A Cape Bird Club Outing to False Bay Ecology Park

2016-02-10 | puppy1952

Although I arrange the outings programme for The Cape Bird Club, living in Struisbaai prevents me from attending most of them. Circumstances brought me to Cape Town for a few days which became extended for another week so I was delighted to be able to attend February’s weekday outing led by my friend, Heather.

How lovely that the sun was shining and the wind not blowing too strongly. We had a group of about 12 – four in each car.

A Perfect Day for Birding

False Bay Ecology Park consists of a number of ponds which boast a variety of birdlife and at this time of the year it is good for waders. These birds are difficult to identify specially when they’re far away and there is no telescope available. However, our leader was amazing and with lots of discussion with other good birders and referring to the field guide we managed to agree on what they were. We were delighted to find greenshank, curlew, ruff, little stint, three banded plover and Kitlitz plover. Here are two of them.

Common Greenshank behind, Ruff in front.

These little stints were taken by me on another occasion

Swallows are often found near water, as are brown throated martins. We found Barn Swallows and Martins but the white-throated and striped swallows were conspicuous by their absence.

Barn Swallows

Every pond was great to see and we spent three happy hours exploring and admiring the birdlife. We got a list of 57 species and hereunder are photos of just a few.

Moorhen

Black-winged Stilt

The African Jacana shouldn’t be here but he hasn’t read the field guide.

Shelducks are infrequent visitors to FBEP – Heather’s way of remembering which one is the female? The female wears white face powder.

The graceful pelican

A zitting cisticola

FBEP is famous for its greater flamingos (in front) so but today some Lesser Flamingos (behind) joined them

Lesser flamingos have maroon bills with a black tip – juveniles have a dark bill with black tip

A flamboyance of Lesser Flamingos

Spur-winged Geese

Black-shouldered Kite

This Kittlitz Plover tried to attract us away from its chick.

The chick sat dead still and was beautifully camouflaged – we had a peep then left them in peace.

One can also find bokkies in the park – this is a grysbok

It was great meeting new people and catching up with members I know. We all had a jolly good time.

Our leader on the left

Pelicans and all at False Bay Ecology Park

2015-12-19 | puppy1952

I’ve missed my Happy Place not having had a visit there for months so Early and I took a drive there on Thursday afternoon. It was a gorgeous day but there was a bit of a South Easterly wind blowing.

As we expected the flamingos were out if full force, scattered across the first two pans.

It’s the best place to find Greater Flamingos

Most of them were in deeper water upending like ducks.

A flamingo impersonating a dabbling duck

There were a few fraternising with geese and ducks on the shore

Of course the Red-knobbed coots were everywhere

One of the many black-winged stilts wading in the shallows

The one at the back is a juvenile

Cape Teal gathered in large numbers

quack quack quack with a feather on his back

Not always seen so commonly is the White-faced duck

Pelican Island

A Flotilla of Pellies

Gliding gracefully across the pond

A real poser is the black-headed heron

The light on the glossy ibises didn’t make photographing them easy!

The highlight of the day was an African Snipe but he the reeds were either in front of his face or he turned his back to us – these were the best I could get!

First he looked one way

And then the other

I think this is my best side?

We know a place where nine times out of ten we find the spotted eagle-owls. Today we found mother, father and the baby who is quite big now. Photography was not good.

The best I could get of the youngster – look carefully and you will see mom in the shade behind him.

Among many others we also had good sightings of purple swamphen, grey and purple heron but they didn’t pose for long enough.

So with a contented feeling we made our way home but I’m sure it won’t be the last visit we make to False Bay Ecology Park while we are here for the holidays.

More touring in our own backyard – Struisbaai, Elim, Gansbaai, Buffelsjag and Die Dam

2015-10-25 | puppy1952

The morning dawned bright and sunny and Maureen and I set off at 7 for a walk towards Cape Agulhas – half an hour out and half an hour back. We arrived back to a delicious breakfast cooked by Earl. The wind was coming up so it was decided that a fishing trip was not an option. Instead we set off on another birding adventure. This time we followed the gravel road to Elim then made our way to Gansbaai returning via Buffelsjacht and Die Dam.

