding attire but their long tailfeathers were beginning to show signs of wear - some no longer had the spatulae at the ends. Juvenile Shafttailed Whydahs accompanying the adults had a lovely light chocolate general colouration and their bills were beginning to change into the red colour from the base forward. Scalyfeathered Finches flying up from foraging in the road are easily recognized by the black upper tail bordered by white outer rectrices while a smallish bird flying up from the road with a white rump is very likely a Capped Wheatear (Whitebrowed Sparrow weavers were much less common)

Adequately represented smaller birds were Swallowtailed Bee-eaters, Ant-eating and Familiar Chats, Black Crows, Marico and Chat Flycatchers, Yellowbilled Hornbill, Buffy Pipits (common on the road and really tend to wag their tails !), Kalahari Robins, Lesser Grey Shrikes (what a lovely bird !), Cape and Great Sparrows, Glossy Starlings, Chestnutvented Titbabbler, Scimitarbilled Woodhoopoe and Cardinal Woodpecker

At night Barn, Spotted Eagle and White-faced owls could be heard from the camp and a pair of Giant Eagle Owls sitting close together within a medium sized tree was seen on our way out more or less where the Nossob and Mata Mata roads join near Twee Rivieren

Of the total of 75 species seen 14 were lifers for me including the Yellowbellied Eremomela, Ashy Tit and Fawncoloured Lark but I again missed out on all the Coursers (although Bronzewinged was heard), Blackeared Finchlark, Redbilled Lark, Layard's Titbabbler, Little Banded Goshawk and several others which are known to occur in that region. Sorting the larks out again proved to be very frustrating but I suppose that is what keeps one going back again and again and we are looking forward to our next trip there.

Neels Roos