On October 22 I boarded the 1:45 p.m. bus from Deniliquin to Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station, and then the Skybus to the airport, in time to board my 7:55 p.m. flight to Darwin.  Arriving in Darwin after 10:00 p.m., the Darwin Airport Novotel Hotel turned out to be an easy, and short, walk from the airport.  My scheduled 7:00 a.m. next morning start for a day of birding at Fogg Dam fell through due to the illness of the guide that Experience the Wild had assigned to me.  I used the morning to bird in the park near the hotel.  In the afternoon, my guide, Diana, was well enough to provide an interesting afternoon of birding in areas around Darwin.

During the morning I saw a few new birds, including several Torresian Imperial Pigeons and Red-collared Lorikeets.  In the afternoon Diana drove us to a nearby mangrove park where we were able walk on a boardwalk to a bench in the mangroves where we sat quietly and observed several flycatchers, kingfishers and other small birds.  We then drove to a park overlooking the water, where good sightings included a nesting Eastern Reef Heron with chick and several Beach Stone-curlews.  We then drove out of the city to a location where Diana has had success in the past with Rainbow Pittas, but none was to be seen, the first miss for her in 18 trips.  Sitting high in a large tree where we entered the park, were 2 Radjah Shelducks, completing my sweep of the Australian ducks.  We were able to observe a few Magpie Geese, the seventh and final new family that I had been hoping to see, and did see, in Australia. Although called a goose, the Magpie Goose is not part of the large Anatadae family, but instead is the sole member of the Anseranatadae family.  We saw a few Magpie Geese in Darwin, but in subsequent days they numbered in the 1000s in the Fogg Dam area and Kakadu National Park.

Diana was not well enough to conduct the rest of the Northern Territory tour to Kakadu. Experience the Wild owner, Mike Jarvis, arranged to have an independent guide, Luke Paterson, fill in for the next few days.  Luke, along with 2 other birders, Graham and Susan Kearns from Canberra, picked me up at the hotel the next morning and we headed for Kakadu, some 100 miles or so to the east.  But first, we stopped at Fogg Dam.  One of the first birds to show was a colorful Rainbow Pitta, the one that Diana and I had searched for the day before with no success.  Water birds present, some in large numbers, included Brolgas (storks) and many Magpie Geese.  As we ate our “take-out” breakfast in a little pull-out near the dam, Rose-crowned Fruit Doves dined high in the trees above us.  After venturing on foot out on the dam, always on the lookout for crocs, we drove on toward Kakadu.

Kakadu is a large national park.  The land is owned by several aboriginal clans, or groups, and is jointly(?) managed with the government.  It has been designated an important UNESCO World Heritage Area. It boasts woodlands, wetlands, plateaus, escarpments, waterfalls, rivers, aboriginal rock art sites, birds, mammals, crocodiles, and unique vegetation.   Unfortunately, invasive species of animals and vegetation create serious problems for the native flora and fauna. Many feral (domestic animals gone wild) buffalo (not the bison kind), pigs, horses (brumbies), and donkeys, roam and damage the park.  Invasive Cane Toads, toxic to much wild life, are present.  Invasive grasses have spread and pose a problem for native vegetation and wildlife, including birds.

We stopped at the entrance to Kakadu for a picture of Graham and Susan Kearns and me.

and Luke:

Toward evening we visited one of the rock art sites, an old occupational site called Burrungkuy (often misidentified as Nourlangie Rock).  One of the more famous and interesting works is this aborigine depiction of the Creator in the dreamtime, (the larger figure), and his wife.

The rock art is definitely worth seeing.  We hiked on up to a vantage point  looking to the east toward the large territory within Northern Territory, called Arnhem Land, the name reflecting the influence of the Dutch historical explorations of the northern coast of Australia.  This Arnhem Land Escarpment shone in the afternoon light.

Among the birds seen at Kakadu were:

Comb-crested Jacanas

Lemon-bellied Flycatcher

Forest Kingfisher

Pied Heron

Whistling Ducks and Magpie Geese

The next morning we arose very early (at Luke’s insistence) to claim the best birding seats on board a ~30 passenger sightseeing boat on a slow cruise of the Yellow Water.

This slow-paced cruise was perfect for viewing the life of the River, including this Nankeen Night Heron dangerously close to one of the many Salt Water Crocodiles.

A  Buffalo bull was cooling himself at the edge of the river, serving as a perch for a Western Cattle Egret.

We were pleased to find two lovely Kingfishers, an Azure Kingfisher

and a Little Kingfisher

Other photographs by Luke include:

Great-billed Heron

Grey Goshawk

Pied Cormorant

Plumed Whistling Duck

White-gaped Honeyeater

Susan is here pictured with one of the many Giant Termite Mounds scattered throughout the Park.

We drove south through the park to the little town of Pine Creek, where we would spend our last evening before returning to Darwin.  As we drove into Pine Creek, several lovely Hooded Parrots  were loitering near a water pipe.

At dinner in the local restaurant that night we met Mike Jarvis, the owner of Experience the Wild, who was dining there with clients.  The next morning, Luke insisted (again) that we get a very early start to have the best shot of seeing one of Australia’s most colorful birds, Gouldian Finches, when they came to drink at a little hole in an otherwise dry river.

Also making its appearance near the water hole was a Crimson Finch.

Other birds seen as we wound our way back to Darwin were:

Pacific Baza

Pink-eared Ducks and friends

One of the more interesting features were these Magnetic Termite Mounds.

Magnetic termites are only found in the Darwin area of Northern Territory.  The colony looks like a cemetery, with slab-shaped grave stones up to 10 feet high, all oriented with the narrow sides to the north and south.  Hence, “magnetic”, I suppose, for orientation toward the magnetic north pole.  It is said that this is to stabilize mound temperature by minimizing heat from the noon-day sun, while maximizing the heat from the cooler morning (east) and evening (west) rays.

I finished the Darwin, Northern Territory portion of my trip with 139 bird species seen, of which 62 were new life birds.  Luke was an excellent guide and fun to be with.  Graham and Susan were unexpected participants on the trip, and my thanks to them for making the time so enjoyable.  Graham and Luke provided the photographs for this blog and allowed me to use them.  Thanks to them both.

The next morning I will fly from Darwin to Alice Springs, about 1,000 kilometers south but still in Northern Territory, for my final 2 days of birding in Australia.  Mark Carter, Alice Springs Birding Guide, is supposed to meet me at the airport when I arrive at 9:00 a.m., and he does so in spite of some last minute confusion regarding the time of my arrival.  Birding around Alice Springs will be the subject of my 5^th and final October, 2017 Australian birding blog.  That will be a while in coming, though, because Mark’s computer was ruined by torrential rains (Yes, in Alice Springs), but he expects to recover the pictures and send them to me for inclusion in my Alice Springs blog, sometime in January, 2018.

If there were no Plains Wanderers in Australia, I would not have made this trip.  This strange little bird, the only species within its family (Pedionomidae), is critically endangered.  Birdlife International reports that there are less than 1,000 remaining.  They live in grasslands in various, widely separated pockets of southeastern Australia.  As agricultural acreage has expanded, the habitat for the Plains Wanders has nearly disappeared.  To add to their woes, introduced foxes prey on these little ground-nesters, who are also poor fliers, who escape from predators, if at all, by running.

If the Plains Wanderer is not to become extinct, substantial credit for its survival needs to be awarded to Philip Maher of Australian Ornithological Services, who conducts the Plains Wanderer weekends several times a year.  He has spent years studying the Plains Wanderer near Deniliquin, in the Murray River Valley of New South Wales.  Along with his own work on habitat restoration, he has enlisted the support of some local ranchers who have made adjustments to their practices to maintain habitat.  One of these, Robert Nevinson, served as a co-guide on Philip’s Plains Wanderer Weekend. They are a good team, and the results of this intensive 2 days of birding were impressive.  I, and I am quite sure I can speak for the other 7 guest-participants, could not have hoped for a more interesting and productive week-end of birding than Philip and Robert guided. Although the Plains Wanderer was the highlight, we saw many other Murray River Valley birds on this intensive week end of birding.

One of the trip participants was Peter Bundgard from Denmark, an avid photographer, who has graciously provided the pictures contained in this blog and allowed me to use them here. To go right to the point, here are his pictures of the male Plains Wanderer

And the larger and more colorful female Plains Wanderer,

Very difficult to spot in daylight, we spent a most interesting night, primarily on Robert’s ranch, looking for and finally spotting this pair.  They proved to be most cooperative, taking little notice of us as we sat in our vehicles nearby, and Peter photographed to his heart’s content.  These birds are unusual:  the male incubates the eggs and raises the young; the female, after laying her eggs and occupying her mate with hatching the eggs and raising the kids, seeks another male companion and reproduces again.  In good years, she can produce several broods through this efficient arrangement.

Also seen on the night drive were:

Banded Lapwings,

Inland Dotterl,

Barn Owl

To add to this impressive list of grassland birds, we were treated to decent, if short, looks at Little Buttonquails and Stubble Quail.  Arriving back at our hotel around midnight we battened down for a short night’s rest, as the next morning our birding weekend was to continue.

To backtrack a bit, our weekend of birding began at 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning, recessed for a brief rest between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., and continued with our night birding excursion beginning about 3:00 p.m. and ending at midnight.  Philip and Robert picked us up again about 7:00 a.m. Sunday morning and we birded until they delivered me to the Denilquin bus station about 1:45 p.m.

Among the birds photographed by Peter during these two days were:

Baillon’s Crake 

Royal Spoonbill

Black Honeyeater 

Crested Shrike-tit (Eastern Subspecies)

Emus

Rainbow Bee-eater

Superb Parrot (New)

Square-tailed Kite 

White-fronted Honeyeater 

and Yellow-billed Spoonbill

Other new species  seen on this weekend were:  Spotted Harrier, Collared Sparrowhawk, Black Falcon, Australian Spotted Crake, Long-billed Corellas (plentiful around our hotel), Yellow Rosellas, Blue Bonnets, Red-rumped Parrots (also plentiful), Horsfield’s Bronze Cuckoo, Tawny Frogmouth, Australian Owlet Nightjar, Azure Kingfisher,  Buff-rumped Thornbill, Yellow Thornbill, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Little Friarbird, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Scarlet Honeyeater, Pied Honeyeater, Black Honeyeater, Red-capped Robin, White-browed Babbler, Varied Sitella, several Woodswallows, Pied Butcherbirds, Little Ravens, White-backed Swallows, Fairy Martins, and Brown Songlarks.

The participants represented several countries:  Australia, Wales, Denmark, Netherlands and the U.S. (of which I, like Tigger, was the only one).  Several of the participants have travelled widely and have an extensive world bird list.  I added 52 new species to mine in the two days.

For others who would like to participate in one of these Plains Wanderer Weekends in the future, and who do not feel comfortable driving on the wrong side of the road, I was pleased with the ease and affordability of  the public connections.  From the Melbourne Airport you can travel by Skybus (they run every few minutes) to the Southern Cross Bus Station in downtown Melbourne, and by bus (one a day) from there to Deniliquin (it takes about 4 hours).  Directions are clear.

On the return, the bus left Deniliquin at 1:45 and arrived at the Southern Cross Station about 5:30, in ample time for me to skybus to the airport and board my 7:55 p.m. flight to Darwin.  My next adventure, all in Northern Territory, was Darwin, Kakadu National Park, Pine Creek, and from thence to Alice Springs.  Blogs to follow.

From Western Australia I arrived in Hobart, Tasmania on the afternoon of October 15.  I had made arrangements with Coreena Vieth through Tours by Locals for her to pick me up at my Airport Travelodge Hotel at 7:00 a.m. the next morning.  Our itinerary for the 16th was to drive to the ferry to Maria Island.  Maria Island is home to an introduced colony of Cape Barren Geese, and this was a species I particularly wanted to see, and was not likely to see on Bruny Island, my main birding destination in Tasmania.  Some of these Cape Barren Geese proved to be quite tame.

Some areas of the island are cropped very short due to the high population of Australian endemic mammals, including Forester’s (Eastern Grey) Kangaroos

Wombats (Mum and Bub)

Pademelon

Pademelon with Joey

Unfortunately for the geese, endangered Tasmanian Devils have also been introduced to the island and have done well, foraging at night on geese and their eggs.  As the devils are nocturnal, I did not get a look at one on the island.  The future of the Cape Barren Geese on Maria does not look promising, based on recent studies on the impact of the devils on the wildlife on Maria Island.   Reference the Tassiedevil website.

I invited Coreena to take as many pictures as she liked because I did not have a camera and wanted to have some pictorial record of the birds and animals found on Maria.  Fortunately, she is a talented photographer, and welcomed the opportunity to use her skills while guiding me about the island.  All of the pictures in this blog (except those taken by Cat on Bruny Island) were taken by Coreena, who graciously permitted me to use them here.

We spent the entire day on Maria, and during the course of the day, I, with help from Coreena who in addition to photography and general tour guiding, knows a bit about birds, was able to identify a fair number of interesting birds, including the following:

Pacific Gull

White-fronted Chat 

Nankeen Kestrel

Tasmanian Native Hen (Endemic)

Flame Robin feeding Chick

Scarlet Robin

We boarded the last ferry from Maria to mainland Tasmania, and Coreena drove me to the Oyster Cove Inn in Kettering.  The Inn was still serving food when I arrived and after a pleasant welcome and a good meal, I settled in and the next morning I walked the short distance to the Bruny Island Ferry. The little restaurant at the ferry landing opened in time for a good breakfast of bacon (Tasmanian bacon is excellent) and eggs, before departing for the half hour ride over to Bruny Island.

I was met at the Bruny Island landing by Cat Davidson, who was to be my professional bird guide for the next 2 days.  She is one of several guides working  for Inala, a first rate hotel within a private reserve of some 1500 acres, with excellent birding itineraries for guests.   All 12 of Tasmania’s endemic bird species can be found on Bruny Island, many of them on the Inala premises, and we managed to find 11 of them during our 2 days.   The only one missed was the Scrubtit.  The ones seen were Green Rosellas, Strong-billed Honeyeaters, Black-headed Honeyeaters, Yellow Wattlebirds, Forty-spotted Pardalotes, Tasmanian Scrubwrens, Black Currawongs, Dusky Robins, Tasmanian Native Hens (pictured above) and Yellow-throated Honeyeaters.

Cat is involved in bird conservation as well as guiding, and she and her partner (who was working on a documentary) had access to the restricted conservation area along the beach where the Little Penguins come ashore at night to find their way into burrows in the sand dunes, where they lay their eggs and raise their young.  At the same location, thousands of Short-tailed Petrels arrive by air at dusk to dive into the dunes near cavities where they, too, nest, sometimes brushing by within inches of our heads.  The night was still and clear, and the penguins and shearwaters arrived on schedule to provide a fascinating night-time show. Having seen this phenomenon up close, as the show-time wound down and we started the trek back along the beach, I asked that we stop and turn off our flashlights so we could just stand quietly and look at the billions of stars shining brightly in the dark sky. The Southern Cross, always a delight to me when I have the good luck to be in the southern hemisphere when it is visible, shone, although a bit low to the horizon.

In addition to the 11 endemic species seen in Tasmania, and the Little Penguins and Cape Barren Geese, the following new species were added: Grey Goshawk (white morph), Hooded Dotterel, Pallid Cuckoo, Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Crescent Honeyeaters, White-fronted Chats (pictured above), Brown Thornbills, Grey Currawongs, Forest Ravens, Pink Robins, Flame Robins (pictured above), and a Beautiful Firetail.

Among the many lovely Bruny Island birds were these, photographed by Cat and used here with her permission:

Blue-winged Parrot

Black-faced Cormorant

Hooded Plover 

Brown Thornbill

Grey Shrike-Thrush (skirmishing with itself on our outside rear view mirror)

A stop at the Mavista Rainforest produced a couple of the new birds.

An interesting mammal encountered nearby was this Echidna, showing mostly its bum.

Having completed 2 full days of birding on Bruny Island, and 2 nights in the beautiful and secluded Narina Cabin on the Inala property, Cat took me back to the ferry and Coreena met me on the other side.  As I mentioned in my Western Australia blog, one of the high priority new species that I wanted to see was Australia’s rarest duck, the Freckled Duck.  Coincidentally, Cat knew just where, on the Tasmania side, a dozen or more Freckled Ducks had been seen in recent weeks, and she coordinated with Coreena on location.

Coreena and I worked around a light rain which lasted most of the day, first touring the city of Hobart, learning the history of area, and then driving to the “Freckled Duck Location.”  There (Gould’s Lagoon, I believe) we found one of the highlights of my trip, a flock of at least a dozen Freckled Ducks. 

At the same location were Black Swans

Australian Pelicans

And a good assortment of other water birds.

We completed our day visiting Russell Falls, at Mount Field National Park.

Returning to my hotel at the Hobart Airport, I retired early to be ready for my 6:05 a.m. flight to Melbourne.  There I would “Skybus” from the airport to the Southern Cross Station in downtown Melbourne, there to board a long-distance bus to Deniliquin, in the Murray River Valley.  I arrived in time to walk to a nearby grocery store for some victuals, and arose early the next morning to participate in Philip Maher’s intensive Plains Wanderer Week-end.

On April 6, 2017 Barbara and I left Des Moines as we boarded the first leg of our flight to Delhi, India.  A day or two of rest in Delhi then preceded our flight on April 9 to Paro, Bhutan, with the other 3 participants in the 2017 Victor Emanual Birding Tour of Bhutan.

From the plane we could see the beautiful Himalayan Mountains before landing at the ornate Paro airport.

My prior blogs detailing our birding out of the U.S. usually approached the subject in chronological order.  This time I am going to do it differently.  I have chosen as the first installment to cover the most striking family of birds that we saw in Bhutan, the Pheasants, or Phasianidae. All 40 or so species of this family are native to Asia.  The Chinese Ringneck Pheasant has been introduced as a game bird in North America and around the world, and has adapted well.

Let’s start with what our group voted the bird of the trip, Blood Pheasants.  They were plentiful in the high altitudes, i.e. 10,000 to 14,000 feet above sea level.  As is common among the Phasianidae, the males are far more colorful than the hens.  Here are some of the many Blood Pheasant photos Barbara took. [Third down is a female].

Behind the Blood Pheasants both in number and in favor among the 5 of us, were the Tragopans and Himalayan Monals (far fewer seen, shy and difficult to photograph).  The Monals are most often found well above 10,000 feet.  While downloading photos from the camera, something happened that erased about 60 photos from that time period, including the ones of the Monals.

It is hard to believe that a bird as beautiful as the Tragopan only rated a second place among the pheasants.  Here are photos of the male and female of this not so shy bird.

At the lower altitudes we encountered a few Kalij Pheasants, which lack the brilliant coloration of their brethren shown above, but nevertheless are striking birds.

Two other pheasants shown in the Field Guide to the Birds of Bhutan were Grey Peacock Pheasants (quite plain, reportedly common, but not seen by our group) and Blyth’s Tragopan, (rare and not seen by our group).

Stay tuned for the next installment, which will feature the birds I saw which are representatives of families of birds that were new to me in Bhutan.   (There are about 240 families of birds world-wide, with over 10,000 species spread among them.  Some families have several hundred species, others with but one specie).

From Toko Lodge we drove to the western gate (the Galton Gate) into Etosha National Park, which, along with the Namib Dunes, is the leading tourist attraction in Namibia.  Most of the western part of the Park is Mopane woodland, interspersed with granite hills and outcrops.  The drought has resulted in severely dry conditions throughout the Park.  Etosha is the largest and most important of Namibia’s conservation areas.  Large game animals and birds are present in good numbers.

There are 3 lodges within the Park, all government run.  The lodges and, in particular the food served at the lodges, were outstanding.  Because of the many wild animals, we were not allowed to get out of our vehicle at any time, unless within the fence at one of the lodge areas.  Moreover, the lodges close their gates at 7:00 p.m. (sundown) and they remain closed until 6:00 a.m, or so (sunrise).  We had to be inside the fence within those hours.  At each of the lodge areas, however, is a lighted water hole which attracts animals that can be viewed at all hours of the day and night.

From Galton Gate, we drove toward Okaukuejo Lodge where we would spend the night.  Among the first animals seen as we moved away from the Gate were Black-faced Impala, a subspecies of Impala found only in Namibia.

The Black-faced Impala were just one of the 8 species of African Antelope we saw at Etosha.  The others were Red Hartebeest, Springbok, Kirk’s Dik-Dik, Oryx, (also known as Gemsbok), Steenbok, Greater Kudu, and Blue Wildebeest.

At the waterholes we saw Lions, Black-backed Jackals, Elephants, Blue Wildebeests, Springbok, Oryx, and much more.

In the category of “life is tough out there”, the Ostrich action shown below involves a female ostrich killing the chicks of a male/female pair in order to get the male to mate with her.

Although the main attraction in the park is the abundant wild game, some new birds were found there as well, including

White-headed Vultures

Tawny Eagle

Double-banded Courser

Temminck’s Courser

Burchell’s Sandgrouse 

Namaqua Dove

After dinner at the Okaukuejo Lodge, we saw our first and only Black Rhinos at the Lodge water hole.  The arrival of the Rhino eased the fears of the 11 giraffes that had appeared, very tentatively, on the horizon and advanced ever so slowly in ghostly formation toward the lighted waterhole until they determined the source of the noise they were picking up was the Rhino and her baby, and not lions.

Giraffe and Kudu

On November 10^th (day 8 or our trip) we travelled further east through the park to Halili Camp.  Not much new showed, but toward the end of the day we came upon a small herd of elephants, including a couple of young.

New birds for the day were:

Secretarybird 

Cinnamon-breasted Buntings

Golden-breasted Buntings

On November 11 (day 9 of the trip) we left Halili Camp to drive toward our evening lodging, Namutoni, the eastern-most camp within the Park.

Today we saw a lot of plains game and several Spotted Hyenas.

The highlight of the day came late in the afternoon when we drove the famous Dik-Dik Drive, where we had great views of cute little Kirk’s Dik-Diks, which weigh around 10 pounds, compared to their largest antelope cousin, the Eland, which weighs nearly 2,000 pounds.

We also saw:

Swainson’s Francolins

Southern Red-billed Hornbills

Grey Go-away Birds

We stopped for a look at the animals at the Klein Namutoni waterhole, where we saw several Spotted Hyena, Black-faced Impala and Elephants.  Steve had to put the pedal to metal to get us back to camp before the gate closed, and we barely made it as the sun set and the gate was coming down.

On the 12^th we saw Red-billed Buffalo Weavers, Jacobin Cuckoos and White-bellied Sunbirds before leaving the Lodge ground.  We then left the Park via the east gate and visited the private Mokuti Lodge.  There we saw:

Yellow-breasted Apalis 

Crimson-breasted Shrike

Along the road to Waterberg Plateau we saw many pipits and larks. We were fortunate to find one of my target birds, a Wahlberg’s Eagle, standing guard in a tree near its nest as we approached the Waterberg Plateau.

Klipspringers were common and relatively tame at the Waterberg Plateau Lodge grounds.

We watched the super moon just before sunset from the patio.

As we were finishing dinner one of the staff came to our table excitedly announcing that there was a Cape Porcupine just outside the kitchen window. We quickly left our table to go look, and indeed, there was a very large Porcupine, apparently accustomed to dining on the kitchen waste.  The angle and the lighting were not good enough for a picture.

The next day we took the long drive back to Windhoek Airport with many warthogs nibbling the newly green grass along the highway.

Steve and Louise Braine are good partners in the Batis Birding Safari operation.  I cannot imagine a better qualified guide for anyone seeking to see the birds of Namibia.  Louise manages the arrangements, communicates with clients, and goes above and beyond the call of duty to make clients feel welcome and at home.   We enjoyed our Namibia birding safari, and it was much more than a birding safari.  We enjoyed the variety and closeness of the animals, particularly the 10 Antelope species seen in Namibia, adding to the Eland, Bontebok, Grey Rhebok and Cape Grysbok seen the previous week in the Cape Town, South Africa area.  We also were greatly impressed with the food, accommodations and people of Namibia.  We certainly hope that the rains come soon.

I returned home with my World Bird Species List at approximately 3,060, substantially more than the 3,000 that I had planned on (very conservatively) for the combined South Africa and Namibia trip.

On November 7, (day 5 of our tour) we drove from Swakopmund to the beautifully situated Hohenstein Lodge in the Erongo Mountains near Spitzkoppe.

The day yielded several excellent sightings, some along the way and and others near our lodge:

Pearl-spotted Owlet

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill

Rosy-faced Lovebird

Hartlaub’s Spurfowl

Ruppell’s Parrot

Elephant Shrew (now called Western Rock Sengi)

On the 8^th  (day 6 of our tour) we drove from Hohenstein Lodge via the mighty Brandberg, Namibia’s highest mountain, to the Rustig Lodge, located on private farmland in Damaraland.

Along the way we found, after much effort, a Herero Chat which is near endemic.  We also saw

Violet Wood Hoopoe

Bearded Woodpecker 

Lesser Masked Weavers

Northen Black Korhaan

Red-crested Korhaan

Namoqua Sandgrouse

Along the way we witnessed a case of animal abuse of a team of skinny donkeys being lashed at top speed along the road in the noon-heat.  Also, to our surprise, several women along the way in colorful traditional garb, excluding tops.

One of the most enjoyable episodes of the trip was a night-drive through the farmland around the Lodge.  This night drive yielded good views of a few night birds and several animals that I had hoped, but not expected, to see in Africa:

Aardvarks (2 of them)

Aardwolf

The next morning, November 9^th, (day 7 of our tour) we headed for our major destination in Namibia, the huge and game-rich Etosha National Park, where we would spend the next 3 nights.

On November 2 Barbara and I flew from Cape Town to Windhoek, Namibia.  We had arranged a 10-day private tour with Batis Birding Safaris.  Batis is a family operation based in Swakopmund, operated by Steve and Louise Braine and their sons, Dayne and Sean.  Steve was our driver/guide for our entire stay.

We arrived a day early and stayed at River Crossing Lodge between the airport and Windhoek.  From our lodging we saw our first of the 9 antelope species that we saw in Namibia, a Common Duiker, which munched its way slowly past our back deck.  Steve met us at the Lodge for dinner and the next morning we started the tour. We tried to locate the Orange River Francolins that inhabit the hillsides around the lodge, but with no success.  While trying to locate the Francolins, however, we were treated to good looks at a Montiero’s Hornbill.

We followed up with a visit to Windhoek’s Sewage Treatment facilities.  Namibia is in the midst of a 3-year long drought, and as a result many birds flock to any water they can find, even if it is a Sewage plant.  The treatment ponds and environs were loaded with Egyptian Geese, South African Shelducks, South African Shovellers, Southern Pochards, Red-knobbed Coots, Little Grebes, and several species of Cormorants, Herons, Lapwings, Plovers, and Sandpipers.   Southern Red Bishops were present in good numbers, but not yet dressed in the brilliant red plumage that was sported by their brethren that we saw in the Cape Town area.  Wattled Starlings

and White-throated Swallows were present in the hundreds.

Also skulking about the ponds was this Yellow Mongoose.

We then travelled south through the Rehoboth area, for our night’s lodging, the spectacularly sited Villas at Namib Grens.

Rehoboth is the center of the Baster community in Namibia.  Many of the residents are descendants of the Dutch men and African women who settled the area 100s of years ago.

Following a nap to help us survive the afternoon heat, we explored the area and among the birds seen were a Short-toed Rock Thrush

and a Groundscraper Thrush.

Day 2 of the tour found us on the Spreetshoogte Pass on our way to Hoodia Lodge where we spent the night.  Along the road we saw many Sociable Weaver colonial nests, weighing down the host trees.

Also along the way were:

African Hoopooe

Southern Chanting Goshawk

Sociable Weaver

Ruppell’s Korhaans were sheltering from the blazing sun in the only shade available, a road sign.

And our first Klipspringer

Day 3 was scheduled for photography of the Namib Desert dunes near Sossuvlei.  We started very early to catch the sunrise, but the weather did not cooperate.  The skies were cloudy for the first time in a long time.  Nevertheless the photographs of the dunes that Barbara managed to obtain show why these dunes are the number 1 attraction for many tourists to Namibia.  We walked in the dunes, which are of the color and consistency of ground cinnamon.

Dune Larks were the highlight of the morning.  These lovely and entertaining little birds are the only true Namibian endemic species, found only in the Namib Desert.

We left the dunes and travelled on toward Swakopmund.  Along the way we saw Oryx

and, unexpectedly, a beautiful Cheetah, apparently sizing up its intended prey.

Ludwig’s Bustards were relatively plentiful.

We arrived at Swakopmund and our Hotel Pension, our only Namibian double night stay.  Louise joined us for an outstanding dinner at one of the nice Swakopmund restaurants.

Day 4 took us to Walvis Bay Lagoon on the Atlantic Ocean.  Amazing numbers of Lesser and Greater Flamingos populated the waters of the Lagoon.

Many other water birds were seen, of most interest being:

Chestnut Banded Plover

and White-fronted Plover

Diminutive Damara Terns flitted along the banks looking for small fish.

We saw a few Gray-headed Gulls.

We left the coast and drove inland to a drier area and there found several Gray’s Larks one of which alerted us to the presence of a Horned Adder curled up at the base of one of the scrawny desert bushes.

We closed the day with another pleasant dinner with Steve and Louise, and retired for the night at Hotel Pension, ready for an early start to Day 5 of our Namibian trip, November 7th.

