FEBRUARY 2024 GARDEN BIRDS

I have at last unearthed my bird lists from February – it can be problematic when a change of notebook coincides with leaving home! The weather has been too hot to spend much time sitting outside, even in the shade, and so I have rather neglected watching the avian visitors to my garden. It has nonetheless been very pleasing to see Red-necked Spurfowl visiting the garden with chicks in tow. They are shy birds though and make a dash for cover at the slightest sign of what they perceive as danger.

Equally pleasing are the frequent visits by a pair of African Hoopoes that probe the lawn for something to eat. My eldest granddaughter embroidered this for me.

African Green Pigeons chuckle intermittently most days from within the leafy protection of the Natal fig tree.

Of course, the many Laughing Doves cheer the garden daily with their calls. A pair of Black-headed Orioles call from the tree tops and visit the feeders during the early mornings and again late in the evenings.

Very sadly, the Lesser-striped Swallows had no success breeding in our garden: their beautifully shaped mud nest fell down at the stage when the birds were beginning to line it with feathers. They just seemed to give up after that.

Cattle egrets are attracted by the presence of the Urban Herd. They are occasionally actually seen in the garden or perch in the fig tree. Mostly though I enjoy watching them flying overhead at the end of each day.

While most of the cuckoos have either left or fallen silent, I have been hearing the distinctive calls of a black cuckoo – not an easy bird to spot in our forest-like garden. One of the other two new visitors this month is an African Harrier Hawk (still fondly known by its previous name, Gymnogene) that has twice perched in the Erythrina trees in our back garden and once in the Natal fig tree. The very attractive Grey-headed Bush Shrike has made a brief appearance several times – only perching out in the open when I don’t have my camera at hand! In fact, it has not been a good month for taking photographs at all, so I have illustrated this post with pictures from my archives.

My bird list for this month:
African Darter
African Green Pigeon
African Harrier Hawk
African Hoopoe
Barthroated Apalis
Black Cuckoo
Black-collared Barbet
Black-eyed (Dark-capped) Bulbul
Black-headed Oriole
Bronze Manikin
Burchell’s Coucal
Cape Crow
Cape Robin-Chat
Cape Turtle Dove
Cardinal Woodpecker
Cattle Egret
Common Fiscal
Fork-tailed Drongo
Greater Double-collared Sunbird
Green Woodhoopoe
Grey-headed Bush Shrike
Grey-headed Sparrow
Hadeda Ibis
Knysna Turaco
Lanner Falcon
Laughing Dove
Lesser-striped Swallow
Olive Thrush
Paradise Flycatcher
Pied Crow
Red-eyed Dove
Red-necked Spurfowl
Red-winged Starling
Sacred Ibis
Southern Masked Weaver
Speckled Mousebird
Speckled Pigeon
Streaky-headed Seedeater
Village Weaver
White-rumped Swift
Yellow-fronted Canary

FOCUS ON RED-NECKED SPURFOWL

I have featured the Red-necked Spurfowl (Pternistis afer) before and have often commented on how wonderful it is that over the past few years they have started to visit our garden – this is especially so because I usually associate seeing them with being in a game reserve. This is not surprising as they enjoy a wide range of habitats including grassland, thickets, and forest edges – as well as frequenting cultivated lands. Here is one standing on the edge of our swimming pool.

For a year or so before I actually caught sight of these birds, I would hear their harsh krek krek calls from somewhere below where we live – possibly in the grassland surrounding the now long since dry dam. Then one day I noticed them in the overgrown grass across the road from our front gate.

I began to put seed out in what I call my ‘secret garden’ which is the bottom terrace I have set aside as a ‘wild’ area – convenient for me as our garden is too large for me to handle, and wonderful for the birds and other denizens of the wild that find sustenance or shelter there. We would occasionally see them venturing into the garden, but they would run into the bush or fly a short distance at the first sight of humans.

Now they have become so used to our presence that the small family group comes within a few metres of where we are sitting to eat the seeds or investigate what else might be on the feeding table. At the beginning of this year there was a mother and four chicks. We have sometimes seen the chicks on their own, or the mother with one or two of them. Over the past week a single youngster has visited the garden daily – although I have noticed others in the garden next door. These chicks used to creep around behind our pool to forage in the garden next to it.

The Addo Elephant National Park is a wonderful place to get to know these large, rather chunky francolin with their beautifully patterned feathers for they often visit the picnic site there to pick up food visitors have dropped. To have them visiting our garden feels like a real privilege!

These birds are easily recognised by the iconic bare red skin on the throat and around the eye. The bill is also red while their legs appear to be bright red or orange.

Red-necked Spurfowl form breeding pairs with a breeding season that extends from summer to mid-winter. Although I have not seen one, I read that their nests are bare scrapes on the ground. They lay clutches of three to nine eggs.

These birds count among the most attractive game birds and are hunted in areas such as the Karoo by those who enjoy shooting birds on the wing.

