Karoo Lark, Vanrhynsdorp, 1/12/2023
The Karoo Lark is endemic to South Africa. It is one of the least ringed lark species in southern Africa, only 29 birds in 76 years. 3 birds were caught on 1 De...
Category: Special
This shows a list of posts of some of my special ringing moments, usually species focussed.
African Rail, Nuwejaarsrivier, 22/03/2025
Spring traps are useful for catching small insectivorous birds, like Cape Robin-chats and Southern Fiscals. It was a very pleasant surprise to find an adult Afr...
Olive Thrush, Cape Town, 2025/03/16
Olive Thrush juveniles have spotted breasts and slight orangy edges to the wing coverts, in contrast to the plain breast and uniform dark upperparts of a...
Spike-heeled Lark, Vanrhynsdorp, 7/02/2023
Larks often live in open areas, meaning that mist nets are fairly visible and easily avoided. However, placing nets along fence lines may help increase...
Pearl-breasted Swallow, Ouberg, 14-17 Feb 2025
The Pearl-breasted Swallow is one of the smallest swallows, and is rarely ringed. During a weekend of ringing at Ouberg farm, we were surprised to catch ...
Rufous-cheeked Nightjar, Alte Kalköfen, 11/02/2025
The opening of the Alte Kalköfen Bird Observatory provided an opportunity for several days of ringing by a BDI team at the lodge, between Keetmanshoop and Au...
Bronze Mannikin, Rondebosch, 31/05/2023
The Bronze Mannikin does not naturally occur in the Western Cape. Several years ago, someone released a group in Rondebosch, Cape Town, and these birds e...
Indian Peafowl, Vondeling, 9/06/2023
We had to work hard to catch this peafowl! We put large mesh nets near the grove of oak trees where a large number of peafowl roost each night. These birds are ...
House Sparrows, Vanrhynsdorp, 19/11/2024
We were surprised to catch 11 House Sparrows in our nets during normal ringing at the VRD sewage works. This was the second highest species total for this morni...
Eurasian Golden Oriole, Vanrhynsdorp, 30/06/2023
Very unexpectedly a Eurasian Golden Oriole was found in a net at Botuin near a fig tree. This oriole is a migrant species, breeding in the northern hemisphere. ...