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I have seen a NT twice in KNP!

Once was at Pafuri picnic spot, to the side where you walk to the ablutions and you can sit and look at the river.

Second was (wait for it..........) in Satara! Was quite a few years ago, on 31 December. Was sitting in a tree next to the ponds that they used to have in the camp (not sure if they still there).
I remember I was alone and i was worried i would return to my family (having an afternoon nap) and tell them what i had seen and that they would have had a laugh. Luckily, my little sister was taking a walk to the ponds, i motioned furiously for her to come to me and see the bird before it flew off. luckily the bird stuck around a bit and i had a witness!!

It took me a full 5 years, plus another Rugby World Cup trophy hangover to finally get to see this bird in the Magoebaskloof area.

I then follow it up with a very brief sighting of it flying in
Wilderness National Park.

The trick in finding this bird is two-fold. First of all location. And then listen to its hooting call.

A good time to find it is early summer, when males announce their territories with a hoarse hooting call, repeated 6 to 1o times.

The moment you get close the hoot will become something more like a blowing sound... It is not easy to describe as I am no expert in this matter, but it almost resembles something like sucking in air right back into the back of the troat thru rounded lips. This is what you were waiting for as you start scanning the trees from which you heard this sound coming from.

And with a helluva lot of luck you will catch it just before it turns its back on you, making it about as difficult to find as your wife in an Edgars red hanger sale at month end.

Truly an awesome bird and no doubt one of my top 5 birds.

Okay you very clever please, let's see if you can help me with this one. Now the pictures are not great, but I am hoping you guys will know what you are looking at. This bird was seen in a reserve in KZN and I would love to know what it is. At first we thought it was a Narina Trogon but then when we looked at the pictures, we notices the spots on its back. So we then thought it was a Eastern Nicator but the bill (which is only just visible in the one picture) does not seem to match. The bird also has a blueish tail which the Nicator does not seem to have.

Larger view

Larger view

Jock, the Eastern Nicator is a yellow/olive color above. There are not many birds with an emerald metallic green color. Your metallic green Cuckoos don't have that long tail and upright posture.

The upright posture, long tail, round head and short bill... the dark bill and white wing covert tips points to a juvenile.

Can only point to one bird really.

Agree. BTW did you succeed to see one by now WTM?

Yup!!!... but let me share the details of it with you.

Was attempting a look at a nice male about 15meters away... when my companion grabbed my bins and inquisitively studied it for a few minutes.... whilst she had her camera with a 300mm lens hanging around her neck!!!

I eventually grabbed the camera, there was no magnum ice cream's chance in the cubby hole of a car in Kruger that I was gonna get the bins back, got a crap out for doing so and managed a fleeting snap as the bird flew off and landed in dense cover.

Basically the same thing happened the day before whilst at a Yellow-throated Woodland Warbler sighting.

Then a few months later I got another fleeting glimpse of one as I canoed on the Touw's river in Wilderness.

Ending a 5 year dry run on a bogey bird of mine.

Good to hear. Had good sightings in a KZN reserve and also in Crook's Corner region during KNP BBW in 2007.

Oh and to make it clear I agree with WTM that it is a immature Narina Trogon

Added mine in Mhkuze..Im now really wanting to see one in Kruger!

We were so lucky to see this elusive bird on the Northern Tshokwane loop (4 Oct) right next to the road in the dry thorn thickets no leaves in sight sitting about 2 meters from our vehicle

Greetings

I must say, I'm glad I'm not the only one the reveres the NT so... I think it kinda epitomises birding. It's there! You can hear it! You've got to go through thorns to get there! Then you do, it's dark, probably raining and you can barely see it cos it's got it's back to you, but MAN, it's worth it!!!

I spent a frustrating morning recently in Kranzkloof Nature reserve in Natal. I was there for an entirely different reason but the trogons were calling all around me. Everywhere! The problem was, I couldn't move off the path to find them, VERY frustrating
Loads of fun

Not that I've seen any in Kruger myself, but it definitely can be found. The 2008 Pafuri Camp Monthly Bird Monitoring sheet records sightings in November and December, and I know it was seen in January of this year as well. I'll see if I can scrounge up records sheets for previous years.

Now you know where to look!

Johan

Here is one of mine, a Narina Trogon

Look at the public sightings.

Someone has seen a NT at Lake Panic.

Here is the link:
www.sanparks.org/gallery/v/sightings/kr ... 1.JPG.html

Congratulations Flying Cheetah indeed a remarkable sighting.

I have often heard but never seen.

Saw my first Narina Trogon at Swadini in the Blyde River Canyon.

Since then I have been lucky to have had two more sightings near Mission Rocks in the Isimangaliso Wetland Park near St. Lucia.