FEBRUARY 2023 GARDEN BIRDS

Another month has flown by in a flurry of activity, leaving little time for photographing avian visitors to our garden – never mind being able to enjoy watching them without the nagging thought that I ought to be doing something else. The real problem – and partly why this post is late – lies with the long bouts sans power that we endure every day. This means one rushes around doing what needs electricity to be done when there is power and catching up with all sorts of other things when there is not. Thank goodness for the birds though: they are always there – seen or heard – to provide some respite from this mad rush.

There have not been as many weavers around as we usually see at this time of the year and of these, Southern Masked Weavers have been dominant. Red-eyed Doves too have been heard –usually early in the morning and during the late afternoon – more than seen. Redwinged Starlings are gathering in ever larger groups now and make various flypasts during the day – one hears them before seeing them whizz by. There will always be an abundance of Laughing Doves attracted by the seeds I put out daily and I am very pleased to note the return of Fork-tailed Drongos. Other welcome returnees this month include the Barthroated Apalis – its cheerful chirps can be heard throughout the day, Fierynecked Nightjars – lovely to hear them at night, and a few fleeting visits from a pair of Yellow-fronted Canaries.

It is always pleasing to actually spot an African Green Pigeon. This one was perched on the branch of the Tipuana tree early one morning:

The presence of Rednecked Spurfowls make me feel as though I have woken up in a game reserve! This small family makes regular forays onto our front lawn and from there to the seed that has fallen under the feeders next to the swimming pool. I have seen them in the back garden too and so have taken to scattering crushed mealies there every now and then. This one is looking up at me in surprise:

Bronze Manikins never fail to amuse the way they huddle close together on the feeders – there always seems to room for one more – and yet, they too, sometimes peck each other or biff one out of the way in order to get to the food:

Most gratifying this month has been the fairly regular sightings of a young Cape Robin-chat. It was very shy at first, but has become bolder in its search for food. Here it is perched on the edge of the bird bath:

A significant problem we have to deal with during these long periods sans power is that perishables, such as cheese, do not last as long as they ought to – even in the fridge. Here Spotty, the Common Fiscal, looks as though he is biting off more than he can chew:

Even though I featured a Blackheaded Oriole last month too, I cannot resist including this view of one perched on the trunk of a Cussonia (cabbage tree) next to the swimming pool:

My bird list for this month:
African Green Pigeon
Barthroated Apalis
Black-collared Barbet
Black-eyed (Dark-capped) Bulbul
Black-headed Oriole
Bokmakierie
Bronze Manikin
Cape Crow
Cape Robin-Chat
Cape Weaver
Cape White-eye
Cattle Egret
Common Fiscal
Fiery-necked Nightjar
Fork-tailed Drongo
Greater Double-collared Sunbird
Green Woodhoopoe
Grey-headed Sparrow
Hadeda Ibis
Knysna Turaco
Laughing Dove
Lesser-striped Swallow
Olive Thrush
Paradise Flycatcher
Pied Crow
Red-eyed Dove
Rednecked Spurfowl
Red-winged Starling
Sacred Ibis
Southern Masked Weaver
Speckled Mousebird
Speckled Pigeon
Village Weaver
White-rumped Swift
Yellow-fronted Canary

SOME ‘S’ BIRDS

This Secretary Bird perched on top of a tree greeted me when I opened my laptop this morning:

It inspired me to show off some other ‘s’ birds that I have seen. Although this Red-necked Spurfowl was photographed in the veld, I am happy to report that about five of these lovely birds visit my garden fairly regularly:

Cape Glossy Starlings are birds I more readily associate with game reserves, such as the Kruger National Park or the Addo Elephant National Park – where the photograph below was taken. I increasingly see them nearer home to and have even occasionally spotted some in my garden:

When you see one South African Shelduck in or near a dam then you need to cast your eye around for there are bound to be a pair of them. The males and females have different coloured heads:

This photograph – taken in the Kruger National Park – is a bonus of storks. The tall, colourful Saddle-billed Stork is in the foreground, along with Yellow-billed Storks and Marabou Storks in the background:

Lastly, for now, is a Natal Spurfowl, also photographed in the Kruger National Park:

FIVE ADDO BIRDS

The Addo Elephant National Park is a delightful place for watching birds. This Bokmakierie was perched close to the road.

I often hear them, yet rarely see them in my garden so am always pleased to find them here.

Red-necked spurfowl have been visiting my garden regularly over the past few weeks to peck at the seed spilled on the ground below the feeders. Jack’s Picnic Site in the Addo Elephant National Park provides wonderful opportunities to see them really close up.

Given the various groups of donkeys and the Urban Herd of cattle that roam around our town, cattle egrets are a common sight as they keep these animals company. It is refreshing to see a flock of them gathered at the edge of a waterhole.

This lone Egyptian goose was actually on its way to join a few others grazing nearby. I occasionally see these birds on the edge of town too.

The sound of Cape turtle doves – called Ring-necked dove (Streptopelia capicola) – filter through our suburb daily. Strangely enough, I seldom see them in my front garden as they seem to prefer the area behind our home. This one is looking for seeds in the veld in the Addo Elephant National Park.