Viva the 6 km radius BBD! It is always utterly rewarding to bird in and around your own pentad. Aren’t these our familiar stamping grounds? Knowing exactly where to spot the regulars, where the skulkers might be hiding, and where surprises may await. Our goal? Improving on our 2023 count of 154+ species. The persisting heatwave would reach a high on BBD, so we focused on a strategy: the sequence in which to visit our five hotspots.
Our day started when we met up at 3:20 am and headed straight to Rietondale Proefplaas. Now for the nightjars! First, Fiery-necked. Barn Owl called. Then off to our beloved Magalies mountain to catch more owls and spend the cool hours of the day at this rewarding hotspot. En route, we encountered the first of many Thick-knees and clocked up several other species. At the start of the Magalies MBT, in the dark, Flappet Lark obliged us with its noisy display flight. We stumbled up the path, and Peter soon flushed another Nightjar – European! Below us, lights of the Moot suburbs still twinkled but dawn was breaking in deep reds. Pure magic.
We headed towards the ridge. Cinnamon-breasted Buntings hopped between the rocks and near the ridge Striped, Nicholson's Pipits, and Wailing Cisticola. The dawn chorus kept
our fingers busy logging. Swallows and Swifts swirled and swooped through the skies, even a group of Glossy Ibis, and later, Peregrine Falcon.
What an excellent move was visiting the Magalies during this most productive period of the day!
When at long last sightings slowed down somewhat, we headed towards Derdepoort Regional Park, picking up two targets on the way there – Olive Pigeon feeding on the last of the Bauhinia seeds and Mocking Cliff Chat, a pair sunning themselves exactly where expected. Our count was on 100 species!
Derdepoort was a welcome opportunity to grab some breakfast on the hoof. Plenty of White-fronted Bee-eaters and Burnt-necked Eremomela and Greater Honeyguide were exactly where they should be. But what riches awaited at the dam! Straited, Purple and a first for this pentad, Black-crowned Night Heron. The trusty Common Buzzard, as each summer, was perched on its favourite pylon and a surprise Long-crested Eagle hastened us on our way to our next destination. Great! Quirky species ticked! We shot away just as the coolbox-and-boombox crowd started to enter, so grateful that Ilse had bought our tickets ahead of time and had arranged an alternative entry and exit gate. It was getting very hot and Wonderboom Junction around the Apies river would add to our waterbird count.
Goliath Heron welcomed us there, and Squacco flushed. Some duck species, Sandpipers and even Brown-throated Martin amongst other swallows boosted our count. A pity that Half-collared Kingfisher wasn’t here - this was a dependable spot for them! But wait! Ilse, who had walked ahead of us, flushed an African Crake. BBD rules are firm: a minimum of three group members need to have positively identified a bird before it may be logged. Peter, ever ready to venture where we four ladies wouldn’t, but also keen to add to our pentad’s species, waded through boggy mud up to his knees – but the crake stayed well hidden. No Little Bittern either or even the Great Reed Warblers seen by another BBD team there minutes before.
The sun reached its zenith and the temperature exactly what the weather apps had threatened –38, 39 degrees. After some more bashing through reeds and grasses, we decided to move on towards nearby residential complexes for Mountain Wheatear. It led us a merry dance before we located it, but as consolation a Groundscraper Thrush also joined the party. We left for Proefplaas again, with our count up to 150. Five birds to go! And we still hadn’t encountered even one single Grey Go-away bird or Crested Barbet.
Proefplaas delivered the expected Cisticolas and African Pipit. And, thankfully, the lovely Little Bee-eaters. But we still needed at least one species – off we went to LC de Villiers and its lovely dam. It was busy with various year-end party groups but at least yielded Red-knobbed Coot. 155! Jubilation!! Target reached! It was 6pm. We headed home.
The next day with BBD results out, we were overjoyed to have won the Gauteng 6 km radius title and no.11 countrywide. While other 6 km Radius teams in positions 1-10 had birded in the countryside and nature, we had managed this wonderful count right in busy suburban Pretoria, in our own pentad and on its fringes.
VIVA TINKTINKIES!
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