Our Route – We left at 10 and returned at 6

We set our goal to 60 birds but hoped to better that.

The first bird of the day was a flying yellow-billed kite and we continued to see plenty of them all day. In the winter our most common bird of prey was a jackal buzzard with just the odd YBK so lovely to see them so active in the area now.

There is a lot of temporary water lying around from the winter rains and this attracts birds but means the permanent water is less productive than usual.

We find a lovely reed cormorant sunning himself near a puddle next to the Elim road.

We pass through the Agulhas National Park and so often see ostriches. Today we found them right on the road.

Mom hurried the chicks and warned them of the dangers of canned people

Mom hurried the chicks along and warned them of the dangers of canned people

Lots of legs and only one head?

Come and help me with this lot, please Dad!

We took a short detour towards the salt pans to find the flamingos and were successful but they were too far for good photographs. On our way back to the Elim road, Maureen yelled – Secretary Bird and we managed to spot two but they ran off very quickly. Mega tick for the day!

We saw a secretary bird just like this but didn’t get the photo! This is from a previous occasion

The birding was good and we soon had quite a long list but mostly we enjoyed just watching the antics of the birds.

yellow-billed ducks trying to hide from us

We also enjoyed spotting the odd mammal

Rheebok are common in Agulhas National Park and on some of the farms in the area

Levaillant’s Cisticola

White-faced ducks are not that common in the area

By the time we arrived in Gansbaai the wind had got up and was blowing strongly. We went to the Great White House for coffee and muffins/croissants. The patio area was sheltered and we enjoyed the sun on our backs and watched the sunbirds, weavers and witogies drinking at the feeder.

Gansbaai is famous for its shark cage diving and whale watching tours. We watched a boat come in and I spoke to one or two of the passengers when they disembarked from the wale watching trip. It had not been pleasant in the very choppy waters and many were sea-sick – but don’t be put off – choose a calm day and the experience can be amazing!

A whale watching boat coming in from a very rough sea

In the harbour

A tractor pulls them out

I find a white-fronted plover scampering about on the harbour wall

We continue exploring the coastline and find some more interesting birds

A little egret find sea fishing productive

Two gorgeous oyster catchers

A hartlaub’s gull in breeding plumage

At Buffelsjacht we spot whales in the bay.

A gull with a mussel

A swift tern takes a bath

The beach at Die Dam

the dune above the beach

It was an exciting day and by the time we got to Die Dam we had over 60 bird species on our list. We were pretty tired but the challenge now was to beat 70 which we had got with Tommy and Megan a few weeks ago. Just when we thought we’d seen all the possibles for one day we had some really fun sightings.

A distant but obliging Denham’s Bustard

Two Caspian Terns

Our national bird posed beautifully in the dam

A green shank

We finally ended up with 72 species which pleased us enormously.

We cooked a Banting Cottage Pie for supper and all opted for an early night!

Birding in the Overberg – Day 1

2015-10-24 | puppy1952

Overberg is an area of the Western Cape, east of Cape Town and beyond the Hottentots-Holland mountain range. The name, Overberg is derived from Over ‘t Berg, which means over the mountain and is a reference to the region’s location relative to Cape Town.

It stretches along coasts where beautiful beaches can be enjoyed, and over mountain ranges with interesting geological formations, abundant birdlife and fynbos. The landscapes are stunning explosions of different greens, browns and golds and now that we live in this beautiful area we are enjoying exploring and discovering all its hidden corners.

Our friends, Jim and Maureen from Jeffrey’s Bay visited us this week. They too, are keen on wildlife and birds and so we spent a couple of fabulous days doing what we love best – enjoying nature and finding birds – and the Overberg is just the place to do it.

