Bird Watching in Kruger | Diary of an Adventurous Retiree

12 July 2014 Mopani To Satara
Our start this morning was early as we were moving to another camp. This time we were to spend three nights in Satara. After three days of clear skies but chilly weather we found that we needed to discard our jerseys quite early in the day as we headed further south. The game viewing also improved and today was one of the best birding days we’ve had this trip.
After packing up, we had coffee and rusks and set of just after 6:15. The temperature was 5 degrees C but rose to 32 later in the day.
We started on the H1-6 and Our first sighting was buffalo then a Swainson’s francolin. We then did the S50 loop and found Kori Bustards at the waterhole as well as Kitlitz plover and Monotonous lark. Later we found red-headed weavers in their non breeding plumage.

Kittlitz Plover

Monotonous Lark

Together with zebra we found some more Tsessebe which are known to be in the Northern part of the park. There were 8 and they were looking good.

Tsebe

When we turned onto the H1-6 again we increased our speed to almost 50 the limit on the tar roads.
Suddenly I spotted a small bird of prey hiding among the leaves of a tree on Earl and Peter’s side of the road. (We are all supposed to keep our eyes open on our own side of the road!) I yelled stop and E had to reverse until I found the spot. They could not believe I’d seen it at that speed and on the other side of the road! It was a little Shikra – a ‘lifer’ for all of us.

Shrika by Earl

When we crossed the bridge over the river we got out of the car between the yellow lines and looked down on the river bed. We found a Saddle-billed stork and two spoonbills sharing a drink as well as white-fronted plovers, some little swifts flying about and a friendly African Pied Wagtail who came right up to our feet on the bridge.

Saddle-billed Stork

At 9:30 we arrived at Letaba and had just over an hour’s break there. Breakfast this time was perfect although we had to wait a while before it was served.
After breakfast it was onto the H1-5 where we found an elephant enjoying a branch full of leaves.

Then a hugely exciting spot for us – two birds of prey which at first we thought were Martial Eagles but on closer inspection we found that they were African Hawk Eagles – a really special sighing One was high in a dead tree and the other in another dead tree in front of it.

African Hawk-eagle

Our next road was the S89. As we went into a dip in the road Heather spotted a nest and asked Earl to stop so we could see if anything was in it – we all saw it at once – a Martial Eagle in a very awkward viewing position. Earl managed to get some good shots. Note its full crop.

Not long after that we found another nest with a bird of prey in it. This time a tawny eagle.

We wondered why we were not seeing Vereaux’s Eagle-owl as it is resident in the park. Heather read up on it and discovered that this is their breeding season so we started paying more attention to nests – they use other birds’ nests instead of making their own. This paid off and Heather was the first to find a Vereaux’s at the top of a tree, hunkering down in its nest. This was on a long dirt road to Satara and while on it we hardly saw another car but the birding and game viewing was good.
We found a few pipits and larks.

Monotonous Lark

Ground hornbills kept company with a few zebra.

Kori Bustards were quite common as were korhaan

The lilac breasted roller is a common but beautiful bird and poses willingly to have its portrait taken. But its cousin is not as pretty but less common so we were thrilled to find him a couple of times. I even managed to get him in flight.

Lilac-breasted Roller by Earl

Purple Roller

At Satara there were plenty of elephants and other game at the waterhole. It seems that we will be having a good time here. We enjoy everything about The Park but would really like to see a leopard. Hopefully our luck will change now that we are back in the South.

We decided to wake up a little later this morning and do breakfast before going out. The plan was to have brekkie ready by 7 and leave at 7:30 but we ended up leaving a tad later than that. The weather was once again cool in the morning, 9 degrees C at 8 a.m. but warming up to the late twenties by midday.
We did a short drive in the morning with a view to returning to Skukuza by midday and going to Lake Panic for a couple of hours as the sun would be in the right place to facilitate good photography. Heather in particular was keen to get to Lake Panic a.s.a.p. and Earl kept teasing her that we wouldn’t make it. He wanted to find cats first!
Our first sighting of the day was an early morning Steenbok. Earl then burst out laughing when he spotted a baboon at the apex of a very tall tree. He must have had a fabulous view from up there.

Baboon’s Eye View

Our birding stops provided us with green pigeons, golden breasted buntings, blue waxbills, cardinal woodpeckers and crested barbets amongst others.

Golden-breasted Bunting

Rhino although highly vulnerable to poachers and many are unnecessary lost to the most horrific slaughter were seen often.

We were amused by an interesting sighting of young zebra and giraffe on a play date! One seemed to be saying Mom, he called me a long neck. But you do have a long neck darling. Yes but he said it meanly. Well just tell him he’s a streepgat!
At the top of the hill there is a lookout point where you can get out and survey the scene. We noticed a school bus spilling out a dozen or so teenaged boys from Pretoria Boys High School. I chatted to one of them who was extremely polite and he told me they belonged to the school’s wildlife society and that this was an annual visit organized by a couple of their teachers. What a wonderful thing to do with a group of interested boys. They were staying outside the camp and this was their last day. During their week in Kruger they had seen everything and had had a thoroughly good time.
Earl took a road along which we’d seen cheetah on previous trips and insisted that we would see them there again. We were agitating to get to Lake Panic but he ignored our nagging. Suddenly he said oh no we weren’t supposed to see lions! and there in right in front of us a single lion crossed the road.

Oh my – the cheetah turned out to be a lion!

Peter alerted us to more in the bush and we sat and watch no less than 12 very young lion cross over into the bush and disappear.

We were alone with this sighting but alerted other cars to what had occurred. We saw them in the distance as we travelled on and another car told us they had seen just one lion walking in the bush. That is simply being in the right place at the right time!
Still on this high we made our way to Skukuza stopping for a brief look at warthogs and a longer one for a saddle billed stork in a small pond.

We took a short loo and coffee break at camp and then went to Lake Panic, just 10 minutes away.
We couldn’t have chosen a better time to visit. The hide was full but we Heather Peter and I found a spot together and Earl was slightly round the corner. We have wonderful views of Goliath Heron, pied kingfishers and a mother and baby hippo. The baby couldn’t have been more than a week old and Mom was so protective. There were no other hippos about.
The hide emptied and we made our way to where Earl was sitting and found more herons, a crocodile sunning himself on the bank, many black crake and more kingfishers. The hippos swam to this end too and we observed them emerge form the water and rests on the bank. The photos tell the story.