Southern Boubou

I spotted a Southern Boubou in the garden for the first time this morning. That brings the garden list to 50!

Butcher Bird

I've previously blogged about Fiscal Shrike's or "Butcher Bird's" habit of pinning pery items on thorn trees. Here is another gruesome example from my garden in Emmarentia:

Suburban Mongoose

An unusual sighting in suburban Emmarentia, a Slender Mongoose making its way through our garden!

Wood Hoopoe's, Barbets & Planes

Wood Hoopoe's must be one of the most spectacular birds in Johannesburg's gardens. Its also a species i've never managed to get a half decent photo of - as you can see below. That is something i'm going to try improve on over the next few weeks:

In other news, the red collared barbets & red throated wrynecks are still fighting it out for the nesting log, at the moment the barbets seem to have the upper hand:

lastly, i thought this was a pretty cool snap:

Bird Number 49: Red-throated Wryneck

Wow, having not had a new bird on the garden list in months, i was super excited to spot a white-bellied sunbird this morning. Seconds later i spotted another new bird for the garden list - a Red-throated Wryneck. He was busy inspecting the Black-collard barbet's nesting log, much to their annoyance! So there you have it, two new birds for the list in one morning. I wonder how long it will take for number 50 to showup?

Bird Number 48: White-bellied Sunbird

Spotted on my Aloe this morning, first new bird on the garden list in quite some time!

Secretary Bird in Emmarentia

Quite an unusual sighting - a Secretary Bird in Tana Road Park, Emmarentia. I hope it finds its way to somewhere safe!

Some Updates

Since i first spotted a Burchell's Coucal in the garden i see them most mornings if i'm up early enough. Its weird how you don't see a species for almost two years, and suddenly they appear all the time:


In other news, all kinds of strange food items are arriving at the Crested Barbet nest, hopefully i'll get a glimpse of the youngsters soon :)