Got a way too big to-go breakfast from the restaurant last night. Have my own coffee so the early start wasn't so hard -- I swear they pack everything plus the kitchen sink of portable foods in those breakfast bags. Needless to say we had a bag of extra to give to a road crew -- no waste in South Africa. Bravo!
Some shots from our exit from Mount Sheba
We stopped at the trail to the Lost City on the way out
The View from the Van
My compatriots returning from the walk
A panorama on a (surprise) windy morning
The road from Mt. Sheba to Kruger is spectacular -- lots of mountains and canyons, but not a lot of stops in them, so not so many photo. We did have a few stops along the way -- the first a requested Loo stop, but across the road on a small street lined with trees on one side, a field on the other and Jackaranda at the back of the field which turned out to be a wonderful surprising spot called birding hotspot called Ohirgstad.
Lanner Falcon (Bird on a wire)
Black-collared Barbet
Purple-crested Turaco
In Jackaranda tree not native to South Africa but all over the place in the East -- it comes from South America.
Southern Masked Weaver
Yellow-fronted Canary
Tawny-fronted Prinia
Bronze Mannikin
White-winged Widowbird
Female on left, Male on right
We drove a short way to a farm that actually had barbed wire and signs with men with guns. We stuck to the road and it was a busy one, but still had some good birds. Including the first Giraffe our only encounter with Sparrow-weavers and I picked up a Cardinal Woodpecker.
Some photos despite the armed guards and back lighting...
The Giraffe in the distance
White-browed Sparrow-weaver
It's nest -- Weaver species all have unique nests (not that I can tell them apart)
Amethyst Sunbirds
Off to Vince's favorite coffee place, Mad Dogz, near Kruger it's also a pretty good bird. We ordered a beverage and the Aussies were going to split a scone, but were told they were small -- so they ordered two and the scones were humongous with a huge pile of cream on top. Somehow they managed to finish them and at the end of the trip Aussie Dave declared them one of his favorite things about the trip!
It started raining on and off (note - really the first of the trip) but we birded around anyway. It was my first encounter with the beautiful African Paradise-Flycatcher, Cape Starling and Gray Go-Away bird who gets its marvelous name from its call -- GOAWAY!
African Paradise-Flycatcher
Cape Starling
Gray Go-away bird
This was the map for the day
In the van headed to Kruger dark clouds, fog and rain loom, but it cleared up enough for our arrival at the Orpen Gate to enter the park and meet up with Andrew, our safari & bird guide with Safaria - for the most part of the time in Kruger we will be riding in his Open Safari Vehicle.
This is Andrew Wagner -- owner of Safaria -- the most knowledge, personable and capable guide in Kruger -- you should hear him call birds! Look below to see him calling Crocodiles -- yes Crocodiles
This is Andrew's Open safari Vehicle -- with tier seating in the truck bed. I was very nervous about being able to mount the back area and while Vince, Andrew and I were discussing it I accidentally stepped off the uneven back of the sidewalk and caught myself with Vince's help, but really strained my left hamstring in the process -- boy did that hurt. Vince and Andrew decided at that moment that shotgun was the place for me. It will still a challenge to "mount" the seat, but with the help of a step was manageable. Honestly I loved the seat -- because in South Africa they drive from the right side of the vehicle it was like birding in my car, but I didn't have to drive. I was in my wheelhouse.
I should also mention that since Vince was driving the van with the luggage I was keep the eBird list for the group. It was still very very windy with occasional rain, so the open vehicle was a challenge at times, still we saw some wonderful stuff. But before we start this is Andrew calling a Crocodile:
Every time we saw a mature Crocodile Andrew would call them as seen/heard in this video. It works. I’ve seen it live. His repertoire of bird and animals sounds warrants an appearance on Jimmy Fallon - I am working on that!
This was the bounty from that first drive in Kruger - the light wasn't great, but we had some great stuff -- we'll start with the Mammals & Reptiles and save the birds for last.
Our first serious look at a Kruger Animal were Wild Dogs -- EVERY guide we passed on the way to these dogs stopped and told us about them. Our guide wasn't concerned about seeing them, but one of my compatriots seemed almost obsessed with seeing them to the detriment of seeing some birds. This can be an issue on any tour because whether they are vocal about it or not, every participant has an agenda and not all of them align. It is challenging for Guides to do that well. Vince & Andrew were masters. I stayed out of the fray and just watched the masters at work.
This Dog has a collar on which indicates that he is the Alpha dog -- they only bother to collar the Alpha because the pack sticks together.
We arrived at a lovely waterhole that had lots of Hippos & Birds
Blue Wildebeest (Gnu)
Crocodile -- Andrew tried to call it, but determined it was too young to have that parental instinct to respond to a baby Croc call.
Giraffes
Savanna Elephant
African Buffalo with Yellow-billed Oxpecker hitchhikers!
Common Zebra -- note the brown shadow stripe in between the Black Stripes
Steenbok - pretty tiny about the size of a Boxer
Impala -- one of my very favorites -- small, delicate, sweet looking creatures.
Sometimes our Guides use a laser-pointer to help us get on the birds. I didn't realize until I got home that the laser is in many of my photos. Like this one near the Red-billed Oxpecker
A quick word about Oxpeckers. They are maintenance birds for many animals and you will see them in lots of photos. "The birds pick at parasites on the mammal's body, including ticks and blood-sucking flies. This may help keep the mammal's parasite load under control, and the birds get an easy meal. Like a number of other species, oxpeckers will raise the alarm and warn their hosts of impending danger." -- Museum of Natural History
and now the birds -- we had lots of checklists today and at the end of the day I have @60 new life birds just in the park. It is almost an entirely new group of birds. That is pretty amazing to me.
First the water based birds -
Yellow-billed Stork
Wood Sandpiper
Water Thick-knee
Striated Heron
Black Crake
Black-winged Stilt
Blacksmith Lapwing
Now the land & sky birds;
Wire-tailed Swallow
Ostrich (this guy is really puffed up to attract a mate - no luck while we were there)
Pearl Spotted Owlet
Magpie Shrike
White-crowned Shrike
Wattled Starling
Lesser Striped Swallow
Levillant's Cisticola
Lilac-breasted Roller
Swainson's Spurfowl
Violet Starling (unknown photo credit)
Tawny Eagle
Southern Red-billed Hornbill
Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill
Arrow-marked Babbler (yes, they babble)
Eurasian Hoopoe
African Harrier-hawk
African Fish Eagle
Gray Go-away Bird
European Bee-eater
Green Woodhoopoe, Kruger National Park (not my photo but taken at Kruger where I saw it) my #600 life bird.
Brown Parrot (we were so close but it was obscured by leaves - but you can see the iridescence)
Chinspot Batis
The last few miles on the trip were wind and rain but a long and productive day ended by getting settled in our Rondaveli - a round house resembling a native hut usually made of mud and having a thatched roof of grass often used as a guesthouse or tourist dwelling in southern Africa. This was my accomodation at both Rest Camps -- first Satara and then Sukuza.
This a typical outside of an Rondaveli - note the refrigerator behind the Honeybadger door.
This is the sketch from my Journal of the inside.
No, I never saw a Honeybadger!
Yes, they have a crazy old keys too!
Dinner at the Rest Camp Steakhouse (the only place that has internet) the food was good but took FOR-EV-ER! If the weather holds - Wind again - (will have an early start tomorrow -- beginning with French Press coffee off the back of the OSV (Open Safari Vehicle)
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