On Tuesday evening J&M insisted on taking us to dinner so we introduced them to the wonderful cuisine offered by Seagulls restaurant in Cape Agulhas. On cold winters evening there is a roaring fire in the grate but today it was warm so no need for that. Jim, Earl and Maureen ordered Spare Ribs which they said were good, while I settled for their delicious beef stroganoff – the Banting version comes with a Greek salad instead of pasta.

Jim and Earl enjoying beer together

Maureen and I prefer wine

Friends together again

The next morning we were all up bright and early and Maureen and I decided to walk to Cape Agulhas – about an hour on foot from Struisbaai. And what a wonderful route it is along the rugged coastline.

The lighthouse at Agulhas

Sharon and I did this last week and M being a race walker was keen to do it too. The men went off to explore the harbour and the beach and met us at Potpourri the best place in the area for breakfasts, light lunches and delicious cakes.

We then did the compulsory standing at the Southern Tip of Africa thing and got the photo.

On our way back we found this puffy disappearing into the grass on a vacant plot. Stay there, Puffy, or a vigilant gardener might decide to decapitate you with the edge of his spade.

We went home to freshen up and then went off on a bird watching drive to Arniston. Now Arniston is an easy 40 minute from Struisbaai if you go straight there. But if you are tuned into nature it takes a lot longer than that. No prizes for guessing why. We took the gravel road through the farmlands and of course stopped for every bird and creature of interest. The beautiful flora growing in the veld also had us oohing and aahing.

Struisbaai to Arniston and Back

The weather had turned chilly so Maureen and I were very pleased that we’d done the walking thing early. The game was on to find more than 60 species and in spite of the weather we did quite well.

Always special to see spoonbills

Red-capped larks were everywhere

Agulhas Lark sang beautifully

Common Ringed plover

Black-winged stilt

Pretty flora too

When we got to Arniston we realised we did not have enough fuel to get home and there is no petrol station in Arniston! But the kind staff of the hotel helped us out with a can so the day was saved.

As Maureen and I made our way to the hotel restaurant we found Phil and Richard about to depart in a most amazing chariot. We chatted to them and they told us they’d shipped the vehicle from the UK to Durban and were travelling around South Africa in it. There next stop would be Hermanus and then Stellenbosch. Wow – totally open top – in all weather!

We meet interesting people on our excursions

We enjoyed coffee and cheesecake before exploring Arniston

We decided not to do the cave as the tide was wrong, it was cold and we did not feel like slipping on the rocks. We’ve all been in the cave before so didn’t really miss the experience but it is well worth it on a good day.

We found some more birds for our list on the dunes and around the village.

Cape Sugarbird

A Cape Francolin showed us her chicks

A Cape Bunting

Karoo Robin posed obligingly

We then set off for Struisbaai taking a good long time to get home too! All in all the round trip took us 7 hours.

Jackal buzzard

Rock Kestrel

Bokmakierie

The guys cooked steak and sweet potato on the braai, gem squash in the micro and we served it all with a Greek salad. More to follow tomorrow.

Male bonding at the fire

The Overberg and surrounds – Tourists in our own backyard

2015-10-19 | puppy1952

There is nothing like having visitors to prompt you into visiting places that are all too familiar but still exciting to explore.

Now that we are residing in the picturesque, fishing village of Struisbaai at the tip of Africa and a three hour drive from our former home, Cape Town, we welcome having friends to stay. Last week Tony and Sharon were our guests for a midweek break and what fun we had.

The weather was not perfect but at least the rain held off and it was not too cold. On Wednesday set off to visit Elim 36 km away. Of course we birded on the way there and back!

Blue Crane

Red-billed teal

Elim was established in 1824 by German missionaries as a Moravian mission station. The grew vines in the viticulture suitable terrain so as to produce their own wine for communion. The he missionaries taught the villagers a variety of trades and skills. Thatching was a skill they mastered and to this day Elim thatchers are recruited to from all over the world.

