Another of the Winter highlights of the Garden is the annual migration of the Half-collared Kingfishers from the sub tropical Wild Coast to our more temperate area. These large, magnificent Kingfishers are usually found on quiet rivers with entangled, over hanging vegetation from which they plunge dive for their prey. They are much larger than the similar Malachite Kingfisher and are separated by the black, not red, beak as well as more white on the breast. This bird was one of my “bogey’s” for many years. I would travel to sites where it was “guaranteed”, but I never found it where it was supposed to be. I did eventually track it down and since then, the drought being broken, have seen it regularly.
Malachite Kingfisher
The various back water’s along the Garden Route are ideal habitat and I set out early last Saturday morning to canoe the Wolwe River in search of the Kingfishers in order to see if they where back yet. This river is the western tributary of Swartvlei estuary, named for the Brown Hyena that used to occur here, and large areas of mudflats are bisected by a narrow channel that threads between overhanging trees, ideal habitat.
Wolwe River Mudflats
Canoeing this backwater we did see this glorious bird, as well as Malachite, Giant and Pied Kingfishers. Other specials were African Black Duck, Glossy Ibis, African Fish Eagle and a true special of a White-backed Night Heron.This secretive bird is very difficult to see all along its range especially due to its nocturnal habits and the juvenile that we saw was tucked safely, sleeping in a collapsed tree. This is only the second time I have seen this bird and am planning a return to the spot soon to try and get a photograph.
Wolwe River
Orion is slowly sinking into the West and as Scorpio begins to rise you can feel that Winter has started to make its’ mark.
For me, one of the first signs of change is the high pitched call of the Malachite Sunbird. These magnificent birds are normally found much higher up, in the mountain ranges that parallel the coast. When the cold starts to be felt they descend onto the warmer coastal flats and target the Winter flowering succulents such as the Aloes and Pig’s Ear(Cotyledon orbiculta), another favourite is the bright orange Wild Dagga flowers that are filled with nectar.
A pair of Brown-backed Honeybird’s have also been seen a couple of times and it would be fantastic if these uncommon birds become resident at Reflections. While mentioning honey I should add that our 2 bee hives where both raided by a now resident Honey Badger. I am so excited that this incredible animal has graced us with its presence and hopefully it too will stay(although I will have to re-reinforce my hives).
Our pair of Fish Eagles have begun their mating so we will be watching carefully for further progress and the mating display flights of the pairs of African Marsh Harriers are being heard throughout the day. Grass-birds are being heard regularly in the mornings at the moment as well, and these are new birds for us since we removed the Pine trees. They like rank grass tufts and fynbos and for me they are indicative of our maturing eco-system and restored habitat.
The Brown-hooded Kingfisher trail is one of my favourite walking and birding trails in the area and it gives consistently good forest birds but I was very pleasantly surprised when walking there yesterday with sightings of both a Black Stork as well as a Black Harrier. Both of these are uncommon in this area and yet I saw them both flying together, another example of unpredictable nature.
We recently had the pleasure of hosting Roddy and Rachel Bray here at Reflections. They are busy with an amazing project that has had them travelling between Cape Town and Kenya recording audio guided experiences with local specialists. They have an incredibly diverse group of people involved: covering the big cats of the Masai Mara to the various colonial wars in Africa. I would encourage everyone with an interest in the continent to visit their site www.greatguides.org and read my feature here. I contributed with an audio recording for the Garden Route. It is a great way for those planning a visit to experience the area and for local residents to learn something new.
Click the player below to listen:
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Frost in the mornings glistening in the sun
Aloe flowers like tongues of flame lighting up the bush
Sunbirds dashing from one flower to the next like iridescent jewels
Woodsmoke in the evenings from bonfires
And spectacular sunrises that slowly banish the mist from the water
What a fantastic time of year along the Garden Route
At last. We were starting to think this year they weren’t going to nest. It has happened and they are definitely incubating eggs. We don’t know how many but this pair is normally pretty good as raising two or three chicks.
On the Southern Cape’s coast we have spectacular diversity: long sweeping sandy beaches, rocky headlands with intriguing rock pools, boulder strewn cliffs and gorges where rivers and forest meet the sea.
If you were walking along a rocky path on a warm day this scene will repeat itself often. It has all the ingredients of a typical coastal scene; a False Saffron tree (Cassine species) that can withstand salt spray, sun and wind, a Lichen encrusted boulder and a Rock Agamma . The males have a striking breeding display of a magnificent, iridescent blue head which they bob up and down energetically to attract the females.
Another aspect that is typical of our Winter days is be the beautiful clear blue skies.
