SANParks.org Forums

As we head into the potentially busiest time of the year for rarities, I just thought I would post this note to hopefully highlight a few things… Hopefully, it won’t get too lost in the multitude of other posts…

I’m not sure how many people are actually aware of SA Rare Bird News – it is an email group which disseminates news about rarities throughout Southern Africa (from the national megas through to the regionally out of range birds). At the moment, it is a free service and you can subscribe to it via email. It is a fairly easy process to subscribe and, for those that are interested in joining the group, you can find out more about it at http://groups.google.co.za/group/sa-rarebirdnews. The membership numbers are growing daily and, the more members that are subscribed and passing their news of rarities on, the better it will be, so I would encourage you all to consider subscribing to it. It is not an email discussion group, but rather a news service, so the only person you would be receiving emails from via this group would be me. I receive all the news, check up on it and then pass it on accordingly.

Then just a reminder that the most critical part of reporting rarities is in the timing. It is imperative that they are reported as soon as is humanly possible. I am sure that virtually every single birder carries a mobile phone with them and is very capable of sending a text message. I would encourage you to make contact with me to let me know what you have found as soon as possible. A simple sms to my phone at 082 780 0376 (save that number in your contacts list…) is more than adequate – please also include your name in the message so that I know who it comes from as I don’t have everyone’s numbers stored in my phone. This applies to both new rarities that have been found as well as updates on rarities that have already been reported previously. I receive many, many requests wanting to know when last a particular bird was reported and, if I don’t receive the updates, I will not have the correct information at hand. So, a report direct from the field would be most appreciated – please don’t wait until you get home which may only be several hours or days later. Many people also have email facilities on their phone and you can then alternatively send an email to me at hardaker@mweb.co.za which will come through to my phone. Either way, I will then get the message timeously and be able to share the news to others immediately if it seems appropriate.

If you have managed to get a photo(s) of the bird you are reporting, please do make an effort to send it through as well. I find myself constantly having to chase after people to get photos and I would rather just have them sent to me straight away, so then I can decide on which ones to use in the various alerts and reports. They don’t have to be award-winning photos, just good enough to see what the bird is. Please don’t feel shy about your photos or feel that you need to ask me first if I would like photos – rather just send them through.

If you do carry a GPS with you, it would also be great if you could include the GPS co-ordinates of the sighting you are reporting. It helps to include these in the reports so that others then have a better idea of where to go for the bird you have reported.

Please remember that there are birders out there who keep various lists, so a regionally out of range bird might be of equal appeal to someone who is a very keen regional lister as an absolute mega. Any and all reports of rare birds for the subregion as well as regionally out of range birds should be reported with the same urgency.

I try and pick up on as many records as possible, but the problem is that people literally post their records all over the place and there is no way that I can personally keep tabs on absolutely everything that gets posted. There are the various email birdnets as well as internet discussion forums like Globalbirdtrekkers, Simply Birding, SANParks forum, Birdforum, etc., photographic forums like Outdoorphotography and then even Facebook and it’s amazing what gets posted on all of these. Some people do make the effort to make me aware of what is being posted around the ether, but if more people are trolling these forums, it would be great if you could forward the info on any rarities from these forums as soon as they get posted. In fact, I would ask that those of you that are registered with the various forums perhaps encourage the people on those forums to join SA Rare Bird News or perhaps post this note on those forums, so that more and more people become aware of this service and how to disseminate news of a rarity as quickly as possible. The more members we have here and the more people that are aware of what procedure to follow to report a rarity, the better and more comprehensive this service will become. Please also consider forwarding this email to all the various birding-related email groups out there and sharing it amongst your bird club members as well.

Lastly, a big thank you to all of you out there who do currently make the effort to report your rarities and updates to me as well as sending through your photos. Your input is what keeps others interested and what makes actually having this service worthwhile.

Kind regards
Trevor

U P D A T E - Rare Bird Report
Thursday, 04 October 2012 @ 22h50

Sorry that I am sending this out so late, but it’s the first chance that I’ve had to actually sit down and type this since this afternoon.

As you all know, we have a new celebrity in town, a BLACK SKIMMER, which has turned up at Rietvlei near Milnerton this afternoon. Close to 50 people made it through there this afternoon still after the news was broken and I suspect that tomorrow is going to be rather busy there, especially with all the out-of-towners arriving.

Some people are obviously not sure where to go, so here are some directions:

From the City, you can get there by driving out on Table Bay Boulevard towards the northern suburbs, then taking the turnoff to Paarden Eiland and Milnerton (R27). You drive along Marine Drive to Milnerton, where it becomes Otto du Plessis Drive, and keep on towards Table View. In Milnerton you will see the estuarine part of the Rietvlei Wetland Reserve on your left, the road crosses the reserve at the Diep River Bridge; Rietvlei will now be on your right. Drive on to Table View and take a right turn into Blaauwberg Road (at the traffic lights at the Pick 'n Pay and Bayside Shopping Centres); in Blaauwberg Road you must take the first turn to the right into Pentz Drive (at the traffic lights), and carry on along Pentz Drive to the first 4-way stop where it crosses Grey Avenue. Turn right there and carry on to the end - you then enter the reserve through the gate to the Milnerton Aquatic Club. The gate guard from probably be able to explain to you from there where to go for the bird.

