05 October 2025 - Mabula; Day 2
We were all up before sunrise for the morning drive, I just love this time of the day, when the bush is slowly waking up and coming alive. It doesn't take long to become in-tune with your surroundings as the week's stress dissipates from your body.
We found a perfect place for the morning coffee stop - an elevated platform over a quickly drying out waterhole. It is amazing how many species come to water while you are sitting quietly above. There was a never-ending stream of birds coming down to drink - always on the alert and seemingly scattering for now apparent reason. Here a Yellow-bellied Greenbul and Black-collared Barbet share a branch
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| Black-collared Barbet (Lybius torquatus) and Yellow-bellied Greenbul (Chlorocichla flaviventris) |
A few Meyer's Parrots made an appearance
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| Meyer's Parrot (Poicephalus meyeri) |
Here, 4 species in one image and all in focus! Meyer's Parrot, Black-collared Barbet, Dark-capped Bulbul and Grey Go-away Bird
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| 4 species-in-one image |
A Slender Mongoose was very alert as it tentatively made its way to the water and as soon as it had drunk, was off like a shot
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| Slender Mongoose (Herpestes sanguineus) |
Not so with the Chacma Baboons that seem to cavort around without a care in the world as they run with abandon to the water
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| Chacma Baboon (Papio ursinus) |
A family of Warthogs also made their way to some of the bigger puddles
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| Warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) |
Around our platform, we had calling Orange-breasted Bushshrike
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| Orange-breasted Bushshrike (Chlorophoneus sulfureopectus) |
Southern Boubou
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| Southern Boubou (Laniarius ferrugineus) |
and a quite obliging Crimson-breasted Shrike whose colours seem so out of place in the drabness of the bush in late spring
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| Crimson-breasted Shrike (Laniarius atrococcineus) |
It had warmed up quite quickly, so not much else seen on the way back to the Lodge.
There had been reports of the yellow form Crimson-breasted Shrike at nearby Mabalingwe and Richard was able to arrange access for the two of us to see if we could locate it at one of the waterholes. It was only 20-minutes from Mabula to Mabalingwe and we were soon at said waterhole which was a hive of activity in the heat of the day.
We sat quietly watching and waiting, but to no avail - however, there was no shortage on the variety of species coming to down to drink - another Slender Mongoose, skittish and aware as the one we had seen earlier
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| Slender Mongoose (Herpestes sanguineus) |
A Tree Squirrel that never quite got to the water to drink
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| Tree Squirrel (Paraxerus cepapi) |
So many different Seedeater species over the 2-hours we were there; Blue Waxbill
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| Blue Waxbill (Uraeginthus angolensis) |
Red-billed Firefinch
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| Red-billed Firefinch (Lagonosticta senegala) |
Jameson's Firefinch
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| Jameson's Firefinch (Lagonosticta rhodopareia) |
The stunning Violet-eared Waxbill's
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| Violet-eared Waxbill (Granatina granatina) |
Which in my opinion are surpassed by the Black-faced Waxbill's
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| Black-faced Waxbill (Brunhilda erythronotos) |
Green-winged Pytilia
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| Green-winged Pytilia (Pytilia melba) |
Golden-breasted Bunting
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| Golden-breasted Bunting (Emberiza flaviventris) |
And this yet to be ID's Indigobird/Whydah
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| ID to be determined |
Yellow-billed Hornbill's passed by overhead
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| Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill (Tockus leucomelas) |
Whilst a few Red-billed Oxpecker's vacated a Giraffe walking past us and also came down to drink
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| Red-billed Oxpecker (Buphagus erythrorhynchus) |
However, the most interesting for me was watching a pair of Green Pigeons that landed a little away from the water. According to Roberts, it states that they do not drink - so perhaps get their liquid from the fruits that they eat, but also not much about this species behaviour on the deck.
Yet, here were two on the ground - I was amazed to see that they don't walk, but hop and they hopped all the way to a pool of water where they quickly quenched their thirst and were gone just as quickly as they arrived
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| African Green Pigeon (Treron calvus) |
Another good record was a few Red-eyed Bulbul's which are perhaps expanding their range
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| African Red-eyed Bulbul (Pycnonotus nigricans) |
Although we didnt get the Shrike, I was more than happy with the images taken and the variety of species on offer at this tiny waterhole
We headed back to the lodge for sundowners, a fire, good food and great conversation under a sliver of moonlight
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| Night Sky |
