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Very common here in Gauteng, west rand especially...

Also here in Durban, plenty to be seen in the Umgeni River and estuary.

Seen them on Fryday in Kempton park,Boksburg and Benoni.

I live on the eastrand and in the last 15 - 20 days and have noticed alot of the sacred ibis flying over in a SE direction and in groups of 12 -15. Where are they off to ?
I have noticed this behaviour in the past but not in so many numbers, about 3 - 4 flocks a day(what I've seen).

Just a guess but lots of the pans and other watersources in the north and east are drying up. I've seen thousands of these birds roosting around these pans.
My guess would be that they are flying out looking for food to areas where there might still be water. Marievale and some of the surrounding pans still have a reasonable waterlevel.

Was standing at Marievale last Sunday and had some flocks of Spur-winged Geese flying over me. Counted between 4-500 birds flying overhead in a space of about 2 minutes, settling down in different areas of the marsh. Quite a sight to see.

Hi there Johann, do you go watching often on Sundays ?
Must be amazing so many coming in at once.

I try do some birding every weekend and I've seen other birds in that number but this was the first time I saw so many Spur-winged Goose at one time.
Their numbers have been quite low in the area during winter as far as my own observations are concerned.

Sacred Ibis is a very common bird on Cape inland waterways.

@ Johann, the next 2 weekends are booked but in future let me know if your'e going and I'll come through.
Does this bird have certain patterns during the year ?
ie.flying north for winter

As far as I know they are resident but I'm sure there are local movement looking for suitable foodsources.

African Sacred Ibis

66-84cm 1.2-1.9kg
A Large white ibis with a heavy, decurved black bill. Ad. has naked, black head and neck. Elongate, plume-like, black scapulars are fluffed out in display; make it appear black-tailed at rest. Flight feathers are tipped black, giving narrow black edge to wing.


Taken in back garden - Glenferness. Caought a fish when water level in pond was low. Broken it into pieces and eventually managed to swollow it!

in West Cost NP

I would like to contribute 2 pics of sacred ibis photographed in the Veldrif area.

Great photos Touareg

I took these pictures of the Africa Sacred Ibis. This was not an easy bird to photograph as it seems that the birds black head and beak absorbed all the sunlight and did not leave any for the camera as can be seen in picture 1.

Picture 1


Picture 2


Picture 3