This afternoon, it spent quite a bit of time in front of the original hide on an island there with some pelicans, but also flew a number of circuits in front of the hide. Later on, it then settled down to roost a little bit north of this closer to the main gravel road. But effectively, it could be anywhere on the body of water, so some searching may be required in order to locate it.

As mentioned earlier, the reserve manager has agreed to open up the gates earlier than usual tomorrow morning at 6am for those who want to give it a go early on.

Unfortunately, with heavy overcast skies and light rain this afternoon, the photographic opportunities were not great, but just so that you know what to look for, here is one of my shots as a reference taken this afternoon.

Kind regards
Trevor

Appreciate the updates!

How do you rate a bird as rare

KR

KC

It is fairly easy, KC.

Look in your bird guide and look at the distribution of these species. The ones with the least recorded "x" or out of range distributions are regarded as rare.

Obviously things like Little Crake and Black Tern are not in our bird guides for the Southern African region, so that makes them extra special rare!

I am still very surprised that the SA birders don't use the worldwide system for recording sightings.
Have a look at http://observado.org/index.php
Instantly you see the latest rare bird spots, and you can zoom in per country or even local area. for SA it is http://southafrica.observado.org/index.php, and you can see the area lists here: http://southafrica.observado.org/area_lijst.php

We use the Dutch version of the site daily, it helps us decide where to go birding, and helps us decide if that rare bird was indeed that bird. Have more people seen it? http://waarneming.nl/index.php

I looked at some of those records there, Duco and most are really not rare at all.

Who submits these things?

Everyone with an account. Like here.
All the sightings are checked, if you upload a photo the specialists correct you, or approve the sighting.
Our list is an example, note the green or grey checkmarks under Status.

The system is not used at all, GGHNP for instance has no record at all. But I could easily add one there which would light up red, the bearded one.

OK so if it shows that it is not a regular or common species in the area - as noted in the Roberts Bird book - would you say it is rare.

I live in Hazyview Mpumalanga and we have about 5 Cut throat finches in the garden - we have been told these are quite rare - but if we have so many how is that possible.

We also have the Sasol Birds of Prey - and we cannot find a Yellow Billed Kite in there - how does one account for that?

Kind Regards,

KC

Kicker Cat, I think the "rarity" of the bird is determined whether it is a Southern African rarity, rather than a local or regional rarity. Cut-throat finches are quite wide-spread, perhaps they are found within a reasonable distance of where you saw them, but a bird like a Pel's fishing owl which suddenly appears in Cape Town, is deemed as a rarity, because of the distance from its usual habitat, and the fact that it is not a migratory species.
What you can do is join the SABAP2 (South African bird atlas project), and then record these birds for your local area. That way it is added to the local bird lists for your area that are updated daily as records are submitted to SABAP. Just google the above words, and you'll see the website, and information of how to join.
You can also join "My bird patch", it is fun, and easy to log your sightings.

For a national rarity, if your distribution map in your bird book just shows crosses, and has no shaded area then it's a rarity. Also under 'status' if it says 'vagrant' or 'rare vagrant' or something like that then it's a national rarity. If the bird does have a shaded area on the map, but you observe the bird in a province that has no shaded area, or very far from the shaded area then it is probably a regional rarity.

A bird that is just uncommon, but still regularly found in the province is not considered a rarity. Cut-throat Finch is a nice bird to have in your garden, but it is not such an uncommon bird overall, and if you check the distribution map in your field guide you'll see that you definitely get it in Mpumalanga.

The Sasol Birds of Prey book lumps Yellow-billed Kite with Black Kite. If you check the scientific names you'll see that it is there on the Black Kite page, but just considered a subspecies of Black Kite instead of its own species. It is the M.m aegyptius/parasitus subspecies.

Hope this helps.

Birdie People - I am just testing the waters. I am thinking of possibly driving to Kruger early tomorrow morning (02 Des) from Gauteng to find and tick the Madagascar Cuckoo that is showing at the moment; probably to return Monday. If anybody is keen to share some petrol costs with me, PM me. No promises yet...

I've just returned from a Collared Flycatcher sighting in Randburg.

Best you check out the SA Rare Birds Facebook group for more details.

Quote:

Malcolm Wilson confirms that the COLLARED FLYCATCHER is still present in his garden in Randburg this morning (05h25).

Good luck if you are planning on chasing it!

Kind regards
Trevor