After last years breeding resulted in two fledged youngsters, we have been watching and waiting to see if their saga continues and indeed on the 23 of May they were seen mating again. They have 3 different nests on our property and we will watch with great interest to see which one they choose to utilize. A sure sign would be when they start carrying green leafy branches to the nest. Most Eagles do this and there are some interesting theories as to why this happens. An obvious answer is to protect and insulate the eggs but it might be more than this. It is possible that trees are used that have a natural insecticide to help keep nest lice out, an example here would be a Eucalyptus species. When we were living in arid areas we would see a few species using Wild Rosemary (Eriocephalus species) for possibly the same reason.
Raptor nests’ are fascinating to watch and because of the bird’s being long lived the nest’s can be immense. I have not measured these nests but examples from other study sites include nest’s that were taller than 6m.
The Garden Route is fortunately provided with areas of spectacular diversity and beauty. It includes lakes, forests, mountains and within a short drive’s distance a dry country side dominated by succulents. We try and encourage people to get off the main tourist routes and experience the area as we know it. One my favourite areas is Kranshoek.
It is within the Garden Route National Park and provides the spectacular meeting point of Forest and Ocean with the remnant of Gondwanaland’s spectacular break-up. The walk is relatively easy, although sections are steep. Immediately you are struck by the scenery which is dominated by a forested gorge that has been carved out of a cliff face by a small stream.
Except while in the dense Forest, the sound of the ocean is everywhere. It is interspersed with the trilling of the Sunbirds that are attracted to the many flowering Erica species. The plant life is prolific and includes wet forest, fynbos and succulents that grow along the ocean. Another unmissable “plant” is the spectacular orange Lichen on the rocks along the coastal section.
Rondevlei, where I live, is an estuarine lake on the Garden Route. It is part of a series of lakes that are connected to each other and enter the sea at Wilderness.It is a beautiful area and contribute in a large way to the Garden Routes scenery. Two of the lakes are designated Ramsar sites, which identifies them as areas of international importance to migratory birds. It therefore goes without saying that there is amazing bird-life here, and I try to take advantage of this whenever I can. The Rondevlei has a fantastic hide that is very productive, it doesn’t produce rarities very often but does provide regular, rewarding birding in a beautiful environment. Common birds seen are African Rail, African Marsh Harrier, African Fish Eagle, Hottentot Teal, Cape Teal, White Backed Duck and depending on the level of the lake, good waders attracted to the mud flats.
One bird that we see quite often has, of late, been prolific. The African(Ethiopian) Snipe. It is a beautiful bird that is not common in many areas and with the Rondevlei being low at the moment, we can see between 5 and 9 different birds feeding together. I recent highlight was for me a maximum count of 15 birds.
At one stage Snipe were popular Game birds(this is where we get words like “sniper”) and so it is wonderful to see aggregations like this, they have a very distinct breeding display that involves Drumming of the wings. There has been no sign of this as yet so it is possible that they are en route to another breeding site.
Life is strange! In nature in order to survive a species must breed and in order to breed a species must survive! What I find fascinating, as a naturalist, is the endless designs that nature has evolved to solve this conundrum.
Southern Red Bishops are small birds that provide a great local example. They are common, nest communally and don’t appear to be remarkably agile in flight. Easy pickings for a Sparrowhawk, or maybe not .
In order to survive they are incredibly non- descript and camouflaged. The difficulty is, being territorial, the males need, at certain times of the year, to see each other and need to be seen by the females. The solution is a quick and timely moult of all that drabness into breeding splendour. The change is quite remarkable and has to be timed perfectly. If they change to early they risk being eaten before mating and if they change back out of the plumage to late they risk not making it to the following breeding season. Survival sits on a very thin line indeed!
Along the Garden Route we have magnificent forests and within these forests are some magnificent trees. White Ironwood (Vepris species) Cape Chestnuts (Calodendrum species) Perdepis (Clausena species) and Knobwoods (Zanthoxylum species) all belong to the Rutaceae family known to us all from the domestic citrus trees. This time of the year all of these are being happily munched by the arch survivalists, the insects and by one in particular.
An "Orange Dog" caterpillar
The larva of the Citrus Swallowtail butterfly has taken the art of deception to a higher level. Referred to as “Orange Dogs” these caterpillars have evolved the strategy of looking just like a bird’s dropping’s, stunning in its simplicity and very effective .
They have solved the survival balance of finding a partner in a more intricate manner , it involves the changing of the physical structure to facilitate the changing needs. Having survived being viewed as a slow moving tasty morsel they undergo a stunning metamorphosis from a “ bird dropping “ to a fast moving, highly visible , regal Adult Citrus Swallowtail butterfly.
Isn’t nature incredible!