07 November 2021 - Bronkhorstpruit Dam
News broke yesterday of South Africa's 17th Baird's Sandpiper and 2nd for Gauteng at Bronkhorstpruit Dam. The Dam is an hour's drive from my house, so I had to go for it today.
I left the house before sunrise and made it to the dam just after the gates open and clearly many other birders had the same idea. Unfortunately, 15-minutes out from the reserve news came through that the Baird's was present, but had flown off and disappeared - either to another part of the dam or for good. My heart sank, as did all the others, but I was here and hopefully it would return.
The weather was not great either, with strong gusting wind and partly cloudy conditions. The upside was that there were many eye's, so if it did return, we would all know. I drove slowly along the shoreline, scrutinising all the waders. After Kuwait, I am not used to seeing them in winter/non-breeding plumage, so that was an adjustment.
It was great to add a few of these to my year list - Little Stint
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| Little Stint (Calidris minuta) |
Ruff
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| Ruff (Calidris pugnax) |
Wood Sandpiper
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| Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola) |
Greenshank
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| Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) |
and Common Ringed Plover
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| Common Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula) |
Over the dam, there were good numbers of Whiskered Tern
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| Whiskered Tern (Chlidonias hybrida) |
Whilst Grey-headed Gull's seemed to take an interest in some of the dead Carp close to the shoreline
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| Grey-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus cirrocephalus) |
I did get on to a Western Yellow Wagtail - beema type which is a good tick for Gauteng
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| Western Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla f. beema) |
Southern Masked Weave's also came down to the shoreline to look for food and drink
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| Female Southern Masked Weaver (Ploceus velatus) |
The Baird's didn't return and the wind was getting stronger - so reluctantly I cut my losses and headed back home with a last drive in reverse, along the shoreline where I found Kittlitz's Plover
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| Kittlitz's Plover (Charadrius pecuarius) |
and a lone African Spoonbill
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| African Spoonbill (Platalea alba) |
Before heading out the gate accompanied by a Yellow Mongoose
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| Yellow Mongoose (Cynictis penicillata) |
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