PC's apologetically late and small year.

[Peter Connan]

149) Tawny-flanked Prinia

 

Bruinsylangstertjie

 

Prinia subflava

 

Here we are in EBC territory again...

 

 

20 December, Rietvlei

[Peter Connan]

150) Fan-tailed Widowbird

 

Kortstertflap

 

Euplectes axillaris

 

20 December, Rietvlei

[Galana]

21 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

Here we are in EBC territory again...

Well at least we can see the Tawny flanks.

Nice FT Widow bird.

[Peter Connan]

Thank you very much @Galana

[Peter Connan]

151) Yellow-crowned Bishop

 

Goudgeelvink

 

Euplectes afer

 

 

20 December, Rietvlei

[Peter Connan]

152) Groundscraper Thrush

 

Gevlekte Lyster

 

Psophocichla litsipsirupa

 

 

 

20 December, Rietvlei

[Peter Connan]

And here is my last bird for 2020. It helps that it is a new bird for me, was in my garden and something I had never expected to see in my garden, and it was doing something mildly interesting as well!

 

For a couple of days, I had been hearing an incessant chattering, but hadn't been able to spot it.  And then one afternoon, there it was, and I had my camera handy too!

 

153) Greater Honeyguide

 

Grootheuningwyser

 

Indicator indicator

 

 

 

 

4 December, My garden

 

And with that, I bid you all a very happy and much more productive new year!

Edited December 31, 2020 by Peter Connan

[Tdgraves]

What a great end to 2020. Here’s to a better 2021

[xelas]

This Honeyguide is a clever bird! Great captures @Peter Connan. Looking forward to see more from you in BY 2021!

[shazdwn]

What an incredible sighting to end the year. Can’t wait to see more of your fabulous shots in the next big year

[Galana]

What great behavioural capture. It caused me to research. Hoopoe (and several other hole nesters) can be brood hosts to Honeyguides and your bird is a juvenile.

And IN your garden. Epic.

My friends in Gauteng do get them in their garden too.

 

So that takes you nicely past #150 too.

Edited December 31, 2020 by Galana

[Kitsafari]

wow a great sighting to end the year on! i never knew that honeyguides were brood parasites? How interesting. 

[Peter Connan]

4 hours ago, Galana said:

What great behavioural capture. It caused me to research. Hoopoe (and several other hole nesters) can be brood hosts to Honeyguides and your bird is a juvenile.

And IN your garden. Epic.

My friends in Gauteng do get them in their garden too.

 

So that takes you nicely past #150 too.

 

According to "Beat about the bush, Birds" it's the only brood parasite that targets the African Hoopoe. That is actually how I identified it, because at first I didn't have a clue!

 

Thank you very much @Tdgraves, @xelas, @shazdwn, @Galanaand @Kitsafari

[PeterHG]

An excellent and very interesting ending to the year, @Peter Connan! I'm looking forward to more of your beautiful additions in 2021! And I hope the new year will be better for you and yours in many respects.

Edited January 1, 2021 by PeterHG

[Peter Connan]

Thank you very much @PeterHG

[pedro maia]

What a great sequence Peter!

[Peter Connan]

Thank you very much @pedro maia

[Peter Connan]

A question to my competitors (IE the bottom 4 or 5):

 

As has been alluded to here and in the Coronavirus welfare threads, my wife is currently recovering from a significant injury and surgery.

I believe the result will be that there will be very little chance of us going anywhere in the year to come. Couple that with the fact that we are currently in a limited lock-down which includes most sources of water (rivers, lakes, dams and beaches are closed, but nature reserves with access control measures are still open).

 

The prospect of another relatively pointless year of trolling the local spots doesn't fill me with a hell of a lot of enthusiasm.

What do you guys say I try to see how many birds I can photograph in just one location?

The location I have in mind is Rietvlei Nature Reserve, a small (3800ha) reserve quite close to me, a location already known to a number of competitors here.

This can be my whole effort, or a sub-thread.

