171
BIRDSCONTOUR REPORT (02.11.’13 – 29.11.’13)
Text from Stefan Rust
2013
(In terms of the Geneva Convention the copyright of these
texts belong to Stefan Rust)
Dear birding friends,
as birdwatching is a relatively new and one of the fastest
growing and a most popular pursuit, it attracts people of all ages around the
world. There can hardly be a better place than southern Africa (Namibia,
Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho, South Africa) to nurture an
interest in birds as it supports almost 1000 bird species, which is about 10
per cent of the world's entire bird. Taking birding to new heights,
Hobby-Ornithologist Stefan Rust together with BirdsConTour represents some of
the ontour bird sightings and several other interesting birding aspects to
showcase the fun of birding, promote citizen science, highlight conservation,
indicate where to view what birds and raise awareness of southern Africa's
(sometimes international) birds and their habitats.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS WORK GETS DISTRIBUTED INTERNATIONALLY
Have a quick look if you, your site or neighborhood is
included in this scientific informational work (alphabetically arranged):
A-little-Sossus Lodge (Namibia)
Annie’s Cottage (Spingbock, South Africa)
Blommenberg Guesthouse (Clanwilliam, South Africa)
Bloubergstrand (South Africa)
Botswana
Bwabwata NP. (Namibia)
Canyon Roadhouse (Gondwana Collection, Namibia)
Cape of Good Hope (South Africa)
Cape Town (South Africa)
Chamäleon Reisen
Chobe NP. (Botswana)
Chobe Safari Lodge (Botswana)
Clanwilliam (South Africa)
Emanya@Etosha Game Lodge (Namibia)
Etosha NP. (Namibia)
Etosha Safari Camp (Gondwana Collection, Namibia)
Farm Gauchas (Argo Rust) (Namibia)
Fish River Canyon (Namibia)
Gondwana Canyon Park (Gondwana Collection, Namibia)
Gondwana Lodge Collections (Namibia)
Hakusembe River Lodge (Gondwana Collection, Namibia)
Ilala Lodge (Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe)
L’Avenir (Stellenbosch, South Africa)
Namibia
Namushasha River Lodge (Gondwana Collection, Namibia)
Pack Safari
Rust Argo (Farm Gauchas) (Namibia)
Rust Heidi (Windhoek, Namibia)
Schlipp (Namibia)
Solitaire Guest Farm (Namibia)
Sossusvlei (Namibia)
South Africa
Stellenbosch (South Africa)
Table Mountain (South Africa)
Usieto Luka (Namibia)
Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe
Victoria Falls NP, (Zimbabwe)
Villa Lutzi (Cape Town, South Africa)
West Coast NP. (South Africa)
Windhoek (Namibia)
Zimbabwe
BirdsConTour Report (Namibia, South Africa, Botswana,
Zimbabwe) Personal Highlights:
ANNIE’S COTTAGE – BIRD & BIRDER FRIENDLY AWARD
BIRDSCONTOUR FOR A CLEANER BIRD HABITAT
BLACK-BELLIED BUSTARD
BLACK HARRIER
COPPER SUNBIRD
FIVE GERMAN GUESTS REWARDED
ILALA LODGE – BIRD & BIRDER FRIENDLY AWARD
LEVAILLANT’S CUCKOO
SENTINEL ROCK-THRUSH
VILLA LUTZI – BIRD & BIRDER FRIENDLY AWARD
WESTERN MARSH-HARRIER
Distance traveled: 7 617 km
02.11.'13 Windhoek, Namibia Architecture
for a better Bird Life Heidi improved her bird friendly garden
and organized BirdsConTour to install a Hornbill feeder. This is a platform
with having dished a special Hornbill mix on it to attract these big birds to
one’s garden. Also another nest was installed to offer nesting possibilities in
her garden.
