So my lens still doesn't zoom and I played with it a LOT. Our first stop was a wetland Paardevlvi just off of a residential community -- still very windy and a fairly long walk around. There was talk of an African Jacana on the side I was on, so I decided to take a shorter walk there. The main reason for going to this place was an earlier report of a Black Heron.
This seems like a good place to mention that eBird is not well accepted in South Africa, in fact basically only the tour groups and tourists use it. The locals use software that has been used for a long time. It doesn't help that the historical data loaded into eBird needs a LOT of work/scrubbing. Because the locals aren't using it, it really isn't updated much either. It is unfortunate because there is a large and generous birding community in South Africa. Because I spent some time alone I ran into a number of them and always found them eager to share their knowledge, experience & sightings. Even with the group -- they always wanted to talk about what they had seen.
So I walked around the near side for a while trying to spot the Black Heron on the other side, but it was tough without a scope or a zoom lens that went beyond 185mm. Then I ran into another birder, who got me on it and then used his zoom to take a photo so I could see it better. Very kind. I also saw my first Intermediate Egret there and a Swamphen. Did I mention it was windy.
Here is today's route (for me -- I skipped the PM activity)
Some Birds too and a flower and my compatriots across the wetland
Fortnight Lily
African Swamphen
Little Grebe (top left)
My compatriots across the wetland...
Eventually to get out of the wind, I went back to the van, so I had cover. Here is the view from the Van...
The next stop was a really unique place - it is a nature reserve in the midst of a very busy commercial and residential area. It has great trails and bird hides. This is an aerial view. The area outlined in Red/orange is the nature reserve - Intaka Island, the area outlined in Yellow is the biggest, most elegant Shopping Mall in Cape Town. The rest of the reserve is surrounded by high end residential buildings. Amazing they managed to preserve it.
There were lots of trails, although we only did the one to the bird blinds. Also had an interesting experience trying to enter a bird blind -- little children kept exiting the blind and just when I thought they were done, more streamed out. It was like the birding version of a clown car.
Little Bittern
Lesser Swamp Warbler
African Sacred Ibis
This was the clown car bird blind...
From the blind
Egyptian Goose family
Blacksmith Lapwing
Red-knobbed Coot
The star of the blind - Malachite Kingfisher - you know he was close because my lens still wasn't zooming.
on the way back
Red-eyed Dove
Eurasian Moorhen Chick -- sooo fuzzy
One of my compatriots inquired about skipping the afternoon Raptor watch (which involved a trip to and walk up another mountain and I jumped onboard. I was so ready to have an afternoon off. Went back to the Guesthouse. The owner was very nice to give me a light lunch and turns out she had a Bengal, so we had a nice chat about the breed and our cats. I got to reorganize and pack. It was really good to get out of the van and the continuing cloud of disappointment about the Pelagic. When Vince came back for dinner he handed me a can of compress air he had gotten from his friend off-hours. I was and am beyond grateful because between that and an optics brush I had, I was able to get the lens out to 600mm again. It was still really sticky at about 185 and we were traveling the next day, so I needed the lens to be shorter.
Nice Italian dinner at a the place we got take-out from. It was a good way to end the time in Cape Town. I don't drink, but if you are interested in trying a few good wine -- try a South African Pinotage. It is a hybrid Pinot and Hermitage grape -- both Vince and the wine drinkers on the tour ordered it almost every night. Off to Johannesburg in the morning.
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