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Well done Caracal, I didnt think anybody would get it that fast.

The picture was taken by MADEL WHITTINGTON (section ranger’s wife at Nossob). This is indeed a lifer in S.A. and just goes and shows you that birds don’t read books.

So to all the stiffnecks out there this is the time to visit and tick the bird off your list.

We want to congratulate Madel on her VERY SPECIAL finding, please read the letter below.




This is definitely spectacularly AMAZING and EXCITING. It is a new
country record! A first for South Africa! It means the total on the
official South African list moves from 841 to 842 birds. If Madel can
please just, as a formality, submit the photo to the South African
rarities committee (chaired by Trevor Hardaker, under Birdlife South
Africa) that means we can formally accept it onto South Africa's
official list once it has been ratified by the committee (which I am
sure it will be very easily).

I am not too surprised this bird has finally strayed as far south as the
Kgalagadi Park, especially at this time of the year, but good for Madel
to have the first record for this country (I believe? - it certainly
aint on the official list yet!).

Please can you forward a photo of this lovely bird to me personally as
well - I want to see it!

I am sure many people will want to get this striking and beautiful bird
onto their SOUTH African lists....is it hanging around?

By the way there are one or two birds awaiting final rarities committee
approval before we put them officially on the RSA list.

Well done, Madel, and thanks a stack for posting, Rihann.

Your excitedly, and thanks so much for the grand news!
Chris---
Chris Lotz
BIRDING ECOTOURS

For those of you who are interested in this breaking news follow the link below.

sabap2.adu.org.za/

Chestnut Weavers - first records for SA


The southern race of the Chestnut Weaver occurs in Namibia, Botswana and Angola. Madel Whittington reported the first record of this species in Nossob in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, and the record was posted to Sabirdnet on 11 January 2011. Bird ringer Ben Smit saw a male on 14 January 2011 and reports as follows: "This morning I was very surprised to find a male Chestnut Weaver in full breeding plumage building a nest in amongst a Southern Masked Weaver colony in a garden in Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, Northern Cape - well within the SA boundaries! The bird is currently having a hard time trying to get female mask weavers interested and fending off attacks by the Masked males!" A team of atlasers drove to Tswalu on the weekend and Tony Archer took a photo of this nest on 16 January to submit to PHOWN - see here.

In Namibia the Chestnut Weaver is resident in parts and nomadic in other parts. The longest distance recorded for the species is of a bird ringed at Ngulia in Kenya and caught 213 km away 5 months later. The distances involved in these new SA records are greater than this record. The closest known site for Chestnut Weavers to Nossob is 283 km (SABAP1 distribution) and from Tswalu it is 557 km.

I am battling to make up my mind as to the name of this bird...
I saw it somewhere along the Aub riverbed...
A buzzard of sorts ??



Thanks

Can anyone help me with this one? This is delaying my TR

I can supply a bigger pic if necessary to direct email.
Thank you.

I'm no expert, Michele, and it's hard to tell the size from the photo, but I think that your birdie might be a juvenile gabar goshawk?

Arks I do agree with you.

@Barrydalers,

That is a African Wildcat (Juvenile). Felis silvestris lybica

Thanks, KG!

Hi arks and KG
I actually don't think my bird is a juvenile gabar goshawk....
Firstly it was bigger than a gabar goshawk..I know it is difficult to judge size from a photo....but more importantly a juvenile Gabar Goshawk should have a light yellow eye, a reddish cere and reddish legs
Here is another pic of the same bird....



Thx again
M

Maybe a Steppe Buzzard or juvenile Jackal Buzzard ?????

Michele.
My first impression was Steppe Buzzard. Have you any photos of the birds chest -- that may help us with the ID.

I am afraid that is all I have Papa Smurf......

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

@Barrydalers,

Sorry for only getting back to this post now it has been a bit of running around. I have tried to get as much of a close up as possible, and it seems to be a juvenile Steppe buzzard, with all of the juvenile raptors at the moment Identification makes it a bit more difficult.

After a question I received I willpost the picture below with the answer.



Red velvet mites are members of the subphylum Chelicerata, a group of critters that have tiny lobster-like claws that serve as mouthparts, a feature that relates them closely to spiders, scorpions, and harvestmen. Red velvet mites make their home in the litter layer of woodlands and forests. They live from one to several years, depending on the species. As larvae, they attach themselves to a variety of arthropods and feed parasitically. They will suck blood from a gnat or grasshopper, for instance, sometimes hitching a ride with several other mites. When red velvet mites become nymphs and then adults, they take to the soil to devour much smaller prey, including other mites and their eggs, the eggs of insects and snails, and primitive wingless insects. They do not bite humans, neither do they sting.

The presence of red velvet mites is extremely important to the environment. These mites are part of a community of soil arthropods that is critical in terms of rates of decomposition in woodlands and in maintaining the structure of the entire ecosystem. By feeding on insects that eat fungi and bacteria, they stimulate the decomposition process.

Adult male mites release their sperm on small twigs or stalks. That ritual is followed by the male laying down an intricate silken trail to the sperm. Females spot these trails, and then seek out the individual male. If he's to her liking, she sits in the sperm. But if another male spots one of these sperm gardens, he'll promptly destroy it and replace it with his own

Many thanks for this interesting info. We saw a lot of these mites around Grootkolk on our past trip.

Hi Barrydalers

I think it's a young African wild cat (felis lydica)
It looks alot like a usual house cat...But i dont' know what it is doing up in the tree, maybe hiding???

Hope i could help

Does this bug have a name ???



Many of them seen at Urikaruus after it rained through the night. We had not seen any on the previous evening !!!

Thanks