The village is picturesque and has changed little over the years. The thatched whitewashed cottages are typical fo their homes. All the roads in the village lead to the thatch roofed church. The community, still mainly Moravian, consists of farmers, artisans and farmers.

Elim is becoming known for the export of fynbos, and as an emerging area in the production of wine.

We visited the museum which has some fascinating exhibits.

Implements from a bygone age

The waterwheel

We loved this cart with a licence plate!

Typical kitchen from long ago

Sharon showing how lowly she can be

On Thursday, after a delicious “Early” breakfast we set off for the historic town of Swellendam wich was declared a magisterial district in 1743. It was the fourth oldest in South Africa, and was named after Governor Hendrik Swellengrebel who was the first South African born Governor, and his wife, Helena Ten Damme. This outlying settlement was the gateway to the interior, and was visited by many famous explorers and travellers including Francois Le Vaillant a noted ornithologist (1781).

A village was established beyond the Drostdy, where artisans including numerous wainwrights, blacksmiths, coopers and traders settled. Swellendam was the last outpost of Dutch civilisation on the eastern frontier and thus the services of the residents of the town were of utmost importance.

Our first stop after a scenic drive from Struisbaai was The Old Mill Restaurant. We wanted to sit in the garden but it had rained and the seats were wet so we settled for an indoor table and ordered coffee and milk tart. Inside the menu we found a touching trip report written by one of the staff. They had all been taken to The Kruger National Park and surrounds to do a training course. What an amazing experience they had flying for the first time, seeing fascinating wildlife and exploring a part of our land that they’d only dreamed of. And what a lot they learned about their trade too. The piece was written with such warmth and appreciation of every aspect of the experience. It’s worth going to this restaurant just to read it!

Earl and Sharon next to the lovely fireplace

Feeling refreshed we went to the Drosdy Museum and really enjoyed all the exhibits and re-informed ourselves of our South African history.

Sharon emerging from the Cooper’s cottage

Sharon thinks I should crochet a spread like this!

Tony and Sharon in the court room of the original drosdy

Tony and Sharon in the court room of the original landrost

Earl wants this for his hearse

He says I can have this one

A very old Singer Sewing Machine

At ‘The Whipping Post’ restaurant (It was the old gaol) we found this stunning patio furniture which I fancy having here in Struisbaai!

We spent a good few hours exploring Swellendam and I can recommend it as a destination especially if you have an interest in things historical. There is also a pottey you could visit and we popped into an art gallery too. The exhibits were interesting and if I could choose I would have take this.

The weather was cooling down quite rapidly by the time we left and made our way to The Bontebok National Park. There was not too much to see but we were thrilled that we saw its star performers plus a few other creatures.

Star of the show

And some of his friends

The flora is stunning

Southern Black Korhaan

Back in Struisbaai we popped into the harbour and took a photograph of the stingrays cruising beneath the surface.

Such a beautiful harbour

On Friday Sharon and I made the most of the most glorious morning and walked to Agulhas.

View on our walk

The men met just over an hour later and we did the compulsory standing on the southern tip thing, took a scenic drive to Suiderstrand and then had breakfast at Potpourri.

Our Southernmost Friends

Me with the Agulhas rocks in the background

It was a lovely end to to a brilliant visit with our friends.

The Boys and Me at False Bay Ecology Park

2014-06-08 | puppy1952

Temperatures have been hovering between 8 and 16 here in chilly Cape Town this week. Today though we had sunshine and it was a tad warmer. Earl had a fishing date with a friend and after doing a number of chores in town I really felt the need to get my teenage grandsons out of the house and into Nature.

Isn’t it amazing that you can go to the same place many times but each time it’s different. The light was good for photography and I gave Jay (16) my ex-camera, a Canon Powershot SX30IS and Josh and I used my Powershot SX50HS.

