31 December 2023 - Kyalami Estates
Not much time for birding during December, but still some good species recorded in the 46 that I saw, like Black-backed Puffback, Greater Honeyguide, Grey Heron, a fly-over of 3 Red-billed Oxpecker's was certainly unexpected along with the many Red-chested Cuckoo's
At the start of each year, I set myself a target to try and see 500 species in the travels I have in the year - this was the first time I achieved and exceeded this target by recording 510 species. This will be tough to achieve next year, but will give it my best! I was pleased with the 9 lifers I managed to record this year, but also had 3 dips which is inevitable.
I did manage to get a Red-chested Cuckoo in my garden on an overcast day, but I have yet to get a decent image of a perched bird - next year?
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| Red-chested Cuckoo (Cuculus solitarius) |
Down at St Ledger Dam, a Grey Heron was an unexpected visitor
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| Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) |
Breeding is in full swing for the Red Bishop's
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| Southern Red Bishop (Euplectes orix) |
and the fewer Thick-billed Weaver's than has been recorded in previous years
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| Thick-billed Weaver (Amblyospiza albifrons) |
It is pretty special to have a small colony of breeding near endemics Cape Weaver's in our Estate, so much time was spent enjoying their antics, especially when trying to tie two Willow Tree branches together in preparation for a new nest
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| Cape Weaver (Ploceus capensis) |
It has taken me up to mid April 2024 to finally complete the image processing and my posts for 2023 and I now have a backlog to work through to catch-up with my image processing for 2024.
The next post will continue with our enjoyable holiday in Hermanus
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