Exploring birding at Tontonyane Sewerage Works diggings

The spotting of the Greater Painted-snipe on the 7th January 2015 at Tontonyane near the Sewerage Works prompted me to explore the area further. The place is 7km to the West of Mahikeng bordering Motsoseng Village.

Accompanied by young local birdwatchers we went through the length and breadth of this desolated area. Only some few fishermen were the only people passing by on their way to the nearby Modimola Dam.

By midday we had already spotted fifty six (56) bird species and the numbers were still rising.  This is only a small fraction of Pentad 2550-2520, mind you.

The area is gradually becoming a dumping site; these  un-rehabilitated borrow pits, have transformed the area into a palette of water ponds after the good rains. The nearby sewerage works plant provides most of the water into the area.

The following are photos taken from the area showing the rich diversity of bird species (a comprehensive report list is provided at the end):

Cape Long-claw

Scaly-feathered Finch

Abdim Stock (non breeding intra African migrant)

African Spoonbill

Kalahari Scrub Robin

Little Egret

Northern Black Korhaan

Red-billed Quelea (a menace to neighbouring Motsoseng)

Wood Sandpiper (non breeding Palearctic migrant)

Yellow-billed Stock (regarded as near-threatened)

Glossy Ibis

Great Crested Grebe

Female Greater Painted-snipe

Pied Kingfisher

 The expedition crew (Letlhogonolo, Mpho and Lungela)

The view of the area at a glance

The location in the map

       List of birds: 

1.      Chestnut Vented Titbabbler

2.      Scaly-throated Finch

3.      Black Chested Prinia

4.      Laughing Dove

5.      Red-billed Quelea

6.      Cape Sparrow

7.      Rock Kestrel

8.      Abdim Stock

9.      White-backed Mousebird

10.   Glossy Starlin

11.   Diderick Cuckoo

12.   Northern Black Korhaan

13.   Blacksmith Lapwing

14.   White-breated Sparrow Weaver

15.   Crowned Plover

16.   Little Egret

17.   Black Winged Stilt

18.   Zitting Cisticola

19.   African Pipit

20.   Great Crested Grebe

21.   Rattling Cisticola

22.   Cape Wagtail

23.   Kitzlig Plover

24.   African Sacred Ibis

25.   Egyptian Goose

26.   Curlew Sandpiper

27.   Red-knobbed Coot

28.   Common Sandpiper

29.   Cape Longclaw

30.   Little Grebe

31.   African Spoonbill

32.   Ruffous Napped Lark

33.   African Black Duck

34.   Spiked-heeled Lark

35.   Red-billed Teal

36.   Little Egret

37.   Three-banded Plover

38.   Glossy Ibis

39.   Hadeda Ibis

40.   Grey Heron

41.   Wood Sandpiper

42.   Yellow-billed Stock

43.   South African Cliff Swallow

44.   Reed Cormorant

45.   White-faced Duck

46.   Amethyst Sunbird

47.   Black-throated Canary

48.   Southern-masked Weaver

49.   African Hoepoe

50.   Pied Kingfisher

51.   Familiar Chat

52.   Golden Finch

53.   Yellow-billed Duck

54.   Common Fiscal

55.   Pin-tailed Whydah

56.   Grey Headed Gull

57.  Greater Painted-snipe

Greater Painted Snipe at Totonnyane Sewerage Works diggings

It was after several attempts to get the picture of this  pair of shy and skulking Greater Painted Snipes; that I thought I had run out of luck. 

A glimpse of these beautiful birds had me coming again and again to the very same spot. The good rains had created several water ponds in the area.

Initially I spotted them through my binoculars and thereafter could not see them out in the open again. 

Today my patience paid out.

 Female Greater Painted Snipe

 Female and Male Greater Painted Snipe (the pair)

Map showing the location of the Sewerage Works diggings

Help identify this bird

Yesterday, (just before a storm) while birding at Modimola Dam; enjoying the parade of Whiskered Terns up and down the dam, Egrets and Ruffs taking on each other over a patch of dry a spot.

 I spotted  the bird in the image below in a group of Curlew Sandpipers. At first, I thought it was one of the Ruffs by just scanning at its plumage. 

On second look, the black head turned out to be  a mystery. I also thought maybe it was a juvenile of a Whiskered Tern. 

Please, help in identifying this bird. 

The black bill and the head from the side

The head from the back

The neck and the chest all white and the back plumage grey to brown

I mistakenly thought it was a Ruff by its plumage. But, then the head was that of a Tern.

Now, if it was a Tern then it must have been a juvenile one. Which Tern or what bird could this have been?

In a matter of minutes the bird was gone but I managed to take some few shots of it.

Red Bishop: New year birds

My birding in the new  has been wonderful. I have had shots of birds which have been illusive in the past years.
 One of these birds is the Red Bishop. Known to be polybgamous; can keep up to seven females.

Red Bishop male in breeding plumage. Can keep up to seven females

Red Bishop displaying from perch with plumage puffed out to attract females

Red Bishop female