I was doubting my sanity before the day had even begun… As my family turned off the television and headed for bed at 10.30 pm, I was getting up and preparing for the day ahead. The messages starting to come through on the Whatsapp group: “Everyone up? How much sleep did you get?” “2.5 hours. Not nearly enough.” “I haven’t slept at all…” It was clearly going to be a very long day for some of our team! You may have read my recent blog post about our Cape Big Day that we attempted just a few weeks ago. That was a challenge we set ourselves to beat the record of 216 birds in a day within the Western Cape, and we also used it to raise funds for Birdlife SA. This latest adventure was as part of the nationwide Birding Big Day (BBD), held annually on the last Saturday of November. The day entails teams across SA going head-to-head to try record the most species on the day, with the only restrictions being that you may not be more than four birders, you cannot move beyond 50 km of your chosen midpoint, and the majority of your team must agree on the identification for it to be included. The event is run by Birdlife SA, who in conjunction with the free-to-purchase app BirdLasser have for the last two years made a live feed available for people to keep up to date with their favourite teams’ progress. This has lent an added “race” feel to the day, which has helped to make this past BBD the most successful yet. Over 300 teams competed in 2016, making this a huge event on the SA birding calendar. Our team was made up of Garth Shaw, Nick Fordyce, Jess Suri, and me. Together we made up Team YAB #UCTsweesmustfall. The YAB stands for Youth Africa Birding, a movement to encourage youth birding which we were representing, and the hashtag being an obvious reference to the recent protests, substituting in swees (as in Swee Waxbill) for fees. We are all UCT students (Nick is a recent alum), so we added that in as an identifier of our student status and the region we were working. Garth and I had done the Cape Big Day together, while Nick and Jess had visited me in De Hoop for BBD in 2015. Our total last year was 151 species, which was a good total, however our level of intensity was nowhere near what we intended this year. The 2015 attempt was characterized by long stops enjoying the more interesting birds and fantastic landscapes we visited, and (probably one too many) drinks in the Klein Karoo with Ronnie himself at Ronnie’s Sex Shop (if you aren’t familiar with it, Google it before you judge us!). This year was to be more in the mould of the Cape Big Day – fast-paced, relentless, targeted birding. We hoped to beat our total of 191, but really we hoped to achieve what we had failed to do on that attempt – record 200 species in a day within the Western Cape. We were limited this time round by the restrictions on search area as part of the official BBD, but as a silver lining this meant more time spent focused on birding and less in the car. Any which way you look at it, we had a monumental challenge ahead of us… We began our day just after midnight in Simonstown with a sleepy African Penguin. This species unbelievably wasn’t recorded by any teams last year, so we served some restorative justice for this iconic South African bird by making sure it was not just our first tick for the day, but also the very first bird recorded for Birding Big Day 2016 overall! From Simonstown we skipped to the other side of the peninsula to Kommetjie, where we found White-fronted Plover and African Black Oystercatcher. Unfortunately the tide was a little high for the regular cormorants, but those two birds actually ended up saving us some precious daylight time as we would have needed to add a beach stop to find them otherwise. From Kommetjie we stopped in at the Wildevoelvlei Wastewater Treatment Works. Here we added a few waterbirds by torchlight, as well as Spotted Thick-knee. Our next target area was in the greener areas around Cape Town. We began in Tokai Park where we had seen Western Barn Owl, Burchell’s Coucal, and Fiery-necked Nightjar on the Cape Big Day. Unfortunately the only bird we could find here this time around was Helmeted Guineafowl – stark consolation for those other three. We then headed for the Diepriver Trail in Constantia. As we stepped out of the car an African Wood Owl whooped from behind us – that was easy! A short while later we were back in the car, with both of Burchell’s Coucal and Buff-spotted Flufftail in the bag – a most pleasing stop! This was the first time Garth, Nick and Jess had ever heard the ‘Buffy Fluffie’ before. In fact, it was Jess’s first ever Flufftail! It was good to have first hand evidence that Flufftails do in fact exist… In an extra and unexpected boost to morale we found that we were leading the BBD pack! In fact we held our lead for the entire 5 hours of nighttime, before relinquishing our spot at the top just after dawn. We just can’t compete down here with the diversity of birds they have further north-east, but it was fun to lead the pack while it lasted. With the morale a bit higher we headed towards Wellington, via the Liesbeeck River and Tygerberg. Along the