South Africa Day 1 - getting our feet wet

And getting used to the wind. If there was one theme that went through out most of the trip it was WINDY! If you bird, you know windy is not what you want when birding. We don't want to be blown all over the place -- and neither do the birds. They tend to hunker down and are harder to find. Regardless, (imagine in hushed David Attenborough voice over) the intrepid birders embarked on their first day.

We left fairly early, first stop was a road median near a high school where a Spotted Thick-knee family was nesting. This was the first official bird of the tour.

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens did not open until 8am and we started up shortly thereafter. No jet lag for me and a full English Breakfast in my tummy, I was ready to go, until I realize it was initially all up-hill (which meant the inevitable down-hill -- a struggle for me). I had been told by several sources that KBG was FLAT. I have come to realize FLAT is all relative. A number of years ago I went to a hiking spa in Utah -- they told me the beginner/easy walks were all flat. Surprise -- they were not. The landscape was flat, but every 20-50 feet there was a gully to cross -- very steep and @5 feet deep. That is absolutely the worst for me.

Egyptian Goose family at the entrance

Sombre Greenbul

Cape White-eye

Cape Bulbul

Helmeted Guineafowl (a domestic bird in the US, native in ZA)

Cape Spurfowl

Orange-breasted Sunbird

Cape Canary

Southern Double-collared Sunbird

Malachite Sunbird

At this point we're still climbing and I'm thinking it will take me forever to get down -- and that would slow down the group. Still I waited and walked - next we came to the Owl roost - the Spotted Eagle Owl family was very cooperative and oblivious This is how close we were (yes there is a roped off area) - these are iPhone photos.

The big camera photos

Next up the stop for the Cape Sugarbird -- one of the birds I was really looking forward too -- they did not disappoint.

Cape Sugarbird

Karoo Prinia

Pied Crow (I really like this bird -- wish we had them here)

Puff Adder -- extremely venomous & about a meter long. It crossed the sidewalk in front of us and at that moment, I decided to tell Vince I wanted to start down. This snake can actually jump up and bite you in the neck. No Bueno

This is Vince our bird guide extraordinaire he also handled the driving and logistics - not an easy job.

The blue arrow is where we were when I stopped - so I didn't miss much, but it was a good time to consider how much I wanted to push myself and possibly get injured. I let go of FOMO at that moment.

A plant I liked at my resting bench.

This Cape Spurfowl was practically walking on my feet -- this was the quickest I could get out my iPhone -- too close for the big camera.

View from my resting bench (of course I had my eye our for the Puff Adder's return (it did not come back).

Table Mountain

Paid a little less attention to the birds on the way down (plus it was getting later so they were hiding in the heat of the day) Still got a few

African Dusky Flycather

Red-eyed Dove

Four-striped Grass Mouse

Blue Headed Agama

Red-winged Starling

After a lovely lunch at the restaurant Vince was kind enough to drive the car to the lot closest to me and save me the steps. I was grateful.

Next off to Strand Fontein (aka Poop Palace) Water Treatment Plant a wetlands that filters sewage -- tons of birds there.

We visit @5 pans, but I am making no attempt to differential what we saw where. Each pan was teeming with bird life -- fantastic!

Cape Teal

Blacksmith Lapwing & chicks

Black-winged Stilt

Cape Shoveler

Fulvious-whistling Duck

Eurasian Moorhen

African Sacred Ibis

African Swamphen

Great White Pelican

Yellow-billed Duck

Southern Pochard

South African Shelduck

Red-billed Duck

Red-knobbed Coot

Macoa Duck

Little Grebe

Greater Flamingos

Lesser Flamingo

Hartlaub's Gull

Kelp Gull

Sandwich Tern

Common Tern

Gray-hooded Gull

Pied Avocet

Grey Heron (looks a lot like our Great Blue Heron)

Great Cormorant

Black Swan

Lesser-swamp Warbler

and another Southern Pouchard pix

White-throated Swallow

There was a MEGA at the Water Treatment Plant property and we were lucky to see it. It was kind enough to hang out on the road for a bit.

Black-eared Sparrow-lark

There was another major player today -- the Van. It was ok, but didn't have the greatest windows for birding. In addition, depending on how it was parked was @18 inch step down -- not so easy for me. When we were leaving the area, another vehicle was approaching us on a one lane road.

Vince did the best he could to try and give them enough room to pass -- but our back wheel landed in a hole and we had to get towed out (thank goodness the approaching vehicle had a tow belt). I could not get out the side door (it involved jumping on the to walkway to the right of the van and ducking under the railing - um No!), but thanks to one of my companions I was able to slip out the back.

Much excitement at the end of the day. I was impressed that Vince kept calm and the other fellow was very helpful. Dinner (Italian takeout), Bird Call (enumerating the birds we saw that day) and sleep were most welcome.