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Does the shoebill really come into reckoning, as I believe they are not seen south of the parks in mid Zambia, and our cut off point for Southern African birds is the Zambezi and Cunene rivers.

Sorry about this....Punda Maria, 9th August, seen from north-east corner of campsite:

Haha!! Brilliant Andy!

Thanks for the pics!

Hey Andy

Great sighting, Great pics!

How did you trip go?

I think I'm going to be sick.

But seriously, nice pics. I must applaud your photoshop skills;-)

It is becoming clear that each individual has his own view on 'rare' birds and what may be a rare sighting for one is not necessarily rare for someone else. I think it really depends on which ones you still have to tick off - if it is not on your list, and difficult to find, it becomes a 'rare' bird for you...IMHO! Any other view on this?

Well that makes perfect no sense

I would think the classification of a bird being "ultra rare" should be an indication of the bird and not of the birdwatcher. If I go to Punda over and over again and I fail to see White-breasted Cuckooshrike simply because I'm useless that doesn't make the bird ultra rare. Fortunately we know the White-breasted Cuckooshrike doesn't exist but for the sake of the argument let's assume that it does

What I'm getting at is this, a bird is either rare or it isn't. The bird can't be rare depending on who's trying to see it. Then I would think it's a question of the birders aptitude (or ineptitude).

All said, the definition of "rare" (and "ultra rare" even more so) remains sort of vague but I should think that birds that have been recorded in Southern Africa only a hand full of times could qualify as "ultra rare". It stands to reason that very few SA birdwatchers will have seen such a bird which is why I'd argue that Asiatic Dowitcher, Elegant Tern and Irania qualifies but not Narina Trogon, Afican Finfoot and the fictional White-breasted Cuckooshrike (for the sake of the argument).

By the same token, I think it is reasonable to assume that even less birders will be able to list 10 or more "ultra rare" birds which they have seen. Accomplished birders will probably have seen a few while many birders will have seen one or two and the majority will have seen none.

Bearing this in mind I would revise my original list and say that the only "ultra rare" birds that I have seen would be the Asiatic Dowitcher and Western Reef-Heron.

Then I have seen others which would rather fall in the "rarity" category:
Long-legged Buzzard
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Greater Sheathbill
Taita Falcon
Striped Crake
Cape Parrot
Little-blue Heron
Grey Phalarope

And some regional rarities (rare to South Africa but not Southern Africa)
Red-throated Twinspot
Boulder Chat

I'm with Deefstes on this one.
Ja, they might be hard to see but it is not like they only appear on our soil once in 10 years or so like some of the birds Deefstes mentioned. (Or even more rare like the Western-reef with only 2 records ever and Dowitcher with 1, I think Deefstes?)

That's right. What makes it even more remarkable is that it was the first record for Africa, nevermind Southern Africa.

If you were to ask the question "which was the all time whopper of the past few decades?" you'd probably also get a few different answers but mine would be "Asiatic Dowitcher".

I think it is just so extraordinary that a bird is seen of which not only the species but the entire family have never been seen on the entire continent.

Maybe I should get off this thread. I was trying to say that everyone may have his/her own view on what rare means to him/her as an individual birder...although I understand your point, deefstes. I will stop with my daft ideas immediately before I am in trouble. Maybe I'm just .

OK you cleaver guys. I've edited my list:

Elegant Tern

Here you can download a list of what is considered to be national rarities for the purposes of the South African Bird Atlas Project 2. I'm not sure how this lst was compiled because there are some which I would consider ULTRA rarities that aren't on the list. Pallid Swift comes to mind.

I've seen only 18 of these.

I've only seen 1 - White-rumped Sandpiper

Elegant Tern not listed

I was going to post this before my PC started giving me trouble and I was in a hurry to leave. Anyhow here is how Newman's treats the subjuct:



Another objective view would be to say that any bird recorded less than two percent [<2%] in suitable habitat in any given year is rare. Otherwise we are on a very subjective and emotional slippery slope.

I only have 5 on the list - Green Sandpiper (Bonamanzi), Bridled Tern (Cape Receife), Lesser Black-backed Gull (Cape Receife, Schoenmakerskop and Sandveld), Honey Buzzard (Tembe and Mkuze) and African Hobby (near Balule).