Birding at Tintswalo

Wooly Necked Stork & Waterbuck

The migrants are back in full swing and the bird list has grown quiet a lot in the last few weeks. The reasons for their return, Termites, have not disappointed either. They have been releasing their Alates, and the results have been unbelievable.

Double Banded Sandgrouse

Raptors

White Backed Vulture

All the termite action has produced some very interesting raptor interaction. At one particular emergence, we witnessed a pair of African Fish-Eagles, Amur Falcons, Tawny Eagles and an African Harrier Hawk all feeding on the immense bounty served up for them. Other interesting raptors that have been around include Dark Chanting Goshawk and a few other Accipiters hunting the canopy’s in the rich lowveld woodlands.

African Harrier Hawk

Dark Chanting Goshawk

Birders Big 6

Martial Eagle

We had two sightings of these fearsome Eagles in the last while. Both were of a juvenile and it might well be the same individual. The first sighting was on Xigamba Pan road, sitting on a dead tree and the second sighting was on Mantwan Mphisi on a Marula tree. These Eagles have an ability to hunt young Impala and as the Impala females just recently gave birth, it is a time of plenty for them.

As usual, I am patiently waiting for the opportunity to photograph one of these amazing hunts take place.

Ground Hornbill

The group of three are all back together again and have been around the lodge a lot lately. We have only seen them three times at the lodge on the big Lowveld cluster Fig’s but were more often heard knocking on the suite windows, fighting with their reflection. This drives our maintenance department insane as they continuously have to replace the broken windows!

The flock that we saw on Nyathi drive were seen on Sable west just to the north of Buffalo plains. We saw four adults and one juvenile. As these birds only breed every three to nine years, the fact that a juvenile is present, tells me that this flock will not be breeding this season.

Specials

A sighting of a Squacco Heron on Main dam and the repeated presence of the Collared Pratincole are always a nice thing. Main dam still remains my favourite birding spot on the reserve. Just off Main dam, a termite emergence produced another good special. A great Spotted Cuckoo turned up and joined the feast. We watched about 30 species diving into the abundance. Alpine Swifts were seen above the lodge again, and I enjoyed their acrobatics and skill. A pair of Yellow-billed Oxpecker was once again seen at Ingwe Manzi. They are definitely moving south again after being extinct in the Kruger National Park for a good 60 years.