02 January 2024 - Bredarsdorp and Hermanus; Day 12
All the images and sound recordings on the birding Apps for Agulhas Long-billed Lark have come from Bredarsdorp, so it seems as if this little town is the epi-center for this species. So, I was up early for the hours drive to Bredarsdorp from Hermanus to go and explore as many of the farm roads as possible, to try and find this Lark
It was a perfect day in Hermanus, but once I was over the Overberg, there was low clouds, drizzle and mist all the way to Bredarsdorp - certainly not ideal for my quest.
I found a farm road before Bredarsdorp and spent some time driving slowly, stopping and listening as I went. No singing Long-billed Lark, but I did find Red-capped Lark
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| Red-capped Lark (Calandrella cinerea) |
Birds weren't too active due to the cool and damp weather, the uncommon dark form Brown-throated Martin stayed put
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| Dark Form Brown-throated Martin (Riparia paludicola) |
There were also good numbers of Pearl-breasted Swallows amongst the other Hirundines
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| Pearl-breasted Swallow (Hirundo dimidiata) |
No luck on this road, so I continued to Bredarsdorp finding some other farm roads - but without any luck. I found a garage that sold Costa Coffee which I really enjoyed whilst in Kuwait, so got a takeaway cup and continued my search. I didnt hear its call at any of the stops I made, so perhaps post-breeding they go off grid
By now I had to start heading back to Hermanus and detoured again on the first road I had tried after sunrise. A few Levaillant's Cisticola's on the farm fence
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| Levaillant's Cisticola (Cisticola tinniens) |
Then a young Capped Wheatear that posed nicely
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| Capped Wheatear (Oenanthe pileata) |
A brief glimmer of hope turned out to be an African Pipit one of the few that was not sitting on a fence or post which is typical of farm road birding. I then called it quits - perhaps earlier in the breeding season will be more successful for the Agulhas Long-billed.
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| African Pipit (Anthus cinnamomeus) |
Back in Hermanus, Gill and I went out for a walk and then sundowners to watch the sunset. A bonus was the resident Peregrine Falcon flying overhead with it's own takeaway dinner - on close inspection, it appears to be a young Cape Spurfowl
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| Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) |
The sunset wasnt as spectacular as previous evenings, but the cocktails were most enjoyable!
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