Crested Barbets - Breeding (Finally)?

When i last blogged about the crested barbets back in September they where busy hollowing out the nesting log I put up. Since then I have not seen much of them. So it was great to see a little head sticking out today:


Observing for a short while, I saw the male arrive with some food and pop into the nest:


I'm not sure if he's feeding the brooding female or if there are chicks in the nest - will hopefully get some time to sit and watch in the next week or two

African Harrier Hawk Shot at Golden Harvest

Sad news from the Urban Raptor Conservation Trust - it seems a juvanile African Harrier Hawk has been shot with an arrow at Golden Harvest - and is flying around impaled:



Sadly this is quite probably the bird i photographed and blogged about here a few weeks ago. I intend to go and have a look for it in its usual haunts as without medical intervention this magnificent bird will surely die - sometimes I despair at human behaviour - all i can say is that i hope to someday get my hands on the culprit!

Umngazi - African Fish Eagles

We recently spent some time at Umngazi in the Transkei, which is a wonderfun birding destination - we saw 62 species in the week we where there. I didn't do much photography, but did get these few snaps of a hunting African Fish Eagle - Unfortunately the critical moment was obscured by someone on the boat standing up in front of me ... grr:





I also observed an Osprey hunting almost daily, which was great. here are one or two other snaps:

Golden Harvest - African Harrier Hawk

It seems the black sparrowhawks have abondoned their nesting site at golden harvest. I made another trip this morning and there was no sign of them - and distressingly the nest seems to have been completely destroyed by one of the recent storms we had!

I did, however, have nice sightigs of the usual ovambo's, and also a young African Harrier Hawk:

Crested Barbet - Excavation continues

The barbets have now hollowed out a big enough space to turn around and come out beak first :)

Garden Bird News

Lately the grey go-away birds have been comming down to my feeder. These birds have become quite bold and sit on the balcony moaning at me if I don't put food out:


In other news, the Crested Barbet's that i blogged about back in march have been working on the sisal log again now that spring is here, as you can see form the second pic bleow they are making good progress:

Burchell's Coucal - Number 47!

Since the garden bird list got into the mid-forties new sightings have been hard to come by. So i was super excited to see a Burchell's Coucal going from tree to tree raiding the local birds nests - that brings the garden bird list to 47! Its a bird I often hear, but have never actually seen in the garden.

Golden Harvest Sparrowhawks - July 2011

I spent an hour this morning checking up on the Golden Harvest Sparrowhawks with my brother who is out from the UK. We arrived pretty early, very early actually, so early the sun had not come up. While waiting for some light i spent some time getting some pics of the moon:


As the first rays of sunlight started catching the tops of the trees the Ovambo Sparrowhawks where sunning themselves in the usual spot:


Sitting quietly we where treated to some awesome aerobatics as the ovambows harassed the local bird life:



Despite several attempts, the Ovambo's where unsuccessful! Moving on to the Black Sparrowhawks previous nesting site we found the nest to be somewhat dilapidated. It is, however, still early in the season so I'll make another trip in August to see if there is any activity. I did however spot a Little Sparrowhawk hanging around the nest, an indication the Black Spars are not around:


One the way out we spotted a youngish looking Ovambo near the parking lot:


All in all it was a lovely morning out - Johannesburg is spectacular at this time of year. Next up I will be visiting the Ovambo Sparrowhawks at Emmarentia and Zoo lake and perhaps the Verreauxs Eagle at the Botanical Gardens - Looking forward to that :-)

The Feathered Nest - Magaliseberg

Blogging has been a bit slow with the arrival of a baby, however I did manage to sneak off for a few hours birding early one morning when we had a "weekend away" at the Feathered Nest in Magaliseberg (about an hour west of my home in Johannesburg) in June. This is a fantastic spot for observing raptors, like this black sparrowhawk i spotted:


I also followed a group of African Harrier Hawks for a while, these birds are much less skittish than sparrowhawks and let you get quite close:


In two hours of birding i managed to get nice sitings of black and little sparrowhawks, a garbar goshawk, african goshawk, african harrier hawks and many other birds - I also had a most frustrating birding\photography moment. I was trying to get closer to the little sparrowhawks (a notoriously skittish species) but the bird kept eluding me. As I approached a large bush I was using for cover I flushed a hoepoe, suddenly a little sparrowhawk shot out of a tall tree i had just walked past and seized the hoepoe in flight ... while I fumbled with my focus/camera settings missing the shot. Fantastic to see, but i would have really liked to get the aciton on film - oh well - maybe next time!