05.11.'13 Von Falkenhausenstr., Windhoek Red-headed
Finch (3 chicks) Part of an old
White-browed Sparrow-weaver nest that was occupied by a Red-headed Finch pair
was lying on the ground in the garden. With closer inspection, it was found of
having three chicks in it. Fortunately they have not been found by any predator
yet, so BirdsConTour came in and fixed the broken off part to the still hanging
part of the nest with thin wire. Observation showed that the parents continued
taking care of their helpless three chicks.
06.11.’13 Ludwigsdorf, Windhoek Young Birders Young
Birder Luka Usieto, the youngest Bird & Birder Friendly Award awardee contacted
BirdsConTour excitedly informing about two Monteiro Hornbills that visited his
feeding station and asking what he can do to attract them as regular visiting
bird guests. The next day BirdsConTour installed a special Hornbill platform
with a special hornbill food mix regularly dished for them. Also a nest was
added to the Usieto family garden in the hope that it attracts some birds to
start breeding in it. It would be exciting for Young Birder Luka. See the
detailed article “Enquiring Minds”, no. 160.
06.11.'13 Birds in Words Sociable
Weaver A German article on the Sociable Weaver was written for the
Allgemeine Zeitung. Find out more about this desert-dwelling specie in article
no. 163.
08.11.'13 Farm Gauchas, Schlipp, Namibia
Southern Masked-Weaver (2) On the
right time at the right place. After having arrived on Farm Gauchas, the farm
worker called and informed us about a broken Southern Masked-weaver nest in the
garden. The strong wind that came up would sooner or later break it completely.
Surprisingly there was still a female sitting on three blue, dark spotted,
eggs. By “sewing” the nest together again, three eggs were saved and the female
happily continued incubating her eggs. Find more information in article no.
161.
08.11.'13 Farm Gauchas, Schlipp, Namibia
Birds in Words BirdsConTour writes in an article “Five
families under one roof” (article no. 161) about the bird friendly farming
practices by Mr. Argo Rust.
09.11.'13 Turnoff B1/D1254, Schlipp, Namibia
BirdsConTour for a cleaner Bird Habitat This time, these regular
cleaning sessions led to the corner of the B1/D1254, the turnoff to Schlipp.
Text and photos in article no. 162.
09.11.'13 Van Rhynsdorp, South Africa Black
Harrier (2) This uncommon bird is an
endemic species to southern Africa. It is regarded as the world’s most
range-restricted continental harrier, in a range estimated less than 400 000
square km. It is classified as globally vulnerable, endangered in Namibia and
near-threatened in South Africa.
10.11.'13 Clanwilliam, South Africa Yellow
Bishop (1) During non-breeding seasons
they form family groups and then join small mixed flocks including sparrows,
canaries, waxbills, weavers and other bishops.
10.11.'13 Villa Lutzi, Cape Town, South Africa Red-winged Starling (2) Not only are these birds aggressive towards
other starlings and attack predators, including African Harrier-Hawk, but in
one incident one roosting pair on a farm veranda attacked people so heavily
that the birds got shot.
11.11.'13 Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa
Orange-breasted Sunbird (1) The
common and endemic Orange-breasted Sunbird is endemic to fynbos areas, mostly
where dense stands of protea and Erica plants occur.
12.11.'13 Villa Lutzi, Cape Town, South Africa Lemon Dove (1) Cape Town is the furthest west distribution of
this species. Reduction of forest patches and the increasing utilization of
understorey trees for medicinal uses are a cause for conservation concern.
12.11.'13 Cape of Good Hope Sentinel
Rock-Thrush (1) Although this endemic
species is classified as not threatened, it seems as if their numbers have
decreased in this area since the 1980’s. The reason/s are still unknown.
13.11.'13 Villa Lutzi, Cape Town, South Africa
Bird & Birder Friendly Award A paradise for Table Mountain birds.
BirdsConTour awarded Villa Lutzi for their bird and birder friendly practices,
article no. 164.