Black-winged stilt by Jay

Purple Swamphen by Jay

Flamingos

Black-headed Heron with an snack by Jay

Black-head heron – Jay

Egyptian Goose – Josh

Egyptian Geese

Hadeda Ibis – Josh

Cape Teal

Little Grebe

Levaillant’s Cisticola

Jay

Josh in front

We always look out for the Spotted Eagle-owls in their usual spot and today Jay and Josh found them easily. They were in the open, woke up and stared at us, preened a bit and then went back to sleep. We managed to get a few reasonable photographs.

Sleepy Head

Ho Hum

What are you looking at

Wink Wink

The African Fish Eagle is occasionally seen at The False Bay Ecology Park and today we were lucky enough to catch sight of two. I alerted the boys to one was flying ahead of the car when they yelled – Gran – look – there’s one next to us with prey! It was not easy to focus the camera but I got a very poor shot of it with a mongoose in its talons! It scattered the birds on the mudflats including a number of Spur-winged geese then settled on a mound some distance away.

Poor Mongoose

Fish Eagle

Fish Eagle – Jay

He flew off over the next pond, settled in a tree and then flew off again. We went in hot pursuit of a better photograph.

The Boys hoping to spot the Fish Eagle

Finally it was time to leave. Last shot of a male Cape Shoveller.

The boys agreed the excursion had been most worthwhile!

Two Visits to False Bay Ecology Park

2014-06-01 | puppy1952

One of my favourite spots to visit in Cape Town is the False Bay Ecology Park. I have been there twice in the past seven days and have included photos from both visits in this blog.

This afternoon Earl and I were accompanied by two friends, Cheryl and Dot. The latter is a beginner and after we’d met up with some others girls at our monthly breakfast club, she asked if I would take her bird watching. Cheryl was also able to come along so I persuaded Hubby to drive us, picked them up at Cheryl’s home and we headed to our favourite spot.

The weather at this time year is chilly but also changeable so we were not too sure what we might see. Last Sunday there was very little but today was more productive although it was cold and windy.

Ever present are the beautiful Greater Flamingos

The pelicans were chilling on a distant bank.

My favourite ducks – they’re so photogenic

Cape shovellers taking to the water – all male except the one with the brown eye

A patient black-headed heron in the water

and out

A pretty little Black-winged Stilt

A Little Egret skulking in the reeds

A small flotilla of Littel Grebe (Dabchicks)

A small flotilla of Little Grebe (Dabchicks)

Here is a picture from last Sunday’s visit – a malachite kingfisher

An active, tiny bird – finally settled for a reasonable shot

A s silly moorhen impersonating a songbird!

A silly moorhen impersonating a songbird!

An African Pipit looking handsome

The purple swamphen (gallinule) is common at FBEP but tends to be elusive in the reeds. I am usually lucky and almost every time I visit I see at least one. Dot was very keen to get to see this lovely bird and I promised her we would. She missed the first one which was a bit far off and then decided to disappear before we could focus her attention to it. The second one was also hiding but Earl moved the car and we all got an excellent view of him showing off his very long and wide spread toes.

First glimpse of the colourful bird

Climbing up the reeds

Higher – Look at those toes!

Because of the very windy conditions many species of bird were congregated on Pond P2 which was slightly more sheltered. There were hundreds of yellow-billed duck, Cape shovellers, sacred ibis, stilts, avocets, Egytian Geese and Spur-winged geese amongst others.

Spur-winged goose with Sacred Ibis

While we were watching the frantic activity of the birds Dot called our attention to a small bird of prey flying at great speed and scattering a flock of common starling. It was a flash of rufous dashing just above the reeds – too fast for us to track. But then we saw it perched in a tree. Waving reeds make it difficult to focus unless you have a really fancy camera so Earl’s resulting pics were not particularly clear. Here is the best one from a bad bunch of a rufous-chested sparrowhawk.

An uncommon sighting at the best of times and the first time we’ve seen one here. A wonderful way to end our visit!