All in all I really enjoyed the stay. The Feathered Nest also has an Owl sanctuary - while its sad to see these magnificent birds injured and maimed, at least they are well cared for. They had barn, marsh, white faced and spotted eagle owls in care.

Wordless Wednesday - Injisuthi Rainbow Trout

The Rabble

Crested Barbet Using Sisal Nesting Log!

About this time last year I blogged about the crested barbets trying unsucsessully to create a nesting hole in the pine tree accross the road. This year i decided to offer them one of those sisal nesting logs that they sell in nursary's. I had some advise that the nesting log hole should face south and other advise that it should face any direction except south? I decided to compromise and have it facing west! Unfortunatley, the only place I could put the nesting log is quite close to my back window so i did not have too much hope that the birds would make use of it.

So I was delighted to see this sight less than two hours after putting it up! Will keep an eye on him to see how the excavation goes :-)

Amethyst Sunbird

I normally get a smattering of sunbirds in the garden in February to coincide with the "Cigarette Bush (Cuphea micropetal) blooming. This year they have been late in arriving, so i was very happy to spot this little female in fading light as I got home today :)

Wordless Wednesday - Amur Falcon

Little Sparrowhawk

I have had several fleeting glipses of a Little Sparrowhawk around Emmarentia in the last few days, including one lovely siting with the bird flying right over my head - giving me a clear view of the diagnostic yellow eyes and cere. Unfortunately I never seem to have a camera handy when its around! Never-the-less i'm super excited to have this voracious little predator around :)

Bee-eaters Take 2

I blogged before about the European Bee-Eaters that are so so common around Johannesburg this time of year. They really are a joy to watch soaring and diving after insects in the evenings. I have also managed to get some slightly less fuzzy images than my last attempt, which i thought i'd share:

Greater Striped Swallow

In the summer months there are a large number of swifts and swallows over Johannesburg. Since you generally need pretty good camera equipment (not to mention some skill!) to get decent photographs of these birds I have not really blogged about them much. However I have resolved to attempt to get some decent pics of the various species and add them to my garden birdlist as I confirm their ID's. I'll start with these two snaps of a Greater Stripped Swallow fly by:

The (Not So) Urban Eagle

I love the fact that a number of pairs of Verreaux Eagle's are breeding in the greater Johannesburg area - big thumbs up to the Urban Raptor Conservation Project for keeping an eye on them! I love this pic of an eagle soaring over an urban environment because it represents everything the URCP is striving to achieve:


I did not take it in Johannesburg unfortunately, but in the Karoo town of Graaff-Reinet at the Valley of Desolation. I hope one day it will be possible to take such a photograph in Johannesburg.

Butcher Bird!

The Fiscal Shrike is often referred to as the "Butcher Bird" due to its habit of impaling prey items, usually insects, on thorns. It was interesting to come across a Fiscal Shrike that has obviously developed a taste for reptiles. I counted several reptiles impaled on this thorn tree in Swellendam, Western Cape. The reptiles appeared to be predominately Cape legless lizards. The pics graphically illustrate where the name butcher bird comes from:



Here is the culprit:

December Update

I've been away for a few weeks, so updates on Johannesburg Wildlife & Birding have been a bit slow - Hopefully I'll have some time to blog about a few new things in the coming weeks.

I was super excited the the Jackal vs Vulture shot i blogged about in September won first prize in the Country Life Magazine photo competition. Thanks very much Country Life! This photo has generated quite a lot of interest and also appeared in the UK Daily Mail and the Telegraph amongst others!

Until i start blogging again here are some snaps from my travels around South Africa in the last month: