Bulletin 348 - South Africa 2020 #2 - new family and Cape songbirds

I was enthralled with my first visit to Africa in November 2018 and so I scheduled another trip with the same guide Casper Badenhorst. As we had done the eastern part of the country from Durban to Kruger NP, we went to the Capetown area and the famous fynbos habitat.

You will see many of theses birds in this bulletin are named for the area.

There was one new family of passerines on the trip as well. The rockjumpers have just 2 species and one is in the western cape area. 

The 9" Cape Rockjumper (Chaetops frenatus) is endemic to the Cape fynbos area. It likes boulder strewn slopes with scrubby low vegetation. The pair will start at the bottom of the hill and work their way to the top and then fly down again. We were lucky to get a pair at the bottom so were able to walk up ahead of them and let them move towards us. The male is unmistakable with his black head and 2 white stripes and dark rufous body.

Cape Rockjumper - male

The female is grayish and duller overall. She came within 5 feet of where I was standing.

Cape Rockjumper - female

The 5" male Cape Batis (Batis capensis) is a striking plump black and white bird with rufous flanks.

Cape Batis - male

The 8" Cape Bulbul (Pycnonotus capensis) is a  dark brown bird with typical yellow vent of the bulbuls. He has a large white eye ring.

Cape Bulbul

The 6" Cape Bunting (Emberiza capensis) is a sparrow like bird with striped head, brown wings and light underside.

Cape Bunting

Next is the the 7" Cape Grassbird (Sphenoeacus afer). The rufous head, streaked body and long tail are an easy ID if you are lucky enough to see this skulker.

Cape Grassbird

The 6" male Cape Sparrow (Passer melanurus) is a gray bodied bird with black  and white head.

Cape Sparrow

The male Cape Sugarbird (Promerops cafer) is a brown bird with curved bill and a very long tail. It is the signature bird for the fynbos area as it drinks nectar form protea flowers and moves around as flowers bloom at different times in the year. We saw it many times.

Cape Sugarbird

The 8" Cape Wagtail (Motacilla capensis) is a rather dull wagtail as it is mostly gray and white rather than black and white.

Cape Wagtail

Lastly is the 7" Cape Weaver (Ploceus capensis). This is a dull yellow female. The male would be brighter with a black face.

Cape Weaver - female

These are just a few of the birds named 'Cape something' but these are the only members of their families I photographed this trip. There was not a lot of originality when Europeans settled first in South Africa at Capetown area and started to name the birds. So if you visit and see a bird you can always guess it is a Cape something. LOL


Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2020 David McDonald

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Bulletin 327 - South Africa #4 - Part 2 - Miscellaneous Songbirds, dogs and a small cat.

Continued from part 1

The batises are a small (31 species) of small cute African birds. There are 5 species in southern Africa and I saw 3 of them. The 5" male Cape Batis (Batis capensis) is IDed by black breast and rufous flanks.

Cape Batis - male

The male 4" Woodward's Batis (Batis fratrum) has a rufous rather than black breast.

Woodward's Batis

Lastly, the 5" male Chinspot Batis (Batis molitor) lacks any rufous coloration. The female of the species has a rufous chin spot and gives the species its name.

Chinspot Batis - male

The oriole family in the Old World are yellow birds with some black. I am sure our New World orioles were named after them, although in an entirely different family. I saw my first member of this family on the trip. The 9" male Black-headed Oriole (Oriolus larvatus) is yellow with a black head, some black on the wings and a red bill.

Black-headed Oriole - male

The drongos are another small (26 species) of birds in Africa and the Orient. Most are glossy black and some have unique shaped long tails. I have seen some of them before, but I photographed them for the first time on this trip. My guide said that they are very aggressive birds and will even try to drive away eagles. The sexes are similar.

The 7.5" Square-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus ludwigii) is IDed by black and only a slight notch in the tail. 

Square-tailed Drongo

The 10" Fork-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis) is larger and has a longer tail. It has a deep fork.

Fork-tailed Drongo

We saw 2 species of canines on the trip. The more common one is the Black-backed Jackal (Canis mesomelas). This dog has large ears, a very pointed muzzle, and is fawn color with a black back. The size is up to 25 pounds.

Black-backed Jackal

The rarer one is the Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus). These are medium sized dogs (up to 65 pounds) with long legs, and unique black, brown and white coloration. I am sure you have seen these on TV. The guide said that I would be lucky to see them in Kruger National Park where we spent 3 days. This huge park is about 2/3 the size of the state of New Jersey, This is an endangered species, and in Kruger there are an estimated 450 - 500 animals. They hunt in packs of 10 or more, so maybe 40 packs in the whole park. So even their web site says need luck. Haha I have my amazing luck and we saw a pack on the sundown drive one day, and the next day driving on our own, 3 adults and 10 pups were on the road. The pups were playing and jumping on each other as they do. This was one the most memorable experiences of the trip.

Wild Dog - pup

And another.

Wild Dog - pup

And another..you can see car stopped as everyone enjoyed this amazing sighting of 13 Wild Dogs in daylight.

Wild Dog - pup

There are only 39 species of cats, including the domestic cat. I was hoping to see 3 of them on the trip, and I did, but one was unexpected. In fact I did not even know about the Southern African Wildcat (Felis sylvestris). They may be same species as the domestic cat but latest info I can find online suggests now different. They are likely the source for the domestic cat being tamed 10k years ago. At one camp, the guide saw a pair of eyes in the bushes as we walked around before lunch. He said there is an African Wildcat in the bushes. Look at the eyes. I thought he was joking. Well yes I could see the eyes. I am not good at manual focus but had to try. Since my cataracts fixed last year, low and behold, I got a pic. They are the same size as our pets and unfortunately will breed with them. Fortunately Kruger does not allow pets in the park, so these are pure genetic wildcats.

Southern African Wildcat - Kruger National Park

And another you can see his body, legs and tail.

Southern African Wildcat - Kruger National Park

I have put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 6 of the 34 species of shrikes

I have photos of 3 of the 92 species of cuckooshrikes

I have photos of 7 of the 98 species of larks

I have photos of 5 of the 40 species of dogs

I have photos of 5 of the 39 species of cats

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2018 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.