13.11.'13 L’Avenir Country Lodge, Stellenbosch,
South Africa Red-eyed Dove
(5) Human modifications to the habitat has contributed to the range expansion
in Gauteng, Lesotho, some parts of the Free State, southern Karoo and West
Cape, even further into some parts of the Namib Desert over the last 100 years.
14.11.'13 Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, South Africa
Black Kite (1) This regular road
casualty is a long-lived bird. The oldest recaptured ringed bird was 23 years
old.
14.11.'13 West Coast NP., South Africa Osprey (1) Although known to interact aggressively with
African Fish-Eagles, this individual bird was observed foraging in near
neighborhood with three African Fish-Eagle.
14.11.'13 Blommenberg Guesthouse, Clanwilliam,
South Africa Cape Robin-Chat
(1) It often joins mobbing behavior of other birds and reacts extremely
aggressive when predators are nearby, especially during the time of development
and care of its chicks. It has been observed attacking and driving away even
Boomslangs Dispholidus typus by striking at the snake’s head and
neck.
15.11.'13 Vanrhynsdorp, North Cape, South Africa
BirdsConTour for a cleaner Bird Habitat The Pied Crows have
increased in range and abundance in the Karoo because of increasing numbers of
roadkills on roads and because of adapting to build their nests in telephone
and powerline poles. Before these man-made structures were there, there were no
nesting possibilities, no big enough trees in the Karoo. The creativity of
these birds results in them including wire, sometimes only wire, and often
ropes (used to wrap grass blocks), as thick lining into the nest structure.
This habit often is a deadly trap, birds get entangled in these ropes in their
nest and can’t free themselves. Farmers often have to feed their stock with
grass blocks that are wrapped with ropes. After untying the supplement grass,
the ropes are left lying around in nature, being collected by birds and ending
up in their nests. To make farmers aware of this danger, BirdsConTour arranged
a BirdsConTour for a cleaner Bird Habitat cleaning session
alongside the Cape Namibia Route (N7) in front of a road construction site near
Vanrhynsdorp. Litter was collected next to the road while many vehicles were
stopping at the construction roadblock.
15.11.'13 Annie’s Cottage, Springbock, South
Africa Bird & Birder Friendly Award Annie’s Cottage in
Springbock, North Cape, South Africa, received a two penguin-rated Bird &
Birder Friendly Award mainly because of its bird friendly garden. More
information in article no. 165.
16.11.'13 Canyon Roadhouse, Gondwana Collection,
Namibia Acacia Pied Barbet
(3) The abundance of these birds in this area is linked with the abundance of
Quiver Trees. They offer nesting sites, its wood is soft enough for the Barbet
being able to excavate a nesting hole.
17.11.'13 Gondwana Canyon Park, Gondwana
Collection, Namibia Karoo Korhaan (2) This is an endemic bird to southern Africa and prefers stony
ground in flat to undulating areas.
17.11.'13 A-little-Sossus Lodge, Namibia
Rüppell’s Korhaan (2) The
Rüppell’s Korhaan species as such is near-endemic to western Namibia, but the
subspecies Eupodotis rueppellii fitzsimonsii is endemic to
Namibia. It lives in the gravel and sandy areas of the Namib Desert where the
rainfall is less than 200 mm per year.
18.11.'13 Sossusvlei, Namibia Black-chested
Snake-Eagle (1) Snakes are one of its prey
items. Snakes that are struck inaccurately by attacking bird fight back,
sometimes resulting in death of both. Snakes are swallowed whole, directly into
the stomach.
18.11.'13 Solitaire Guest Farm, Namibia
White-browed Sparrow-Weaver/Laughing Dove (1/1) An almost symbiotic behavior occurred between a White-browed
Sparrow-Weaver and a Laughing Dove. A White-browed Sparrow-Weaver repeatedly
plucked berries from a Shepherds-tree Boscia albitrunca, peeled
them on the ground, picked off the juicy inside around the hard pits and left
them behind because they are too large for the weaver to swallow. Then came the
Laughing Dove, picked up the pits and swallowed them. It seemed as if the dove
was waiting on the ground for the weaver to pick a berry from the tree, finish
its part of feeding on each berry on the ground, to then rush in and pick the
uneaten pit.