Midweek Visit to Strandfontein Ecology Park

2014-05-03 | puppy1952

With schools having an extra break due to all the Public Holidays Earl and I were able take a midweek visit to one of Cape Town’s best kept secrets – now politely named False Bay Ecology Park. The 34 settling ponds cover 306ha and attract myriads of water birds, the flamingoes being the main drawcard. On Wednesday they were on almost every pond.

Flamingoes and gulls

A disturbance set them to flight

Adult and Immature Flamingo feeding

Strandfontein Beach next to Baden Powell Road in the background

False Bay alongside Baden Powell Road in the background

There are a number of duck species here too. The yellow-billed duck is my favourite. They are so photogenic.

Yellow billed ducks with Egyptian Goose

Yellow-billed duck swimming

Cape Teal in reflective mood

Glorious Day for a Swim

Red-billed Teal

Female Cape Shoveller

Spur-winged Goose

We were pleased to see quite a few Little Egrets about too.

Little Egret Fishing

The Cattle Egrets are common everywhere and even when not in breeding plumage they are rather beautiful.

Non-breeding Cattle Egret

The Purple Swamphen is a magnificent bird with its iridescent colours of purple, blue and green. They obviously like the sunshine and we saw quite a few of them on Wednesday.

Peeping out to say hello

Those long widely spaced toes help when walking on reeds

Aren’t I gorgeous

Sometimes swimming is required.

Common Moorhen taking a swim too

A selection of birds - Sacred Ibis, Kelp Gulls, Black Oyster Catchers

A selection of birds – Sacred Ibis, Kelp Gulls, Blacksmith Lapwings and Black Oystercatchers

We had never seen malachite kingfishers here before so it was a thrill to get one this day. We watched it fish but didn’t manage to get very good photographs – this is the best of a bad bunch.

Malachite Kingfisher

We spent three wonderful hours in this bird paradise and didn’t see another car. What a great afternoon!

Women’s Day Weekend in Struisbaai – Part Two

2013-08-10 | puppy1952

It was a lazy start to the day this morning. The sun was up and shining again but the chill had not left the air so we lingered longer in our warm beds. I had my usual craving for croissants and the boys did their best to locate some. OK Grocer apologised but were not making them this weekend! Instead they came home with herby bread rolls, ham and cottage cheese. I was a bit miffed but when the lovely rolls were put before me all was forgiven.

Sharon tucking into brekkei

Sharon and I took a walk to the Struisbaai Mall and visited South Bound Gift Shop – always a fun place to browse around. The men caught up with us a little later and we shopped for a ‘snippermaandjie” (waste paper basket) and found a suitable one at the hardware shop. It is amazing what Struisbaai has to offer in the way of shopping these days. I wanted to show Sharon the Fish Shop and had no intention of buying anything but there were products on demo and after tasting this and that we left with a small haul – green fig preserve, mango mustard, olive chutney and whatnot.

A Smorgasbord of choice

The Fish Shop the meets all your fish requirements from bait, fresh caught fish and cooked take aways to items that you need to cook your own catch

There is some controversy as to where the Atlantic and Indian actually meet – The owner clearly believes it’s not here and I agree with him!

Later in the afternoon we took a drive to Suiderstrand and a long walk (over and hour) along the beach toward and beyond the Agulhas National Park Rest Camp where we stayed a few weeks ago. (See earlier Blog)

The scenery was to die. The pebbly beach proved challenging on the feet but the sound of the sea rumbling on them in the shallows was like nautical music to our ears.

Sweep of the coastline

Smooth white pebbles underfoot

Fishermen trying their luck

We left the shells where they belong

Enjoying the sunshine

The threatened African Black Oyster Catcher

Ignoring the breaking waves

Keep up please, Darling

We know we’re a handsome couple

White-fronted plovers

After all this strenuous exercise we’d worked up a healthy appetite. Chef Earl was keen to try out some more of his culinary skills and once again presented us with a delicious supper which was followed by fresh berries and yogurt.