30 April 2024 - Kyalami Estates
Not a particular productive birding month as I recorded only 7 species, down 8 species from the same month last year. The only highlight was a Cardinal Woodpecker in the garden, whilst the regular intra-African Hirundines were still present.
In the main park, Blacksmith Lapwing's were still present, together with the African Wattled Lapwings
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| African Wattled Lapwing (Vanellus senegallus) |
The Prinia family were busy in the hedges on the park boundary and 'posed' for some nice photo opportunities
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| Tawny-flanked Prinia (Prinia subflava) |
Cape Robin-Chat in the Wild Pear
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| Cape Robin-Chat (Dessonornis caffra) |
And Bronze Mannikin's were still enjoying the seeds on the grass heads
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| Bronze Mannikin (Spermestes cucullata) |
Hadeda's are numerous and irritating at the same time, especially those who have decided to roost in the trees in your garden
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| Hadeda Ibis (Bostrychia hagedash) |
At St Ledger, the resident Malachite Kingfishers were seen a few times
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| Malachite Kingfisher (Corythornis cristata) |
I found this unidentified Skink in our garden
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| Skink sp. |
Along with Carpenter Bees
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| Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa caffra) |
this unidentified Bee
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| Bee sp. |
And what I assume to be a Hover Fly - I was pretty impressed to catch it in flight
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| Hover Fly? |
I did encounter a few Butterfly species - African Plain Tiger
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| African Plain Tiger (Danaus c. orientis) |
Common Leopard
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| Common Leopard (Phalanta phalantha) |
Painted Lady
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| Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) |
A Skipper species which are tough to pin down
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| Skipper sp. |
and one of the Blues - probably African Grass
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| Blue sp. |
This diminutive Moth sp. was around in numbers, but tough to get in the open as they landed and then crept under leaves to remain hidden
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| Moth sp. |
A couple of interesting flowers
And backlit Bullrush releasing seeds for a more creative take
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| Backlit Bullrush |
I had some fun and quite like these backlit Damselflies in the early morning light
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| Backlit Damselfly sp. |
I need to make a concerted effort to get up to speed with Damselfly ID's - but here are a selection from this month - they really do make great photographic subjects, which requires a degree of patience too
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| Damselfly sp. |
April was however a good month from a biodiversity perspective
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