19.11.'13 Windhoek, Namibia Red-headed
Finch (3 Juveniles) The three almost dead
chicks inside an old White-browed Sparrow-Weaver nest that was used by their
parents and had fallen down because the nest broke apart, fledged successfully
after the broken off part was “stitched” back onto the part that was still
attached to the branch.
20.11.'13 Turnoff B1/D2404, Namibia BirdsConTour
for a cleaner Bird Habitat Again BirdsConTour took action in the
effort to keep the country clean. Today, as quite a few times before, the site
around this often visited termite mount was cleaned.
20.11.'13 Etosha Safari Lodge, Gondwana
Collection, Namibia White-browed Sparrow-Weaver (5) Usually a breeding pair builds its nest within
average 10-18 days on the leeward side of a tree, favoring thorn trees.
Sometimes they build their untidy, retort-shaped dry grass nest onto telephone
poles and powerline poles and even more seldom into fences, such as one near
the Etosha Safari Camp.
21.11.'13 Etosha N.P., Namibia Lesser
Grey Shrike (1) This time of the year is
the main arrival of this non-breeding Palearctic migrant. Ever increasing bush
encroachment leads to unsuitable habitat for this species, but it is well
represented in protected areas in southern Africa.
21.11.'13 Emanya@Etosha Game Lodge, Namibia
Red-billed Hornbill ()
Replacement of natural game populations by livestock doesn’t bother this
species, it adapted well to it. But they do react vulnerable to areas where
wood collection reduces availability of suitable nest sites.
22.11.'13 Hakusembe River Lodge, Gondwana
Collection, Namibia Black Cuckoo
(2) This intra-African breeding migrant usually gives itself away by its repetitive
I’m so siiiiiick whistle.
23.11.'13 Namushasha River Lodge, Gondwana
Collection, Namibia Copper Sunbird (3) Namushasha River Lodge serves as a superb place to view quite a
few of these uncommon birds. Especially when the water sprinklers on the lawn
are switched on, they enjoy taking a ”shower”.
23.11.'13 Bwabwata NP, Namibia Hadeda
Ibis (1) One bird nesting about 2.5 m
above water in thick bush. Originally these birds built their nests over water
for protection against nest predators such as genets and monkeys. Prior to
1970, only very few nests were found away from water, but since invasion of
suburban areas, such as in East London, East Cape, 17 of 33 nests are found in
trees in suburban parks, streets and gardens away from water.
24.11.'13 Namushasha River Lodge, Gondwana
Collection, Namibia Klaas’s Cuckoo (1) Thought to be resident in Zimbabwe but it is possible that the
non-breeding birds from further south migrate north to Zimbabwe coincidentally
at the same time when the breeding population in Zimbabwe moves north after
breeding.
With the high occurrence of the Copper Sunbird at the
Namushasha River Lodge, it can well be possible that the Klaas’s Cuckoo
parasitizes this species. Parasitism of this species has been recorded in other
parts of Africa, but not yet in southern Africa.
24.11.'13 Bwabwata NP, Namibia Black-bellied
Bustard (1) Classified as Near-threatened
only in South Africa, its status should get closer observation in other
southern African countries as well. As such some reports from the Tuli Block in
eastern Botswana require confirmation. Decreases in population sizes are due to
habitat destruction, hunting and mismanagement of grassveld, as it favors tall
dense grassland and grassy savanna.
25.11.'13 Chobe Safari Lodge, Botswana Just
for clarity Recently the Chobe Safari Lodge was awarded with a Bird
& Birder Friendly Award from BirdsConTour. The launch of the BirdsConTour Bird
& Birder Friendly Award project under the division Input
gives Wings created a significant shift in
bird awareness. The handover
of Bird & Birder Friendly Awards to various establishments and people is
seen by the awardees as a very concrete manifestation of BirdsConTours’
commitment to support bird conservation and to make a difference to peoples’
attitude towards birds. Read more in article no.170 under Birds in Words
(www.birdscontour.blogspot.com).
