Bulletin 351 - South Africa 2020 #5 - waterfowl, seal

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.

There are a number of African endemic ducks and geese. I saw several on the first trip, and found a few more here.

Of course as we have seen, some of them will be named cape something. The 20" Cape Shoveler (Anas smithii) is a mottled gray brown duck with large blue wing patches and the typical large shoveler bill. The male here has a yellow eye. This was a lifer.

Cape Shoveler - male

The 18" Cape Teal (Anas capensis) is a gray mottled duck with a red bill.

Cape Teal

The next 3 species were all life birds for me. The 25" female South African Shelduck (Tadorna cana) is a brown duck with a gray neck and white face - an easy ID. I never saw a male. He would have a totally gray head and neck. The name shelduck is strange, so I investigated and these are a group of a half dozen large ducks that are intermediate between ducks and goose.

South African Shelduck - female

The 20" male Southern Pochard (Netta erythrophthalma) is a very dark duck with a blue bill.

Southern Pochard - male

Lastly is the 20" male Maccoa Duck (Oxyura maccoa). He is similar to the Ruddy Duck in America. The male has the stiff tail, ruddy body and blue bill, but has an all black head.

Maccoa Duck - male

The 2 geese we saw were not lifers. The 30" Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptica) can be found beside any puddle in Africa. What was uncommon about this bird was he was swimming in the ocean! Even the guide was surprised although the guide book says they may be found in 'sheltered bays'.

Egyptian Goose - in ocean

The 40" Spur-winged Goose (Plectropterus gambensis) is a huge black goose with a red bill and is an easy ID. These are my best photos of this species.

Spur-winged Goose

And standing on land one can see his red legs as well.

Spur-winged Goose

The Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) also gave me my best photos in that same wetland. Here is nice close up of face to show yellow eye and bicolored bill.

Greater Flamingo

There was also a large flock of African Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopics). This is a white bodied ibis with a bare black neck, head and bill is an easy ID. This is also my best photo of the species.

African Sacred Ibis

The only marine mammal I saw on the trip was the Cape Fur Seal (Arctocephalus pusillus). It is a huge seal with males weighing up to 650 pounds. The adults are brown and, like the California Sea lions, they love to sleep on docks in the harbor, so one can walk right up to them.

Cape Fur Seal

The pups are black.

Cape Fur Seal - pup

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

I have photos of 72 of the 165 species of  ducks and geese

I have photos of 3 of the 6 species of flamingos

I have photos of 11 of the 35 species of  ibis and spoonbills

I have photos of 3 of the 16 species of fur seals

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2020 David McDonald

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Bulletin 328 - South Africa #5 - Part 1 - Waterfowl, Finfoot, Cormorants, Darter, Rails, Buffalo, Eland

I had an amazing 2 week trip to South Africa and scored almost 280 new species of birds as well as fantastic mammals and a few reptiles. My guide Casper Badenhorst was outstanding. You can see his web site here. He can be contacted through the web site or if you want his email it is info@birdingandwildlifesafaris.com. I recommend him highly as he showed me so many rare birds and animals. I will use him again when I go to Southern Africa.

As usual my birding luck was 100% and we saw almost every thing expected to be found and many that were not expected!

Africa is the second largest continent despite its representation on maps as North America looks larger, but you are projecting a sphere onto a plane. It is 25% larger then North America. So naturally it will have many more species of all things. I was surprised at the number of waterfowl (9) I photographed on the trip.

The geese included the huge 38" Spur-winged Goose (Plectopterus gambensis). It is a large black goose with some white on the wings.

Spur-winged Goose - male with 2 females

The 30" Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca) is a large beige goose with a distinctive brown area around his eyes. This peculiar looking goose is often found as escapes in parks in the USA. It was nice to see the wild version.

Egyptian Goose

The last goose is the 12" African Pygmy Goose (Nettapus auritus). The male had rusty belly, white face and green back of the head and neck. This is an uncommon bird in South Africa as it requires a large body water with lots floating lily pads. The guide knew a single location, on a farm where there were large ponds for irrigation water. He was able to get permission to gain access. It reminded me of driving around the dikes at Anahauc NWR. This is one of the top target birds for South Africa.

African Pygmy Goose - male

Here is the pair together and the female has beige face and brown back of her head,

African Pygmy Goose - pair

The 18" White-faced Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna viduata) is all dark brown except for the white face and is an easy ID. He is resident in South America as well as Africa, but I have missed him on all my SA trips. He was a lifer for me.

White-faced Whistling Duck

The 20" African Black Duck (Anas sparsa) is all black with some white spots on the wings. 

African Black Duck

The 20" Yellow-billed Duck (Anas undulata)  is a beige duck with a bright yellow bill.

Yellow-billed Duck

The 13" Hottentot Teal (Anas hottentota) is a beige duck with brown crown and bluish bill.

Hottentot Teal

The 18" Red-billed Teal (Anas erythrorhyncha) is a beige teal with dark brown cap and red bill.

Red-billed Teal

Lastly is the 18" Cape Teal (Anas capensis). It is all gray-brown with a red bill.

Cape Teal

Continue to part 2