Birding at Tintswalo: Birding Update: January 2013

Double-banded Sandgrouse

Woodland Kingfisher

Once again birding in the Manyeleti has not let us down at all. The predatory birds have given us plenty of interesting action and a few special birds have shown up quite unexpectedly. As for the stars of the birding show, they have been showing themselves a fair amount.

Raptors

Brown Snake-Eagle taking off

There have been plenty of interesting sightings again. The breeding pair of Tawny Eagles have been showing themselves mostly around Ingwe Manzi, Madache road and the airstrip. They have indulged themselves in the many termite emergences and have joined many other species of raptors at these bush buffets. They have generally been joined by Amur Falcons, African Fish-Eagle, African Harrier-Hawk and Steppe Buzzards. We had a great sighting of one of the Tawny Eagles attempting to raid a Red-billed Buffalo Weavers nest. The smaller birds kept harassing the big Eagle and eventually attracting a pair of Fork-tailed Drongos, they managed to drive the large eagle off empty handed.

Tawny Eagle

Another great sighting was once again a Lanner Falcon at Main dam. It seems that this particular young Falcon has found a plethora of Sandpipers and small wading birds and regularly treats us to aerial dogfights over a sip of coffee.

Amur Falcon

Bateleur

Hooded Vulture

White-backed Vultures

Verraux's Eagle Owl

Birders Big 6

Saddle-billed Stork

The two pairs of Saddle-billed Storks have also been around quite a lot as well. The pair that are usually seen at Wild dog dam have moved towards the flooded grasslands around Panicum and the seasonal pans have yielded a steady supply of yummy African Bullfrogs.

The pair usually seen around Main dam have been moving around Ndlovu Manzi and scratches plain to the south of Main dam. They have been joined by a few other Stork species including Whooly-necked Storks and large flocks of White storks. We have noticed that they seem to be feeding on mostly frogs and also the massive termite emergences.

Ground Hornbills

Mostly two groups have been seen and the activity has mostly been centered around the lodge and just to the north of the lodge. We had a few sightings of the group of five around Tamboti and Windy Windy road. They have been seen mostly early in the morning.

The group of three have been hanging around Wild Dog dam and Foot road and have still been making frequent visits to the lodge. They are still giving a few guests an interesting wake up call from their afternoon siesta’s, with a few loud bangs on the windows.

Specials

A very big tick for this month was a Dwarf Bittern that I found on the frog rich seasonal pans on Panicum road. The Collared Pratincoles have still been around Main dam as have the Ruff’s. Other birds of interest have been Ostriches on the Kruger boundry and a tantalizing report of a Kori Bustard with chicks on Buffalo plains, but I'm yet to find these.