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.