Country Living in Southern Africa

I am a lover of summer. If I was a bird, I would definitely be some kind of migrant. Not only do I love the heat, the sun and the abundance of growth, but I also love travelling. I’d love to be flying where the sun is shining.

I am still a little bit in denial about the cold we are currently experiencing and want to do a reflection on my summer birding here at Bakoorvlakte. I love birding, as it is something you can do almost anywhere and everywhere. This farm is so perfect for birding on foot. All the different areas attract different birds. There is the leafy areas next to the river, the cultivated fields under irrigation, the farm dam and the natural grassland.

I took daily birding hikes with my 1 year old daughter in summer. I put her on my back in my Ubuntu carrier. Then with my camera and pair of binoculars around my neck and my Roberts birds and Birdlasser Apps on my phone, I was ready to go.

Birding was fantastic this summer, especially after the big rains started falling. All the birds, and my soul, was rejoicing in the abundance of water. I started hearing and seeing birds I haven’t all summer.

I wish that I could insert a fabulous arrangement of bird images in this blog, but my skills and equipment simply aren’t cut out for birding photography, for now. Instead I will add a list of birds I have seen so far on this farm(or in the immediate area around the farm) this year.

• Acacia Pied Barbet
• African Black Duck,
• African Fish Eagle
• African Hoopoe
• African Red-Eyed Bulbul
• African Spoonbill
• African Stonechat
• Amur Falcon
• Ant-Eating chat
• Ashy Tit
• Black Chested Prinia
• Black Collared Barbet
• Black-faced Waxbill
• Black-headed Heron
• Black-throated Canary
• Black-winged Kite
• Blacksmith Lapwing
• Blue Korhaan
• Bokmakierie
• Brown-crowned Tchagra
• Brown-hooded Kingfisher
• Brown-throated Martin
• Burchell’s Courser
• Cape Glossy Starling
• Cape Longclaw
• Cape Robin-chat
• Cape Sparrow
• Cape Wagtail
• Capped Wheatear
• Cardinal Woodpecker
• Chestnut-vented Tit-Babbler
• Cinnamon-breasted Bunting
• Common Buttonquail (Only heard)
• Common Buzzard
• Common Ostrich
• Common Quail
• Common Scimitarbill
• Common Starling
• Crested Barbet
• Crowned Lapwing
• Desert Cisticola
• Diederik Cuckoo
• Double Banded Courser
• Eastern Clapper Lark
• Egyptian Goose
• European Bee-eater
• Fairy Flycatcher
• Familiar Chat
• Fiscal Flycatcher
• Gabar Goshawk
• Greater Striped Swallow
• Green-winged Pytilia
• Hadeda Ibis
• Hamerkop
• Helmeted Guineafowl
• Horus swift
• House Sparrow
• Jackal Buzzard
• Jacobin Cuckoo
• Kalahari Scrub Robin
• Karoo Scrub Robin
• Karoo Thrush
• Lanner Falcon
• Laughing Dove
• Lesser Grey Shrike
• Lesser Kestrel
• Levaillant’s Cisticola
• Little Egret
• Long-billed Crombec
• Long-tailed Paradise Whydah
• Namaqua Dove
• Neddicky
• Northern Black Korhaan
• Orange River White-eye
• Pale Chanting Goshawk
• Pearl Breasted Swallow
• Pied Crow
• Pin-tailed Whydah
• Pririt Batis
• Red-backed Shrike
• Red-billed Firefinch
• Red-billed Quelea
• Red-billed Teal
• Red-breasted Swallow
• Red-capped Lark
• Red-Eyed Dove
• Red-faced Mousebird
• Red-headed Finch
• Red knobbed Coot
• Reed Cormorant
• Rock Martin
• Rufous-Naped Lark
• Scaly-feathered Finch
• Shaft-tailed Whydah
• South African Shelduck
• Southern Fiscal
• Southern Grey-headed Sparrow
• Southern Red Bishop
• Speckled Pigeon
• Spotted Eagle Owl
• Spotted Flycatcher
• Spotted Thick-knee
• Spur-winged Goose
• Swainson’s Spurfowl
• Three-banded Plover
• Village Indigobird
• Wattled Starling
• Western Barn Owl
• Western Cattle Egret
• White-backed Mousebird
• White-browed Sparrow weaver
• White-faced Whistling Duck
• White-fronted Bee-eater
• White-throated Swallow
• White-winged Widowbird
• Wood sandpiper
• Yellow Canary
• Yellow-billed Duck
• Yellow-crowned Bishop

And added to this list is one unidentified Night-jar, one unidentified owl (Which I hope was a grass owl, but I really cannot say from what I saw so fast) and a handful of LBJ’s. I seriously need to work on my LBJ knowledge.

This list gives me a total of 119 birds for the farm, which makes me really happy. I want to set myself a goal of seeing 400 species for the year in South Africa. (My South African list is at 156 for the year) Seeing that we are all ready halfway through the year and my year-list is not halfway, I might have to lower my target. For now however, I am just going to keep going. I am still planning some travelling and hope that new regions brings loads of new birds.