29 May 2023 - Cullinan
This was a targeted morning outing together with Niel Cillie to photograph only two species in the Cullinan area.
First up was Tinkling Cisticola, a tricky species that I had tried for before in the same area, but with poor and distant results.
We worked a few known areas without success and at the last stop were pleasantly surprised to find a pair of Swallow-tailed Bee-eaters
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| Swallow-tailed Bee-eater (Merops hirundineus) |
We then finally had some luck when we found a pair of Tinkler's, but they didnt spend too much time in our presence - but enough to improve on the images I had. I was taking Niel's lead and using flash, something I was not always comfortable using. I must say, I was happy with the results - but need to find a way to deal with 'steel eye' when it happens
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| Tinkling Cisticola (Cisticola rufilatus) |
We then moved to a different part of the same habitat on the hunt for our second target species, the Green-capped Eremomela. After some time, we found a party of about 7 birds that were really active and didnt quite come down low enough for eye-level images. They are great birds though.
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| Green-capped Eremomela (Eremomela scotops) |
Walking back to the Hilux, Neil mentioned that Striped Kingfishers breed in this habitat, so we went looking for them and found a pair that managed to keep their distance from us - but we did get a few images
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| Striped Kingfisher (Halcyon chelicuti) |
I really enjoyed this focused session, especially considering that we found both targets and got two other species as a bonus.
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