Liesbeeck we secured yet more waterbirds, including a roosting Pied Kingfisher, and in Tygerberg we ticked our Mallard for the day. Our Barn Owl was secured along one of the northern suburb backroads, screeching away in the clear night sky. In Wellington we sought out the Lesser Kestrel roost. In hindsight this was a waste of valuable time as we had many of them in the agricultural fields over the next few hours. We did get a few birds leaving the roost tree, which got Jess’s spirits up as she is a huge raptorphile. As dawn broke we set up a spotting scope at the Wellington wastewater pans. Blue Cranes found their way onto our list, as did Lesser Flamingo, Water Thick-knee, and Cape Teal. We then headed north towards Hermon along the Oakdene road, stopping at strategic farm dams. Highlights from this area included African Spoonbill, Hamerkop, Ruff, Pin-tailed Whydah, and African Hoopoe. We stopped in at Schalk Burger & Sons Welbedacht Wine Farm, the childhood home of Schalk Jnr. of Springbok rugby fame. Their farm dams were particularly rewarding for us, with Red-billed Quelea the most impressive addition among other notable mentions of Purple Heron, Malachite Kingfisher, Southern Pochard, White-faced Duck, Maccoa Duck, and Common Waxbill. The Quelea sighting saved us some time on our schedule later, as we had planned stops for them later on, and we could rather spend the time elsewhere. We then cruised the agricultural fields south of Hermon. Garth and I had visited here a couple of weeks before, so we had a good idea what to expect, but these expectations were surpassed when we secured most of our targets and some really tough, unexpected birds too. Banded Martin was a new bird for Jess, but Nick’s Greater Honeyguide bogey continued as the bird we had found a couple of weeks earlier was calling from a new post too far away for us to locate. Along with the Honeyguide, we made up for our miss of Spotted Eagle Owl in the early morning, and we re-found our Plain-backed Pipit at the same spot. From Hermon we shot south again to Paarl Mountain. The Giant Kingfisher stayed true to its fishing post, so we obliged by visiting and ticking him off. We headed up to the Flower Garden of Paarl Mountain Reserve, and had some brilliant birding in the indigenous garden. Cape Bulbul, Cape Sugarbird, Orange-breasted Sunbird, Streaky-headed Seedeater, and Brimstone Canary were good additions. We also picked up our namesake, the Swee Waxbill, allaying fears that the swees would not, in fact, fall. We were also spoiled with some bonus birds we thought we would struggle for such as African Goshawk, Common House Martin, and African Olive Pigeon. However, the best find was the resident Protea Canary, which was a lifer for Nick, Jess and myself. Garth’s local knowledge of the area from five years of residency in Paarl was a real godsend for us here as he located the bird on call and got us onto it. After dropping in on the resident Rufous-breasted Sparrowhawk, we ventured across the Berg River to the Paarl Bird Sanctuary. Again, Garth came to the fore in taking us to the best spots for our targets here, including African Swamphen, Black Crake, Hottentot Teal, White-winged Tern, Common Sandpiper, and Grey-headed Gull. But the bird of the hour, and possibly one of two birds of the day, came as a total surprise. We were driving along the long edge of the pans, with the three other members of the team watching the water on our right, and me watching the tree line on the left. I had my eyes training on the branches for possible African Harrier-Hawks, and a small gap in the foliage allowed a glimpse of a large, dark, silhouette. “Stop!” Screech. Reverse. Binoculars up to the face. “That’s…….that’s a Honey Buzzard!” Perched up in the tree was a European Honey Buzzard. This species could be classed as a “regular vagrant”. They are non-native raptors that winter in sub-Saharan Africa, although very few ever make it as far as southern Africa, never mind the Cape. This was a new southern Africa bird for all but Garth, although it was new for him in South Africa specifically. We took some time to study it and really enjoy it. The honey-yellow eye was transfixing, although the local African Paradise Flycatchers were not as taken with it as we were as they continuously dive bombed its head in order to chase it off. Next we headed to the Malmesbury area, and then across the farmlands through the Darling Hills to the west coast. Along the way we picked up some species that had been making us anxious up to that point, including Grey-backed Sparrow-Lark, Cloud Cisticola, Namaqua Dove, and Brown-throated Martin. Our sighting of that stretch delighted not only our raptorphiliac, Jess, but all of us as a Booted Eagle perched right next to the road eyed us out, and took off into the wind just meters from the car. This was an exquisite view of a species more commonly seen soaring high above. White Stork was a welcome addition to the list, as Garth and I had missed it on our reconnaissance visit. As it turned out, we only saw the one bird the whole day. Once we hit the Darling Hills road we really got on a roll, snagging