 

What do you guys think?

[Soukous]

Why not? 

It will be frustrating enough being unable to travel so make the most of the places you can visit. 

Rather than just one location maybe broaden your range to a radius of 50km from your house (not sure if Rietvlei is that close) at least that way you can include whatever you see on your way there & back.

 

(If you are able to get away for a few days then don't forget my offer is still open.) 

[pedro maia]

Taht could be your main goal for the year and if things change for better later in the year, as expected, and you feel a bit limited, you can keep that goal and also make a different global count.

 

How many birds do you think you could get in one year in Rietvlei?

 

My best wishes for your wife recovery.

[Tdgraves]

Happy to join you on the hunt, whenever we are allowed to travel again ....

[Peter Connan]

Martin, thanks very much again for the offer. I suspect it will be a long time before I can take you up on it though (although I do definitely want to get there sometime). Travelling in a car for several hours is something she will probably not be able to do for a significant period of time.

 

Not looking for pity here, but the issue is that she had 4 displaced and/or torn discs in her lower back, which had to be removed. She is currently partially paralyzed and we have no idea how long it will take her to recover from that, or even if she will. 

 

Rietvlei is virtually the only spot I know of within 50km, although I could probably find a few more, and a couple of my other favorites are just outside that radius.

 

Pedro, the official bird list is only 80 birds, but I suspect there may be a few more, despite several birds on the official list being ones I have never seen there. A couple of years ago I took a Safaritalk member there and he "ticked" over 50 birds in one morning. Which is one of the reasons I want to tackle Rietvlei: I think their list may be a bit lacking... And thanks for your good wishes.

 

The thing is, if I concentrate on Rietvlei, I can probably get there at least 7-8 times in a year, whereas if I include other places, it will reduce the number of times I can get to any one place. 

 

Edited January 2, 2021 by Peter Connan

[pedro maia]

8 minutes ago, Peter Connan said:

Martin, thanks very much again for the offer. I suspect it will be a long time before I can take you up on it though (although I do definitely want to get there sometime). Travelling in a car for several hours is something she will probably not be able to do for a significant period of time.

 

Rietvlei is virtually the only spot I know of within 50km, although I could probably find a few more, and a couple of my other favorites are just outside that radius.

 

Pedro, the official bird list is only 80 birds, but I suspect there may be a few more, despite several birds on the official list being ones I have never seen there. A couple of years ago I took a Safaritalk member there and he "ticked" over 50 birds in one morning. Which is one of the reasons I want to tackle Rietvlei: I think their list may be a bit lacking...

 

The thing is, if I concentrate on Rietvlei, I can probably get there at least 7-8 times in a year, whereas if I include other places, it will reduce the number of times I can get to any one place.

 

I don’t know if you use ebird but if you check it there are 343 species registered for Rietvlei and over 200 in an one year period, the best birding hotspot here in Portugal, the Lezíria, has “only” 264 species registered, which means you have lots of species to find in one year at Rietvlei alone.

 

But if you want a bit of vareity you can establish a radius of, for instance 100km, or even a bit less, from where you live and visit other places, Roodeplat Dam Reserve has 278 species registered at ebird and Rooiwal WTP has 255, of course most of theses species will overlap within these hotspots but I would prefer to visit different places and some species will be more probable in one spot than in others.

[Peter Connan]

@pedro maiaI don't use Ebird or any other apps.

The 80 birds comes from Rietvlei's website. From what you are saying, it is definitely conservative.

 

Roodeplaat is a fantastic area, but I think it is too far away. I would want to spend a weekend, not just a day.

 

Problem is, if I include any other places, then it becomes just another year, the same as any of the last 2-3 years, and thus no incentive...

[Soukous]

52 minutes ago, Peter Connan said:

Martin, thanks very much again for the offer. I suspect it will be a long time before I can take you up on it though (although I do definitely want to get there sometime). Travelling in a car for several hours is something she will probably not be able to do for a significant period of time.

 

eeesh!