SANParks.org Forums

Here is my contribution to the mad twitch on the weekend......

I flew down on Saturday and arrived on site at about 10:30 where I ran into Lizet and she kindly showed me the bird. The end! Ja that was the easiest twitch I've ever done.

Nice one Ferdelance ...I popped down here this afternoon..she is still there munching away to her heart's content !

Another beautiful picture of this beauty!

This bird has really caused a HUGE stir in the SA birding community and, already, has probably made history by being the reason for the biggest ever twitch in SA...

I am still trying to gather accurate numbers, but from what I have managed to put together so far, at least 342 people have been to see her of which 85 travelled in from outside of the greater Cape Town area. We've had people in from Pretoria, Johannesburg, Hoedspruit, Klerksdorp, Sasolburg, Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Port Elizabeth, Knysna, George and even Beaufort West who have made the trip specifically to come and see this beauty!

So, if you haven't already let me know and you have been to see the bird, please just drop me a message to let me know that you have been to see her and how many people were in your group.

And, if you haven't yet been to see her, it is definitely worth the effort. Who knows when we will next get a chance to see this species in SA... and she is still showing well this morning!

Thanks in advance!
Trevor

Thanx for popping in Trevor!
I'm sure the person who spotted her first's name will go down in history!

Which makes me wonder if they might not be around more often than once in history (DinkyBird seems to think that she often spots them around CT. Joking! ) and that people not being birders just don't realize what they are looking at.

What do you mean 'joking' JenBird

I was trying to save face for you!

I'm sure there are many rarities that land up in SA and disappear again without ever being seen. Fortunately, the lady who found this crake and didn't know what it was had the good sense to take some photos of it and send it through to me to identify. If she hadn't have done that, it would have still been parading around there except no-one would know about it and be enjoying it. I'm not saying that she had to send it to me specifically, but that she had the good sense to know that it was something odd and pass it on to someone else for more input...

The same thing happened with that Irania that turned up on a farm near Williston a few years ago. If the photos hadn't managed to find their way through to several inboxes (including mine), no-one would've ever known about that bird...

Let's just hope that by spreading the net even wider, we can get more and more people to be aware of what they are seeing and what to do if they find something that they think should perhaps not be there...

Well Trevor, I for one will be much more aware. Thanks to what I have learnt on this topic

Interesting. I think Trevor, that those of us who are just enthusiastic amateurs should look more closely at what we might think are 'obvious' birds for us.

I assumed that the thrush(es) I saw in Addo were olive, because they looked like the ones in my garden, but I was alerted to the fact they are Karoo thrushes, with slight differences from the olive.

Hi Caracal. Without trying to derail this thread to much I have to mention this. I only flew back sunday evening so I spent the whole day birding in CT. One of my destinations was Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, and although I didn't find my wanted lifers in cape sugerbird and orange breasted sunbird I did find those two Spotted Eagle owls! Very nice.....

I admit that I popped down to see her today and being very new to birding, would not have recognised her as more than a little brown job, but would probably have taken a photo for later ID.

Well I have a photo anyway, got shown the snipes as well, so I am happy!

Oh dear..we must make better plans next time. I went up to Kirstenbosch on Sat and saw both your lifers....next time

Quite an impressive bird to have on your "newbie list" Rookie....well done there !!!
You are becoming quite a serious twitcher.....

Anyone know if the birdie is still there?