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tshweet, tswheet, tshweet...
my daughter has just bought a recorder for her work.
There might just be a plan there.
I do find this time of the year very evocative.

Maybe it is because every sense is heightened in all creatures.
Once the breeding season is over, this amorous male, I assume he is a "he", falls silent.

Unsusual visitors to my Wierdapark garden are: Spotted Eagle Owl (twice) and a little Scops Owl - their presence given away every time by the other birds mobbing them and eventually driving them off. A Gymnogene visited regularly but have not seen it recently. Red Headed Finches on a regular basis. But this morning I had the ultimate surprise - a giant kingfisher paid a visit to my fishpond! It even dived for a meal but missed! I am absolutely over the moon and just hope it comes back.

It could be a Thrush - they have a tendency to be very vocal early morning and evening.

Apart from the common garden birds we have the following recorded:

Purple Crested Louries - common
Gymongene - frequent
Black Sparrow Hawk - common
Melanistic Sparrow Hawk - occassional
Little Sparrow Hawk - frequent
Crowned Eagle - occassional
Yellow Billed Kite - common
Spotted Eagle Owl - frequent
Fireynecked Nightjar - frequent

yup, I can hear it right now with the early morning chorus.

Last Sunday we sat on our patio with our mouths open as a Little Sparrow Hawk swooped down and grabbed a female weaver. A new one for my list.

We now have a regular Southern Bou Bou visit the garden. We hear him calling and replying to his mate but we have only seen the one.

A while back there was a Spotted Eagle Owl on the roof watching the cats!!


Addo and Tsitsikamma in December

Red-headed finch on Saturday - in a sweet thorn.

Can swear I heard a black-headed oriole in thick bush at the back of my house. Could not see it as it was quiet every time I approached. Is the bird found in JHB?

You're close to the WS Botanical Gardens aren't you? Heard them calling around there on Saturday.
Also loads of Red-chested Cuckoo and Diderick Cuckoo calling in the area.

Probably about 2-3 km as the crow flies. Will see if I can spot it. Hopefully the cuckoos also move into my area. Have heard diderick's before but not red-chested. Think I'll srock up the feeder this afternoon.

Hi Senyetse and everyone else,

You asked about Glossy Starlings on the West Rand and I just have to tell you about Spreeu.

I have nesting logs in my garden and a pare of starlings had little ones in one. One night we had heavy winds and the log must have fallen down. The next afternoon my gardener brought the log to me and the little ones were squicking like mad. We put the log back up the tree and watched it carefully to see if the parents would come back to feed. At about 8 o'clock that night I could not bare it any longer and took the log down. There were 2 little ones, pink and featherless,cold and very hungry. I tube fed them until they were bigger - unfortunately only one made it.

He was not a pet, was never caged and had the run of the house. his usually perch was on top of my computer screen , leaving his "finger prints" all over my desk. I "managed" a meal worm farm just for him, which he loved.

One day I decided that he was ready to meet his own kind and left the window open. I didn't sleep that first night he was out and at the first rays of light the next morning I went out to look for him. There he was, comfortably puffed up in the tree! I called his name and he flew inside, straight to him "farm". His visits became shorter until one day he stayed out. I regularly saw him after that and when I called "spreeu" he use to answer.

I like to believe that he found himself a wife and all the Glossy starlings in my garden are his kids!

What a special experience, Jenb

My best garden bird did not sit in our garden (Pretoria) but it flew over - an ayre's eagle!!!

Apparently there is a breeding pair somewhere in Pta.

Deefstes can maybe correct me if I'm wrong but I think they're resident in the area behind the Union Buildings. Read that somewhere the other day.
So that's quite close to your neighbourhood. Keep an eye out for more sightings then.

Saw red-headed finch feeding at the birdfeeder in my garden.

When we owned our first house in Glen Austin in Midrand, we planted about 1000 indigenous trees over an eight year period. Our bird list was 100 species when we left there. Our list included Meyer's Parrot (vagrant pair), African Grey Hornbill, Lilac-Breasted Roller, European Bee-Eaters, Raptors included Black-Shouldered Kite, Little Sparrowhawk, Lanner, and Grass Owl, Amethyst and White-Bellied Sunbirds, Fiscal and Fairy Flycatcher (for 10 months of the year in a Fever Tree "Forest"), Fiery-Necked Nightjar, Diderick and Red-Chested Cuckoos, Namaqua Dove, Swainson's Spurfowl, Helmeted Guineafowl, Green Wood-Hoopoe, Black-Headed Oriole, Bokmakierie (winter only), Red-Headed Finch, Chestnut-Vented Tit-Babbler and for it's size the most feisty Pin-Tailed Whydah to name a few. (Also some interesting animals who visited regularly such as jackal, mongoose and legavaan despite having dogs).

We then moved to Knoppieslagte where the only thing we saw of any interest was the Northern Black Korhaan, Greater Kestral and once a Cape Vulture (I gather from Kommandonek). After that we moved down south opposite the Kilpriviersburg Nature Reserve where we have seen from our house looking at the low ridge on the opposite side of the road, a pair of Verreauxs' Eagle (how the heck do you pronounce that btw). The only other bird of interest would be a Giant Kingfisher. We get the usual array of barbets, wrynecks, starlings, swallows and other garden birds as well as a lot of fly-over from the reserve including the cuckoo's and bee-eaters, etc.