Martial Eagle on the nest, Red-chested Flufftail hooting (in the midday heat!), African Rail trilling, Cardinal Woodpecker, South African Shelduck, and Bokmakierie. Unfortunately the resident Cape Clapper Larks and Southern Black Korhaan were quiet and hidden, so we dipped on them. Grotto Bay was our next stop, with our first crack at seabirds by daylight. Cape and Crowned Cormorant fell quickly, and we headed to the scrubveld. Here we were delayed by the local reserve manager, and then by terrible roads. We had to deflate the tyres to get ourselves out of some thick sand, and then made the call to can that part of our route. With many outstanding “easy” scrubveld birds we were now stuck without any local spots that we knew. We moved to the first piece of suitable habitat and played a few calls, and luck was clearly with us. First to reveal itself was a Cape Bunting, followed by White-throated Canary, Cape Penduline Tit, Long-billed Crombec, and Chestnut-vented Tit-Babbler. Down to the Dolphin Beach pans in Milnerton we headed, hoping for White-backed Duck which we’d had on the previous Big Day. Disappointingly, we could not relocate it, but we had a few consolation prizes. African Snipe was a prize find, and Black-crowned Night Heron had been giving us the run around since the early hours. We moved on down the M5, stopping in to tick the African Black Ducks along the Liesbeeck River, and then up to UCT to try for Peregrine Falcon. Jess’s favourite campus birds were nowhere to be found, but at least there were plenty Red-winged Starlings, which were a very late addition for a common species! By this stage it was the middle of the afternoon, and we were closing in on 180 species. Our target looked achievable still, but the reality of the hard work ahead and the difficulty of finding new species was really sinking in. We headed from UCT to Newlands Forest, and nearly lost all hope. The traffic on the M3 was one notch above a standstill, eating up precious time, and the shoulder of the M3 was parked up with hundreds of cars. To make matters worse, we needed to turn off the M3 into the Newlands Forest, and this offramp was closed. There was a Volunteer Wildlife Services open day taking place, and traffic-limiting measures were in place. We found a tight spot to park the car nearby, and set off jogging through the various exhibition stands and the crowds up Table Mountain. The forest was dead quiet, and we had all sweated through our shirts after 10 minutes from the heat and exertion. The going was tough, but we kept pushing higher and higher until we found what we were looking for. The Lemon Dove has never looked so beautiful before – our view of the little cinnamon-coloured gem parading around the leaf litter was tinted by the herculean effort it had taken to get up there. I’m not sure if the moisture in Nick’s eyes was sweat or tears… Before exiting the forest we also added Sombre Greenbul, Black Sparrowhawk, Forest Canary, and Common Chaffinch – all identified by call. The only other bird we actually saw on the whole walk/run was an Olive Thrush fiddling in the leaves looking for worms, which is what it felt like we were doing for a lot of the time there! But 5 new birds at this hour was a good return for the time invested, and it pushed us a good deal closer to 200. Because of our successes in Newlands Forest we could afford to skip our visit to Kirstenbosch. We only had one or two targets outstanding there, and we decided the time would be better spent on our last two stops. This decision completely changed the day, and had a huge influence on the outcome of our mission. Our penultimate stop was at the Strandfontein Wastewater Treatment Works, our third sewage installment for the day! But unlike the others, we were actually here for waders, and not general waterbirds. We picked up the resident African Jacana – a rare species in the Cape that is only reliably found at this spot – before heading straight for wader central between pans 1 and 2. Immediately our list took a huge boost, with the addition of Wood, Curlew, and Marsh Sandpipers, and Pied Avocet. Garth found a Bar-tailed Godwit in the scope, excitedly shouting out for us to come look and confirm, before dropping an absolute bomb: “Guys, there’s a Phalarope there too!!” It was an unbelievable moment. We had found a second national rarity for the day, this one outdoing even the Honey Buzzard in terms of rarity. Only one or two of these pitch up in South Africa every year, with the most famous being the resident bird at Velddrif where most people go to get their lifelist tick. The nearest wintering area for this species is in the Arabian Sea, which just shows how lost it really was!! It was a really good find, but even more importantly, it was another step closer to 200! We added Grey Plover and Ruddy Turnstone thereafter, and then Southern Grey-headed Sparrow on the way out. We When we left Strandfontein we checked our standings on the leaderboard. We were listed on 191 species, but the golden late afternoon light had already started to set in. We counted up the possible birds we could expect at Sir Lowry’s Pass, our last