05 July 2023 - Northern Farm
I visited the Farm, as I needed to get some images to supplement the Birdlife GoBirding Site for this jewel of a birding site in Gauteng.
After going through the gate, I had to stop for a Groundscraper Thrush that was foraging on the side of the road - a species we see too often at the Farm.
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| Groundscraper Thrush (Turdus litsitsirupa) |
The small colony of White-browed Sparrow-Weaver's were busying themselves collecting grass for their nests and it is still only July!
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| White-browed Sparrow-Weaver (Plocepasser mahali) |
Once through the tunnel, as African Pipit was busy in the short grass
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| African Pipit (Anthus cinnamomeus) |
My first stop is the Quarry and on my last visit had the amazing experience with Andre's spirit bird the African Yellow Warbler. Believe it or not, it popped up again in the Wild Dagga and in full sun when I got out of my car and started singing - what a comforting start to my morning! I really do miss Andre and our birding morning's at the Farm..
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| African Yellow Warbler (Iduna natalensis) |
The Black-headed Heron's were also busy collecting nesting material where they have a small heronry in a massive Pine Tree at the main dam
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| Black-headed Heron (Ardea melanocephala) |
At the small dam in the quarry, Three-banded Plovers were quite active
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| Three-banded Plover (Charadrius tricollaris) |
African Stonechat's are prevalent along the irrigation canals that run through the farm
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| Male African Stonechat (Saxicola torquatus) |
Walking back to my Hilux, another African Pipit in non-breeding plumage
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| African Pipit (Anthus cinnamomeus) |
I continued driving around the farm and went for an abstract image of this Black-headed Heron on the overhead irrigation
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| Black-headed Heron (Ardea melanocephala) |
If you are into plane spotting, there is a part of the farm that is near to the end of the Lanseria runway - there was a lot of heat haze for this take-off
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| Plane spotting |
Driving to the main dam, a Zitting Cisticola in the grasslands
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| Zitting Cisticola (Cisticola juncidis) |
I managed a hat-trick of Teal at the main dam - Red-billed
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| Red-billed Teal (Anas erythrorhyncha) |
Blue-billed
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| Blue-billed Teal (Spatula hottentota) |
and the least often seen, Cape Teal
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| Cape Teal (Anas capensis) |
Surprisingly it warmed up quite a bit, even for a winters morning, so I decided to head back home.
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