26.11.'13 Chobe Safari Lodge, Botswana Levaillant’s
Cuckoo (2) This is a generally uncommon
Intra-African breeding migrant species and arrives in southern Africa in
October till November. As a brood parasite its major host is the Arrow-marked
Babbler.
26.11.'13 Chobe NP, Botswana Red-backed
Shrike (14) The majority of this species
arrive in southern Africa mid till late November. It seems as if the numbers
have increased in the strip alongside the Chobe River within the Chobe NP
because of an increase of preferred habitat caused by thornbush encroachment
through overutilised vegetation by an overpopulation of elephants.
26.11.'13 Chobe NP, Botswana Western
Marsh-Harrier (2) Of an estimated 240
000-300 000 world population, about 50-100 of these Palearctic-breeding migrant
birds reach southern Africa, giving it a rare status. Mainly the Western
Marsh-Harrier favors marshes with lots of reeds.
27.11.'13 Victoria Falls NP., Zimbabwe BirdsConTour
for a cleaner Bird Habitat This year is the bicentenary year of
David Livingstone’s birth and has been marked today with a special cleaning
session celebrating the life and achievements of the iconic explorer. Inspired
by Livingstone’s love of nature, BirdsConTour (Birds Conservation and Tourism)
together with five German guests visited the Livingstone statue in the Victoria
Falls National Park today, collecting litter around the statue with the goal to
leave behind a clean area for visitors and a safe habitat for birds. Obviously
also the Falls were marveled. If you wish to spend some time with the spirit of
David Livingstone, visit the clean Victoria Falls NP. and combine it with some
birding.
27.11.'13 Ilala Lodge, Zimbabwe Bird
& Birder Friendly Award Many
birds present in the Victoria Falls NP can easily be seen here in the bird
friendly garden. In the mornings one wakens up by a cacophony of bird sound.
Passionate about bird life, the Ilala Lodge manages a bird friendly garden,
resulting not only in a heaven for birds, but also in a two penguin-rated Bird
& Birder Friendly Award.
27.11.'13 Ilala Lodge, Zimbabwe Bird
& Birder Friendly Award By traveling directly with BirdsConTour or making
use of a guide from BirdsConTour you support bird conservation and create an
economic platform for local livelihoods. Sometimes travelers also participate
in other BirdsConTour projects. To say THANK YOU, every tour participant
receives a Bird & Birder Friendly Award at the end of the tour.
Five German-speaking guests were rewarded with one
penguin-rated Bird & Birder Friendly Awards:
Artymiak Monika & Dieter
Krause Astrid-Stella
Warmbier Brigitte & Harald
This Namaqua Tour, organized by Pack Safari and Chamäleon
Reisen, took place from the 09th of November until the 29th
of November 2013.
28.11.'13 Bwabwata NP, Namibia White-backed
Vulture (1) In the last Roberts Birds of
Southern Africa VIIth edition the status for this species is described as
locally common but has now been changed to Endangered. In a recent incident 600
vultures were killed in a single event in this part of Namibia. The survival of
every single vulture is important; therefore it is sad to have found this
roadkill, another source of unnatural mortality.
29.11.'13 Windhoek, Namibia Chestnut-vented
Tit-Babbler (1 adult, 1 juvenile) By
surprise came an adult bird with a juvenile to the wild bird feeding station in
the garden, feeding the young bird with the offered porridge. The juvenile bird
lacks the whitish belly but has grey instead. These birds have an average
15-day incubating and a 15-day nestling period, meaning that the adults must
have started nesting around middle of October.
Enjoy Birding,
Stefan Rust
Please note: Most scientific information has been taken
from Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, V11th edition!
(For more information contact Stefan Rust on +264
(0)81 129 8415 or birdscontour@iway.na)