We engaged Avian Leisure of Simon’s Town, a suburb of Cape Town, for 6 days of birding, mammal viewing and wine tasting in Western Cape Province of South Africa.  Avian Leisure is owned and operated by Patrick and Marie-Louise Cardwell, and Patrick was our driver and guide for the week.  Although Patrick and Louise operate a small B&B, it was full at the time and so they arranged for us to stay at Mariner’s Guest House in Simon’s Town for the first 3 nights.  The 4^th night was near the De Hoop Nature Reserve east of Cape Town and the 5^th night was at a dairy farm near the Grootvadersbosch Forest area east ot Swellendam.  Our final night was at a hotel near the airport so that we could catch an early morning flight to Windhoek, Namibia for another 11 days of birding and photography.

We were surprised by the number mammals to be seen in the Western Cape.  Among them were Elands, Africa’s largest antelope.

Cape Mountain Zebra is one of the 2 subspecies of Mountain Zebra.   [Mountain Zebra, found only in southwest South Africa and in Namibia, is one of the 3 species of Zebra:  Grevy’s Zebra is confined to northern east-central Africa, Burchell’s Zebra is widespread, and Hartman’s Mountain Zebra is the Mountain subspecies found only in northern Namibia].  We enjoyed the challenge of distinguishing between Burchell’s and the 2 subspecies of Mountain Zebra, so here is a pictorial.  As we saw the Burchell’s and Hartman’s only later in Namibia, this is a bit out of sequence, but it makes for a nice challenge right here.

Bontebok are strikingly patterned antelope that once were on the brink of extinction.  Down to about 30 individuals, they were saved by local farmers and are now securely established in several South African preserves.

Other antelope seen in the Western Cape area were Grey Rhebok and Cape Grysbok.

Of course, one of our primary goals was to see the Jackass (African) Penguins, the only penguin species found in Africa.  We need not have worried, as these funny little birds were numerous and tame at Boulder Beach in Simon’s Town and at another coastal area that we stopped at later in the trip. This became our 10^th  lifetime penguin species, adding to the 9 that we have seen in the southern part of the western hemisphere.

I have been making a mild effort to see at least one species of each family of birds in the world.  There are about 10,000 species, in about 200 families.  South Africa provided a potential of 4 new families for me:  Sugarbirds, Honeyguides, Buttonquail and Whydahs.  At the wonderful Kirstenbosch Gardens in Cape Town, the Cape Sugarbirds graced the colorful and unique Fynbo vegetation in good numbers, making for a pleasant garden experience.  Kirstenbosch Gardens is a jewel, not to be missed.

Patrick and Marie-Louise invited us to their house in Simon’s Town for tea one morning, and we were delighted to view in their garden a pair of Pin-tailed Whydahs, the second of the four new families sought.

We did not succeed in finding any of the other two families, Honeyguides or Buttonquail.

We enjoyed an afternoon visiting one of the oldest vineyards in South Africa, the Groot Constantia, and tasting several of its wines.  Founded in 1685 by the first governor of Cape Town, an official of the Dutch East India Company, the vineyard has survived changes of ownership and the original mansion is still maintained on the premises.

Among the more colorful new species found during the drives around the countryside were Denham’s Bustards

 Blue Cranes

Orange-breasted SunbirdsLesser Double-collared Sunbirds

Southern Boubous

Hartlaub’s Gulls

 African Black Oystercatchers

Capped Wheatears

Spotted Thick-knee

Spotted Eagle-Owl

  Bully Canary

 Bokmakerie

African Paradise Flycatcher

Hammerkop

African Black Duck

African Shelduck

Southern Red Bishop

We spent one night at a dairy farm near Grootvadersbosch.  The family maintains a herd of about 500 Jersey milchcows.  They treated us to a lovely home-cooked meal with them in their 200 year old farmhouse.  This was certainly a highlight of our South Africa experience.

Finally, this Cape Cobra made its escape from our wheels as we drove along one of the rural roads.

I started the South Africa trip with a total of 2,934 species of birds on my world List.  I added 92 in South Africa, to break my 3,000 target.

Avian Birding and the Cardwells are a fine choice for anyone seeking a short and pleasant birding experience in the Western Cape.  They include, in addition to birding and animal viewing, other activities and interests and pleasant and interesting companionship.