Rain at long last and then more migrants

We had two days of silent showers as a welcome relieve to the drought stricken areas around Mahikeng.
With the first rays of sunshine, this afternoon; I went out birding. One could hear the sound of birds again amidst the fresh rain soaked ground and trees.
I was first greeted by the Red-backed Shrike, the common summer visitor, perching conspicuously on a branch. Hooray!!! summer is here.

Red-backed Shrike



Lesser Flamingos at Modimola Dam

The recent dry weather conditions and lack of rain in and around Mahikeng had a devastating impact on the Modimola Dam. The only bright side of the whole saga is that this has invited a lot of shoreline birds as bonus.
Recently, a flock of Greater Flamingos had come to make the dam their temporary home. Quite, unusual in this area, there were Lesser Flamingos together with some juveniles among the.
We hope soooner or later the rains will come as the dam is graddualy shrinking.

 

Lesser Flamingo at Modimola Dam





Pied Avocets decsend on Modimola Dam

The last time I saw Pied Avocets at Modimola Dam was three years ago. It was a nice surprise to see them in large numbers this year on Sunday. A common resident.

Pied Avocet wading using a sweeping, side-to-side bill movement

A local nomad seen sometimes in flocks or a handful



More Gabar Goshawks showing up

Gabar Goshawk in the neighbourhood

Sighting of a melanistic Gabar Goshawk nearer home

One of my most enjoyable moments  while out birding and atlasing in the last two weeks; was a sighting of a melanistic form of a Gabar Goshawk within some few metres where I had spotted the normal one.
The last time, which was my first time, was at Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.
This time it was spotted less than 20km from my home.

Gabar Goshawk - common resident

Melanistic form of Gabar Goshawk - a rare occurrence (less than 20km form my home)

Melanistic Gabar Goshawk  I saw at Kgalagadi in March 2012

Birding in the cold weather

I went out birding  and it was wet and chilly.Here are some of my surprises of the day.

Red-billed Oxpecker - regularly wanders beyond normal range (near threatened)

Fiscal Flycatcher - confusion most likely with Common Fiscal