A part of the long weekend was spent at Fynbos Estate near Malmesbury to ring birds with a visiting trainee and my family.
It was windy much of the weekend but with some calmer periods. We caught 138 birds, including 15 recaptures. The recaptures were 3 Cape Robin-Chat, 1 Bar-throated Apalis, 1 Cape Batis, 4 Cape Weaver, 2 Southern Masked-Weaver, 2 Yellow Bishop, 1 Karoo Thrush, 1 Cape White-eye. The recaptures had been ringed at Fynbos Estate on various visits within the last 4 years.
A highlight was the Fairy Flycatcher, a local migrant species, and the bird weighing the least (at 6g) of all the birds caught. Three Cape Sugarbirds were caught, two being juveniles. Two male Malachite Sunbirds fed in the protea garden constantly but deftly avoided being caught. Interestingly both Karoo and Olive Thrushes were caught.
The highest catch was of Cape Weavers. The males had started building nests in the farm house palm tree, and in the reeds, but apparently females were not breeding yet, as none had brood patches (20 females). While ringing on the veranda, we could watch Cape Weaver males feeding on the nectar of proteas (as the sunbirds were doing).
Cape Weaver male feeding on Leucospernum nectar
A bird list was kept as best as possible, as the priority was ringing. Interestingly a flock of many Alpine Swifts spent some time swooping past us, with some other swift species present. Other migrants included a White-throated Swallow.
Species list for Fynbos Estate, 5-8 August 2022
| Species recorded (some only heard) |
Caught |
| Egyptian Goose Alopochen aegyptiaca | |
| Yellow-billed Duck Anas undulata | |
| Helmeted Guineafowl Numida meleagris | |
| Cape Spurfowl Pternistis capensis | |
| Speckled Pigeon Columba guinea | |
| Red-eyed Dove Streptopelia semitorquata | |
| Cape Turtle-Dove Streptopelia capicola | |
| Laughing Dove Streptopelia senegalensis | |
| Klaas’s Cuckoo Chrysococcyx klaas | |
| Fiery-necked Nightjar Caprimulgus pectoralis | |
| Freckled Nightjar Caprimulgus tristigma | |
| Alpine Swift Apus melba | |
| Little Swift Apus affinis | |
| Blue Crane Anthropoides paradiseus | |
| Spotted Thick-knee Burhinus capensis | |
| Blacksmith Lapwing Vanellus armatus | |
| Reed Cormorant Microcarbo africanus | |
| Grey Heron Ardea cinerea | |
| Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis | |
| Hadeda Ibis Bostrychia hagedash | |
| African Fish-Eagle Haliaeetus vocifer | |
| Jackal Buzzard Buteo rufofuscus | |
| Spotted Eagle-Owl Bubo africanus | |
| White-backed Mousebird Colius colius | 1 |
| Red-faced Mousebird Urocolius indicus | 5 |
| Hoopoe Upupa epops | |
| Cardinal Woodpecker Chloropicus fuscescens | |
| Cape Batis Batis capensis | 2 |
| Southern Boubou Laniarius ferrugineus | |
| Bokmakierie Telophorus zeylonus | |
| Common Fiscal Lanius collaris | 2 |
| Pied Crow Corvus albus | |
| Fairy Flycatcher Stenostira scita | 1 |
| Cape Grassbird Sphenoeacus afer | |
| Bar-throated Apalis Apalis thoracica | 4 |
| Karoo Prinia Prinia maculosa | 1 |
| Levaillant’s Cisticola Cisticola tinniens | |
| Zitting Cisticola Cisticola juncidis | |
| White-throated Swallow Hirundo albigularis | |
| Cape Bulbul Pycnonotus capensis | 2 |
| Cape White-eye Zosterops virens | 35 |
| Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris | |
| African Pied Starling Lamprotornis bicolor | |
| Olive Thrush Turdus olivaceus | 2 |
| Karoo Thrush Turdus smithi | 3 |
| Fiscal Flycatcher Melaenornis silens | |
| Cape Robin-Chat Cossypha caffra | 4 |
| African Stonechat Saxicola torquatus | |
| Cape Sugarbird Promerops cafer | 3 |
| Malachite Sunbird Nectarinia famosa | |
| Southern Double-collared Sunbird Cinnyris chalybeus | |
| Cape WeaverPloceus capensis | 49 |
| Southern Masked-Weaver Ploceus velatus | 11 |
| Yellow Bishop Euplectes capensis | 10 |
| House Sparrow Passer domesticus | |
| Cape Sparrow Passer melanurus | 3 |
| Southern Grey-headed Sparrow Passer diffusus | |
| Cape Wagtail Motacilla capensis | |
| African Pipit Anthus cinnamomeus | |
| Cape Longclaw Macronyx capensis | |
| Brimstone Canary Crithagra sulphurata | |
| Streaky-headed Seedeater Crithagra gularis | |
| Cape Canary Serinus canicollis | |
| Total caught |
138 |
Previous trip report from Fynbos Estate here.
| If you would like to go on a ringing expedition, contact Dieter at Birds4Africa ! |