stop, and it quickly became clear that we would need an exceptionally good visit to achieve our goal. And, judging by the dwindling daylight and the now howling wind, that was an extremely unlikely event. We carried on with our schedule anyway, as you never know what might happen on a Big Day. We raced along Baden Powell Drive, stopping to scan for Cape Gannets, and then on to the N2. Because of some miscommunication between the Birdlasser app and their leaderboard online our total was not in fact accurate, and with the logging of the Cape Gannets the data had been kicked back into gear. As we approached the foot of the pass it dawned that we were in fact on 195. A lucky moment of clarity reminded me that I had forgotten to add Cape Bunting many hours earlier on the West Coast, and we jumped one massive step closer once again. The excitement was nearly tangible. Emotions are fickle, however. When we got going on the path at Sir Lowry’s it quickly became apparent how hard we would have to work for every bird. It was 20 minutes of soul-testing trudging before we even heard a bird – Cape Grassbird, which we relieved to finally be able to add as number 197. The new bird broke the lull, and we were energized once more. We crested the top of the ridge, moved out of the wind and the shadow of the east face, and it was only minutes before we were celebrating. A Neddicky sounded from the rocks above. 198. A Cape Rock Thrush flew in and perched in full view. 199... And then, best of all, the loud pipes and whistles of a Victorin’s Warbler cut through the gusts of wind, and signaled some pipes and whistles of our own, accompanied by hugs and high 5s. We had done it! The Victorin’s even joined in the party, coming closer and giving us some absolutely magical views. Those who have seen this species before will know what hard work it is to even glimpse the little bugger usually, but here he was in all his glory. A fitting milestone bird for the big 200!! Garth had trekked some beers up with him in his backpack, so after the obligatory group photo we toasted to our success and watched the beautiful sunset fade with the full view of Cape Town spread out below us. We were exhausted and completely spent (from mid-morning I had no voice left), but you could not find four happier people in all of the Western Cape... To put this achievement in perspective, only a few people have ever managed to see over 200 species in a day within the province. To our knowledge it has been done fewer than 10 times, ever. Our names go down alongside some of the most well-known and successful characters in the birding and ornithological world, such as Peter Ryan, Phil Hockey, John Graham, and Trevor Hardaker. And, on top of the pure numbers, we found two national rarities in a day.
In a funny little turnaround, we in fact found out on the Monday following that we had forgotten to log Lesser Swamp Warbler in the early hours of the morning. So we, in fact, recorded 201 species! Not that the one species makes all that much of a difference, but the extra boost lifted us to 25th position on the standings, which is a much nicer, round number. Needless to say, we were the top-placed Western Cape team. The George Lawaaimaakers took 2nd with 199, and the Wildepoue in Robertson managed 191 for the bronze. Despite our overall position on the leaderboard, we were one of the most successful team on the day, in more ways than one! We would like to thank those that supported us and followed our progress online, our sponsors who helped us raise money for Birdlife SA again, those who helped us out with information, Mike Buckham who pointed us in the right direction at Strandfontein, and Garth’s mom, Helen, who lent us her vehicle for the day. It was certainly an experience that we will all cherish for some time!
5 Comments
Vivienne Gordon-Turner
27/11/2016 21:19:26
Brilliant,thrilling recounting of 24 hours.
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Fiona Butchart
28/11/2016 06:50:58
Very well done. I enjoyed reading your report and it took me back to my 2 years in Cape Town. One really has to work very hard to achieve that result.
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Christopher Carver-Brown
29/11/2016 12:14:49
Well done Drewski! an achievement to be proud of!! Cant wait for us to spend some time birding in Zambia together!! I am now part of the birding fraternity here and an old UCT mate of mine is one of Zambia's top guides! Got to make a plan!!
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Margaret Maciver
1/12/2016 21:40:47
Loved reading your blog! I was almost living it with you - well done on your achievement of getting over 200!
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5/12/2016 11:01:25
Sounds like an incredible day with some spectacular birds! I really need to do some serious birding this holiday to make up for lost time!
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AuthorI am a birder, biologist, and nature blogger. I post about my trips, informative tidbits, and things I think are interesting. Archives
July 2017
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